Are you getting tired of working on your car ?

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cptnsolo77
Posts: 1645
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 4:05 am

Are you getting tired of working on your car ?

Post by cptnsolo77 »

Maybe its my age ( 47 ) but when something needs repair on the Vibe im not enthusiastic anymore to crawl under a car or do anything. It actually pisses me off now. I have owned the Vibe for 12 years ( 246K and bought at 38K ) and have done all the repair and maintenance myself...fuel pump, alternators, door lock actuators, power window motors, control arms, struts, starters, AC compressor, door handles, tie roads, brake pads,rotors, radio, speakers, etc...I just want to spend my weekends doing fun stuff. Seems like any repair over 2 hours and I lose my patience. Screw that :lol: anyone feel the same ?
* 2003 Vibe Auto Satellite Silver w / Moons & Tunes
* Kenwood Excelon KDC-X597
* Polk DB651-Speakers
* Soundproofcow Roadblock R sound deadening in all doors
* Drop In K & N Filter
* NGK Iridium IX Plugs
* 27 MPG City/Highway with AC on
Caretaker

Re: Are you getting tired of working on your car ?

Post by Caretaker »

been there; done that. I got sick of working on cars around the time they stopped making engine bays that I could step inside of, like my '69 Valiant. I only did oil changes on all my cars over these recent years because paying $25 for a $15 job AND having to give my cars up for hours on end, was annoying. But now, oil chances are $19.99 at many places with a coupon and is cheaper than me buying the oil and filter myself. Unfortunately you'll find out soon enough that you can't stomach paying $160 for some schlep-shop to put in 4 iridium spark plugs knowing it is a 15 minute job, and knowing the plugs are $3 each on rock auto. This is why I find myself getting my service at Sears auto, Pep Boys, etc. I can no longer afford my private mechanic and I certainly won't take my car to a dealer with trainee wanabee jiffy lube rejects.
cptnsolo77
Posts: 1645
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 4:05 am

Re: Are you getting tired of working on your car ?

Post by cptnsolo77 »

Yup...thats the issue. The Vibe is my only vehicle, so I know I can complete most repairs within a couple of hours vs s shop waiting for your car all day and having to (removed) about the work I paid for. Price VS your time...I just replaced the driver side control arm and took me about 5 hours from start to finish. After that I needed motrin and a heating pad for my back :lol: Part was only 50 bucks on amazon. This would have been AT least 300 bux and who knows when I would have gotten the Vibe back. Im not knocking the Vibe at all...it has been a extremely reliable car, and I have put 200,000 miles plus on it. The car has plenty of life in it. It still get 25-26 MPG city and last I checked the plugs they were in GREAT condition. It IS hard to cough up mula when I can do the job myself in a couple of hours mas and the Vibe never leaves my sight 8-)
* 2003 Vibe Auto Satellite Silver w / Moons & Tunes
* Kenwood Excelon KDC-X597
* Polk DB651-Speakers
* Soundproofcow Roadblock R sound deadening in all doors
* Drop In K & N Filter
* NGK Iridium IX Plugs
* 27 MPG City/Highway with AC on
andrewclaus
Posts: 482
Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2017 6:38 pm
Location: Golden, CO

Re: Are you getting tired of working on your car ?

Post by andrewclaus »

Nope, I still like it. Age 61, been doing the work on my cars since the early 70s.

When I had an office job for while in the 80s, and the early emissions controls were a mess of pumps and pipes, I got a little sick of it. But things got gradually better in the 90s with electronic fuel injection and controls and on-board diagnostics. And better engineering and materials. Over 100K miles between tune-ups! No more points and condenser and dwell, no more distributor wrench! No more jets and floats and mixture screws!

That office job was electrical engineering, and I do actually enjoy wiring diagrams and electrical diagnostics. I bought a Toyota Techstream setup (without subscription) when I had a Prius, and relegated an old Win7 laptop to the garage. It talks to the Vibe, too. It's a powerful tool for only $20. My buddies with Toyotas come running over with beer when they have an engine or ABS light come on.

I'm not exactly eager for car projects, but I usually enjoy them. It helps to have a decent garage and tools. Next planned Vibe projects are front struts, a front wheel bearing, some minor body work and paint touch-up, and fixing a few interior illumination issues. I'll space those out over the spring and summer and am actually looking forward to most of those projects. I can't imagine paying someone else to do stuff like that right now. Check back in another ten or twenty years, though.
KingKrab65
Posts: 162
Joined: Wed May 24, 2017 7:25 am
Location: Charlotte, NC

Re: Are you getting tired of working on your car ?

Post by KingKrab65 »

I still enjoy it and I am just this side of 54. They only time my enthusiasm drops is in the winter time. I do not have a garage and do all the stuff outside on cement with hand tools. (We had a rent a stall place in Charlotte but it closed about eight years ago). I try to plan ahead for most of my maintenance items and can postpone if the weather changes. I am fortunate to have a pickup so if something breaks on my Vibe, I can still get around if I can't drop everything to fix it now. I still remember the days back in the '80's when I was out at 10 pm on a Sunday with a trouble light trying to fix my car so I could get to work the next morning.
2003 Base Vibe
GORGO
Posts: 29
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 1:47 pm

Re: Are you getting tired of working on your car ?

Post by GORGO »

Im a Tractor/Trailer mechanic for a Privately owned Co.So I work on everything,decide safety issues,bla, bla bla all week. I have no garage at home so I gota work in a gravel driveway.I still work on my own rides ,time & weather permitting of course.I'll be 66 this summer & plan to finally retire after turning wrenches most of my life.
Previously known as,TONY-TAT2 /GODZILLA
09 Base bought new. 08 Pontiac G6 the Wifes bought new. 93 Vette 40th Ruby Red Anniversary Rag top 6spd.
tpollauf
Posts: 4027
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2010 11:37 am
Location: Toledo/Oregon, Port Clinton Ohio
Contact:

Re: Are you getting tired of working on your car ?

Post by tpollauf »

At 60 and very close to retirement, I still enjoy wrenching on just about anything mechanical! :D I'm very fortunate to share a shop with a couple retired friends of mine. We're talking 4-post lift, welders (stick, MIG & TIG) Metal Lathe, Bridgeport & other milling machines, Full size paint booth, Metal shears, 4ft pan brake, 8ft regular brake, and too much other stuff to mention. Heated and cooled year round. These guys restore old Mopars for their hobby. I pay their taxes and share utility costs. Well worth if for me to share this facility. It's a dump in a bad neighborhood BUT it's a car buffs dream garage! 40 years ago when single I restored "then old" cars (mainly 60's) and loved it. Then college, marriage, kids, etc ..... fast forward to today and I can't wait to relive my youth all over again. It may be at a slightly SLOWER pace but I plan to be still moving. The biggest BONUS will be that money will not be an issue whereas 40 years ago it certainly was! Finally, for the few of you that I've met and gotten to know and know me, I plan on creating some interesting mods for both generations of Vibes. I just hope there are still enough on the road and that many of you out there stick around to see what I whip up. A wrencher till they take me out to the "back 40" and do me in ;)
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2009 Vibe GT (manual), 2009 G8Gt, 2009 Vibe GT (auto)
2014 Silverado, 2004 Vibe GT

"everything is modifiable"
zbyers
Posts: 1767
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2014 6:12 pm
Location: Sheffield, Pennsylvania

Re: Are you getting tired of working on your car ?

Post by zbyers »

I am not tired of it because most of the work I do is really just routine maintenance. Once I hit the point where it's no longer routine and I'm working on it because she's old and things are breaking, rust (see my post on the "What did you do today" thread), etc. that's when I cross the line. I bought my 2003 GT for 2k 4 years ago with 230k miles. Now nearing 275k miles, they have been relatively trouble free. I have sunk more into the car between brakes, rotors, struts, windshield, tires, etc. but nothing that I've deemed the final straw because she runs flawlessly and doesn't leak a drop. But that rust...that's gonna do her in. Inspection is up in July and I'm not sure what I am going to do then.
'74 Thing, '79 El Camino, '83 VW DoKa '91 Vanagon, '03 Base, 04 GT
'06 CRV, '06 AWD, '07 Base, '12 Highlander Limited, '17 Frontier CCLB

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