Learning the maintenance Basics

[Bcfclee27]

Hi all, Ive been watching a lad on youtube called Matt Armstrong who basically buys crashed flash cars and rebuilds them.

This has really got me interested in doing my own stuff on my cars.  Clearly not to his levels,  but hell i take my cars to Halfords to have my light bulbs changed !!!

Ive always shyed away from any maintenance as i dont have the confidence ( i once tried to replace my brake bulb on my old VW Golf, i hadnt fitted it correctly and long story short it fused to the light cluster, resulting in me having to get a new light cluster all from changing a bulb !!!! This massively put me off touching a car again).

But now i want to get to the point where i can do things like replaced brakes / do a service on my own cars - one of them being my S-max.

Is there any channels i can watch or anyone you can recommend that i could watch (youtube/instagram etc) that would do a teach on this that i could easily follow and get to a stage where i can do more and more maintenance on my cars as im really keen to learn.

 

Many thanks

Lee

 

[DaveT70]

Basically search everything you want to do, even experienced mechanics don't know how to do everything.

They'll be a video showing what you want to do.

An S-Max is mechanically (Powertrain, Transmission, Chassis and Brakes etc) similar to a Mondeo, so if you can't find S-Max, search Mondeo (same year obviously)

[Tizer]

There may be Night School classes at your local Technical Collage for complete beginners, there has been where I live in the past. I don't know if these things still run nowadays.

[unofix]

1 hour ago, Tizer said:

I don't know if these things still run nowadays.

Do you mean "Technical Collage" ?  Certainly in my area no. They have been replaced with Academies 🙁

and as far as Car Maintenance courses, which were once very common, the problem is finding a lecturer that knows the difference between a spanner and a hammer 🙁🙁

Not that I'm at all disillusioned with the current educational system you understand. 🤣

[Eric Bloodaxe]

These things were pretty common until a few years ago. There are a few colleges around my area offering courses, but on a vocational basis leading to appropriate qualifications, nothing for the amateur.

Daft sounding suggestion -  there seem to be a few around offering bicycle maintenance which would at least give a grasp of the use of basic tools and could be used in combination with various video guides?

 

[Tizer]

3 hours ago, unofix said:

Do you mean "Technical Collage" ?  Certainly in my area no.

My local one still calls itself a College, but not a Technical one. They have dropped completely the Leisure night time Technical courses which is a great shame for the younger generation.

I got my introduction to skills such as Welding, Paint Spraying, Bricklaying and Stone Masonry before putting my training to good use afterwards.

3 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

there seem to be a few around offering bicycle maintenance which would at least give a grasp of the use of basic tools and could be used in combination with various video guides?

That is a good Idea Roger for someone who has no previous experience.