Location: Hobart, Tasmania.
Subject: Fixing Cars & Unclipping Bras.
Dirty Hands Or Empty Pockets - You Choose.
How much money do you spend each year on taking your vehicle to a mechanic?
Probably thousands like most people, and like a previous version of myself. You do it because you don’t know any better, and you know nothing about how an engine works - what a piston is, how spark plugs work, the purpose of your oil, your oil filter, or your fuel filter.
Yet you drive around every day, slowly accumulating wear and tear, breaking down the components that make your vehicle run. And if you’re anything like I used to be, you don’t bother checking anything because you don’t know how to. You don’t want to know how to either, as you might find problems. So you push it to the back of your mind, and pretend it’s not there, just like the rest of the bullshit in your chaotic life.
Until one morning your vehicle decides not to start, or your engine starts blowing smoke, or a wheel falls off and you crash into a tree. They say ignorance is bliss and they ain’t wrong but ignorance will cost you money, understand? Not just with your vehicle, but with anything and everything in life - what you do not know will get the better of you and cost you - whether that cost is a lost opportunity, or a thousand bucks spent on fixing something you could’ve prevented.
It isn’t hard to understand the basic components of your vehicle, supposing you have an older one that isn’t run by computers and all the fancy shit they install in new cars. If it’s old, it’s old school - which means it’s simple to fix and maintain. That’s why I like old cars, they were designed by men with common sense, not electrical engineers with ten year degrees in complicating the absolute fuck out of everything.
I drive an old truck. It carries my tools and all my gear with me, wherever I go. It takes me from A to B without a problem. I paid for it with a handful of cash straight outta my pocket, and I own it outright. There’s no computers or fancy bullshit that make it run, just the basics that make up an engine.
When something goes wrong, just like it did yesterday morning, I can use deductive logic and common sense to figure out what’s wrong. The engine struggled to start, and spluttered like a 12 year old smoking his first bong. So I turned it off and tried again - this time it was a little better. Then I tried a third time, and it worked fine. This led me to believe something was either wrong with the ignition system, such as the spark plugs, or the fuel system/quality - which would be an old dirty fuel filter, or water in the fuel somehow.
Therefore I changed all of the spark plugs, replaced the fuel filter, and cleaned out the fuel with an additive, plus gave her a fresh tank. The spark plugs were completely fucked, the fuel filter was filthy, and there was most likely water in the old fuel. After fixing this, I plugged everything back in, did some nuts and bolts back up - and she was running just fine once again.
Instead of spending $500 to $1000 for a mechanic to do a job that a monkey can do, I used my brain to do it myself, saving money and learning more about my engine in the process. In total it cost me about $120. So there is tremendous value in learning to take care of your vehicle. It’s an essential life skill, and every father should teach his son how to do it. I was never taught as a boy, and as a result of never wanting to learn, I paid a lot of money to have simple work done over the years.
I had to ask other men to help me change my oil, replace a battery, and even change a flat tyre - this was embarrassing, emasculating and rightfully fucking so. A helpless and ignorant man is not a man. He’s a nuisance, and a weight that people do not want to carry.
How do you think that pretty young lady’s gonna react when you get a flat tyre on the way home from a date, and you can’t even put your spare on? Those silky smooth legs will be staying closed, and you just wasted $60 on movie tickets and overcooked popcorn.
Men fix stuff and men build stuff, that’s what men do. It’s why we can stand around an engine, drinking beer and talking about why a diesel is better than a petrol, and be as happy as a pig rolling in shit. So if you have a cock and two balls between your legs, you should be able to do some basic repairs on the car you drive.
What You Don’t Know Will Cost You Money & Time.
I kept handing over cash for mechanical repairs until I met a long lost cousin, who taught me everything I needed to know when it comes to being a self-reliant man. And now I spend nothing on maintaining my truck, except for parts, fuel and registration. When I look back at the thousands I spent, I slap myself in the face. An 8 year old girl could do the jobs I was paying big money for - and that’s exactly what keeps mechanics in business - people being ignorant to how things work.
Why Are People Ignorant To How Things Work?
I don’t know, but I was ignorant because I lacked the discipline and the drive to acquire the knowledge I needed to understand how it all worked. Once I grew tired of not knowing, and I put effort into knowing, I not only felt better because I could fix my own vehicle, but my confidence grew tremendously and I started to teach myself other manly skills - such as welding, knife sharpening, knot tying.
There is no reason to be afraid of something you do not know. This is how they train you to think in public schools, because it keeps you helpless. It keeps you a slave to those who do know. It keeps you dependent. And being helpless and dependent is no way for a man to live.
So don’t allow it, unless you don’t care about your self-reliance or your freedom.
Whether it is your vehicle, your money, or something in the world that interests you - all the knowledge you need to gain power over it is available within the minds of other men, within the pages of books, and within the endless stream of information on the internet. You have no excuse to be ignorant, and you will pay a price if you are.
Six Ways You Can Save Thousands.
What follows is a basic checklist of six things you can do to take care of your vehicle and save some serious coin down the line. You don’t need to be a mechanic to do any of this, all you need is two working eyeballs, patience and some basic tools - such as an oil filter wrench, a decent set of sockets and spanners, a car jack and a bag of rags.
1 - Changing Your Oil and Oil Filter
One of the most important and simple maintenance tasks you can perform is dropping your oil. It’s as simple as emptying the oil reservoir under your engine, changing the filter, then refilling the engine with new oil. I do this every 5000kms, some people do it every 10,000kms. But it needs to be done because the oil is what keeps your engine healthy. Keep an eye on your oil dipstick and ensure it’s always got enough.
Running your vehicle with little to no oil can and will damage the engine, because the components can overheat and be damaged through friction. You wouldn’t fuck a girl in the ass without lube would you? So don’t drive without any damn oil because it’s essentially the same thing and something is gonna tear open. If you are unsure what grade of oil your vehicle takes, or what type of filter you need - just ask the parts dealer and they’ll hook you up.
2 - Changing Your Fuel Filter
An old and dirty fuel filter will result in your engine not performing to the level that it should, because if you’ve got dirty fuel, your girl is gonna run like a dirty girl. Fuel filters are self explanatory - they filter shit out of the fuel so that its clean and ready to be ignited. Changing them is extremely simple. On my truck, it’s a 5 minute job that involves unplugging two small hoses, then removing and replacing the filter.
You can check your filter by taking it out, tipping the fuel out that’s inside it, and looking at the colour of that fuel. If it’s dirty and nasty looking, you need to replace it. But if the fuel is clear just like fuel is supposed to be, it’s probably fine.
3 - Checking and Changing Your Spark Plugs
Bad spark plugs can cause engine misfiring, ignition issues, and a bunch of other things that you don’t want. Checking them is simple. Pull them out of your engine - they sit above each cylinder - and take a look at their condition. If the end that sits down inside the cylinder is all black, worn out, and generally fucked - you need to replace them. Spark plugs are inexpensive and available at any parts dealer, just make sure you get the right ones by telling the dealer what car you drive.
Be careful when installing them that you do not over tighten the plug into the cylinder, because if you snap it off down there, the job will go from costing nothing to costing a lot pretty quickly.
4 - Changing Your Brake Pads
Another easy one, all you need is a carjack and some Alan Keys most of the time. You’ll be able to tell when your pads are almost done because your vehicle will often make a light squealing noise as you break. This means the pads have been worn through and there’s metal on metal, which means you need new pads. To change them over all you do is pull the wheel off, seperate your brake caliber, slide the old pad out and slide the new ones in. Easy as that.
5 - Checking and Flushing Coolant
For those of you who don’t already know, coolant keeps your engine cool - hence the name coolant. Provided there are no leaks or issues, your coolant should be good for about 200,000kms, which is quite a while. I have never flushed and replaced my coolant, but there isn’t much to it. You drain the old shit out and put some new shit in. Just make sure you use the right shit. While you don’t have to flush and replace the coolant very often, you should check the levels and condition every time you check your oil, and the other components. Keep an eye on it, just like everything else.
6 - Checking Your Air Filter
A dirty air filter covered in dust, bugs and filth will effect your engines performance because the purpose of an air filter is to provide nice clean air to be combusted inside your engine. Checking your air filter is extremely simple - pop the hood, find it, pull it out and take a look. If it’s dusty and nasty, get yourself another one. If there’s only a little bit of crap on there, give it a shake out and throw her back in. She’ll be right for as long as she stays clean. And unless you’re driving in dusty climates, you should be fine for quite a while.
Go Forth and Get Your Hands Dirty.
Learning how to take care of your own vehicle is not complicated, and it isn’t hard, provided that you don’t drive a fancy new car that is run by computer systems. Fixing those is nothing like fixing old cars, because it’s much more complex. I’m sure you could still teach yourself if you really wanted to, but in my opinion, nothing beats being able to pop the hood and solve problems with a few basic hand tools.
If you truly know nothing about your own vehicle, and you start learning and fixing things by yourself - you will soon get addicted to how it feels. This is what I experienced. It just feels damn good to know that you can fix things, it makes you feel like a man. And as a man I believe you should be able to fix things - or at least know how they work. Then you can teach your boys to do the same, handing down to them the valuable skills that make a man self-reliant and independent.
Remember too, what I spoke on earlier:
What you do not know will cost you time and money.
In this world, knowledge gained and applied is power - it gives you the ability to navigate reality effectively, and simply be a better man. You don’t need to know everything, but you better know as much as you can, and you better be damn useful, because there is nothing more disgraceful than a useless man. It’s unattractive to the opposite sex, it’s looked down upon by the same sex, and it does no good for he who has to live with being useless.
So go forth and get your hands dirty. Learn how to fix your car, learn how to tie knots, learn how to fish, learn how to do all those things that used to be expected of men. Manly skills they call them, and they call them that for a reason. When a woman cannot change a tyre or gut a fish, its irrelevant - and nobody gives a fuck - but when a man can’t do it, and other men see that he can’t do it, everybody involved knows something stinks and what stinks is the man being incapable.
I’ve been there and I’m no longer there, nor will I ever go back.
Be useful, be dangerous, be competent, be a man - or be useless - the choice is yours.
~ Maverick Brenton
Filed under · Motivation
