I want to learn

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Maleficus

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May 2, 2001
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I am basically completely ignorant when it comes to how cars actually work and how to repair them. I am looking to rectify this, anyone have any suggested reading?
 

Murdoc

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Jan 22, 2011
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The best way to learn is by doing. Get yourself an old hooptie and fix 'er up!
 

Maleficus

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May 2, 2001
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I was thinking more along the lines of a book. also I did restore a 1965 mustang a few years back with my father, but I'm thinking more modern cars, like my car, 09 335.
 

xSkyDrAx

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Sep 14, 2003
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Sometimes reading helps but a lot of is learn by doing. Reading never tells you how long you can spend trying to fight a stuck nut.

Start with little things like oil changes and brake jobs. Find a friend that knows what they're doing and have them help you.

Unless you're going to be working on cars every day it's going to take a while to figure out/encounter a lot of things aside from reading about it.
 

Mxylplyx

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Mar 21, 2007
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Buy a good ratchet set, and next time something breaks on your car, read up on the internet, and go at it. Unless you are getting into the engine or transmission, cars are pretty straightforward. Often times it's as simple as pull a part off and put a new one on in reverse order. Just don't be afraid to screw up, and if you do, tow it to the nearest mechanic and chalk it up to the price of experience.
 

repoman0

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Jun 17, 2010
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I was in the same boat as you a while ago - wanted to learn about cars but clueless how to. Bought my E46 330i and started reading e46fanatics.com and bimmerfest.com forums and also started doing a ton of DIY maintenance and repair stuff just for the hell of it and that got me up to speed pretty quickly. No books required and working on cars is a ton of fun.
 

7window

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Nov 12, 2009
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At this day and age you should be able to learn this in a month or 2. Start with the fluids and watch youtube. Can't really mess up.
 

SyndromeOCZ

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Aug 8, 2010
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Do what my buddy did. He just bought an old Geo Metro for 275. Its a standard and runs. Its cheap enough that he dares to rip anything apart on it and attempt to fix it himself.
 

Carfax83

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Nov 1, 2010
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The best way to learn is by doing. Get yourself an old hooptie and fix 'er up!

This..

I was in the same position as the OP 2 years ago, until I bought an 08 Dodge Charger RT..

I decided I was going to improve her substantially, so I did lots of research and reading about all the after market mods.

Now the car looks and performs much better than when I bought it. It puts down 365 rwhp and 407 lb ft of torque after all the changes I've done to it, and gets 30 mpg on the highway at 60 mph.. I may put a camshaft on it later on, which will probably put me close to 400 rwhp.

Some of the work I did myself, as I'm mechanically inclined despite having never really worked on cars. The rest I had to hire other people to do it for me..

Anyway, the point is, when you have a genuine interest in something, knowledge will come easily.. ;)
 

nitrous9200

Senior member
Mar 1, 2007
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I bought a ten year old car mainly to learn to drive a manual & learn some basic wrenching skills. It's been a lot of fun and thanks to lots of info on forums, not hard to do if you can follow directions.

As suggested above, buying a cheap car and just changing the various fluids in it (a video like this might be helpful) is a great way to get into working on cars and you'll probably extend its life considerably.
 

manimal

Lifer
Mar 30, 2007
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if you know old cars you will do fine. Todays car is actually easier in the sense that scanners do much of the diagnostic work. When it comes to how you get up to speed I would recommend picking a platform and going nuts on the reading for a little bit. Your Bmw is a treat and modable but I can understand your reticence since it costs as much as it did.

You could get a E30 or E36 with some problems and figure it out! Training wheels till your ready!
 

2timer

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Apr 20, 2012
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I am basically completely ignorant when it comes to how cars actually work and how to repair them. I am looking to rectify this, anyone have any suggested reading?

Best thing to do, honestly: find a forum that specializes in your car. Eg, I had a 93 accord, so I went to CB7Tuner.com. Find people who mod or tune your model of car. Then get a list of the "bolt-on" mods, ie, modifications that only require you to un-bolt and bolt on parts for HP gains. Do that, do your regular maintenance in the Haynes manual, read tuner magazines, just keep snowballing and posting in the forums and learning.
 

phucheneh

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2012
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Books don't really work without practical experience. I observed this in extreme abundance when I went through an automotive 'college.'

Basically, my timeline-

15-19: Worked on cars that belonged to me or my friends. Learned the most when I could be in one very specific area. E.g. carbureter needed work; learned all I could about Rochester Quadrajets and rebuilt/tuned mine. Distributor needed work; learned about GM distributor, from points to HEI, learn to set base timing, mechanical and vac advances. Ect.

19-20: Start working at a shop. Realized I didn't know dick. Slowly learned what I needed to work my way up to a low level tech. Did brakes, alignments, ect for the most part

20-21: Went to school. Realized I didn't know dick. But I was lightyears ahead of the kids coming out of high school, and I was able to properly absorb all the information that was taught, and actually apply it to reality.

21+: Started working as a higher level tech. Realized I didn't know dick. Slowly gained comfort and familiarity with most all aspects of a typical car. Eventually got to the point where I could trust my own knowledge/judgement/ingenuity and pretty much fix whatever I wanted to, with increasingly limited incidence of 'oops I dun goofed' moments.

I still make mistakes.

If you think you can just say 'I'm going to learn to fix cars' and pick things up quickly by reading a textbook, you're headed for disappointment and/or death-by-car.
 
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