Hi, so I am familiar with cars. I have done the baseic tires rotations, oil changes, and can diagnose some problems with a car. That being said I have never done any maintenance on my own car being that I drive a Pontiac Bonneville it's not always easy. I do have experience with lawn machines so i understand and can figure out engine mechanics. Me being a somewhat inexperienced, do you think there's enough information on here/Internet that I could service my own evo X?

 

Yes.

 

Yup

 

All the maintenance stuff like oil change, fluid changes, brakes, etc are all easy enough to do, and you don't need any special tools.

If you're a 'do it yourself' kinda person I would recommend picking up an electric impact gun from like harbor freight. Makes taking the tires off/on much less of a hassle, and it only costs like $30-40.

 

yes..if you don't know how to do something, ask people on the forum, youtube it, google it, whatever. You doing things by yourself saves you so much money. Also if you have any problems with it, I can almost guarantee that you aren't the first person with those problems. Everything here is to help you out man!

 

Thanks that's what I figured and ya I am a do it yourself person. I do not own an evo X yet but hopefully will soon and I know I won't trust other mechanics touching it.

 

Thanks for the help. I was thinking about getting an impact gun but I always heard harbor freight sold junky parts. Not true?

 

I've had the same harbor freight electric impact gun for over 3 years now. I use it all the time on things like tires, exhaust bolts, and stuff like that. My brother used it when he opened up a mechanic shop, and didn't have an air compressor just yet. Thing still works great. Granted they do sell a lot of crap that breaks, but I have been very lucky with mine.

I actually have a couple different power tools from them, and the only thing that died on me was a heat gun.

 

Sounds good I'll look in too that. Any specific model or name to look for?

 

Do you think I would also be able to do the 30k/60k service with the belt or does that require specific tools?

 

The belt is pretty easy you just need a long wrench (or wrench + pipe) to swing the tensioner and then a small allen wrench to slide into a hole to hold the tensioner, then you can take off and replace the belt by hand.

 

Worst case scenario you don't figure it out and have to pay $45 in labor at most to have it done.

 

Actually, if we're talking about the timing "belt" (which is a chain, instead of a belt), then the worst that he or she could do is bend a whole bunch of valves, which is two orders of magnitude more than $45 to fix.

At the risk of insulting the thread-starter, changing the timing chain in an Evo X is not a beginner's job. You want an expert there with you, at a minimum. Luckily, you don't need to do anything to the timing chain at 30k. Just swap some fluids and move on.

 

We are talking about the serpentine belt as outlined in the 30k, 60k service.

 

Then ignore me and the thread-starter should have at it. cheers