How much of a mechanic are you!

JHMEG

Ok, inspired by a recent thread, make your qualifications or depth of experience known to other users of this forum!

Owen

I'll work on my own engines, but no one elses. I'm not that confident!!

JHMEG

I do basic stuff on other people's cars, but valve lash etc I've only done on my own car!

crosstownk

I'm not a qualified mechanic but.........

With my old VW Golf (1982) I've rebuilt the whole engine, fitted massive stereos and other modifications.

I've certificate in Transport Engineering and a Diploma in Motor Industry Management. I've a Certificate of Professional Competency (Freight). I'm a memeber of the Institute of the Motor Industry and a member of the Institute of Road Transport Engineers. I've some other City & Guilds cert but I can't remember the name of it.

I worked for MDL for a spell in the VW/Audi Service Dept.

I worked as a Salesman for an Opel dealership for 18 months and hated it so I took a job as a partsman in a VW dealer for 4 years. I then moved on to Service Advisor in the same VW dealer and after a year I was Service Manager - I did this for 3 years until I got sick of it.

I now work as the After Sales Manager for a large leasing company with about 1500 cars on the fleet - I've been doing this for 6 years.

I know very little about 'small' cars but anything that a regular rep would drive up to E class and 5 series is now my bread and butter.

JohnCleary

When you're stuck in the deep end, you'll do what you have to fcuking do to get going again :eek:

My best memory, when my car broke down on the Dock Road in Limerick. Fuel pump died. Had to get new part, jack car up, drop fuel tank, replace pump, re-fit tank, all while pulled up on the side of the road in rush hour traffic... Oh the memories make me ill.

I'm not a mechanic so i'll stop there, I can see this thread turning into an argument "oh no you didnt" or "bullsh1t" etc. etc.

JHMEG

EDIT: crosstownk has just editted. Nice work!

Captain Slow IRL

I'm nearly a qualified mechanic, I'll have my papers in november. (you had no option for apprentices!)

JHMEG

land9 wrote:

I'm nearly a qualified mechanic, I'll have my papers in november. (you had no option for apprentices!)

Sorry, wanna establish who is where right now.;)

Lucifer

Not fully qualified but nearly qualified, am an aprentice in an opel main dealer and nearing the end of my time.

crosstownk

I selected the first option. I'm not a qualified mechanic but I do have other professional qualifications (motor industry specific) so it was the closest of all the options...........

Pherekydes

Fully qualified mechanic, albeit on A/C.







That's aircraft, not air con.

peasant

I'm Mc Gyver !!!

At least I have his toolkit

Pocket knife, Gaffa tape, a screwdriver set from Lidl and a few spanners.

Oh ...and a credit card ....

That usually pays for the professionals to fix it.

Doesn't mean I can't tell a good job from a bad one though

rebel.ranter

I went for the second one. I'll tackle almost any job once I have the time. I'm an electrical/electronic engineer so have the bug for all things mechanical/electrical.

As examples, I have changed a head on a 1992 525i. I have fully rebuilt a VW Beetle engine includng replacing the barrels, rings & pistons with oversize items to give a greater cc (1641cc). I also swapped out to twin Weber carbs on this engine.
In fact I rebuilt a number of VW engines, one of them I took out of the car at 9am, stripped it down, replaced the piston rings,put two new neads n it, installed it back in the car & drove it to wok at 5pm, no help & that was a few years ago.

Changed shock absorbers & springs, dics & pads, bushes, exhausts, regular servicing, etc. on many cars. I have a diagnostic kit for VW/Merc/BMW that I am trying to get my head around, so far so good.
Learning to weld at the minute, will also tackle a bit of spray painting.

Our latest ventures include working on trucks, we have just converted a Bullnose Scania from left to right hand drive, it is in the middle of being converted to have an additional axle, one that can lift up with the aid of an airbag. Nearly there.
The recovery truck overhaul/upgrade also another successful challenge.
So I would say that I am reasonably competent & that as a group we will tackle anything.

ds20prefecture

I'm sorta intermediate. There's no job I won't tackle given the time, but I rarely have the time which means I end up sometimes doing a half-assed job.

Owen

rebel.ranter wrote:

So I would say that I am reasonably competent & that as a group we will tackle anything.

What group is that Rebel?

Fey!

Checking and topping up oil and water is usually as far as I'll go, so I picked the final opiton. At a push I'll do a few other things, but I prefer to leave it to the professionals, and they don't get any more professional than the mechanic I use.

rebel.ranter

ned78 wrote:

What group is that Rebel?

There's about 4 of us that normally hang out together (went to school together), all interested in cars but working at different things.
It used to be the tools that were catching us out but now one of the lads has gone into business selling tools so we are now well kitted out with compressors, MIG & arc welders etc.
BTW I've actually used most of the lads in ye're place for nixers over the years LL,MC,TM.
I am not the fastest mechanic these days, the day job has me too clean!!

Owen

Sounds like a good group to be part of! BTW, we call TM Madness

maidhc

Afraid to do much to my car apart from standard servicing stuff because I need it to be able to drive!


My professional qualifications like far from the motoring realm, but I have several tractors and JCBs stripped in very tiny pieces for me to play with when I come home from de mall!

I prefer working with heavy machinery right now, but I might try doing serious work to a car when I buy a classic!

The tax man

Good idea for a thread JHMEG.
Personally I'll go to a mechanic for the yearly service.I've a mechanic that services our company vehicles and his work is top notch and I've turned my back on a main dealer with my own car due to the fact his prices are half what the dealer charges and I truly can't fault his work.
Saying that I can do most of the normal service stuff myself but I like to sell my cars on with a FSH.Electronic faults can be alright cause I've an electronic background. I'm an expert when it comes to Seat Ibiza common faults,rear washer and electric windows not working.:D
Also had the pleasant joy of replacing a broken clutch cable on a Fiat Seicento last weekend in a shopping centre car park. Took awhile to complete but proud that my friend drove her car away with no problems. **Note** to replace that cable you'll need to have an orange face and work in a chocolate factory.
Did all my own work on Mini's I had years ago,didn't care about FSH, including swapping engines with donors. Main love was with motorsport(working in,not so much watching.)Helped out friends with service crews etc.
If a problem lies within the engine,I'm lost and I'll leave it to the experts.
That's my story,I'll certainly tackle most things on a car,provided I've the right tools and equipment to do the job. Love to get my hands dirty but know when to hand things over to the pros.
Like rebel.ranter said" I've a bug for all things mechanical" I'd be in the same boat, but I just lack that confidence or knowledge to tackle engine faults.

Ghupta Yahd

I do the basic stuff on my own car. I wouldn't dare touch anyone elses.

overdriver

I'll do the basic stuff on my own car, and change discs, stuff like that. the classics force you to be a bit more hands-on, so I delve a bit deeper there. I have a mate who's very handy if I get out of my depth, so that makes me a bit braver too.

daedalus2097

overdriver wrote:

I'll do the basic stuff on my own car, and change discs, stuff like that. the classics force you to be a bit more hands-on, so I delve a bit deeper there. I have a mate who's very handy if I get out of my depth, so that makes me a bit braver too.

Yeah, tis handy to have mates like that alright, the types you can ring up and have a quick conversation with along the lines of "Ok, I've taken the sump off... Now what?". I'd try anything on my own car, and it's fairly old so sometimes have no choice but to get stuck in, but on someone else's car I'll be a bit more nervous. One area I won't touch is bodywork... That's more of an art than anything else, and without practice I just know I won't do as good a job as a mate who does it every day.

I'm an automation / mechatronic engineer so also have the but for any machine - my attitude is that a car is just a machine like any other. It might have a lot of parts and tight tolerances, but is just mechanics and electronics at the end of the day. Electrical/electronics is my niche though, have owned a soldering iron since primary school and never get tired of it. Yeah, maybe I have a problem

blastman

I know a good bit about my own car and common faults as I've driven the same model for nine years now. Happy enough to do the easy stuff myself like servicing and pads and so on. I'd like to do a bit more, but I don't have the confidence!

franksm

I'm disappointed - I've done a few timing belts, and have just done the head gasket on a W124 coupe... yet get lumped in the "intermediate" bit of the poll Where's me "advanced amateur" badge

I've done some interesting stuff in the recent past too - replaced suspension bushings (26 of them :eek: ) on an MX5, http://mx5ireland.com/members/frank/Bushes/ fitted a turbo & intercooler, fitted uprated injectors and ECU (required a full re-cable, about 96 wires).

Have >1 car helps, otherwise I wouldn't be able to spend the time with one being off the road being worked on

MercMad

Option 1.Professionally qualified mechanic (and have the paperwork to prove it!)

..........I just dont know where that paperwork is now !

I worked in the trade for 12 years, but dont do it anymore. I went though the motions and became a salesmen, Opel then BMW, but after a couple of years my heart wasn't in it. You start to view ALL cars as price tags, and I fekt I was losing my appreciation, oncve a car was 3 years old it meant nothing to me.

Anyway my family had asked me to join their business, which I eventually did, designing, selling Electro-Mechanical Variable Speed Drives to manufacturing industry. Electric Motors/servos/clutches/brakes and couplings. We used to do a lot of gearboz repairs but not sio much now.

So cars are basically my hobby now, the way I like it, though I do keep my hands dirty. Currently I work on Classics only, my own and my friends, though I do all the modern stuff that my family have, in fact I have done 2 gearboxes ( E39 & Corsa ) and 2 engine overhalls (E36 & C200) since Christmas, all family. Have hardly had time to do my own Classics, plus I have currently a back problem that will limit me for the rest of the Summer by the looks of thing !

I still have a lot of friends in the trade who I am in touch with regularly about newer models !

gucci

id do bits and pieces on my car.oil change, niggley bits (electrics and stuff not working!) that break when you have a car thats 10 years old. but i still get a bit of professional assistance on brakes and injectors every now and then. my mechanic guy is the sorta guy who is nearly too lazy to fix certain stuff and will tell me what i need to do, so i use his tools while he fixes another car

Andrewf20

I just do the basics (Discs, pads, oil changes incl diff / G box, handbrake shoes, springs, brake fluid change etc) as I am sick of doing big jobs with poxy bolts that refuse to budge, springs that wont snap into place, nuts I cant reach and jobs where you need about 5 hands or Hulk Hogan arms. My brother is a wealth of information though & I have learnt an awful lot from him.

JHMEG

franksm wrote:

yet get lumped in the "intermediate" bit of the poll Where's me "advanced amateur" badge

Sorry frank, looks like you need a category all of your own.:D

Bushes, yes happy memories of burning the trailing arm bushes out of the old integra with a welding torch, to replace with Superpro Polyurethene, which their EU rep sent me for free as he wasn't 100% they'd fit.

ZENER

I'll have a go at just about any car so long as it's black . . Honda . . Prelude . . . 3rd Generation . . .

Replaced the brake master cylinder in her yesterday. I tend to learn about whatever car I own and find out it's stock faults and seek our user forums for that marque. I don't like buying new cars 'cos ya can't fiddle with them too much.

Technically qualified but not as a mechanic.

ZEN

old boy

a few years back anything, i was 1 of dem back street fellas, now older, stiffer, crankier, bad eyesight, i do nothing, but the young guys still bug me when their in trouble. thats one of the few joys left to me apart from smirking at some of the threads here