Technical "Where'd you learn that.. You Tube?"

My wife's brother had stopped by a few weeks back while we were working on the Ford. He likes old cars, watches all the shows on TV (and believes what he sees...), does zero work on any car he's ever owned, would not know one end of a screwdriver from the other.

He was checking out the progress and was there for the valve setting process and generally checking the car out. He utters that classic line" Where did you learn all this.. from You Tube?". I was at a loss, my brother standing there just cracked up. Are we really at that point where You Tube is looked at as a source of critical information? He really did discount all the years we have spent working on old cars as well as stock cars.

 

Nothing beats actual experience,but there is lots of usable info on you tube.Did you explain the years to him?

 

I have a cousin who sounds just like your brother in law, I tell my cousin till he learns how to do it himself to keep his big mouth shut, book smart guys rub me the wrong way.

 

It's just another source of information, that's a bad thing? Saved my skin fixing a new fangled clothes washer, (I'm not a clothes washer fixer on a regular basis) I'm all for it.

 

Experience trumps all but you tube has helped with a lot of stuff I never did before.

We weren't born knowing how to run.

 

If you think about it, there isn't much difference looking at a You Tube video to gain some insight to a problem and it's cure, than asking a buddy who knows something about it.

Most of us who have years worth of experience got that from a combination of advice and trial and error. Also, reading a manual now and again. In my opinion, it is not necessary to "reinvent the wheel" every time a new challenge comes along.

Whether you choose to do a little research first, or 'wing it' does not matter. The difference is between those who do things for themselves, or at least try, and those who solely rely on others. However, even THAT is not an all bad thing......it creates jobs and allows others to do things most of us can't, or have no interest in doing. It all works out.

Ray

 

^^X2^^ With U Tube I find that there is a lot of knowledge out there and not all of it is right..Sorta have to sort the wheat from the chaff sometimes ..

 

It's astonishing how much good information there is on Youtube though. Especially when it comes to late model stuff, it doesn't hurt to check to see if there are some videos that can guide you through a job so you don't have to reinvent the wheel. We used Youtube extensively when we were doing our major home remodeling. Lots of great videos on there on all sorts of topics. It's no different than on the HAMB, where you have to weed through bad information from know-nothings to get to the good advice. I think it's an asset.

 

Amen to that !

 

yep did mine too . beats the service call and parts mark up . part cost me $154 ( the drum skirt for a front load ) they wanted 4 hours at $75 a hour for that and the parts I could buy a new washer . , my kid is paying for the skirt and bought me a six pack as he didn't empty his pockets and his pen is what ripped it .

 

having worked on so many types of brake systems and the newer O/t systems , I always find my self refreshing in a manual and seeing my cheater notes I wrote in the book .

 

I'll admit YouTube is a great source of learning. If you ever had to replace a water pump on a Jetta you know how much is involved. $1400 for a mechanic or $50 and an afternoon and a YouTube. Washing machine stop advancing cycles, $250 for a tech or $20 for a part and a quick video. There is personal a limit to actually know when you need to call an expert. I would never consider myself an expert but on the other hand I usually scavenge my good parts from my brother in-law when he decides his stuff in broken.

 

Youtube is like the current version of the magazine collection we all have and have gleaned through over the years...but without taking up the space.

 

Sometimes the comments that are attached to the DIY videos make it clearer how good they are really are.

 

You tube helped me fix the drive on my self-propelled lawnmower. It has more info than any manual can show, but you still need to know which end of the screwdriver to use.

 

My so calls it YouTube University. He is becoming a decent hobbyist at a mill and lathe. There are a couple of universities allowing people to write exams for a smaller fee than tuition for those who learn via YouTube. Medical degrees no but some simpler material why not. Learning is learning.

 

A few years back I needed to remove the m/c on my 49 Chevy with manual transmission .
I could not see how to do it and turned to U Tube. Sure enough an old timer had shot a video and showed me the secret, without it I might still be on my back under that car.
BTW, it's a pain in the ass IMO.

 

Youtube is a tremendous asset. I've fixed everything from washing machines, plumbing, cars and household projects using information from Youtube. What can possibly happen that hasn't happened before?

Gary

 

I fixed my Whirlpool washer from You Tube once. The Whirlpool had me taking off the cabinet to replace the motor coupler... video I found helped me diagnose the problem and show a faster easier way. 99% of what I had learned about cars, there was no internets.

 

No internet........for me either. But my point is.....we still relied on...... observing others doing the same/similar thing, manuals in some cases, and our own willingness to try doing whatever the task was. That mentoring doesn't take anything away from your/mine/our mechanical aptitude or effort to learn......I'm just saying that insight gained from You Tube is simply the latest version of what we were doing 'back in the day' via the other methods mentioned above.

Ray

 

I had to change the lock cylinder in my dads Rabbit, watched a "how-to" on Youtube, knowing how that POS was supposed to come apart and go together before I started probably saved me 2-3 hours, versus the 'figure it out for myself" approach on a job I really had zero interest in, and wanted no part of. Cant beat that. As far as weeding through bad information, hell, theres plenty of that right here on the HAMB, and anywhere else you can think of.

 

YouTube is useful. So is the HAMB. So are books, magazines, friends, and vendors.

It amazes me that so many people in this world lack the ability to figure things out. I will always be grateful to my father for instilling this in me. He did not teach me everything I would need to know in life—no dad could—but he gave me an understanding of the learning process needed to get there. Dad’s gift was the confidence to take on the unfamiliar, be it fixing an appliance, building a car, remodeling a house, or changing careers. It’s been my observation that almost everyone on the HAMB shares this talent to some degree.

 

You tube is a riot sometimes when you're checking out some guys procedure for doing a job ya gotta do. And other times you can get some great info there.

 

I'm always open to information, but buyer beware some of the U tube shit is just that SHIT.
Somethings I've seen there just makes me laugh, like the guy that "rebuilt" his 4.7 Dodge truck motor, more than once!

 

You definitely have to wade through the BS. Still, there's good info to be found.

 

You tube is like a useful tool, but you can still misuse it if you can't tell shit from vanilla ice cream. If you can't, there is some dopey stuff out there that will cost you parts, time, and money if you sole-source one video.

I use it extensively because the quality of writing in modern shop manuals is not like it was years ago. Now written by some women's literature graduate or by Ngo Long Dong, they skip over tips and tricks of the trade, you can tell it wasn't smeone with tech experience, if you don't believe me read a Haynes manual as proof.

So, like anything, research it and confirm at least once.

The bad side is that there is a lot of dark shit, tinfoil hat people, and sickos. Go there for tech and tunes.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^no different than sifting the wheat from the chaff in our everyday encounters with people and things of all types.

Ray

 

I did look up changing headlight assemblies in my son's OT Nissan. It got us close enough. There was a dual-master brake conversion floating around on other forums that was frightening... things like Teflon tape on brake fittings.

 

if you have shit for brains when it comes to cars all the videos in the world will not help a bit.

most of us gearheads learn by doing. the first major repair I had to do on a car was a clutch when I was 18. all I knew about clutches was you push the pedal and shift. the guy at the parts house told me about the clutch alignment tool when I bought my parts, otherwise it was just looking at what I needed to do and figuring it out.

 

I check you-tube now and then to see if there is an 'easier' way to go-about something, at the moment. Not everyone has common-sense however, and I do 'tread lightly' when seeking information or know-how on something I hadn't done before, from an amateur who may gets kicks out of posting things into video....I know I've done enough mistakes ''on my own'' that I've had to admit and correct, ... just maybe, somebody has a better way of going about it than I was considering. It's helpful, but I do use caution watching some of these so-called "mechanics" (???) for sure...they can screw things up more than I ever could! --- Ray