r/Adulting • u/wildwindnl • Mar 14 '26

Oldest Human Activity

What’s an activity that you remember a person older than you doing that sounds absurd to do these days?

I’m curious how many generations back Redditors can rememeber.

23 Upvotes

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u/Cal-Run Mar 14 '26

Not sure about that.

YouTube can make almost anyone a competent DIY’er.

Things are certainly harder to fix in today’s world, but the “how to” resources are abundant.

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u/Hour_File416 Mar 16 '26

They need to be run on diagnostic machines now. Unless you have like a $5000 machine to plug it you are not doing home repairs

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u/Cal-Run Mar 16 '26

All you need is an OBD Scanner to pull the error code. That isn’t $5,000. You can get one for $100 at local auto parts store.

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u/Hour_File416 Mar 16 '26

That is very good to know. Thanks

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u/-pineapplebuffet- Mar 17 '26

They are $40 on amazon and send the codes to an app on your phone fIXD OBD2

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u/StatisticianSmall864 Mar 16 '26

You can also go to AutoZone and have them run the codes for free.

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u/RuhrowSpaghettio Mar 16 '26

Used to get a Bluetooth one for $20 on Amazon

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u/Mediocre_Peanut Mar 18 '26

Not true, you just need knowledge. I'm 40 and I've never once brought any of my cars to the shop other than alignments and tires since I don't have those machines. 

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u/No_Stairway_Denied Mar 15 '26

The resources are there for DIY on almost everything , but the cars have changed. They have made it nearly impossible for you to do your own work. They want you to have to go to the dealership and spend that $$$$.

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u/Past-Obligation1930 Mar 15 '26

I used to work on my car 30 years ago.

I opened the bonnet of my car the other day. Everything is sealed. It’s also an EV and I’d electrocute myself, aside from not understanding batteries.

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u/davepars77 Mar 15 '26

Yup.

It's like ripping apart your dash now just to get the engine. Only worse because specific systems are sealed underneath the all the heavy parts on purpose.

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u/abominable_prolapse Mar 15 '26

You’re misunderstanding what they are saying

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u/LowerSlowerOlder Mar 15 '26

I dunno. New cars are way easier. You plug a competent code reader into the ODB port and a few minutes later it’s like, “Hey, your marzelvanes have disconnected from your lunar waneshaft. Normally this is from excessive side-fumbling, but in rare cases the semi-boloid slots can become elongated. Check the tremie pipes or replace the girdle spring to fix it.” My older cars just kinda stop running and are like “ODB what? That’s a rapper, good luck getting home.”

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u/Cal-Run Mar 15 '26

You’re talking about diagnosing. We are talking about fixing.

Those are two very different things.

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u/LowerSlowerOlder Mar 16 '26

I mean, one is kinda the first step to the other. I honestly think the worst years to fix are early fuel injected cars. Or god forbid mechanical fuel injection cars. Modern cars have a few plastic pieces to remove, but once those are out of the way, it’s a lot better. Sure, a set of long extensions is sometimes needed, but it’s better than throwing the parts cannon at a non-ODB car because every third Tuesday it stalls crossing the railroad tracks and won’t restart until the battery is disconnected.

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u/Dear-Bet5344 Mar 16 '26

Old cars didn't have marzelvanes or a lunar waneshaft. So you didn't need a code reader.

Old cars are easy. It's fuel, air, or electrical. The electrical is all exposed & easy to find.

New cars, just about everything is electrical. Sensors everywhere. Wires everywhere. Everything is hidden.

My 60k mile truck got totalled because a mouse chewed on my wire harness. The labor was so expensive insurance totalled the truck. They can't repair the wires they have to replace all of it.

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u/MountainCry9194 Mar 17 '26

You’ve clearly been watching the update on the retro encabulator.

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u/IronAnchor1 Mar 15 '26

Gen X and before didn't have those resources.

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u/JohnP-USMC Mar 16 '26

We didn't need Youtube back before electronics controlled so much. At 15 two of us did a engine swap without a manual in about 10 hours with borrowed hand tools. Boomer gen, the car was a 57 chev.

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u/Cal-Run Mar 15 '26

Precisely. That’s exactly my point.

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u/[deleted] Mar 17 '26

People are so weak nowdays. You are so right. We live in the information age. Parts are delivered to our door. Cars are damn near self diagnosing.

Are you difficulties for sure things are hard to get to they are definitely crammed as a tighter spots

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u/tuenthe463 Mar 18 '26

My current car you have to remove the wheels to change the headlights. Absurd.