servicing questions 92 civic

ok so i just had my first service and im sure you will all tell me off (im running for cover) i took it to kmart auto since the mechanic is a family friend.

anyway - all is well car is running fine - however i have now been advised of all these other things that need doing such as:
wheel alignment
radiator coolant replacement
and apparently i have two torn cv boots?

does this make sense to anyone and are the other things easy to do yourself - i have serviced a car before myself but that was an 87 corolla - very different to what i have under the hood now.

any help will be great - thanks guys :)

you can most likely do the boots and coolant yourself, but id leave the wheel allignment to a pro.

cool so im assuming all id need is the cars manual to figure out how to do it?

i dont want to get ripped off just cos im a girl.

or if anyone can point in the direction of a good mechanic in the bayside area?

wheel alignment and wheel balancing cost me all up $50 yesterday....so dont get charged more than that....

there is a DIY coolant change in the articles/reviews section...search for it....

as for cv boots, i usually cahnge the whole drive shafts so yeah, get your mechanic friend to do it....shouldnt be too exxy

Go to an auto shop such as AutoOne and get yourself a Haynes Maintanence manual for your car model. It will tell you how to do pretty much everything yourself except for the professional stuff like gearbox reconditioning.

The coolant can be a bit tricky but its do-able for a confident Do-It-Yourselfer.
The coolant drainage bolt on the exhaust side of the engine detered me away from doing this myself - I just could not reach the freekin thing properly, plus it was very tight.

U can get the wheels aligned by a tyre place such as Bob Jane T-Mart.

The CV boots are tricky as well as you need to disassemble the suspention and knock out the wheel nutt. IMO you should get a mechanic to do this cause its alot of hard work. Get a Mobile Mechanic to come to you if you rather not be without your car for too long. My mech did both CV boots in about an hour (would have taken me all day lol)

coolant is easy drain and fill.. leave the rad cap off and wait for fans to cut in.

wheel alignment get bob jane or beurepaires to do it coz they use machines n stuff to align

cv boots u have to take off hub bolt and ball joint and take out the driveshafts
then take off the old boots,.. clean them off making sure u dont get any dirt in there... put new grease around the joints and new boots on and secure tightly then reinstall.

how much should cv boots cost to get done?

cv's should cost around 100-150~ for the pair. kmart sucks for servicing though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Weq

kmart sucks for servicing though.

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:!:

yeah ive learnt my lesson and now ill find someone decent

thanks for your help its much appreciated :)

cvs are much easier to get someone to do i.e pay someone coz its a really dirty job lol

servicing u can really do urself :P if u have the correct tools.

cool i was thinking of taking like a short course in how to do basic things unless of course someone here can point me in the direction of the right threads to read. yes, i know, my newbie colours are shining through - so thankyou so much for all your help :)