Since day one, Haynes has been all about helping you, the home mechanic, to carry out your own repairs on your vehicles. Here, we celebrate those who use their spare time and Haynes Manuals to repair and improve their pride and joy.
DIY champion: Jamie Miller
Vehicle: Ford B-Max
The Ford B-Max is a very decent family car. It’s reasonably roomy, it’s cheap to run and it has clever touches such as the sliding rear doors (perfect for when you’re trying to get kids into and out of the rear seats in a narrow car park space). Those are all the reasons why one resides in Jamie Miller’s garage.
However, the B-Max is exactly the same as every other car out there in that it requires maintenance. But that wasn’t an issue for Jamie, who wields spanners with the skill and panache of a drum major with a ceremonial mace.
Or so he tells us, anyway. In the past, he's changed suspension top mounts, brake pads and discs, filters aplenty, and the catalytic converter.
But sometimes maintenance becomes ‘scheduled big job’, and that’s what Jamie faced with his 1.0-litre three-cylinder B-Max EcoBoost, because the time had come for it to have a new timing belt.
This is the sort of job that a garage will charge well into four figures for, so Jamie decided that it would be better to do the job himself and spend the extra on treats for the kids. Let’s hear it now: “Awww.” He’s a good soul.
Ford B-Max timing belt change
But swapping the timing belt on an EcoBoost engine is not a job for the faint-hearted. Or the misinformed. So, Jamie made sure he had the right information around him by investing in the Haynes manual for the mechanically identical Ford Fiesta Mk7.
Then it was just a case of investing in the relevant replacement parts, plus a few more tools (no one ever needs an excuse to buy more tools), a jumbo pack of Jaffa Cakes and an industrial bag of teabags.
How long to change a timing belt?
Jamie started the job after his kids left for school on the Thursday, and progressed methodically and calmly through the procedure, following each and every step.
He knew he’d bitten off quite a lot though, saying: “This job is definitely more than five spanners worth!”.
Nevertheless, he finished the task on the Sunday, three days after starting. And felt joy unconfined when he turned the key and it started straight away.
Then the joy turned quickly to angst when he realised the car was running extremely rough.
Another investigation revealed that he’d left one pipe unclipped at the air flow meter. He attached it properly and hey presto, the EcoBoost motor was back to rude health, and ready for another 10 years or 150,000 miles.
We want your repair story!
And intrepid repairs such as Jamie’s is what Haynes is all about. We love using knowledge gained over decades to get old vehicles running again, and really want to hear about how you’re doing the same.
After all, in today’s recycling-conscious world, it’s better to keep an older vehicle running rather than simply bin it favour of a new one.
And of course, you get the euphoria that comes from fixing your own vehicle.
So, please feel free to get in touch at yourrepairs@haynes.co.uk and let us know what you’ve been up to.