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Interested in doing my own car maintenance.. Advice?

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mwb1100:
Some parts stores will rent you the "one time use" tool rather than making you buy it.
-MilesAhead (March 09, 2015, 12:03 PM)
--- End quote ---

Yes - keep this in mind for those oddball tools that have a single, specialized purpose.  Some of the parts stores around here (Seattle area) will 'rent' these tools for nothing - essentially you pay for the tool then return it.  While this might sound like a scammy way to borrow a tool, it's the way the store has designed their loaner program.

And personally I like the Haynes brand of repair manuals, though I often combine using a Haynes book with the official technician's manual from the manufacturer if it's not too expensive.  I'm not really a mechanic, so I find it helpful to have a couple different perspectives on how something needs to be done.  But like you said, youtube makes this kind of thing a lot clearer than just going by books.

MilesAhead:
btw does this machine have standard stick or automatic transmission?  I'm mentioning it because many people think "low mileage" is the key to everything.  But with cars over 5 years old, especially if they are stick shift, what you may find is that the brakes have never been serviced.  The driver down shifts to put the car's first brake job onto the next owner.

Especially a foreign car you may find the calipers cannot be serviced as it is solid rust etc..

What can happen is you pay for factory rebuilt or new parts, which on a foreign job, may require a straight from the dealer purchase.  You can take a serious beating in this fashion.  The moral of the story is, drive slow and downshift.  Put the brake job off to the next owner.  ;)

mouser:
It's a 2008 auto.

Joe Hone:
To offer a contra opinion (and just because you asked. . .), I take my car to a mechanic who doesn't hesitate to tell me a repair is not needed, or not needed for another ____ miles, or most recently, that it was possible to fix but would never interfere with the car's operation and wasn't a safety concern, so why bother. I drove that car 2300 miles in 32 hours straight last week. I read recently about a lady who drove from Phoenix, Arizona to Riverside, California (350 miles) because the Riverside mechanic was honest, didn't overcharge and gave good maintenance advice. I think if you ask around you will find the same mechanic where you are.

Target:
most of the jobs you're probably going to tackle are pretty basic, and certainly nothing to be afraid of.  Rental agencies will generally look after their cars pretty well (they're depending on them after all - renters, not so much :o) so most things should be ok.

Modern cars are generally pretty reliable so the stuff you're probably looking at to start with is oil and filter changes, and spark plugs. 

Check the users handbook that came with the car for servicing schedules (download it if you didn't get one).  It will tell you the recommended intervals and what to change when.

You should also be able to get away with a minimum of tools for the basic stuff but as has been mentioned previously safety is paramount.  NEVER EVER EVER get under a vehicle resting solely on jacks, ALWAYS use an approved jack stand and remove the jack.  Also you shouldn't need to buy a jack, there should have been one in the car when you bought it. 

You can build a basic tool set piecemeal but a plug socket, a ring spanner (for the sump plug), a filter spanner and a 'drip tray' to catch waste oil will cover the basics.  And probably some feeler gauges to gap the new plugs...

+1 to what Chris said, but instead of taking notes, take pictures!!  A picture tells a thousand words and digital cameras make it super easy to document a process and will make it much easier if you want to tackle bigger jobs like brakes.  Plus if you want to compare something against what you're seeing on the net...

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