that's why i never have, and never will

 

And there's the other side of it. The sad thing is that all the hacks out there make the reputable mechanics look bad - there's so many stories out there of some mechanics ripping people off or flat-out making things worse that when a reputable mechanic finally does get to it, it's often worse off than the original problem was. It already is expensive enough to have a mechanic do the work for you (I'm not saying all mechanics are rip-off artists, either), but having to pay multiple times just to weed out all the hacks and find that one mechanic that actually gets it done right is too much... which makes most people try to figure out how to do stuff by themselves, thinking they can save some money.

I run into this a lot with people and their computers - they have a small problem (get a virus), then they see these spam ads on how to fix it, and wind up making things worse with a bunch more new stuff that gets installed and embedded in the OS. As a computer tech, I try to preserve people's stuff as much as possible. But if they've attempted to fix things in a manner that I've told them to avoid, I won't be as concerned in finding everything.

I've been burned by too many mechanics over the years to keep going back for 'simple' stuff. And being fortunate enough to have access to a fully-equipped automotive maintenance facility (Auto Hobby Shop at Goodfellow AFB, TX), I've developed the skills necessary to do just about everything myself... or at least know when I'm in over my head. I also have friends in the biz who I share services with (I fix their computers, and they help me with my cars if I need it.