Simple Car Repairs You Can Do Yourself

Deciding whether to do a car repair yourself is always a matter of weighing costs and benefits, depending on your mechanical abilities and the time you are willing to spend on the project. Some extensive repairs can only be done by a mechanic in a shop, but many common repairs are simple to do even for someone with little mechanical experience.

One of the easiest car repairs to do on your own is the replacement of your engine's spark plugs. Spark plugs need to be replaced every 10,000 to 60,000 miles, depending on your car and the type of spark plugs you are using. Worn-out or faulty spark plugs often cause engine misfires, rough idling and other issues related to their inability to reproduce a proper spark. Depending on your car's design and your experience, this job takes between two and four hours. The task is somewhat tedious but not difficult. The only tools necessary are a socket wrench, a spark plug socket and socket wrench extensions.

Replacing headlights, tail lights and turn signals is another job that calls for a home repair. This is easy to diagnose; if one of your lights goes out, it is usually either a blown fuse or the bulb itself. Once you rule out a blown fuse, the job of replacing the bulb is a very easy one. The procedure for replacing lights varies from car to car, but it usually just requires a basic socket wrench set and a little bit of your time.

The difficulty of replacing an alternator is a simple process on most engines. The alternator is responsible for turning mechanical energy from your crankshaft into mechanical energy to charge your car's battery, so a bad alternator results in a car starting at first and going dead as the battery drains. Replacement of the alternator requires vise grips, socket wrenches, combination wrenches and a screwdriver. Replacing your alternator is as simple as loosening your car's timing belt, taking the wires off your alternator and unbolting it, then doing the process in reverse with the new alternator. This process is tedious in some cars with cramped designs, but it is seldom difficult.

These car repairs are all relatively simple jobs that are easy to do with just a few basic tools. While their difficulty varies between cars, the deviation is never enough to make these jobs take more than an afternoon of hard work. As a bonus, doing these repairs teaches you about your car and equips you with basic skills that come in handy if you decide to tackle more difficult projects.