Jon

Just curious how many people here do most of their own maintenance on the trucks?

If you do, can you tell us what you do and how hard it is.

I'm sure there are a lot of us that would like to learn some things and not have to rely on the stealership!

Thanks in advance.

LovetheTide

Add me to the list

Ty

I change my oil if that counts.

and if something breaks i try to fix it before i take it anywhere.

redxlt06

Changing your own oil is really easy, but after 5-10 years of doing it myself, I
realized I was only saving 10-15 bucks so I started going to the dealer. The reason the dealer can do it so cheap is they buy oil in bulk which is much cheaper than you or I can buy it. They also top of all fluids and when you factor in the cost of keeping a supply of the fluids letting the dealer change the oil may be cheaper than doing it yourself. Now changing the fuel filter is probably a different story altogether. Just my thoughts on the subject.

whitecrystal1

But where's the fun in that I normally do all my maintenance but until this thing gets to 35 or 36K the dealer does it all. I did change my fuel filter at 15K, the dealer's doing it again at 30k.

45auto

Ditto! Until I get in over my head!

Fordaholic

I was changing my own oil until I got the new engine installed. I will be changing my own brakes in a couple of weeks. whitecrystal1 sold me on the ceramic brakes. vbmenu_register("postmenu_3350", true);

spoofty

I heard that the bulk oil they buy is also a lower grade of oil. I don't know if that's true or not. I think the other reason the cost has come down is because they used to grease all the fitting but now there are no grease fittings on anything.

fordfanatic

my self i do the maintenance on our vehicles (spark plugs, wires trans fluid and filter change, oil and filter change, air filter change0 i wont change a fuel filter if i have to i hate working on it with fuel after having gas dump on your face its not fun. lol, but i emjoy working on our vehicles i also do the brakes. i can also work the tire machine (the thing that takes off the tires from the rim) and the balencer also.

Ford Man 14821

I do my own maintenance (until it comes to all that computerized BS anyway) and have done ever since I bought my first car. I think its a good way to learn how your car/truck works and its my firm belief that it can also make you a better driver because you can learn all of your vehicle's ins and outs and whats good and bad about it.

I know my wife had never done any kind of maintenance to her car and when we were first married, she was a terrible driver! She didnt even know that you can slow down by downshifting! Since then, Ive shown her how to service her car and explained to her how all the parts work... now shes aaaalmost as good a driver as I am . I know plenty of kids at college pay to have their cars serviced and they dont have the first clue about anything on a vehicle. Theyre usually the ones who hit 2 or 3 deer per year and have a couple of fender benders per year. You dont even have to be a "car-guy" to do it either! Any average Joe can go to Autozone and buy a Haynes manual and do almost anything themselves with some simple hand tools.

I guess what Im trying to say is that you can definitely tell the drivers that do their own maintenance from the ones who dont just by watching them drive. Its a shame that so much of the auto industry is geared toward discouraging the "do-it-yourselfer".