One of the best things that you can do to your vehicle is to answer the question “how to teach yourself about auto mechanics?”
⚠️ If It's Broken, Don't Fix It - Get Paid Cash for Your Vehicle ⚠️
- Read online auto articles
- Watch YouTube tutorials on car mechanics
- Attend auto seminars and auctions
- Purchase clunker or project cars
- Invest in car maintenance tools
- Meet with enthusiasts
- Familiarize yourself with the manual
- Take auto repair classes
- Purchase auto books
- Obtain an auto degree
Learning one or two things about your car helps you save a ton on labor costs and expensive repairs. In addition, once you familiarize yourself with the different information about your vehicle, you'll get to know when it's about to fail or break down before it even does.
However, many people get interested in the automotive field and learn more about auto mechanics for a job. Many successful people made thousands of dollars out of car repairs, and that's a very successful career if you are interested in learning it.
Whether you like to learn about auto mechanics for a job or your vehicle, there are certain resources that you should investigate in order. Some of these resources might be very high level while others are more in detail and are more targeted towards people interested in learning auto mechanics at career.
This article provides you with ten different resources to help you answer the question “how to teach yourself about auto mechanics?”
How to teach yourself about auto mechanics?
With the evolution of the Internet and the massive amount of information, it has become very easy to teach yourself anything. So, whether this thing is related to cooking, fashion, drawing, or any field of life, you'll find a good resource.
The same thing applies to the automotive industry and if you are planning to learn and teach yourself about auto mechanics, consider the following resources:
1. Read online auto articles
One of the first and easiest things that could teach you about auto mechanics is through reading online articles. You've already started this by reading through this article, and you can even go into more details about certain car problems or car repairs.
- For example, if you just posted on Google questions like:
- What are the common car problems?
- How to fix a car engine?
- How to fix a car transmission?
- How to install a car camera?
You'll immediately find tons of available online resources to help you go through these processes in a step-by-step fashion. In addition, there are plenty of websites that include some pictures that help you visualize the process and give you more details about what you're looking for.
It is important to note that not all websites provide you with the same quality of articles, and you must look at multiple sites for the same topics to get a better idea about whether you were looking at the right information or not.
For example, some websites might not provide you with the exact details that have changed certain elements in your car. Other websites are more focused on certain brands but not others. Therefore, consider spending some time and effort researching and not only going with whatever first result you're ending up with.
2. Watch YouTube tutorials on car mechanics
If you're looking for a “how-to” type of information, it's much easier for you to watch a YouTube video rather than reading through a detailed article. Auto articles will provide you with information about resources and other details; a YouTube video can be much easier to follow, especially if you have a similar vehicle or are trying to do the same process.
Therefore, if an image is worth 1000 words, a video is worth 10,000 words!
Again, you'll need to be mindful about which YouTube videos to follow, and you want to make sure that not all tutorials apply to all vehicles. Therefore, you must compare your vehicle's characteristics to the ones you see on the YouTube video and confirm that your vehicle needs that type of repair, not something else.
While it's nice to learn about certain DIY videos, some automotive experts recommend never attempting to do any DIYs unless you're 100% sure that you can do the process. This is because some significant car repairs are very sensitive, and if you do it wrong, it leads to more major problems that could cost you thousands of dollars.
3. Attend auto seminars and auctions
There are plenty of available online seminars and other auctions that you can listen to. In addition, you'll get to know some experts in the field and other people who are interested in learning more about the auto industry.
Piece of ours will be targeted towards certain topics, and you can look for some of these seminars online and register for those to see if it gets you more interested in the field.
Listening to car auctions is another amazing experience that gets you to know the different cars' prices and how people price vehicles or negotiate the price.
4. Purchase clunker or project cars
Once you're ready and have a good amount of information, the next step is to get your hands dirty in the auto industry. You don't want to test your car, which could be expensive. So instead, you want to try on absolute clunker or junk vehicles as a test.
If you don't have an old car that you don't need, there are plenty of available junk cars online on websites like eBay motors or other classified websites. In addition, you can search for terms like car projects, and those vehicles are most likely very cheap and have certain problems that could help you use it as a project to study or learn “how to teach yourself, car mechanics?”
5. Invest in car maintenance tools
If you decide to say that you are skilled in vehicles, you'll need certain toolsets that will save you time and help you learn more about car repairs.
You don't want to go with the most expensive tools targeted towards mechanics, but you can start with very simple toolkits that automotive experts recommend. To get an idea about what toolkits are recommended, you might want to put the question to websites like quora.com or other larger forms that include some mechanics starters.
6. Meet with enthusiasts
Even if you're very excited about learning about mechanics, sometimes this excitement fades over time. Therefore, it's recommended that you get yourself plugged into a group of other enthusiasts’ people who are interested in learning more about mechanics.
Those people should have some additional resources that you can share with you or could have some other steps that you can follow to advance your skill sets in no time. Also, consider asking questions about the lesson learned from certain experiences they went through.
7. Familiarize yourself with the manual
Your vehicle's owner’s manual is the most important book that you need to familiarize yourself with. Whether you’re trying to fix your car or somebody else’s car, you'll need to understand what's in the vehicle's owner’s manual.
Start by getting an idea about the main structure of the manual so when you fix somebody else’s car, you know where to look for things. The manual should provide you with basic information about the other scheduled maintenance that you have to maintain so your vehicle doesn't break down. Also, it should give you some recommendations on what type of fluid you should fill in the car, so you don't purchase the wrong type.
The more you know about your car, the easier it is to fix your vehicle and the less likely it is to cause some mistakes that will result in expensive repairs.
8. Take auto repair classes
If you are really in the auto industry, you might want to consider taking certain repair classes here. There are plenty of classes that are available online or offline around your area. To get an idea about these classes, all you must do is to search on Google for listed classes around you.
9. Purchase auto books
Some experts recommend purchasing auto books that might provide you with a detailed summary or step-by-step on things that you should follow to be a mechanic expert. These books are organized in a certain way with dense information in a specific format that allows you to understand it easily without any issues.
The nice thing about these auto books is that you don't have to go through multiple articles online all over the place about different topics that get you lost. Therefore, if you are a fan of reading books, you should add the following auto books to your library:
- Auto Repair For Dummies
- Idiot’s Guides: Auto Repair and Maintenance
- Auto Repair and Maintenance: Easy Lessons for Maintaining Your Car So It Lasts Longer (Idiot's Guides)
- How Cars Work
- Everything Electrical How To Test Circuits Like A Pro Part 1
- Auto Fundamentals ( Workbook)
- The Car Hacker's Handbook: A Guide for the Penetration Tester
- Automotive Wiring and Electrical Systems (Workbench Series)
- Car Hacks & Mods For Dummies
- Automotive Technology: Principles, Diagnosis, and Service
10. Obtain an auto degree
If you get to a point where you think you are ready to learn more about advanced details about vehicles, you might want to pursue and university degree that is closer to mechanical engineering or other types of advanced degrees that you might be interested in.
Of course, before you get to this point, you'll need to know all the required prerequisites so you can apply and get accepted. You might want to take some other classes before getting accepted to universities, but if you're really interested in this field, it's worth it.
Can you learn auto mechanics online?
Becoming an auto mechanic requires learning the theory and practicing on hand. In other words, if you only relied on online resources for reading about certain car parts and how to do things, it's not going to stick to your brain, or you won't become an invest mechanic unless you apply these things.
That's why while you don't necessarily have to go and take advanced degree classes, you still need to practice some of what you see online on project vehicles that you can purchase cheaply from Craigslist or eBay motors.
How long does it take to learn auto mechanics?
Learning a mechanic depends heavily on the amount of time and effort you put. For example, if you decided to learn this on your own time during the summertime, it might take much more time than someone else who dedicated a full time learning how to be a mechanic.
There are plenty of online courses targeted towards advanced mechanics who are ready to open their shop. Most of these programs have four years of classes and on-the-job training.
Do you need a license to be a mechanic?
No. Most United States only requires certain certifications or probably evidence of experience and education to become a mechanic and work in auto shops. However, if you plan to open your shop, you’ll need to review your state's regulations to get an idea about what paperwork is needed so you can open the auto shop and have your service.
How to teach yourself about auto mechanics? Final thoughts
Our vehicles contain tons of interacting components that might break down at any time. Therefore, learning one or two things about your car helps you save a ton on labor costs and allows you to explore whether you can do the job yourself or not.
If you're interested in becoming an advanced mechanic, it takes some time and effort, but it shouldn't be a problem as long as you have the enthusiasm! There are plenty of available resources that you can use to answer the question “how to teach yourself about auto mechanics?”
This article provided you with ten different resources that you can rely on to become an advanced mechanic. These results are also useful to someone looking to learn a couple of things about his own car and not necessarily becoming an advanced mechanic.
Investing in your own knowledge helps save money and gives you an idea about how to take care of your car and detect problems early before it becomes a complicated issue that requires high repair costs.