Self Servicing

[Cyker]

On 11/22/2022 at 8:55 PM, Bper said:

Cyker you suprised me, the knowledge you have about toyota cars I thought you were either a toyota technician or owed a toyota garage. As a matter of interest did you learn so much about these cars through working on them yourself over the years.🤔

Ack! My fraud has been uncovered!  

But seriously, it's just all the stuff I've gleaned from being on this forum so long! If you hang around as long as I have I'm sure you'll be able to blag at the level I do as well!  

I think I even vaguely remember when frosty joined the moderation team so it's certainly been a while, as he's been here for ages too!  

The only others I know who've been here longer than me that are still here are madasafish and anchs (anchorman) - Anchs has been here so long he's still got a whole load of guides in the guide section!  

[Roy124]

A thought occurs about maintaining the warranty, do a mix.  If you want to do the 'simple' mechanicals yourself and get the dealer to do the 'standard' bits. 

Fitting new brake pads for instance are not part of the service IIRC whereas checking them is.  There are plenty of other 'check' items where you can do the 'change' bit elsewhere. 

 

[Roy124]

Mention of tyre pressures, I love the full TP display on the Toyota Cross. Knowing the pressures would be lower on cold tyres and low temps I checked yesterday.  They were hit at the time and were 'on pressure'. 

This morning they were all 2-3 psi down.  I had previously checked a month ago before a long trip and put in 2 psi then.  Leak or cold, I don't know. 

[Roy124]

Going back to DIY of old.  On my second car, I changed my headlight bulbs to QH and also installed 12v relays to each to minimise voltage drop.  I even took a drill to the gear box to install an automatic reversing light. Fitted an electric aerial too. 

Later, SAAB 99, I bought a roof aerial from a shop in Tottenham Court Road and the shop assistant, a young Indian lad, gave me instructions on how to fit it.  It worked. 

I also fitted fog lights front and rear, easy as SAAB handbook had wiring diagrams. 

I also swapped the coil and contact breaker for an electronic one that required a timing reset. 

I also swapped the cruise control kit from SAAB to SAAB even to my last SAAB which was injection and 'not possible' according to the garage. 

Now I can afford to pay for the service, and of course most cars have all those extras from the past as standard. 

[Rhymes with Paris]

Ah, Roy, I think that you maybe go far enough back to remember some things that the youngsters would doubt existed.

Such as ,can you remember the kits that you could buy in accessory shops for windscreen washers ?

I fitted one of those to a 105e van with side windows and rear seats, which turned out to be a lot trickier than hanging the furry dice from the rearview mirror.

The wing mirrors actually on the wings were also accessories, on some cars that came as standard without them ,in many styles .

If I found a car with twin carbs, twin headlights, and a rev counter as standard, I knew that I was in the rarified atmosphere of luxury and style.

Two that spring to mind were a triumph 2000 Mk1, and a Humber sceptre, they even had overdrive IIRC.

[Mojo1010]

Some of you have good skills. 

I can only do the really basic stuff:

Air/pollen filter/wipers change.

Changing tyre; recently learnt to plug a punctured tyre with the rubber strip kit.

Install Dashcam wiring tucked away cleanly. Just plug into 12v atm, will hardwired piggy back into the interior fusebox when new car arrive next year. 

One of the things that I never attempted the more challenging (to me) jobs like changing brake pads are because I never needed to in all the cars I have owned. Cars were replaced before any of those parts needed replacing, as well don't have the safe environment to work on it - no driveway. So didn't want to attempt an oil change, I think i would be capable. 

Current Yaris need a new set of front brake pads at 49k, owned it for 4.5 years. It's running quite low, though still passed MOT a few days ago with no advisory. Only if the pads had a bit more thickness to last it to next year when my new car arrive! Booking the job in for mechanic to do. 

 

 

 

[DerekHa]

9 minutes ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

Ah, Roy, I think that you maybe go far enough back to remember some things that the youngsters would doubt existed.

Such as ,can you remember the kits that you could buy in accessory shops for windscreen washers ?

I fitted one of those to a 105e van with side windows and rear seats, which turned out to be a lot trickier than hanging the furry dice from the rearview mirror.

The wing mirrors actually on the wings were also accessories, on some cars that came as standard without them ,in many styles .

If I found a car with twin carbs, twin headlights, and a rev counter as standard, I knew that I was in the rarified atmosphere of luxury and style.

Two that spring to mind were a triumph 2000 Mk1, and a Humber sceptre, they even had overdrive IIRC.

I can recall fitting a door mirror kit onto my Mini 850 I had! Come to think of it now I'm sure that Ford 100E never had washers so fitted one of those kits you could get, no fancy electric pump but a manual one you had to pump away at mounted in the dashboard. Even fitted lights inside the under dash shelves on the old Austin 1100 and really nasty cheap radio in there too.

[Puglet]

Good idea about the 'mix' of servicing, unfortunately for me many years ago my local Ford dealer even managed to muck up a standard oil and filter change. Although a few years later I reluctantly trusted them to do a cambelt change and they managed that ok, I even got the old parts back in a bag to confirm what they done, that rarely happens, so a case of the sublime and the ridiculous!

Same here, great memories of making a few of our poverty spec cars that little bit special by adding bits from other posher models + aftermarket and usually it was fairly easy cos the wiring etc was already there, then the manufacturers got clever with manufacturing process to save money so spoiled a lot of the fun, it was still possible but just bit more involved. 

As said most modern cars have all this stuff nowadays and even the school kids have very nice cars, shame really cos I hardly every see any modified cars nowadays when they were 2 a penny when I was starting to drive.

[Gerg]

Hopefully this isn't going too far off-topic.

Oil changes every 3000 miles?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sItz5ZO2b9Y&ab_channel=BritishPathé

[DerekHa]

Wow!

Them there cars bring back some memories. Never realised how much the old Morris Minor bounced about until watching that Greg! First car I remember my dad having was an A35 with trafficators in the B post that popped out.

Lots of that made me titter! Heavy traffic on the Autobahn, 84 Octane fuel, the Minor with the split front screen, a 10 minutes break from driving. Oh how things have changed!

25k miles and still going! This was before they finally realised that motorway driving was easier on an engine and mechanics than a car being driven a few miles every day on the daily grind, not forgetting that holiday run on the motorway once every summer. White creamy sludge in the oil filler cap and even more if you removed the rocker cover and that 20W-50 motor oil, things do change for the better over time.

[Roy124]

Rhymes, spot on.  First car was an Anglia, I knew nowt but the dealer fitted a push washer and a radio. 

Two years later I bought a Triumph 1300 and knew more than the salesman.  I got them to fit an Echo push button radio.  They were most impressed that it did not require a hole to be cut.  I also specified an inertial reel belt for me and fixed for any passenger. Asking for hazard warning lights really flummoxed them but I got them. 

My SAAB we brand new, one of the first with the Dolomite 1854cc engine.  When headlight wash-wipe became available they fitted them for free as it was a first and they said it was a training opportunity, by Cypriots were like that. 

[Rhymes with Paris]

Good ol' BMC 😂, but to be fair these cars were made before it all went really wrong quality wise I think.

Ah, the old Morris minor space hopper, I never understood the following for these, except maybe from people who never had to run one as a workhorse, only as a classic hobby car.

I would be more inclined to have a Wolsey 16/60 from that era if I was in the market for a classic, a girlfriend's dad had one in around 1974 ,it was 10 years old then, and had IIRC around 80,000 miles on it.

Nice roomy car too.

Quite a bit more than the 25,000 tested to destruction BMC test.

 

[Yugguy1970]

On 11/19/2022 at 6:55 PM, Max_Headroom said:

Same here, working on the front street praying it's not going to **** it down before you have finished the job is something i am glad is a distant memory.   

Yep, been there, done it for years until fairly recently.  Had a C220 a few years back and I still remember the joy I felt when I came to service it for the first time and it had a top mounted oil filter which meant I could suck the oil out with a pump and not lie under the car with the mud and bit from 12 months falling in my eyes.  😂  Or no matter how many towels and blankets you put down, or how big a catch can you have, as soon as you undo the last screw on the sump plug oil will ***** out at some complete random direction and go all over you and the drive and everywhere.

[Rhymes with Paris]

2 hours ago, DerekHa said:

I can recall fitting a door mirror kit onto my Mini 850 I had! Come to think of it now I'm sure that Ford 100E never had washers so fitted one of those kits you could get, no fancy electric pump but a manual one you had to pump away at mounted in the dashboard. Even fitted lights inside the under dash shelves on the old Austin 1100 and really nasty cheap radio in there too.

Aye Derek, that's the washer kit, pumping away at the plunger on the dash.

And then feeling your trouser leg getting gradually damper and colder as the water leaked from the push on pipe/plunger joints.

Can't remember curing that,as jubilee clips were not made small enough to effect a seal.

 

[DerekHa]

We'd all be totally p***ed off if we had to put up with crap like that now.

Still it all meant that you delevoped better DIY/mechanical skills as a result. I was lucky as my dad was quite a good with spanners and such, very good at making things work after I'd botched them up. I can see his face now when I had to go and ask for his help. Not bad for a trained butcher, turned driver, who blagged his way into engineering after the war, luckily one of the old timers tumbled to him and showed him what to do before the foreman cottoned on. 🤣

[Puglet]

Yep, thankfully I'm too young to remember those high maintenance cars, grease n*pples and all that. Same here dear old Dad taught me a lot and I think he learned a lot from doing National Service but as said he eventually got fed up crawling under cars in the cold and wet, but by then cars were more reliable so you spent more time washing n cleaning than spannering! 

[Hybrid21]

3 hours ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

Good ol' BMC 😂, but to be fair these cars were made before it all went really wrong quality wise I think.

Ah, the old Morris minor space hopper, I never understood the following for these, except maybe from people who never had to run one as a workhorse, only as a classic hobby car.

I would be more inclined to have a Wolsey 16/60 from that era if I was in the market for a classic, a girlfriend's dad had one in around 1974 ,it was 10 years old then, and had IIRC around 80,000 miles on it.

Nice roomy car too.

Quite a bit more than the 25,000 tested to destruction BMC test.

 

I had a GPO ( Post Office Telephones ) Morris 1000 van in the early 70's brilliant wee van and could take me places beyond my wildest dreams 😃😃

[DerekHa]

I was with Post Office Telephones from 1970 - 1980 or B.T. as it became, drove a few of them old Morris Minor vans during that time along with The Ford Anglia's. The Anglia van was a bit more refined, just. They were all green when I started and then went all canary yellow just before Bushby arrived. Think you must have got to more interesting "places" than I did Hybrid.😁

[Roy124]

My first cars, I was pre-teen, were Chevrolet deck cargo being shipped back to the USA or tiny Hillman Californians.  At home it was a huge Austin of England owned by a Mr Cadbury who rented our garage.  

His car dripped oil and left a large glutinous mess present long after he left. I used to sit on his car and play with the steering wheel. 

I went on to learn in a massive Hillman Minx with a huge steering wheel but no power steering. 

[Yugguy1970]

Is it just me or are a lot of us Toyota owners quite old buggers? 🤣

I'm 52 but I'm feeling like a youngster here. 😀

[Roy124]

No, we oldies just have more to prattle on about. 

For instance, in days of old with a full sized spare wheel and TWO flat tyres.  One on the hub and the spare in the boot. 

We would have loved the idea of a can of instant foam to inflate and seal the tyre. 

😁

 

[DerekHa]

Oh Yugguy! How I wish I was 52 all over again, it was a long time ago. May be I'm the oldest bugger around, 70 next year I have to admit!

I'm given to prattling a lot, it's my age!

[Roy124]

1 minute ago, DerekHa said:

Oh Yugguy! How I wish I was 52 all over again, it was a long time ago. May be I'm the oldest bugger around, 70 next year I have to admit!

Get some time in.  I can raise you 10, but I think Rhymes might beat me. 

[DerekHa]

2 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

Get some time in.  I can raise you 10, but I think Rhymes might beat me. 

I'm feeling a lot younger all of sudden now!😄

[Bper]

23 hours ago, Cyker said:

Ack! My fraud has been uncovered!  

But seriously, it's just all the stuff I've gleaned from being on this forum so long! If you hang around as long as I have I'm sure you'll be able to blag at the level I do as well!  

I think I even vaguely remember when frosty joined the moderation team so it's certainly been a while, as he's been here for ages too!  

The only others I know who've been here longer than me that are still here are madasafish and anchs (anchorman) - Anchs has been here so long he's still got a whole load of guides in the guide section!  

Well all credit to you for retaining the information you have learned from the forum, 👍