Excuse my mechanical ignorance

[rjcaptsean]

For some folks, their time is worth more than the money involved, so I never (HAHAHAHA) judge. Ok, sometimes. Honestly, like the guys here have said, this is a car very easy to work on for the most part. If you don't have the tools, the money you are paying in labor would easily cover a decent set to get you started. Workspace is an issue, as most apartment buildings and/or businesses frown upon folks pulling their cars apart in the parking lot. If you have a garage or a driveway, then you are covered there.

As for knowledge, there are a ton of websites (along with this one) where the folks are very helpful and willing to go out of the way to provide insight and advice. The next time you take your car into your shop, ask if you can hang out and watch what they are doing. If it's a small shop and you are friendly with them, they probably wouldn't mind. I guarantee you that if you had watched how easy it was to drain the radiator, remove it, replace it and the two hoses, then refill and bleed, you would be horrified that you paid somebody $200 to do it. Unless of course, you are fortunate enough to be one of those folks that has a lot of disposable income.

I think your ownership experience would be greatly enhanced if you could do some of the maintenance work yourself.

[bp9129]

Just an update on this; my mechanic figured out that the clutch fan wasn't engaging so I'm having him replace that along with the switch. I'll be charged only for parts. He said this was most likely the cause of the radiator breakage. Should be driving my e30 again by tomorrow since the shop is closed weekends.



and rjcaptsean, I completely agree with you. But, it's not like I'm going to become a BMW master-tech overnight and I'd rather have my car in and out of a shop in a matter of days than have it sit for weeks while i fuck around trying to figure out what I'm doing. And this way, since I trust my mechanic, I'm given the peace of mind that the work is done correctly.