I used to do a lot of work on my cars, from the routine oil changes, tune-ups (remember those) and brakes to the occasional electrical problem, and then on to working on my street rod, a '66 GTO.


In that car Ireplaced the camshaft myself, (had headwork done by a pro shop at the same time), replaced the stock clutch with a racing setup (40 lb. billet steel flywheel, blowproof clutch, 3400 lb. pressure plate), replaced the rear gears with a set of 4.88 Pontiac racing gears, aluminum 2 piece manifold with heat riser blockoff, replaced the Rochester carb with a Holley 780 dual feed singlepumper (shoulda gone with the double pumper, I still think it was undercarbed), and a few other little odds and ends... with 12 inch cheatersthat car was ferocious off the line... wish I still had it though I'd probably be afraid to drive it like I used to, lol!

As I progressed in my jobs I had less and less time so I farmed out all the maintenance work to the local shops for the past 20 or so years. Even now I stay pretty busy taking care of 10 acres and the house, but with not working a full time job since October, the maintenance issues are coming back home simply due to cost. The XC90 will be due for the oil change as soon as next week, and will be looking at rear brakes for it soon, and brakes front and rear for my car too, an '02 Pontiac Grand Prix.

This forum is going to be very valuable as I get my hands back into these maintenance activities!

 

I do all preventative maintenance on all my autos. It's fun and it gets me away from the wife and kids for a while. I also do mild to mid range repairs, although I'm terrible at diagnosing the newer vehicles. Gimme an old mustang anyday. No body work at all, I am smart enough to know that I will never do it well enough to satisfy myself. But with the help of the internet and especially this forum, I am starting to delve further into the difficult stuff.

 

I just fixed my furnace tonight................Does that count?

 

I don't do any work outside of washer fluid and tail light bulbs. I'm a full time college student and am so busy taking 15 credits of psychology every semester that I don't really have time to sneak an auto tech course in there. Thankfully I have a good honest mechanic (not a dealer) who charges very reasonable rates who does my work for me.

I might eventually take an auto course at the local community college so I can do some things (oil, brakes) myself, but I wouldn't do that until I'm done with grad school and hopefully PhD studies.

 

The first "repair" that I'm doing is replacement of the license plate lights! I know it's lame and cliche, but I'm a girl and not too mechanically inclined. I'm hoping to build a good raport with my new found mechanic here @ the import auto place, but I still want to be able to make informed decisions about my car. Just because I can't necessarily perform the task myself doesn't mean that I can't understand how it works or if it's a rip-off.

This is the first car that I've had that I feel has been an investment, not just something to get me by.

 

I do all the work on my 240 - I find it a pretty simple car to work on. My wife's '02 S40 on the other hand, I let our tech take care of it. The body is very good, so nothing needed there for a long time. The mechanical end of things are too complicated for a simple body & paint guy like me. Luckily, the mechanic who works for us is a pretty smart cookie and the S40 has needed only a timing belt service.
Here in Sarnia, we're lucky to have some highly skilled Volvo Gurus (one is one of the top techs in Canada), so if we ever run into something difficult, they'll be there to bail us out.

 

i don't even remember the last time either my or my dad's volvo was in the shop, he does everything his self, saves a lot of money.

 

I do all of the work on all of my vehicles myself.
I am a member of several forums, because from time to time I do need to be pointed in the right direction. As was the case with my V70, I read all of the advice on hear and fixed it myself..