Do-it-yourself efforts backfire

NEW YORK (AP) — When the taillight of Laura Musall’s five-year-old Nissan Altima burned out, she hoped to avoid the repair shop by letting her husband replace it at home. Buy a bulb, pop off the cover and make the switch.

But her husband struggled to remove the plastic casing, and when he popped it off, it shattered. Her Nissan dealer wanted $250 for a new one.

Motorists looking to trim expenses are sidestepping mechanics and plunging into their own repairs. Those efforts can backfire, costing more in the end.

Mechanics say they’ve seen it all, including incorrectly applied brake pads and antifreeze poured into engines.

“A lot of people, they’re in dire straits,” said Pam Oakes, owner of Pam’s Motor City Automotive in Fort Myers, Fla. “They try to do this stuff at home in their driveway.”

Beth Riggs, who lives near Lebanon, Ohio, took her Chevy Trailblazer SUV to a car-savvy neighbor nearby who charged $500 to replace her front and back brakes, far less than the going rates at nearby repair shops.

Later, on a highway ramp, her car suddenly froze up and pulled to the side of the road. The problem? Riggs said her neighbor neglected to put a part on a bolt of the wheels, setting off a chain reaction that caused the tires to lock up.

The car had to be towed, and Riggs paid an additional $400 to have it fixed at a suburban Cincinnati auto shop.

While well-intentioned, many people forget that today’s cars are more complicated than models made just years ago. Most are so computer-controlled that owners can’t spot problems without access to specific tools and data programs, said Dave Striegel, owner of Elizabeth AutoCare in Elizabeth, Pa.

Even jobs that were once simple, such as changing the oil, can take hours to complete now.