who services their own Esprit?

[mr.oogieboogie]

will do most things or try to , oil brakes etc, things i wont do cam belt and clutch

[mayevora]

Always take it to somebody who knows what they are doing - at least more than I do. Would love to have the know how and the patience to service the cars but would rather pay somebody to do a proper job as aposed to a bodge by me.

[iainskea]

I try and do most things within my competence to do so - basic / semi-skilled stuff. That said, I still usually flick an e-mail to Steve Taylor (Elan Factory), who has done my engine etc, beforehand and asked advice /tips / traps and the like.

Amazing what the specialists know, and I use them where ever I can afford to. Sometime I just have to wait...

Iain

[bigsi]

im quite good and paitient when it comes to technical things the only thing that lets me down is my body being right sided its difficult to do most things these days, but im happy to do an "A" service myself, i will do most of a "B" service but wouldnt dream of doing a "C" service myself as theres no way i could do it on my own, i would rather pay troy to do a "c" service on mine rather than cause issues and more than likely make mistakes by doing it by myself.

however im more than happy to spend 8 hours cleaning everything

[Kimbers]

Are you all insane? Would you operate on your own kids at home, even if you were a nurse?

Would you dig a grave for a relative who passed away?

Do you have a dog and then bark at the postie yourself?

I'm sorry but life is too short and I don't work 6 days a week to work on my days off on painting, working on the car or DIY. I work so I can be lazy and pay someone else to do all that crap!

[andydclements]

Lets put that comment in perspective.

"Can anybody change a battery for me?"

[rogerch]

Just one point, it looks like we all forgot, and that's the all important smear of oil on the seal of the new oil filter, it prevents the rubber puckering as you tighten it, thereby preventing nasty leaks.

There is no need to over tighten the oil filter, tight by hand will do it, you're not trying to hold up the Titanic!

Roger

[hilly]

I haven't got much choice as I don't suppose anyone would touch mine now

I always send my daily driver to the garage for a service so I can't complain too much.

Hilly

[Kimbers]

Lets put that comment in perspective.

"Can anybody change a battery for me?"

Rearrange this well known phrase. "Arse your up it stick"

(I didn't have any tools that was the only problem )

[Hippo]

Do you have a dog and then bark at the postie yourself?

yes...but he seems to like it

[bigsi]

as i dont do a lot these days i need something to keep me going clinically insane, or induing psychosis, so im glad i get to tinker with the car! and all you have to do is follow the manual, just think of it like a real big airfix kit kimbers

Edited March 1, 2008 by bigsi

[OwenGT3]

Hi,

I do everything myself unless I don't have the facilities, but then I should as I'm a qualified motor technician and was in the motor trade for 17 years and did most things, mechanical, panel beating and paint. Things I don't do is like just this last week having some tyres fitted, not that I can't fit tyres, fitted hundreds in my time, but I just don't have the equipment to fit them. When I decide to have my car painted I will prep the car, but a mate who's still in the trade and a painter will paint the car, again it's just because I don't have painting premises.

I do all my own work not only to save money, in fact a lot of money saved, but for my peace of mind. If you find a good garage and mechanic stick with them as there are a lot of cowboys out there, and not just in the small back street garages, the big concerns as well. Bonus is the problem and the need to chase it, painters earn loads because they could cut corners easily. Panel beaters would come in second bonus wise, again the ability to cut corners and then it's MET (mechanical, electrical and trim) coming in last. I worked mainly in MET and making bonus in this area is hard because you can't cut corners so much, if something has to come off, it has to come off. Also times were always tight and a job very rarely got done in the alloted time. If a MET mechanic is making loads of bonus it's not because they are good at their job, it's because they have been able to cut corners doing the job, and sometimes that's is not always a good thing!

Regarding Kimbers comments on the subject - "Do you have a dog and then bark at the postie yourself?" I do my work because I enjoy tinkering on the car, I got fed up with the motor trade so left, especially working on pieces of s**t that owners didn't care for, some nice cars as well that were tread like crap because money wasn't an issue to them. I was bought up to look after the things you buy, possibly why I have a house full of stuff that I have owned for years and it's still as good as new. I still love working on cars, but only my own, I could make a fortune working on others cars, but why? I don't want to be working all hours, like Kimbers I want quality time to do my own things, it's just this does include working on my Esprit.

Some may have read in other threads my list of job's I've done since owning the car just under a year, it's a shame that a car like this could be left to get in such a state. I don't know who done all the jobs, but who ever done some of them fitted the mould as a bonus chaser, cutting corners to get the job done regardless of the pedigree of the motor they were working on, I think some of them forget the car was once a

[SE Owner :-D]

I service mine with Petrol.

Rog

[fjmuurling]

Part of the fun I have with the car is maintaining it. I do A,B and C services myself. Whenever I do something on the car I keep a detailed history in an access file, all the bills go into a seperate binder. If I don't have the right tools I buy them. If I have a question I use the Forum or call my main parts supplier or call/email Lotus technical support for an answer. I spent about 15 years at sea as an navigational and engineering officer where I learned the trade.

When I just got the car I took it to an independant Lotus specialist in order to fix a leaking clutch slave cylinder and fitting a StST clutch line. When I picked the car up they told me they overhauled the slave cylinder but next time it needs renewing but it is fine now. Shortly after that the thing started leaking again and on further investigation I found the the master cylinder leaking as well. From then on I decided to do all the work on the car myself as the only garage (which is my main parts supplier) I trust to work on my car is 300 km away.

Freek

[Bazza 907]

I'm with Kimbers on this one although I have rebuilt cars in my time.

Working 75 hours a week with only the weekends off I'd rather pay somebody I trust so I can spend time with the family or actually drive the cars.

Bazza

[Kimbers]

Thanks Barrie. Nice to see I'm not the only one!....Though I think Rogers cryptic reply means that he's in the same boat.

What i find funny is how Bibs, our esteemed leader, talks about doing your own work and yet everytime I call up Troy's round there!

Either Caroline and Laura have something to worry about or Bibs aspires to our way of running a Lotus!

[andydclements]

Either Caroline and Laura have something to worry about :

Jealousy is a sin.

[Bibs]

What i find funny is how Bibs, our esteemed leader, talks about doing your own work and yet everytime I call up Troy's round there!

Have I posted in this thread? I don't recall advocating doing my own work?

I am a numpty when it comes to spanners on an Esprit. I used to commute 50K a year and would service my own cars but although I'm technically very knowledgable on the Esprit now all of my spanner work is done by Troy, I think that's well known. I can change a battery though!

[arbell9]

I think I have said this else where, I am not bright with mechanical things and I tend not to do the homework on how to do it in advance which is a dangerous combo for car fixing.

I like to have someone experienced work on my car, that gives me the confidence to drive it the way I want too. If I tinker with it, I worry that something will fall off.

I also dont mind paying a fair rate of pay for people with these skills, but I do hate paying

[Kimbers]

Relax oh almighty one! Twas but a joke mi lord!

We all know that your contribution is with the pointy finger! Good pointing at the red pipe BTW, it's knackered.

[Advantage]

I've kinda got a foot in both camps here. I've no issue with getting the spanners (and hammers) out if something needs doing but sometimes you need motivation. I've just had Cos (at Sporto) replace the cambelt quite simply because I couldn't be *rsed to scrabble around on the floor doing it, although there is nothing complicated about the procedure.

While it was there, I had a full geo done (front camber was miles out). Again, nothing overly technical but a lack of laser aligning equipment at home meant it was a job for a knowledgeable bunch.

If I had to pay Cos to do all the jobs that have cropped up over the past couple of years, we wouldn't be going on an expensive holiday in a couple of weeks and I wouldn't be able to look myself in the mirror, either.

[Kimbers]

You must get through alot of mirrors that way!

[Advantage]

To look this good takes more than luck, y'know.

[rogerch]

An inteligent question, I think!

As I said I have only changed the oil once, when I first got it over here last November, I failed to get all the old oil out. Next time, I was going to, WITH THE PLUGS OUT, spin the motor on the starter to see if I could get all pumped through to the sump.

Any one got any ideas thoughts, comments, as to how you get the last bit of oil out of I'm assuming the cooler.

As a poor lowley student these days, if I could not do it myself, I would not be able to afford the car, any way, I thought that was half the fun of having a Lotus, + there is a lack of Lotus specialist around here, nearest would be like going from London to Glasgow. When it went for it's road worthynes certificate, the local garage said, "Nice car, don't bring it here for service"!

Roger B)

[Advantage]

There is another side to this, of course. Re-sale value.

I'm not too fussed about the Esprit because values are fairly static for 4 cyl cars. On something as depreciation happy as my Range Rover, a Full LR Service History is an absolute must if you want it to be worth much more than a bag of empty baked bean tins when trading it in.

Despite the mechanical bits not being anything too complicated on the current Range Rover (the software for fixing the electwonic twickerwy is available too) in about 3k miles it's due a glorified oilchange.

I'm fully capable of carrying out this procedure. (I've just nailed it back together after performing the statutory annual front diff/propshaft repair) However, I'm going to be forced to spend around