DIY Repairs: Peace of Mind Tips - Part 1

Ozzy is back! In this episode, Ozzy and I get into tips that make DIY car work go a lot smoother—and a lot less stressful. 

We talk about lifting your car, changing tires, and oil changes. Not a how-to, but focusing on the small habits and safety awareness that build confidence over time. We hope this episode will help you build peace of mind before you even pick up a wrench.

Stay in touch, share your thoughts, recommend your trusted mechanic as a guest, get good tips and find out when episodes drop by subscribing! Email us at goodcarmapodcast@gmail.com and visit the website goodcarmapodcast.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Keep in mind this podcast is meant to provide general information and is not meant to reflate having your car seen or serviced at a qualified shop. Hi, thanks for joining Good Karma Podcast, where I'm having a very peace-of-mind type conversation with Ozzie. Ozzie's back. We are going to talk about some tips on how to avoid some common mistakes when doing DIY projects on your car. So we're going to talk about changing tires, oil changes, and it's not going to be a how-to, but it'll just be just some good suggestions as you go through the process, ways to stay safe and to avoid little missteps. So you might remember Ozzie has several years of experience working as a lube tech and a mechanic at some a couple of major dealerships. He's also a graduate, fellow graduate from LA Trade Tech. Be sure to check out that school, Los Angeles Trade Technical College. And so he has a lot of experience with these kind of jobs and has some great tips to share. Just one thing I'll mention is we recorded outside over some lovely coffee at Van Dyke Coffee, the amazing Van Dyke Coffee in Koreatown. So we recorded outdoors on Olympic Boulevard. So I trusted a lot in the magic of noise cancellation. But you might hear a couple things here and there that technology or my my knowledge of technology was not able to overcome. Oh, and I am gonna break this into two parts because I feel like it kind of was it was kind of dense. There was a lot to talk about. So break it up into two parts. Here's part one with Anzi. Thanks for coming to do another episode for meaning to do another one. Totally appreciate it. And for talking about avoiding, avoiding some common mistakes. Want to just help people to think about repairs or things they can do on their own car that might seem really easy, but there's little things in there to be aware of to keep yourself the most safe and and to minimize. How did you put it? You put it better than I.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

For one, uh be safe. All right. When you work on your own car, you want to make sure that safety is the biggest thing, right? You don't want to hurt yourself. It's very easy. A lot of things that's for one, that's something we can start with. I think uh something people overlook with mechanics is it's a very dangerous job, a very dangerous environment, right? Like it's easy for machines fail, things fail. Right, not everything's perfect, so you have to make sure you're cautious and do things with certain steps, right, to ensure your safety, right? Because the car can fall at any moment. You just you gotta be very careful about that. And you know, that's obviously not the biggest thing, but like, or it is, but you know, when you're working on a car, it's very there's a lot of sharp objects, there's a lot of things that you can hurt yourself on, so just safety is takes you know priority over everything. Yeah, and don't rush, like do things like yeah, for sure, patience. Uh, one thing a lot of people do as well that I see is they try to rush a job or rush doing something right, because of course everybody's busy, right? We all have work to get to or have a certain deadline to meet, but smooth is fast, right? That's one thing with mechanics, I think, has helped me out a lot. Sometimes taking it a step at a time actually helps you get things done faster. You avoid mistakes, you keep yourself safe, and you know it's a job well done at the end of the day. And you know, when you take the proper steps, it also makes good quality work, you know. You so you do things right. Another thing is if you make mistakes, sometimes it may not be a safety thing, but it could also cost you more money, right? You mess something up that you weren't so aware of because maybe you were rushing, so you don't want that to happen for sure. So, one thing we can start off typically when you work on your car, you may need to lift it. And I think certain mistakes or common mistakes people might do is work on their car and only let it be held up by the jack. And that is something I definitely will say do not do. That's um it's pretty dangerous. Jack sometimes will lose the pressure that they have and will just slowly come down and you won't notice it. Um, so for sure when you lift up a car, lift up from the right point. Sometimes around the cars, there'll be jacking points, they'll uh pinch weld, I think is what they call it. It's a lift the lifting point of the car. So sometimes they'll be right behind the front tire or right in front of the rear tire. Um, there's also lifting points in the front bumper, sometimes to the left side of the car, to the right side. You can always research it, and I'm sure there'll be um certain websites that that tell you where your jacking points are.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

The jacking points are sort of flat little plates that are metal to uh part of the frames.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

And those are exactly where a jack can go. Yeah. But the pinchwell is like um a little thin piece of metal that's that goes, it's longer along the side of the each side of the car.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Yeah, so it's like um in the bottom of the frame rails, there'll be a little like extended piece out, or certain cars. I've also worked on Mercedes before, those have blocks, actual lifting blocks, so you'll see them. They're pretty big uh rectangle, um, again in the same location, right behind the front tire in front of the rear tire. So you definitely want to make sure you lift from there and you put your jack stands there. Um, for one, like I like I said, mentioned earlier, for sure, always use jack stands. I think it's a very important thing. And another little added safety that I like personally doing when I'm working on my cars, if I happen to lift it and need to remove both tires, I always put them under the car. So I'll put the rims and tires under, on top of also having the the jack stands on there, right? Because you know, you can never have enough enough safety and enough cushions. So that's another good thing that I would recommend doing. It's put the tires under the car as it's lifted. And again, it'll just be that extra safety precaution that you can take. So that's that's a big thing for sure.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Definitely. And so not everyone would have everyone should have a jack in the car, got like at least the the basic what it comes with. But yeah, jack stands, you're saying you need to go the extra stepping by jack stands.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Yeah, especially if you're gonna be under your car for an extended period of time. Say you're changing a tire, jack stands are not. I mean, if it's an emergency ride, like it's not a necessity for you to carry jacks in your car all the time, right? Because you just keep your feet clear of the tire, keep your feet clear of the car, and you'll be fine, right? You'll be as safe as possible. Um, but if yeah, if you're doing an oil change or you know, suspension job or a brake job, you for sure, for sure want jack stands. We don't want to be under your car when it's only being held up by the jack. So yeah, definitely invest in jack stands if you plan to repeatedly work on your car over time, you know what I mean? So yeah, I mean at any point, maybe if you plan to be under your maybe um I'm guessing auto auto parts stores maybe rent them or I don't know personally, have never seen them rent out jack sands, it might be a safety thing, but for sure they all sell them. And yeah, they're not super pricey. You go, I mean, to be honest, for someone who is not a professional and just wants to work on their car occasionally. I I used a Harbor Freight Jack stand, the Daytona ones, and they have given me no issues personally, and they're pretty inexpensive. I think they're like 40-50 bucks the last time I I went to go get some, and they worked great for me. Like again, like I said, if I ever take off my my wheels, I always put them into the car regardless. Yeah, with the jack stands, and you know, so so they're not super expensive, they're not gonna break the bank.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

Yeah, and a huge safety issue, so should be prioritized.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

What about um using chalks for the wheels? When do you do that?

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Yeah, for sure. If if you're on an incline, a lot of people would work on their cars on the driveway or maybe live on a hill or something, you for sure wanna put at least some sort of chalk or a big piece of wood behind your rear tire. So in case if anything happens, your car doesn't roll back and you know fall on you. For sure, don't. That would not be a good day.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

And do you put your car emergency brake on when you work in the city?

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I personally do. I mean, if it's uh if I'm only lifting the front up with the parking brake on and again, added safety.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

So okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

And so we talked about um if you are just changing, you know, one tire at a time, you could get away without a jack as long as you're staying clear of the car.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Yeah, yeah. You can get away with just using a jack. Um, especially like if you have uh if you're on the side of the road and you have a scissor jack or even just a small little jack, you as long as you all your limbs and body parts are safe in the car, you'll be okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:06

And so let's get a little more into tire changes. Um let's talk about getting the tires off and on. The best practice.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

If you don't have any power tools available to you before you lift up the car, you want to loosen the lug nuts while the car is on the ground so that way the tire doesn't spin once you lift it, and it's easy to come off once tires off the ground. So if you're on the side of the road and you need a change into your spare tire before you lift up car, um once the weight is all on the tire, you just want to crack them loose, all the lug nuts first, lift it, and then um, you know, continue to do the tire change. Um, that's for an emergency situation. Now, if you're at home, I mean the same thing follows, right? Um, make sure your car is safely on the in the air, jack stands and all the you know everything in the right place.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

And always flat whenever at all possible, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Yes, yes, yes. Always try to work on a on a flat, even surface, not on an inclined surface.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

So, yeah, you loosen the lug nuts when it's touching the ground, otherwise the wheel will just keep it.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Yeah, it'll be harder. It's in the air. Like I said, if you have power tools, it's easier. You can just do it when the tires in the air. I mean, the power tool has so much sudden force that it'll crack them loose, as long as they're torqued right, of course. Um, can segue to our next topic. Once you're done working on your car, if it's just, you know, you swapping the spare on or vice versa, you're putting your normal tire back on. One thing a lot of I think would be like a common mistake that a lot of people would make. A few things here. For one, I would recommend investing into a torque wrench, something that is pretty decent quality. It doesn't have to be the most expensive thing on the market or a digital torque wrench, but it could be a clip type. Um, I know Harbor Freight offers the icon one, which is pretty good. I've had pretty good experience, or Tecton torque wrenches are pretty good as well and pretty budget friendly for anybody who again will work on their car, or you'd think you're gonna be working on your car pretty frequently for sure or invest in the torque wrench.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Yeah, I was promoting that one actually in an episode about things to keep in your car. I think everyone should own their own. And I went, I bought mine at forever I didn't have a torque wrench, and I finally bought it at um Harbor Freight. Yeah, and I brought it to school to check to use um the machine to make sure it was it was calibrated right, and it was, it was like spot on.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Nice, yeah. It was only $150, so I was I was very yeah, like I said, uh I think Harbor Freight has come a long way over the years, to be honest, for in terms of like affordable and usable tools, right? Because sometimes something could be cheap, but doesn't mean it will be good, right? But part of the thing Harbor Freight is a perfect balance between you're not gonna completely you know buy yourself broke, but you know, you'll get yourself something that's decent and it'll work as you know if you're not using it every day. And even if you are, I mean I've used a lot of icon tools on a daily basis, pretty pretty rough, and they have given me no issues.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

So and so if you're if you're getting one that's let's say just for uh wheels for trucking lug nuts, um you probably want one that's the kind 70 to 200?

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Yeah, so there's one that's um 25 to 150, I believe, or 50 to 150.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Um, so you you typically want to get something that goes up to 150 depending on the type of vehicle you have. Um, another thing, too, if you're gonna move into doing some more advanced work into suspension or engine, you probably want to keep a separate torque wrench for separate functions, meaning you might want to keep a torque wrench specifically for lug nuts, you know, specifically for other things. So you don't wanna kind of mix everything right because again, the whole calibration thing, it might not be as exact after a few uses than it would be if you would use it for another purpose, right? So you wanna separate and keep everything kind of organized and for its own job, right? So yeah, so big thing is turning your wheels down. Um, specs you can always find online. Um you just search up, you know, lug nut torque spec for such and such model, and it'll come out.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Um I I was advising uh in another episode, so that same one of uh talking about how owning a torque wrench of people should know their own lug nut specs, but um I would not ask AI, like find it in some other source online.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

Oh yeah, just AI overview online to me. Yeah, no, the AI overview will it's probably not the most reliable thing. You definitely want to go to like a forum or something that's more uh human. Yeah, or sometimes there's um diagrams, like for the more common brands, you know, for Honda, for Toyota, I know a lot of their specs are pretty like public, right? Um torque specs for different things or just clearances and things of that sort are pretty public, to be honest. I mean, obviously, if you own something that's a little more less known, then it might be a little harder. But for the most part, like the big car brands that are out there, they're they're pretty public of a lot, a lot of their specs. So shouldn't be no issue finding it. But don't trust AI. Yeah, no, that's definitely no.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Um, okay, so whether you're using the gun or um just a hand tool to get the lug nuts off in the first place, taking them off, you could just do it in any order, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Yes, yes. You can you can remove the lug nuts in any order. Um, I remove them in star pattern just to practice good habit, right? Because that could bring us to our next thing. When you're tightening down um lug nuts, for one, you want to avoid using power tools at their highest level if you're gonna use a power tool to get it on there. Um, another thing too, please, with any bolt, it'll be good practice to thread it in by hand first.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

Right? If a lug nut or a nut of any kind or a bolt of any kind does not go in smoothly with your fingers, it probably is not going in right. Right? So just because it can go in with the power tool doesn't mean it should be going in. So always make sure you get at least two or three uh threads in there or tre uh yeah, threads in there with your fingers first and then go ahead and use the gun. Now when you use the gun, wait, wait, let me just ask you.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

So could that be a factor of either there's a problem with the actual threads or the lug nut? And also could it be that maybe you just don't even have the wheel on uh flush?

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Yes. Oh yeah, yeah. Um, so that's a good point as well. Yeah, when you put on a tire, you want to make sure it's kind of flush face to the to the disc. Sometimes it'll cause a little binding if it's you know too far out on the bottom and not far in enough in the top. Or so yeah, you want to make sure the tire is flush, you're holding it down, and everything is clear so that way when you go in and to put the lug nuts on it, everything's nice and smooth. So once everything is in nice and smooth, if you're gonna go ahead and use a power tool again, like I said, I advise using it at the lowest setting and just go until you feel it stop. Once the lug nut stops, I would not recommend to keep going because you can over torque them. That's when you want to um bring down your car slightly, um, put a little weight on the tire once it's on the ground. Don't completely let the car go down in full weight, but just enough to where it stops the tire, and then you go in with your torque wrench. And when you're tightening down the lug nuts with the torque wrench and the power tool, again, you want to make sure you do it a star pattern so that way it's not uneven, right? So once you go and torque it in star pattern, it's nice and even, and you actually save yourself from a lot. Having unevenly torqued wheels can cause other issues that people might not expect. One, for example, it can cause warpage on your brakes due to it being uneven, even if you don't notice it, it ever so slightly wobbles where you're going, so that'll cause uneven wear on your brakes. It could also cause your uh wheel bearings to prematurely wear, so you know, all that gets pretty expensive. So you want to make sure you're tightening down your lug nuts correctly so that way you avoid those things. And obviously, you don't want no uh luggne coming loose or anything like that.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

So yeah, so it's not even just about damaging the studs, it's damaging kind of everything around it.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Yeah, everything that's around it, yeah. Because I mean, you know, when it's rotating rotation, the weight is pretty significant. So having all that pressure, you know, and all that wobble can definitely cause your brakes to warp bad for your wheel bearings as well, because of all the wobble, you know, it'll cause premature wear. So it's not only a safety thing, but also, you know, kind of uh just you're helping yourself financially in the future.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

Yeah. And of course, the huge risk if you under torque them. Yeah, is they come loose and you wheel your wheel file, yeah, you're out of it while you're driving.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

So again, there's a lot of things that go into working on your car, it's not as just simple as removing and putting a pulp back on. So biggest takeaway for sure is safety. Just make sure you're safe and have good practice.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

I heard also that it's a good idea to recheck the torque after driving like X amount of miles.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

You can. Again, it's good practice, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Maybe after I think Costco says like 25 miles. They'll you can bring it back and they'll recheck it.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Yeah, I honestly I think 25 miles is good. Um, especially if you are on a freeway or you know, you you have like rough roads. I know here in Los Angeles it's it's pretty bad with potholes, right? So you know, you come back home from work one day and you know you can check the tart again and yeah, you know, just uh again safe practice.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

Okay, why don't we go on to another commonly done DIY maintenance item, which is oil changes. A lot of people do do their own. So let's talk about uh some good pointers for that.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Perfect, yeah. Um, so for oil changes, obviously it does require you to go under the car. So going back to the same thing, just please be careful when you lift it and for sure use jack sand. For one, for sure, make sure you you look up how much the oil capacity is for your specific car and try not to go over or under that too much. Um, a lot of common mistakes that people make, especially someone who maybe is not so educated in you know auto mechanics, is don't overfill and don't underfill. Obviously, you don't want to underfill because it can cause damage to your engine, yeah, but so can overfilling it.

SPEAKER_01 18:03

Right, because I think maybe people think, well, to be safe, I'll just put in more.

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Yeah, put in half a quart more or quart more, you know. Yeah, you definitely don't want to be doing that. Uh uh the engine is designed to work under a certain amount of oil, and you know, more or less is not gonna help it. What you get, say you search up and it says, hey, my car takes uh four and a half quarts. Four and a half quarts is gonna be enough to where the the oil reads in the middle, right? So we can transition to that. Yeah, on the dipstick. We can transition to that as well. One thing is the oil capacity, typically you want it to be in between, you don't want it to be uh ideally you want to read it when it's in between minimum and maximum. You don't want to go past max, right? Because then you start messing with oil pressure problems and kind of and you'll you'll see white smoke coming out of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're gonna burn, you know, you're gonna burn oil and it just causes you more issues than anything.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

So, yes, you don't want to put too much oil. No. And of course, not too much.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Or too little, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

And you want to use the right oil for your car.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Of course, yes, viscosity.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

Um, so how easy is that for people to accidentally buy the wrong oil?

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Pretty easy. Um, for one, a lot of people may not even be aware that there are differences in oils um in terms of thickness. Um, so and also depending on where you are, certain oils are better for certain certain weather, right? Um, so there's a purpose in the numbers um when it's zero W or five W, that's just dependent on how cold you are and how well the oil will operate at that viscosity with that weather, you know. Um so it'll maintain its functionality when it's you know five degrees, but anything below that, then you're gonna start experiencing issues. Um, so you'd for sure want to get the right viscosity. The way you do that, a lot of cars have the oil, um the specific oil you need on the actual oil cap. So you can just take a quick glance. Um, or again, you can research it. We go back to the same thing. Don't trust AI, but there are plenty of forums and you know um information diagrams of you know the oil capacity and the type of oil your car takes. And to be honest, a lot of the cars now typically uh take from 016 to 020. That's like the kind of common base. Um, but again, most cars have it on the oil cap. So if you if you can look there first, and if not, then research it. Um so when you go to the auto parts store, you you say if they don't have it available on shelves, you can just say, hey, I need 020 for my car and then the oil filter. Um, and that's how you go about buying the proper oil.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

And I've heard from several people. Um don't let someone convince you to buy high mileage oil, just stick with the oil that's meant for your car.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Yeah. Um to feel the car. Like, yeah, I I do think if you stick with the right oil for the entire lifetime of the car, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:56

Don't switch around.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

Yeah, don't switch around. I mean, if you do it on time, your car will last you a lot a long time. Yeah, right. It goes back to the episode we did about maintenance. Right? You do your maintenance at the right intervals, right time, and your car will give you a pretty good life.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

Thank you so much for listening to part one with Ozzie. I love what Ozzie said about smooth is fast. I think that's such a good way to put it because it always seems like working faster is faster, but sometimes it's just more chaotic. And in the end, taking your time gets it done better and quicker overall. I love all the safety pointers he mentioned. Anyone working on your car, if you do need to lift your car, please watch some videos too. Take a look at uh what we were talking about with the lift points and the pinch welds before you do if you're new to doing work on your car. I double checked auto parts stores do not rent jack stands, which which does make sense, like Ozzy was saying, is probably um a liability thing. But that's so important. Obviously, a jack, an actual jack can start coming loose. Someone could come by and touch it and put like put their hands on it and so you to have a you do need a permanent like a a st a stationary jack stand okay we've got our we've gotten our point across we'll be back next week where we'll continue with a lot of good a lot of good tips for those of you who are interested in changing or maybe already do change your own oil he's got some good inside baseball tips to share on that so keep up with those oil changes thank you so much and I'll see you down the road