Personal Finance King

A Personal Finance Money Blog from a Christian Perspective

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Recommended Sites
You are here: Home / Saving Money / Staying on the Road: Used Car Repair on the Cheap

Staying on the Road: Used Car Repair on the Cheap

August 12, 2020 by Barnaby

Last time, I detailed the expenses involved in Grey getting his 2009 Mazda 3 on the road. He was excited to have cleared all the regulatory hurdles, but there were storm clouds on the horizon: the paper-thin clutch we had identified during the test drive. 

To his credit, Grey was being proactive about it, and asking all the right questions:

He decided he couldn’t sleep with the uncertainty hanging over him, so he started to research clutch kit vendors. He checked out a couple local retailers – AutoZone and Standard Auto Parts – but settled on mail ordering from RockAuto due to their superior pricing. For $211, he received a new clutch set and flywheel. 

Uncertainty

Did I mention I was nervous about this project? I was nervous about this project. Grey is a fairly handy person – he helps out around the house – but he had zilch-o automotive repair experience. I’ve been taking our cars to Jiffy Lube for oil changes, so he hadn’t even done that basic job.

With previous household projects, I felt confident in my own experience and my ability to guide him, but I was totally out of my depth on this. I’d done some major repair work on my 1972 VW Beetle when I was a teenager, but that was eons ago. And not very applicable here, as I never had to completely pull an engine.

However, Grey did have a few advantages that I never had:

  • Indoor space with overhead crane. My father and brother had graciously agreed to let Grey use their shop workspace in East Baltimore.
  • Car-knowledgeable people nearby. Their company has a number of engineers and techs who are car enthusiasts.
  • Tools. The shop is filled with most every tool he would need.
  • Youtube. Grey would watch and re-watch a Mazda 3 clutch replacement video for step-by-step instructions on how to proceed. 

On Saturday, December 28, 2019, I went into the shop with Grey to help him get started. I would be back to work on Monday, so I wouldn’t be able to serve as a mechanic’s assistant for long. 

With the front wheels up on ramps, and with Youtube as our guide, we slowly removed and stored things: battery, starter, cables, etc. 

On His Own

On Monday, Grey was on his own. Sort of. He would work independently until he encountered a problem – then he would consult with my brother Grant or one of the other guys there. One day, Grey texted me this photo with Grant and two other guys under his car:

Other days, when he needed extra muscle, he’d recruit his sister, Pippa, who was home on Christmas break from college: 

The work was slow but steady. He had a heck of a time removing one of the wheel hubs. He had to purchase a replacement clutch slave cylinder ($120). He had to rent a bearing puller from Pep Boys ($27). During left front axle reassembly, he wrestled and cajoled it, only to learn (yay internet!) that he needed to blast it with heat to encourage it to comply:

He was learning like crazy, but it wasn’t all mechanical insights. A week into the project, Grant CCed me on this text to Grey: 

A week after that, he called Grey back to the shop in the evening to clean up a sink he’d left a mess:

Two days shy of four weeks after he started, Grey had the Mazda fully assembled again, sans a couple small mystery parts. He started it up, slipped it into gear, and tentatively let out the clutch. It grabbed, the engine sputtered, Grey punched the gas, and it lurched out of the shop.

Success! I couldn’t have been prouder. 

Additional Fixes

In the ensuing months, there would be other issues, most notably a door latch electrical issue that had been sloppily repaired by a shop previously, as discussed here.

But again, the learning opportunity was equal to the problem. We went together to the LKQ Pick Your Part (formerly Crazy Ray’s) junk yard in East Baltimore, which just happened to have the same year, make, and model as Grey’s. 

We pulled the driver’s door panel and stripped out the latch electrical connector. While we were there, we also nabbed a right tail light cover and owner’s manual. Total cost for all 3 items: $41  

For those keeping score at home, here is the grand total expense of Grey’s car investment so far:

$1,700 Purchase
$246 Inspection & Inspection Repairs
$489 Tax, Tags & Title
$10 Emissions 
$399 Repairs detailed in this post

Grand Total: $2,844 

Plus lots of sweat equity. 

Plus $3,236 in annual insurance cost (discounted 15% starting in September due to COVID).

Benefit of experience gained and lessons learned? Priceless.

Filed Under: Kids & Finance, Saving Money Tagged With: diy car repair, inexpensive car repair

About Me

About Barnaby King Welcome to the Personal Finance King blog, which explores issues of Money, Faith, Work, and Family. I am Barnaby King. More
Subscribe to Receive New Posts by Email:

Check your inbox or spam folder now to confirm your subscription.

RSS RSS Feed

  • Quick Takes: Riding Greyhound, Winning Mega Millions & Human Composting
  • Know Your Value
  • My Tiny Bitcoin Investment Lost 64% of Its Value

Most Popular Posts

1. How Should We Respond to Needy People on the Street?
2. We Ported Our Landline Phone to Google Voice, Saving $46 Per Month
3. What Is the Role of Faith in Personal Finance?
4. 9 Life and Finance Lessons from “Alexander Hamilton” Biography by Ron Chernow
5. Top 8 Free and Offbeat Historic Things to Do in Baltimore
6. Why We Live in Baltimore Despite Its Problems
7. How a Prized Pocket Knife Was Imperiled on a Trip to See the Rockettes
8. Is 16 Too Old for a First Phone?

Categories

  • Earning Money
  • Faith & Finance
  • Kids & Finance
  • Love & Finance
  • Misc Finance
  • Politics & Finance
  • Saving Money
  • Travel & Finance
  • Uncategorized
  • Work & Finance

Archive

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • August 2022
  • June 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016

Copyright © 2023 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in