Murphy’s Law Can Turn Routine DIY Car Maintenance Into Chaos

Better Than New

00:00 - OPEN - Murphy’s Law Can Turn Routine DIY Car Maintenance Into Chaos

Doing your own car maintenance can save you time and money and it helps you learn about your car. However, you have to plan your repairs wisely or Murphy's Law may stop by to derail your next DIY project.

01:20 - INTRO - How Long Will It Take To Catch A Fish?

With used cars, no matter how much you plan, no matter how much you try to stay on top of any potential issues, sometimes things just go wrong. It’s inevitable. Unaccounted for variables can disrupt a DIY project and stretch out your repair timeline from a couple of hours to a couple of days or more.

That's why when someone asks me how long a car repair will take, I usually reply with the question, "how long will it take to catch a fish?" (Answer: I don't know)

03:40 - Audi Leak Repair is DIY Job #1

Our Audi wagon finally developed enough leaks from the valve cover gaskets, oil filter housing gasket, valley pan gasket and the oil cooler gasket that I had to schedule a DIY project to fix the various drips and drizzles. Nothing major, just lots of time and patience to remove multiple parts to gain access to multiple low-cost, but important gaskets.

05:05 - Murphy's Law Steps In To Disrupt My Oil Leak Repairs By Disabling Our Spare Family Car

The Audi is up on the rack with the front end removed for better engine access, but Murphy's Law sidelines my repair attempts by disabling the spare car (a 1998 Camry) my wife was going to drive while I fix the Audi. I offer to let her drive our Miata, but she refuses to drive a manual transmission, so now I'm a chauffeur as well as the family DIY mechanic. Awesome! Meanwhile, I think I know generally what's wrong with the Camry, but for now it will have to wait until I finish fixing the Audi.

10:50 - Murphy's Law Interruption #2 - My Son's Honda Accord

Not long after the Camry decided to go on a driver’s strike, our older son who will be receiving the Camry as his “free” car dropped by with his current car – a 1992 Honda Accord - to ask me if I could take it for a drive to figure out what the “noises” are that he keeps hearing. Never a good sign...

Turned out there was junk in the trunk literally rolling around making noise, but there were also real car maintenance issues that needed to be attended to, like like low tire pressure, low brake fluid and low engine oil. I also discovered the alternator belt was failing, so I had to replace that along with the power steering belt. When my wife asked how long that project would take, I said "how long does it take to catch a fish?" (Answer: no clue)

19:10 - Are DIY Repairs Worth The Time and Hassle?

If you ask whether I like doing the repairs or not, the answer is "no". However, if you ask whether the time and cost savings are worth it, the answer - at least for me - is absolutely.

With repair shops backed up sometimes a week or two, doing work yourself can get you back on the road sooner. And with the high cost of labor and parts, you can save yourself a lot of money if you can do some of those projects yourself.

If you're not sure if DIY projects are for you, start with something simple like an oil change. If that works, then try something more difficult. After a few successful DIY repair projects, you just might find you actually can handle some car repair duties and it's not as hard as you think.

20:40 - CLOSE

As long as you have the tools, the parts, a spare car or a friend who can give you ride to the auto parts store while your car is being repaired, I think you can handle your own DIY repairs. But just don’t take too long, because your partner might keep asking whether you’ve caught that fish yet or not!