Protecting the DIYer

[Bill D]

I just stumbled across this site that states it is very important to let Congress know that those of us who want to perform DIY maintenance on our cars should continue to have the right to do so without the auto manufacturers interfering. Please have a look:


http://www.righttorepair.org/

[Dinzdale40]

thanks....i don't know what would happen if i had to hire people to do everything....I wouldn't have half of the stuff done to my car if that would happen...

[04MysticCobra]

I agree regretfully with this interference. I do most all of the maintenance and some of the repairs on my vehicles. the auto companies have the computers set up on these current vehicles that they can see many things that you are doing to your vehicle. its really sad. Some owners in the SVT Mustang Cobra crowd have had their warranties voided because some dealers felt that they worked on their cars and caused the problem that occured. its becoming increasingly alarming with all the manufacturers today and pretty soon you will not be able to change your own oil. pretty sad state for the people who like to save a buck and DIY. I dont what can be done to stop this but its coming about faster than people realize it.

Later, 04MysticCobra

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2004 Mystichrome Cobra coupe
2004 Majestic Blue Maxima SE

[Bill D]

Hopefully petitioning via the website can at least attempt to stall this . Otherwise it might be time for privately built vehicles friendly to the DIYer and/or even the expansion of appropriately modified classics as daily drivers to become more prevalent

[xhaust50]

I agree that you should have the right to work on your own car. However, I think auto manufacturers are trying to make it near impossible for people to work on their own cars anymore. I'm into performance, I have a 91 Mustang that I do a lot of work to myself and it is not that difficult. However, several friends have new SS's/ TA's that take an incredible amount of time and work to pull 8 spark plugs from because the engine bays on these newer cars are so cramped. Even if you can perform DIY maintenance on new cars, the car companies are going to make it 100% undesirable to do so and force you to take it to a companies certified mechanic. Just my opinion.

[Redcar GUY]

THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS>>>!

[Bill D]

I still highly encourage everyone to please take a minute or two and fill out the form on the site.
A recent thought I had when a thread about listing local Autopian standard detailers came up was why not have a list or references of local Autopian standard mechanics? ( far and few between huh?) I would've started the thread but I can't list any mechanics in my locale who resemble this. I know other members have stumbled across some near them and I think they should be promoted. I invite others to start this list, maybe there are "Autopian friendly mechanics" in some of our areas others know of .

[Setec Astronomy]

Originally posted by xhaust50
I agree that you should have the right to work on your own car. However, I think auto manufacturers are trying to make it near impossible for people to work on their own cars anymore. I'm into performance, I have a 91 Mustang that I do a lot of work to myself and it is not that difficult. However, several friends have new SS's/ TA's that take an incredible amount of time and work to pull 8 spark plugs from because the engine bays on these newer cars are so cramped. Even if you can perform DIY maintenance on new cars, the car companies are going to make it 100% undesirable to do so and force you to take it to a companies certified mechanic. Just my opinion.

Those SS/TA's are supposed to have 100,000 platinum tipped sparkplugs (real ones, that cost $5-6 each, and have a platinum-tipped side electrode as well as the center, not like those cheap Bosch ones with the center electrode that comes out in your engine...well, that's another story), so you shouldn't be in those cramped quarters very often. Sometimes in design/engineering, you make decisions like making the sparkplugs a pain to get to after deciding that you can use 100,000 mile spark plugs...and that some other benefit outweighs the inconvenience of changing the plugs every 100K miles. I have heard engineering described as "the art of compromise"...there's always tradeoffs.

[hondaguy2582]

Guys, if they tried to stop you from changing your own oil, auto stores would be outta business. Sure, cars are harder to work on now, but they still can be serviced and what not.

[Redcar GUY]

Originally posted by Setec Astronomy
Those SS/TA's are supposed to have 100,000 platinum tipped sparkplugs (real ones, that cost $5-6 each, and have a platinum-tipped side electrode as well as the center, not like those cheap Bosch ones with the center electrode that comes out in your engine...well, that's another story), so you shouldn't be in those cramped quarters very often. Sometimes in design/engineering, you make decisions like making the sparkplugs a pain to get to after deciding that you can use 100,000 mile spark plugs...and that some other benefit outweighs the inconvenience of changing the plugs every 100K miles. I have heard engineering described as "the art of compromise"...there's always tradeoffs.

When you have a 97 with 30K miles and see the plugs that came out of my car you will laugh at the 100K Mile Plug BS...

[Setec Astronomy]

Redcar GUY...were those the 100K plugs? Cuz honestly, when I change mine at 30K, they hardly look worn...so then I went to those Bosch Platinums...figured I could go 60....car was running like crap at 45...saw something on the internet about the center electrodes coming out and getting caught in the valves....so I took them out and sure enough the center electrodes were partially gone on 4 out of 6, not to mention the big hole worn in the side electrode over the center. Anyway, I changed to Champions that are the OEM type of platinum, haven't changed them yet.

[NotSoRed]

wow i didn't know the bosch had that kind of problem. Seems pretty scary. I better change the plugs in my car pretty soon.