Car maintenance courses

[u0362565]

Hi all,

Probably a common question so apologies if there are numerous posts about this elsewhere. I'm new to cars and have been trying to learn a bit of theory from hillier's fundamentals of motor vehicles. This is fine but i do glaze over after a while as there's no practical stimulus.

I can drive but don't own a car and i'd like to get some practical hands on experience. I do plan to buy a car probably within the next 6 months but even then it will probably be a fairly new car and have heard they're now too complicated for learning on and don't want to break a new car! And can't afford or have space on the road for 2 cars (permit parking everywhere!).

I live in edinburgh and edinburgh college do an automotive vehicle and repair course for enthusiasts (not sure if there's any qualification at the end) its 18-24 weeks long one evening a week. So was wondering if anyone has experience of attending these sorts of courses and if they're worthwhile? its quite a long course to sign up for if i'm not sure how interested i am yet. They don't give much detail about what you actually do on it either.. Right now though i don't see any other way of getting some hands on experience. Unless anyone knows if there are clubs where you can turn up and help people do up their cars!?

Thanks for the advice!

[Rob669]

A few years ago I did a six week course run by the council one evening a week and it covered the MOT test. I joined a group of men and women, about 10, and we checked over the cars we had brought for things like worn suspension, steering and we also covered car maintenance. The course gave me the confidence to work on cars and it has save me lots of money. I have since changed an engine, and it was a modern car, and changed a timing belt on a quad cam'd engine. The most important thing I learned was to have a decent set of tools, a workspace and always to use a good torque wrench.

Modern cars in my opinion are not that much different, they are more sophisticated and there are just lots of covers to remove to get at at all and some new tools are sometimes required from specialist suppliers.

[thatdude]

At the basic level, engines require the same things; fuel, air and a means of ignition (spark or compression). My wifes bmw 120d recently had terrible idling issues - there were no codes, but it was as if it was running lean. A physical inspection of the inlet manifold revealed bad deposits on the swirl flaps, preventing them from closing properly and hence the cylinders pretty much being out of balance in terms of the air they were pulling in against the fuel they were receiving.

So modern cars can be complicated, in terms of the electronic systems, but at the basic level a lot can be solved by physical inspection and repair. As for chassis components, its the same thing - new cars have bushes, like old cars, and brake calipers all operate in the same way.

You will be in line to save money in the long run if you can do a lot of work yourself, even if its just basic maintainence and some slightly less routine work. Buy tools when you need them, but you can start with a good set of tools from halfords and a torque wrench, particularly for wheel nuts and caliper bolts etc. understand the right things to use and where, e.g. Grease and antisieze and rubber greases.

[u0362565]

Thanks guys, you're right about modern cars, the basic principles are still the same. At the least you should be able to check most things that could cause the car to fail its MOT.

Hmm still not sure about this course though, wonder if it'll be too in depth, need to find someone who's already done it! Its £120 for 18-24 weeks so thats £6.50 per 3hr session, might be worth the investment.

Does anyone know if working on cars is an individual pastime or do groups exist where you can work on cars together perhaps as a project? i think it would be very useful to learn from others as you go.

cheers

[PositronicRay]

I'd like to something like this. All I can find in Warwickshire is full time C&G mechanics courses.

[Steve_F]

I've had a look at the same courses off and on, at the price it doesn't sound too bad. My Jeep, Transit and MX5 are all fairly simple so I should be able to work on all.

One of my mates bought a car c.£1k and spoke to the garage owner, they agreed that he could come in on Saturdays and shadow the mechanics. He's learned absolutely loads for free and the garage help him out when he needs. They get free labour who doesn't get in their way too much so it's a win win. Not many garages would agree to that though.

[u0362565]

I think its true to say that there is quite a lot of disparity for courses in different cities. I think edinburgh has a lot of variety but probably because its the capital.

Sounds like a nice idea to shadow guys at a garage but as you say probably not many would agree to it. I think my first job is probably to get a car! And the haynes manual and see what i can do.

I'd quite like an MX5 myself, my parents had a mark one when i was younger and i thought it was brilliant-can't believe they sold it. I've heard they're a good car for working on but i think it would have to be a second car not my primary one, just not practical enough. Hopefully there's still a few mark one's around in a few years time!