Well yesterday I finally had to do a front brake (pads/rotors) on my Lexus. Also had to do an oil and filter change as I just hit 50K miles. So I got the parts last week and started the work at around 10 am. 1st side took abut an hour and a half while the 2nd side only took an hour. Then I took it out and did my pad break in runs and came home and put the car on the lift. Got out the vacuum oil system and drained the oil. Put the car up in the air and pulled and replaced the filter. Took about an hour and a half to get it done and another 1/2 hour to clean up. Took the car out checked for leaks and took the oil to a recycle yard. So I managed to kill almost all of the day . After 55+ years of doing this stuff I'm just not into it as I used to be. So when I got the Jag I said I will get it serviced instead of me doing it and the same with the new truck I bought last year. Now that leaves me with having to work on my wife's old 89 volvo . Gonna just have to rethink my value in doing this stuff. Being in my 70's sometime it just doesn't make sense to do that as opposed to paying someone. OK just thinking out loud.

 

Agreed. But the cost for having someone else do it often brings me back to doing it myself. And as long as it is only occasionally, I don't mind too much. My BMW was getting to be an every-day-off-work-on-the-car type thing, so I bought my Jag.

 

I'm with you.

I switched what I was doing for work, and have lost a lot of physical fitness as a result.
This played a major role in the getting the X150.
I still have old cars to work on when I want to; but the want to is a lot less.

I'm just not able to do things like this all day anymore.

 

For me, working on cars has gone from being fun, or at worst satisfying, to satisfying, and at worst tedious.

Not something I'd want to give up completely, but not something I want at the forefront anymore either.

 

About 8 years ago at age 70 I replaced the front strut on my 07 XK. What the hell was I thinking? That was the last HD mechanical job I did. So quick stupid so late smart as the Amish say.

 

You know, when I was a teenager I'd of loved to of been an ignorant muscle provider for someone older that knew how to work on cars.

I ended up having to gain almost all of that knowledge solo.

Perhaps find someone with the passion and strength but not the knowledge to join you?

 

I'm in my late 50's, and have avoided letting others touch my cars whenever possible all my life. Like 110reef, paying someone else to do work I can do myself has been difficult at best.

The most annoying part is to talk to today's young mechanics, only to discover that if they can't have a computer tell them whats wrong, they are pretty clueless to how to diagnose anything. It becomes a game of replacing one module/part after another until things work......
Even the computer diagnostics play by the same rule: 'Replace part A' 'Did the problem go away? yes/no' ' If no, Replace part B' and on and on and on.

And of course they bill you for all the modules/parts, even though it was the last one that was the problem...

Yeash...

 

So my right front strut pee'd on the garage floor, and needs replacing (thunk, thunk, over the bumps). So you're saying its not something I should consider DIY?

 

I just finished a complete four wheel brake job on my XK this week end. Having helped my brother with the same thing on his 650I last month, I thought it surely would be much easier to do it by myself this time. Wrong! PIA! I've been stoved up ever since! Someone suggested that perhaps I should have done some stretching exercises before starting out. lol

Like you guys have found, this job was proof that time is catching up with me too. It has always been hard to let someone else do work that I prefer to have a hand in....but now, not so much.

I'm not giving up yet but intend to off load the bigger jobs from here on out. At some point though, the son-in-law will have a bunch of tools I can't use.

 

I paid one of the lube shops to do an oil change once. Only time I've ever had to deal with a stripped out oil pan bolt too...

Doing the front wheel bearings the other week I wish I'd raised the car up another foot so it wasn't so rough on my back. Just getting untwisted to stand sucked. Otherwise it wasn't nearly as terrible as resetting the 50 lb pavers for my drive way after the city made the alley 6" wider.

 

I am in my early 60's and agree 100%. Other than warranty work I usually don't let anyone touch my cars. Over the years I have had almost every shop, including dealers, mess up something on their work - including Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Jaguar dealers. I won't let them touch my car on my nickel.

Only exception was my wife's Lexus. The only time it went to the shop in 200,000 + miles was after she hit a coyote at 75 MPH.

 

I donated my creeper, ramp and jack stands to Goodwill around 10 years ago so I wouldn't be tempted to do something that I would regret. No more skinned knuckles and aggravation, and I only do easy DIY stuff now. My last job was repairing the separated rear window in my top, which was only partially successful (still working on it). Prior to that, I installed The Jag Wrangler's (White XKR) remote control soft top kit. I have my dealer do the heavy lifting and dirty stuff now, but I still enjoy keeping my toys clean and shiny.

 

So whats changed other than enthusiasm??
Be careful, its like a door that is slowing closing, you dont notice it till its shut.
Then we will need help climbing stairs.
Enthusiasm is the most priceless commodity, its the thing we are constantly loosing and it must be fostered the most.

 

I guess that I'm a member of the old guys club too. I've always worked on my cars, motorcycle, house, yard, etc. because I hate to pay someone to do work that I can handle myself. I'd rather save some money to spend on my hobby cars. I try to follow the proper procedures with the correct tools and equipment to minimize the chance of injury. At least most of the time.

I told my Wife that I would quit the heavy duty wrenching when I reached the 70 years old marker. In a couple of months I'll be 63 so I've only got seven years left! I suppose I could cut back to only one hobby car at a time, that's been a promise I made to my Wife that I just can't seem to keep. Though it would make the work load more manageable. If my finances ever improve I would probably just buy much newer(or even brand new!) cars instead of paying someone to work on my old ones for me. Still I will try to do as much as I can as long as it's still fun.

 

At 39, I'm still physically able to do it all. Early on, I did it all out of necessity because I was poor. Now that I've achieved upward mobility, I'm able to pay people to assume the liability of working on certain systems in my vehicles. Mainly, the transmission flushes and fills on the ZF with its finicky temperature dependent filling procedure and to a lesser degree, the AC system. I understand the steps, have done them in the past, and have all the tools and equipment. But because I can't go after myself if I screw it up, I'd rather pay a reputable shop with insurance to assume that risk.

 

Spot on!:-D

 

If they admit it or blame it on something else and you still pay for it!

 

No no. That's not what I mean. If you have the tools, knowledge, will and body for it DIY is the preferred way to go.

All this reminds me how I became an automotive DIYer. When I was young and dumb at 23 living in Northern Cal., my new 1962 Mercury developed a miss. I took it to a highly recommended local shop with instructions to "fix the miss". Well you can guess the result. They replaced every electrical component they could lay hands on, charged me a weeks pay and made NO impact on the miss. That's when I started reading automotive books. BTW A friend at work told me how to adjust the carb mixture and presto, miss gone. SOAB!

 

Age shifts the focus of one's enthusiasm. When you're in your late 70's, you'll realize your physical limitations and understand that it makes more sense to pay a pro to fix certain things than to pay a far higher price to recover from an aching back or other injuries caused by arthritis and bruising or bleeding exacerbated by meds. I'm no couch potato and now that I'm retired I exercise more, usually 4-5 days a week for over 2 hours of cardio and strength training for each session. As a result, I'm in better shape and stronger now than I've been in the last 20 years. And I'm still enthusiastic about snow skiing with my kids and grandkids. It's the greatest sport that a family can do together for decades. Not bad for a disabled veteran.

 

I'm in my 60's and other than oil changes I have the pro's do it. I do have the luxury of having a friend who owns a shop.