I'm more than a 2, but less than a 3. As others have said, as my age goes up ... my 'DIY score' goes down, due to laziness, arthritis, eyesight, etc.

I'd love to be a 4 or 5 but that's tough without a shop, tools and especially a lift. My son-in-law was an Indy Car pit crew chief for many years and he can do EVERYTHING. It's fun just to watch him attack a mechanical problem. He has a shop where he builds AA/F dragster and hydroplane boat racing engines, but again, even he couldn't do that without the shop, the tools a lift ... and a hell of a lot of know-how!.

Plus, cars now are so much more complex than in the 1960s. I remember vividly swapping engines in my 1961 Corvette. Disconnect the transmission, the battery, the fuel line, remove the motor mount bolts and simply lift the engine out with a rented engine hoist. Reverse the process to install the new engine. Total time ... an hour or two! Now ... try THAT on your XKR!

 

On my dirt bikes I am a 5. I can and have done everything including total motor rebuild. The mechanics are the same on dirt bikes and cars.....but as others have said earlier space and proper tools are big limitations on working on your own.

A 250lb dirt bike is easy to move and work around. You can lift the engine off the frame with two hands easily. All wok can be done in a small area in the basement. If you have metric sockets and box wrenches you can fix ANYTHING on a dirt bike.

On my cars I am a 2.5. And it has to do with space, tools, and a lift. If I had a lift in my garage, I'd probably graduate quickly to a 3.5 or 4. But since I don't, anything "hard" I have a super local mechanic that is honest and does great work. I'll pay Bernard and Owen to fix the cars outside the 2 range.

 

Well, there was a time when I would say I was close to a 5 ,but now I am content at being a 3.5 I enjoy the tinkering part, but for anything major with todays modern engines or transmissions I leave it to the pros. It could be cheaper in the long run….

 

Never had to get into an auto trans, thank goodness, unless the problem is simple there seems to be way toooo much chance of getting it all back together and likely having it worse than before... same with electronics, no interest in having the remote top operation etc.. but have and will still take on just about anything else mechanical, but must admit that I am losing my motivation as I get older..
My thought is that the quote likely applies to many of todays car designers, I think that they should all have to get their hands dirty and work on the prototypes of what they design.. In 1979 the previous owner of my 74 XJ12 had spent over $600 replacing something like 27 coolant hoses, (I had those heads off in the driveway in 1980) and even today our engines have hoses that are almost impossible to see or reach, AC drains that are buried...
Toyota say have to remove motor and trans on my Sienna to replace the water pump.. crazy..
I was trained by Rootes / Chysler in the UK during the 60s, I'm sure that this was way more detailed and comprehensive than todays "automotive engineers" receive (we made the parts, assembled motors, tested/repaired, THEN got to work in design).
Please forgive the rant
Regards
Trevor T

 

I agree that a stint in the machine shop should be required of all design/mechanical engineers. Good engineers for the most part enjoy working with their hands anyway, so if they don't pass muster in the shop maybe they have chosen the wrong profession and just got the degree because they thought it would pay well and they were good at math. The best engineering schools have plenty of hands on requirements too. We had an engine room with dyno, and even a very small nuclear power plant !! in our M.E. Lab.


When I used to interview prospects for engineering positions a question I always asked was whether they owned a motorbike at a young age and worked on it themselves, a knowledgeable answer gained them lots of points with me.

 

"Level 3 - Machine polish/waxes car , changes all filters , changes sparkplugs"...

I think that Machine polish/wax car should be on Level 4. Very few people know how to do this properly and get show quality results. This is a task that requires a lot of experience and skill to do right.

 

I think conflating the detailing levels with the maintenance levels is perhaps wrong. I'm not desperately interested in the cosmetics; for me, it's a tool for going fast, not an artwork (OK, I like it to look good, but I just take it to the hand-wash up the road). And I've encountered people who can clay-bar their paintwork to a mirror sheen but would struggle to find the oil or water fillers and definitely wouldn't know how to change a fuse.

I did a full engine rebuild years ago (because poverty), and could probably stretch to Level 4.5 if I actually had a garage and a full set of tools. But realistically, I'm a 2 these days.

 

I'm a 5 but I would rather some days be a 1

 

There is a lot to be said for that approach ... in every vocation.

 

I'm a 4-5 on the older 70's IH Scout and Ford F150 I restored, including painting. I've got five other older vehicles scattered about amongst my three teenage kids and wife that I keep on the road. Mostly. But the Jag is a new thing altogether. Working through all the electrical issues will be daunting, but I will learn a new trick or two to save the $$. I'm a two-three on the XK. This forum is the only reason I'm there, so THANKS everyone.

 

I'm sorry to say I'd have to rate myself as a #1 on this list. It's not that I can't do things myself; it's mostly a matter of time management. I generally work 45-50 hours per week. In addition to that, I am the primary caregiver for my seriously disabled wife. Our first Jaguar was purchased new and only kept for about three years, and so was under factory warranty and complimentary service the entire time. We've only had our XJL for about seven weeks and it has required no service yet. I live 80 miles from the closest dealer, but I'm fortunate to have an independent Jaguar service facility about five miles from home. They've been in business for over 35 years and have an excellent reputation. Although it fell outside their area of expertise, they did all the service and repairs to my Rolls-Royce during the years I owned it. I don't know how it will work with the Jaguar, but with the Rolls, since I was a member of the RROC and had better resources for locating parts, I took care of all that and they only charged me for labor. As a result, maintaining the Rolls really wasn't that much more expensive than maintaining any other vehicle of similar age. It worked well for me.

Dwayne