Jul 2019 17

DIY Services That Are Actually DIY Don’ts

We all love a good DIY project, I mean who wouldn’t? For those of you thinking “what is DIY?” DIY stands for ‘Do It Yourself.’ Do it yourself projects have become all the rage and for those of us who know a thing or two about the guts of a vehicle, it could be a fun way to save a couple of bucks on service. However, if you don’t know that much about the inside of your vehicle, or service in general, DIY might not be the root to go. Now we’re not saying you can’t try DIY service, but if you don’t know much about vehicles you might make a costly mistake that cost you more money than scheduling service in the first place!

Whether you know your way around your vehicle or not, there are still a handful of services that you should leave to the professionals. What are they? Good question! Below you will see a list of service that you should leave to a certified professional because these are considered major maintenance or have to do with the engine/transmission. So before you pull out your toolbox, take a peek at the list below and make sure that it’s DIY safe.

5 things you shouldn’t try to fix yourself:

Timing-belt replacement: When it comes to many cars the timing-belt replacement is part of a major maintenance visit ever 60,000-100,000 miles and is one of the biggest repair bills you’ll end up seeing for your car. Even though it might be tempting to save your money and DIY, DON’T. The potential for damaging your engine is huge!

Transmission maintenance or repair: The automatic transmissions contain thousands of small parts and narrow passageways for hydraulic fluid and one grain of sand could wipe out your transmission, so leave this to the professionals.

Overheating: With some level of training you could do some cooling-system maintenance but if the engine is already overheated, forget about it!

Drivability problems and error codes: When your car doesn’t start, or you have drivability issues like stalling, hesitation, or surging, home mechanics simply don’t have the training to diagnose and troubleshoot. Leave this to the professionals and save yourself money on possible damages.

Replacing suspension components: It’s impractical and cost-prohibitive for a home mechanic to own some of the specialty equipment needed to get the job done right, while labor costs aren’t all that high for typical suspension repairs, so you might as well leave them to the pros