I want to put together a kit for servicing my car ( low end Toyota corolla). What do I need and what is reasonable for a layman? By layman I mean someone with *zero* knowledge. I have no interest in cars. This is purely for saving money.I can do do a basic service I'm sure, which would need the below-- socket set to drain engine oil- socket adaptor to take off oil filter- oil pan- jack- jack stands-v wheel chocks/rampsI know a basic service is doable. What aspects of a a major service could I do? My car has nearly 200k km on it, belts next replacing and all sorts. I'd feel confident doing spark plugs and such, maybe not brakes though.
>>2850318You pretty much have it. I recommend a socket set with 1/4”, 3/8”, and 1/2” drive sockets to cover everything. Look for the sales and you can get the like 300pc sets with a bunch of wrenches too for around $150.Also get a 24” 1/2” drive breaker bar, you will want that when the tire shop overtightens your lug nuts.Then get yourself a 4pc or 5pc assorted pliers set because the “Mechanic tool kits” never come with pliers.With that, you should be able to do all the fluid changes and brakes and sensors and alternators and water pumps. Most of the specialty tools are either diagnostic/testing tools or puller tools when you get to bearings or suspension stuff, and you can often rent those from local auto parts stores for free.Oh one of those cheap bluetooth scan tools will come in handy whenever you get a check engine light too.
>>2850318first thing you need is a manual and by that i mean a book that covers basic service jobs. we have haynes idk what usa has.if you just want to change the oil you don't need jack/stands you just need ramp. brakes you need the wheel off so its up to you if you want to spend money on jack and stands or just be a hillbilly and use the jack that comes with your car and just don't climb under it in case it falls on you. a decent jack is one of the more expensive investments for very basic service and is a little bit of a headache because you need something small enough to fit under your car in the first place but with enough lift to get your car off its suspension so the wheel is in the air. a lot of cheap jacks you will need to pack with timber and 'reset' them so you jack it 2 or 3 times and re pack to get the lift you need. just be mindful when buying.obd2 is also kind of a minefield, any obd2 tool will let you read codes from the ecu, there are a million apps but because there are so many clones of elm327 obd2 reader, plenty of the apps shit the bed when the clone gives a response the app doesn't expect e.g. giving a weird version number. if you get a proper elm327 (or clone) you can in theory talk to any ecu in your car if you know its address and how to communicate with it. or depending on the car sometimes you can get the official service software to load onto a laptop which might also include step by step walkthroughs for servicing which is cool.its weird when people say they are more confident with sparks or belts than brakes. they don't design brakes that require a rocket scientist to replace they design them so retards can do it. if you cross thread a spark plug or drop some shit in your engine or mistime your belt then your engine is fucked and car is scrap. if you cut a brake line it only stops half your brakes working, they are designed to be fault tolerant.zero point buying tools until you know exactly what you need
>>2850331I would shill buying a jack before ramps if you can only buy one. I have seen retards on /o/ shill for the ramps saying that’s all you need, and they have obviously never done anything beyond an oil change. Ramp is quick for oil changes but that’s about all they’re good for. You need a jack and stands to remove the wheels, and that’s important for so many of those 100k-150k mile jobs. Especially on a transverse engine, you’re going to need to take one of the front wheels off to get to the belt side of the engine for alternators and water pumps and squealy idler pulleys.
>>2850331My point about brakes was, if I fuck a belt or spark plug up, my car won't start. That shit sucks. I if fuck up my brakes I might not know that until i need to brake, which is MUCH worse.
you can do almost any basic work with just a socket set, breaker bar, pliers, a jack and a bunch of wood blocks. if you want to do heavier stuff like suspension work or take off an axle nut you might want an impact wrench and CR-MO sockets instead though. I usually avoid power tools but an impact is almost essential for that stuff, especially in the rust belt.
>>2850321Any specific brand you would recommend to look for regarding the 300 piece set?
>>2850372Whatever is on sale. There’s a bunch of sets in the 3-4 drawer plastic box that are great starter kits. Craftsman, Husky, Kobalt, Gearwrench, Crescent, or the Quinn from Harbor Freight, they’re all the same level Taiwan made stuff.Don’t judge solely on the piece count, often times it’s a ton of little bits that aren’t worth much, although those are nice to have for odd size torx you might run into. Look at the larger stuff like the combination wrenches, this Kobalt set from Lowes looks straight because there is a useful amount of wrenches. Some of those sets come with like 6 wrenches total and you’re going to have to buy a seperate wrench set in that case.
>>2850372you honestly don't need a 300 piece set. ignore the consumer whore. it's going to have tons of crap you won't use. you don't need both SAE and MM unless you have multiple cars or are working on other stuff. you really don't need 1/4" drive at all. a set of shallow and deep sockets in the common sizes plus extensions or whatever, plus a breaker bar. that's literally all you need for small jobs on a typical car when it comes to sockets.
What beyond a basic service would be reasonable? Like changing spark plugs, changing blown globes. Belts. Tyre rotations and such which is easy. Anything more seems like it would require knowledge to diagnose a problem whihc is beyond me.
>>2850318>socket adaptor to take off oil filterThink twice about that. Those adapters are a lot harder to get on the filter than those beltwhips, and only work for large filters (don't know about the corolla, but at least on my two vehicles, even the smallest socket adapters won't grip the filters properly).You'll also need a sparkplug socket (so you can remove the plugs to turn the engine easier) and probably feeler measures (no idea i that's the english word...) for adjusting the valves, unless they already have automatic adjustment. If you change tires winter / summer, a torque wrench.If you're not afraid to mess with your brakes, you'll also want a rubber adapter for bleeding them.
>>2850349if you can't trust yourself to swap a set of brake pads then you absolutely shouldn't trust yourself to jack up 2-3+ ton of steel and then roll around underneath it.you fix your brakes you tap the brakes a few times when you pull out of your driveway to test it. don't change brake pads on the hard shoulder and then immediately pull out into highway traffic you should be ok.>>2850621service tools i use off the top of my head:oil: 17mm (comes in a big kit), 3/4 torque, filter socket, hook thing for oring, (none of these come in a big kit)brakes: 19mm breaker, drift punch, 3/4 torque (these don't come in a big kit), long hex 3/4, (might come in a big kit?)sparks: special spark socket, 3/4 torque, 1/4 torque (<- this one is an extravagance) (these dont come in a big kit) 9mm 1/4 (this one would come in a big kit as would the 3/4 version but a 3/4 torque is too powerful for the rated torque of the screw which holds my coil packs down, which i like to do properly because i love my car not because i think its actually necessary to correctly torque a 9mm screw on a coil pack instead of just hand tight)belts: breaker (doesn't come in a big kit) socket i can't rermember the size of (would come in a big kit)so its up to you if you want to spend 150 of a huge kit of shit that you only use 3 or 4 sockets from and need a bunch of other specific tools as well.personally i got a whole little roll cab and a couple socket rails for less than that, which you can add tools to and is a lot easier to work with than a huge case splayed out over the work area and i fucking hate prying shit out of those fucking blow moulded cases. but you do you brother.
>>2850621Yes but if you go buy a metric only 3/8” socket set, plus a metric only 1/2” set, a metric combination wrench set, hex keys and torx keys and whatever screwdriver + bit set, you’re going to be at the $150 price point easily. So at that point, you might as well get the 250pc all-inclusive tool kit and then you will have the SAE tools just in case you ever need to fix your water heater or fence in your backyard and you get a way to store all of the crap.Also if you skip the 1/4” set, you’re going to regret it when you need to get something done under the dash and you don’t have a 5.5mm socket that will fit.
>>2850318Hart mechanics tool set (the 150 or 200pc one)Spark plug socketsA 1/2" breaker bar, socket wrench, and deep socketsA set of mechanics wrenches1 jack stand (you should have a jack in the car)A flashlightA larger crescent wrench (for suppressing calipers)An oil pan(Use the crescent wrench to remove filters, tighten by hand)You can buy all this at Walmart for cheap
do i really need 200 different sockets
>>2850709You’re only going to use a dozen of them 90% of the time, but when you run into the odd size where somebody jammed a 3/8” nut and bolt into a spot that was formerly 10mm but got stripped, you will be happy you had the 200 sockets. Or you could drop everything and borrow your friend’s car to drive to your local hardware store and pay $4-$7 a piece for single sockets and waste an hour and a half in the middle of a project.Plus when it comes to cars, you run into retarded clearance issues, like an 8mm 3/8” drive socket may not fit in some tight spot, but the 1/4” socket does. Or maybe a shallow socket won’t reach something, but an extension + shallow socket is too long to fit in the spot, so you can either spend 30min removing another assembly to get room for the extension or use a deep socket in the same size to fit under the obstruction. This actually happens a lot on automotive jobs.
>>2850427I have that craftsman set.It's come in handy quite a few times. It's a good price.
Wooden cribbing is why I gave away my jack stands and ramps long ago. Every decade or so I buy a long 6x6 and a 4x4 then cut that into ~18 or 24" lengths. Steel doesn't tend to slide on cribbing (the reason wrecker operators and first responders use it). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkVx6eQ3l4M&t=19s>>2850621>you really don't need 1/4" drive at all.For modern vehicles a 1/4' set is ideal for interior work, preferably with six point sockets.When I go salvaging I bring that basic metric six point set, at least one 1/4" drive universal joint (wrapped in electrical tape so it doesn't freely dangle), two ~3", one 6" and one 12" or longer.>>2850636Start reading and watching videos and visiting Toyota groups and forums. You can easily buy tools as the job dictates to keep initial investment low. LED headlamps are better than flashlights because handheld flashlights waste a hand but any good BRIGHT light is worth owning. I use LED headlamps even in bright areas for inspection and task lighting.Eventually it's worth getting a small portable air compressor (I even have one for dusting around the house and blowing out computers) and a rubber tip blow gun (rubber tip seals against holes when blowing them clear).
>>2850714^Wisdom of experience. You may even choose to modify sockets (like removing the inside chamfer to better engage shallow nuts.
>>2851003I've got a headlamp already I'm 99% of the way there. Fortunately I now the exact hsotry of my car, there shouldn't be any dodgy custom mods on it. Always a dealer service.
>>2851225Sorry to burst your bubble anon, but just because you went to the dealer doesn’t mean everything was done correctly. Juan and Pedro and a case of Tecate will definitely cause a mess, but I have seen the dealers pull a lot of bullshit. Remember that those dudes are normally paid book hours do they’re trying to race through as many jobs as they can in a day. Also shops aren’t always using the best OEM parts, they’re often getting the same stuff from AutoZone that Juan would’ve used, but with a 30% bump in price: Auto techs also generally aren’t the valedictorians of their high school.Learn how to do the work yourself and you can do better than the dealer techs because you can take your time and do the job with care because you actually give a damn. Plus you can choose to use better qualty parts on many jobs and it will still save you money.
>>2850318Summing up the advice so far OP:Get a Haynes manual, or a proper workshop manual if possible for your specific vehicle. You can legitimately not know anything and take your time reading and be able to just about completely rebuild most systems with the tools and a lot of patience. A basic tool set will be affordable and have most of what you'll need. You will get a ton of little things you don't need most of the time, but you'll thank yourself every time you need just the extension or an odd size socket etc. I would however stress unless you have older American junk stick to metric.Jack Vs. ramps to me is no brainer, jacks can be used regardless of location and offer the ability to lift a single point. With the MANDATORY JACK STANDS you can use simple wooden blocks to get the whole car up high enough to comfortably work under.A light is going to be pretty much necessary for someone who doesn't have experience under there, but nothing crazy, a simple headlamp or camping lamp does wonders.Oil tray, filter wrench, etc. are job specific. Refer to the manual in item one for the tools necessary for any job prior to starting the task. Breaker bars are universally nice to have.Little things to consider: Some kind of padding. Kneepads, a foam matt, anything to keep your knees from the cold, hard concrete.Degreaser makes everything better.Eye protection isn't for pussies, gloves neither. Once you've had rust scraped off your cornea or full uppercutted an engine block you'll agree.Final piece of advice, as I assume this is someone's daily: Have a plan B. No matter how much you think the job will be simple, don't disable the vehicle without access to a tow truck or mechanic or uber or what the fuck ever is needed to get to work etc. on standby.Be cautious of social media "how to" crap. They are sometimes life-hack low tier and dangerous.You'll be fine, this is how almost everyone learns to wrench.
>>2851558>Haynes manualIt’s (current year), as long as you don’t have an oddball car, you can find nearly everything on Youtube these days. Especially OP and his base model Corolla.This pic >>2851245 was swapping a coworker’s alternator on his Corolla after work one Saturday. It was about 15min of actual work including diagnosis and a battery change with no Hayne’s manual.
>>2850318bit gay
>>2850318you basically only need a 10mm for a toyota.
>>2851245^Wisdom. Many like self do nearly all our own work for control and system knowledge reasons. DIY is why I could pay my homes off early. Anyone can do this stuff if they're determined.
