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I absolutely think that YouTube, and more specifically your channel has helped the DIY community. Growing up I never really had an interest in working on cars, I think I’m somewhat mechanically inclined but nothing special. When I moved away to college and money got very tight your channel was a life saver. I’m absolutely what you called in your video the cautions type, working up from oil changes to brake jobs now to things like timing belts. I think your question however needs to be looked at in two parts. Good quality videos with accurate information like what you put out can save people like me thousands and even when something is beyond our skill level, the videos make us better informed customers. The low quality hack videos absolutely hurt the DIY community, making difficult things seem easy or simple and getting people in over their heads. I also think that those people who just throw caution to the wind and go for it would likely have done so regardless, these few shouldn’t ruin it for everybody. I think it all comes down to being a good consumer of information, applying what we see to our situation, and being realistic about what we are able to do.
Your videos have helped me to develop a broader interest in automotive repair, and has saved me thousands of dollars on everything from brake jobs to timing belts and fuel pumps and I’m about to do my first transmission swap (using a re-manufactured unit). Thank you so much for what you do.
DaveSorry its taken me so long to update, started a new job and wife had surgery so car’s been a low priority. I used the method from the video and came up with a GM code 42 which according to this site is electronic spark timing (EST). I mentioned before that the vehicle seemed to also have a idle fluctuation, this has become much more noticeable. By this point I’ve also run a good dozen tanks of gas through the vehicle with no change.
I just want to quickly comment on the science part of this topic, Eric mentioned in the original video studies that show that the hands free devices don’t actually help much. My background is in experimental psychology (finishing my masters this spring) and according to the research I’ve read on the topic, which was required for a class, the problem comes down to a persons total attention. Essentially it takes more attention to drive, and have a conversation then the normal person has, so something is getting short changed. This problem gets even worse if the conversation requires details or something like that. So yeah, hands free systems really don’t do anything, its not holding your phone, heck most people I know drive with only 1 hand anyway, its the dividing of attention between driving, and the content of your conversation. I do admit, knowing this I still do it from time to time, but I do try and make sure I short change the conversation not the driving.
I think there is something missing from this discussion that I think is important, and that is what it would cost to get something better compared to getting what you have fixed. I drive an old POS 98 Jimmy with 180K that I absolutely love, and honestly I know I’ve spent in the last year and a half or so well over the value of the vehicle in repairs. I admit I’m very sentimental about the car, but the reason I did this was that to get something comparable to what I have that is new enough or low mileage enough that I can be reasonably assured of its quality would be prohibitively expensive. I got my current vehicle from a friend so while some aspects of its maintenance were neglected, I feel that I know generally what to expect going forward. If I get something relatively cheap, I might just be buying somebody else problems. It comes down to the devil you know, versus the devil ya don’t know.