New Girl in the Garage!

[quote=”abenites” post=126051]Well, not necessarily new to the garage in general, but to this particular garage. I first learned how to change my own oil and filter a little more than 10 years ago and have been performing all my own minor mechanical work since. Things like diagnosing no-starts and replacing batteries, alternators, starters, distributors, intakes, that sort of thing. I’ve never actually torn down an engine or trans, but I am learning. Everything for me is trial by fire! I never had a car guy in the family that worked on his own stuff to get me interested in it. It all started for me as an adult when a roommate saved me $5 on that oil change and taught me how to get my hands dirty. I love it though, and get a rush from fixing something without anyone else’s help. Heck, last year I even got my dad’s 1980 El Camino up and running again without having any outside help at all. (Crank/no-start with a god-awful screeching sound meant a broken starter nose cone and a bendix grinding against the flywheel–recognized that sound from absentmindedly having tried to “start” cars that were already running. :whistle: Oops!–Got under it, replaced it, good to go, and saved him a ton on towing and service!) It’s things like that that make me wonder if my current career and ongoing college education in advertising is totally misguided and I might not be better suited to switching my current major to Automotive Systems Technology. Then again, while cubicles and fluorescents are boring, they’re a lot easier on the knees. Anyway, glad to be here. Hope we get more chitchat going with my fellow garage gals! :cheer:

Sixth gen Civic enthusiast. I’ve owned 2 1997 Civic HX’s–one CVT and now a 5spd MT–and they’re awesome to work on, and very forgiving. :P[/quote]

Welcome to the forum, abenites.

I remember the El Camino. My neighbor, where I grew up, had one. I don’t remember anything specific about it except it was black and after it was washed, looked pretty good.

I bought my first Honda Civic around this time last year. I love that car. It is super reliable

Agreed! There is a lot of pride in doing your own work.

I wish now that I had chosen to study Automotive Technology 20 (or even 10) years ago. But I think today’s environment is more accepting of females entering the automotive repair profession. (I am currently in my second semester of my Auto Tech studies.) There are many things that I considered before making my final decision to study or not. I watched all of Eric’s ETCG1 videos pertaining to Automotive Education, Dealership Politics, etc. I asked my favorite local independant shop owner a lot of automotive repair and business questions. I also spoke to a couple of other people in the business, including my parts guy. Then I contacted the program director at the my college. I received a tour of the facilities, with which I was very impressed, and received a ton of program information. So, long story short, I gathered information for approximately 4 months but then finally decided to go for it. And I am SO glad I did.

Hey, abenites, thanks for sharing. Looking forward to hearing from you again soon.