I am mechanic hear me roar...

As mentioned in my last blog I know very little about cars, but I am good at learning new things. Any time I find a new interest I jump straight into full blown research mode, I learn as much as I can about the subject as quickly as possible and I’m not afraid to give things a go. So with repair bills looming on the horizon for things I don’t even know where to find on the car I decided the best course of action was to save money where I could by fixing the things I did understand. After a week an a half of research and part locating and purchase I have just embarked upon my first attempt at self taught car mechanics. First I removed the old damaged rear number plate light and then I wired in and installed the new one, which was surprisingly straight forward, but then electrical appliance repair isn’t a new skill since I used to have to do basic repairs when I worked in a hardware store. Number plate light is now successfully replaced and in full working order. Next on the list was the headlight bulbs, only one of which was faulty but I decided it was better to replace both at the same time so they match and don’t still look like one is dimmer than the other. This should have been fairly straightforward but it was bloody cold outside and by this point I had numb fingers and really struggled to grip the incredibly hard to open locking mechanism that holds the bulbs in place. Eventually I managed and swapped out the bulbs for new ones, just as a second flurry of snow for the day started, thankfully the bulbs didn’t get wet and they too are now fully functional and can be checked off the list. Third on the list was the rear windscreen wiper, it had been worn down to almost nothing as my sister hadn’t expected the car to be saved so she hadn’t bothered to replace it so this was a very needed repair. Rather than spend a lot of money on a single blade of the right size, I rather sneakily purchased a set of much larger blades from poundland and cut the generic wiper blade to fit. A little bit more work but not only was it cheaper I also have a second back up for the next time it needs replaced. Another job done and a great way to save a few quid towards the larger repair bills I can’t do myself!

The front windscreen wipers also need replaced but despite several attempts I haven’t managed to remove the old ones yet as they don’t seem to match the how to diagrams in the car manual and as I don’t want to be heavy handed and end up breaking something I’m going to leave them for now and get my brother in law to help me in the morning before we go to the garage for the rest of the repairs.

In the grand scheme of things, its certainly not a huge deal for a proper car mechanic to do the work I’ve done today and it would probably only take about a quarter of the time it took me – but I have to say I feel great knowing that I’ve done it myself. I always get a great sense of satisfaction when I manage to do something myself but this time in particular is even better since its something I never thought I would ever do and knowing that Dad would have been proud of me for even attempting it means more to me than the fact I managed to do the work in the first place.