only easy when you know the answer

now i,m no expert ,bout motors there are plenty of guys on here than can tell u most things , but it seems to me there are quite a number of the very young team on here that know o ,bout motors full stop. this is only an observation & jn no way acritisim, anyway an easy way to start is to purchase a hayens manual, now i hear loads of u saying crap ETC but its astart. its only easy when u know the answer. when i wuz aboy , iknow that wasn,t yesterday my father kept me informed what he was doing to the car if u know what i mean. i learnt because he showed me things.
i,m only saying this because the very basic q,s that my wife could answer
[this is no way downing women ] are asked time & time again.
changing oil &filter wiper blades etc is basic stuff. 1 of the first things u do when u purchase a car is buy a hayens manual aswell, this in no way tells u
everything u want to know ,bout ur motor but its a start
obviously nothing new, but this is asimple start.

I guess some people have no interest in getting their hands dirty and enjoy other aspects rather than the mechanical side. I suppose there was more of a necessity to know about cars 20 years ago when they were more unreliable and you might have been able to fix them at the roadside. Modern cars seem much more reliable and if they go wrong probably an electrical fault. If Haynes makes a manual for you car no problem but they only cover very popular models these days, they don't make one for the Alfa 156 even though it's a popular model, they probably reckon the average owner doesn't like to get oily fingers.. Definately worth shaddowing someone who knows what they're doing, best way of learning I find, much better than struggling to understand a textural description and some of the dodgy b&w photos in Haynes.

Finally this forum is a great source of help, I've found solutions to problems on here many times thanks to the help offered by other members.

i was refering to the very basic stuff ie oil filter location change oil,etc etc
sites like this are a different story very helpfull indeed. its very helpfull
to get afew tips from someone who has actualy carried out a certain task
hayens manual is just abasic start & is better than nothing dodgy photos & all

Not much you can do at side of road with broken timing belt though

when i got my cinq i knew nothing about engines. 3months after i started driving it blew the HG, and i didnt like the quotes from garages - so haynes in hand i did it myself. since then i've done engine swaps, hg on a few cars, brake upgrades, disc conversions, suspension changes, worked on 600cc turbo engines, 2.0 turbo t series engine, all sorts. learn by doing, its the best way.

i know what you mean abuot most people not knowing the basics though. my sisters car was due an oil change, and her boyfriend asked if i'd do it for him. I said no, but i'll show you how to do it. Which i did, and he was asking a few other questions about what was what - so hopefully now, he can do a basic service on the car himself :thumb;

a haynes manual is always a good thing to have i think.... ok they dont make them for all cars but a lot maufacturers share a common engine in their cars (Fiats FIRE engine for example) so even if you get one for a similar but not exact model it can always help you out.

For example, I've changed head gaskets on puntos and used a panda haynes manual to find out the torque settings on the head bolts etc... I think their quite informative and always good to have as a backup plan when you set out to do some work on your car that you've not actually attempted before.

Sadly they dont cover the rarer engines, almost regardless of which car make and model.

I bought 1 not long ago for my mk1 punto. Since then I've fixed no end of niggly little jobs and attempted things I knew nothing about at the time. The only thing better is to get down your local scrappy and take a few tools. Even if it goes wrong here you still learn and don't have to pay for it to be put right. My mate was gonna scrap his car a while back so we took it apart and put it back together just so we could learn a thing or two.

Its well worth just tinkering with your car even if your not fixing anything as you will learn no end of stuff and will save on those inevitable labour charges, after all its a fiat

now i'm no english teacher, but it seems to me there are quite a number of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes in the above 2 paragraphs. this is only an observation and in no way a criticism. an easy way to improve your english langage skills is to enrol on a English Language GCSE - Fast Track course at your local college. you may be sceptical about such courses, but its a start. the english language is only easy when you are familair with its spelling and syntax. when I was at school my English teacher made sure I was familiar with all the content of the syllabus.
i'm only raising this issue because the very basic language skills my girlfriend could master are ignored time and time again in your post. spelling, sentence structure etc are basic skills. one of the first things you must do when you want to communicate with people on a forum is ensure you have the required language skills. this will not ensure that i can understand every post you submit, but its a good start.

Perhaps this is an ironic joke I'm missing, but aren't you calling the kettle black?

No, his "shift" and "caps lock" button works intermittantly, just never at the correct time. Either that or he is the master of subtle irony

very good son took u awee while to get there

i do not see any instance where i have said something about someone else which is actually true about myself.

are you suggesting my english language skills are comparable with jimboy's first post?

i'm well aware of when a capital letter is appropriate, i'm also aware that on a forum it is not good practive to use capitals unless absolutely neccessary. i do not feel that this in any way decreases the legibility of my post.

I hadn't heard that before.

lighten up son i,m quite new 2 this computer typing ect. but thats half the fun isnt it mistakes & all. i,m not pretending to be anything else
than an old git getting a bit of crack on line so 2 speak, so once again son
dont come across as a stiff so & so