i have a 2k3 and i wanted to know how many miles is it when its time to take it to the shop to get it tuned??

 

do it yourself and save $$. i did mine at 30k, 60k, 90k

 

look in your owners manual...all the scheduled maintenece is there

 

"shop"? What's that?

 

 

my view: do it yourself or don't do it at all (well, except tire installation...kinda hard to do that yourself without the right equipment).....

the "shop" doesn't exist for me. The "dealer" only exists when it's warranty work and it's free, or when I need to buy a part

spend a few bucks and get a Factory Service Manual. The $50 or whatever you spend on it you will reap back tenfold in doing things yourself on the car. And that's why we're all here isn't it? - to learn about doing things on our car!

 

call me a wimp, but im afraid to do anything myself on my car! haha! i dont have much experiance with anything under the hood on any car...the only thing i can do is an oil change...hooray for me...

 

well everyone has to start somewhere. if you have the oil change down then doing a tranny drain and refill is very doable. you could also take a stab at a coolant flush as it principles are very similar.(you dont even have to tackle the plugs on the engine unless you had the want.) perform those few things along with the minute it takes to replace the air filter and you have almost half of the actual work a dealer does on the car. most of their fee is to inspect certain componets. you could take it in for a rotation and balance if its due and get them to change the plugs if you are dont feel comfortable. this is the first car that i have performed my work on and ive learned just about everything from the org and a haynes manual. i have an fsm but its really just a backup in case i get myself into trouble. i started with my first oil change about 2 years ago and now i feel comfortable tacking most anything. my point is you can learn a good bit about this car and future ones while saving yourself money.

 

Well, I think of it this way: working on a car isn't rocket science. Sure, a good mechanic is worth his weight in gold, but chances are that YOU can learn what it takes to do the job that people at the shop would do. The scary part is playing with things that you have never seen or heard about. Once you get that part out of the way it's not that bad.

I have a motorcycle that I do most of my own work on. I had crashed it a while back, and it was the best thing I've done. It was really easy to jump right into a big repair job when I knew the bike couldn't get any worse. Now I know the bike inside and out and I realize that the only things I need a shop for are things that either require equipment I don't have or things that, unfortunately, require more room than I have available to use at home (I don't even have my own garage to keep my car in).

If you have some free time and a place to work, I say jump in. I'm a perfectionist with work that I do, so I like knowing that the work I've done is done right.

 

there's only one way to learn....

sure you'll screw up sometimes (we all have) and have to spend a little $$ to fix the screw-up....but you'll save thousands of $$ over the years if you learn to work on your car yourself.

besides, think about it this way....Joe down at your local garage knows how to do everything on the "maintenance schedule" (plugs, oil, fluids, etc etc).

Joe dropped out of school when he was in 9th grade (since you're 16, you're at least a year or two farther than him!)

Joe has no interest in your car (You do)

Joe will put the cheapest, crappiest fluids, parts, etc on your car (you will get good quality stuff)

Joe will charge you $40 for a "blinker fluid change" if you are ignorant about your car....

Joe has an IQ of 14 (no, I am not saying mechanics are dumb...just Joe)

If Oil Monkey Joe can do your maintenance, I'm sure you can do it too!

damn, I'm such an inspiration

 

very true...im a little hesitant to do the plugs, as you stated..so i may leave stuff like that to the "shop" but i definitely could do the tranny drain...and yes, i can replace an air filter i need an fsm though so i can learn how to do a lot more things

 

find an org'er in your local maxima forum and see if he'd be willing to come over and teach you how to do all the basic maintenance on your car in exchange for beer and pizza or some cash.....I guarantee you'd find someone who'd be happy to teach you these things....."car guys" love to share/showoff their knowledge (just look around!)

 

wow that makes me feel a whole lot better! haha! especially since this "joe" person your'e talking about probably does have a shop down the street from me out here in hickville, tx...haha..and yes i understand that i need to learn how to do things..and that it just doesnt come naturally, but like i said before, im a little scared to mess something up...because for one, my mother would freak and never let me do anything myself on my car again (haha), and two, i dont want my baby to be hurt! like i said before, i can do just the small stuff like oil changes, possibly tranny flush, and air filter, but im just not too sure about replacing the plugs....

 

yeah and damnit! i missed the freaking meet today!! grr...i really want to know how it turned out...there were mostly people my age going though, so im not really sure if it would be all that helpful...but the guy who seemed to be hosting it (it was held at his house) seemed to be pretty "car smart" ...i really was going to go, because i wanted to learn more about my car, but i couldnt because i didnt want to drive on my deathtenzas in the rain (it was a crappy day today like always...i hate texas weather) and i had to do some work at home....grrrr

 

every area has the "veteran" maxima guy who's on his 4th maxima and has done every mod in the book, every maintenance procedure in the book, etc....(hell, we have like 5 or 6 of those guys around here).....hit him up and ask if he'd be willing to "share his expertise"....tell him how "knowledgeable" he is.....

just don't be so pushy to be annoying (as some of the young guys are sometimes because they're so excited about working on the car).....just express some interest in learning, and you will undoubtely find someone who'll teach ya!

 

And Irish has another disciple Funny thing is, I thought YOU were in highschool for the longest time. I couldn't figure out how you were managing all your mods and only working part time, hahahaha! I don't know who I must have mixed you up with...

 

im sure theres gotta be someone around here like that (even though out here most of the people own huge trucks) and i would be really happy if they would be willing to share some knowledge..but if he didnt want to, i definitely wouldnt sweat it, and annoy him...

 

my age is over on the left....

29 and in high school.

apparently my local 7-11 clerk thinks I am in high school, since she always cards me for smokes

EDIT: wrong pic!

 

For a lot of things it doesn't matter what kind of vehicle you learn on. If you learn a brake job on a truck you could probably do it on your Max. Things would be in different places, obviously, but if you get the concept of what you're trying to do you can take it from vehicle to vehicle for the most part.

 

exactly, but the thing is, i dont really know anyone that has that much skills with cars, and i was thinking about getting in contact with someone locally on the .org because yall are the only "car people" i talk to

 

Nah, it was one of your pics you put up a while back that made me realize I had the wrong person. I must have been reading a thread where someone in highschool had posted and I just associated your name with the thread. I'm still pretty new to the org, so it was a "first impression" kind of thing that stuck. I never even looked for the age in your info I figured this all out a little while back, but I just thought it was funny.

 

j/k. I've always wanted to use that pic for something, since it's such a lame/sucky pic....

 

I had it coming. Anyway, I'm out. 'Night guys.