Car D.I.Y.

[Drago]

I sneak round Accy's after dark and drain my oil on his front path. Much easier than using a catch pan.

 

[Moodyman]

Some cars are a pain to do oil changes. Our easiest was a Yaris. Filter at the front so very accessible. Literal 5 minute change.

Indeed. Toyotas are not only well made and durable, they’re very well thought out for maintenance.

 

[gbb]

Think my battery needs replacing, I occasionally get a 'charging system malfunction' message on the display.
Battery is 5 years old and message only appears on start up then clears almost immediately.
Reasonable to assume it drops just below a voltage threshold on startup. Alternator.must be ok or the fault would be permanent.
EFB technology, £120 for a decent one, considerably dearer for an AGM one.
My brain is still sitting 40 years ago when you could buy a battery for £30

 

[Drago]

Indeed. Toyotas are not only well made and durable, they’re very well thought out for maintenance.

Not entirely my experience. Our Prius was lovely to look at but south of 100k was getting quite lacy underneath to the point it was becoming problematic.

I would suggest Honda, in most cases, are the varsity for mass produced fit and finish.

 

[sevenfourate]

Think my battery needs replacing, I occasionally get a 'charging system malfunction' message on the display.
Battery is 5 years old and message only appears on start up then clears almost immediately.
Reasonable to assume it drops just below a voltage threshold on startup. Alternator.must be ok or the fault would be permanent.
EFB technology, £120 for a decent one, considerably dearer for an AGM one.
My brain is still sitting 40 years ago when you could buy a battery for £30

£178; for a semi-decent AGM battery for my Sons 13 plate Punto with Stop-Start.
I was stuck in the £30-£40 pricing too - until it came to actually paying for it 🤣

 

[Illaveago]

I usually use one of those cheap roasting/tinfoil things as a oil catch...as for stubborn oil filters a screwdriver and hammer usually does the job if I can't get a grip.As in hammer screwdriver into filter and twist 😁

Yes I used to see them do that in garages . One chap did it then discovered that it had a bolt at the bottom !

There wasn't much room in my Jag to use a hammer .

 

[Adam4868]

Yes I used to see them do that in garages . One chap did it then discovered that it had a bolt at the bottom !

There wasn't much room in my Jag to use a hammer .

There's always room for a hammer..my most versatile tool 😁

 

[Drago]

£178; for a semi-decent AGM battery for my Sons 13 plate Punto with Stop-Start.
I was stuck in the £30-£40 pricing too - until it came to actually paying for it 🤣

Does a small Punto motor need AGM? When researching my new battery I discovered only the big bore pugs with StopStart used AGM, while the 1.6 and below range used EFB, much to my wallets relief.

 

[sevenfourate]

Does a small Punto motor need AGM? When researching my new battery I discovered only the big bore pugs with StopStart used AGM, while the 1.6 and below range used EFB, much to my wallets relief.

I simply replaced like for like. Well - asked my garage to - which they never questioned. Rightly or wrongly. On both accounts….

I suspect he may well have been able to do without: perhaps. But with him doing a fair bit of stop / start Town driving I suspect the AGM is the better bet.

 

[Jameshow]

Does a small Punto motor need AGM? When researching my new battery I discovered only the big bore pugs with StopStart used AGM, while the 1.6 and below range used EFB, much to my wallets relief.

I doubt it! Unless your a Hermes driver!!

 

[fossyant]

Indeed. Toyotas are not only well made and durable, they’re very well thought out for maintenance.

The Aygo is easy to work on too (filter near back at one side but at bottom, so easy access. My car has the filter half way up the engine, at the back, above the exhaust. PITA to get at and needs the oil filter tool or it's not coming off.

As for catching oil, I've started using an oldd 25l container (had snow foam in) and cut one side out. Loads of capacity, but you've still got the pourer and cap, so easy to decant into old oil cans for disposing.

 

[gbb]

Does a small Punto motor need AGM? When researching my new battery I discovered only the big bore pugs with StopStart used AGM, while the 1.6 and below range used EFB, much to my wallets relief.

On the grounds my Mazda, granted 2.0, is EFB as standard I believe, added I have not used stop start on mine that much, a lot of motorway miles for me....and the battery has lasted 5 years, it would seem EFB is quite sufficient. I guess if you were driving in the city a lot and using stop start a lot, perhaps AGM would be a sensible.. but expensive choice.

 

[gbb]

on the subject of servicing, the Mazda is actually not particually DIY friendly. Sump and filter are covered by the usual undercar panels, filter is a bugger to get to underneath the car, bottom rear of engine, right behind the sump. Not too bad if you don't mind squirming under the car and doing it all at arms length....

 

[Illaveago]

I was just thinking of the cars which I have had and which ones weren't bad for doing oil and filter changes on . The old Mini wasn't bad once you removed the front grille as it made access to the filter easier. Our Vauxhall Corsa B model 1.2 wasn't bad in having the oil filter placed at the top.
Our Kia Venga 1.6 has to have a small under tray removed but the difficulty is filling it back up as the engine slopes back and the filler cap on the rocker box is halfway under the bulkhead! The number of times I poured oil all over the engine !

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I was just thinking of the cars which I have had and which ones weren't bad for doing oil and filter changes on . The old Mini wasn't bad once you removed the front grille as it made access to the filter easier. Our Vauxhall Corsa B model 1.2 wasn't bad in having the oil filter placed at the top.
Our Kia Venga 1.6 has to have a small under tray removed but the difficulty is filling it back up as the engine slopes back and the filler cap on the rocker box is halfway under the bulkhead! The number of times I poured oil all over the engine !

Did you ever bother doing an oil change on the Mini? we found with ours that over the course of a couple of months of topping the oil up none of the original could still be in it.