Where do you do your own maintenance?

That's the same place I found. I guess I am just not used to having to pay for a place to do a damn oil change but I guess the extra money I will be making from taking this job I may have to fork over some cash to do my own maintenance somewhere like this I was just trying to avoid this if possible. I guess I will know better when I arrive whether avoiding it is or isn't possible. Not looking for any trouble so we will see

 

hey man look around the CA threads they have a lot of guys from around that area or even close to the LA who might be able to help out, a lot of people in CA are dipshits (like anywhere) but honestly everywhere i've been CA has some really cool people who are willing to help

 

I realize that, which is why I offered another option for a hobby garage

Matt

 

I will be living around the Runyon Canyon area, working at a hospital in West Los Angeles. I am willing to drive a little and willing to help others with anything you can think of, starters, alternators, suspension work. Yes I work in the hospital but I assure you I have done more car work than your average DIYer, I did car work before getting into healthcare.

This is a thread of when I fixed my transmission (I'm not the greatest at documenting my car work picture wise):
https://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76712

What are hobby garages? lol

Edit: There are dipshits everywhere, there are plenty here in Florida.

 

I would definetly start a thread in the California section about looking for areas to do DIY maintainence when you get to Cal, you can definetly barter your Honda car knowledge and make new contacts or insights on how and where you can get some things done. I dont think there are hobby lobbies available LOL

 

Moving April 1st, Im practically there lol. I just did an oil change and drain and fill on the transmission fluid before I ship it so I have 5k to figure it all out. Hondas and Toyotas are very similar, actually Toyotas are typically more mechanic friendly. They tend to make things easier to get to (alternators, dropping oil pans and transmission oil pans) among other things. My subframe has to come out to replace my oil pan gasket on my Honda for godsakes lol

 

try a walmart parking lot? If you can camp over night in a walmart parking lot I'm sure u can change your oil haha

Pretty sure I've seen people making dinner in their trailer at my local walmart in orange county

 

my current only working space, an outdoor gravel spot, can't even use a creeper

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ripped-off-by-toyota.587915/page-6#post-19628872

 

Yeah I was thinking a Walmart parking lot lol. It was on my list of options before I get there and get to explore a little. Next lease I will look for an apartment complex a little more out of town that hopefully has detached garage rentals and I will do it that way. Hopefully I only need to do 2-3 oil changes while at this place and hopefully if I needed to do more I can make a friend at work or something and could use their driveway as long as I use plenty cardboard and keep it spotless. God forbid a wheel bearing goes bad or something and I get harassed for not wanting to spend $500 to have it done at a shop. Fingers crossed I’ll only need to do this a few times and then on to a different apartment with garages.

 

walmart could be sketchy during daytime hours because of the many customers around the area, but maybe at dusk or at night in a remote out of the way part of the lot, some of these stores also have rent a cops that patrol around the stores and lots ive noticed. doing an incognito oil change on a Tacoma is doable because you wont have to jack it up just crawl under pull the drain plug,drain,replace plug, then pop hood to remove/replace filter v6 and new oil quickly drop the hood down. the less things you do that draws attention the better. things like greasing driveshaft ive done at parking lots without drawing attention.