There are a lot of different ways to recycle, and automobile maintenance helps you learn all of them. There are parts and liquids that require specific methods of disposable, those that need to be bought new, and those that can be taken from elsewhere. Proper maintenance will teach you how to not only maintain your car but how to best obtain parts for it. Long before it became popular to recycle clothes, mechanics were already recycling parts from otherwise broken down cars. Interchangeable as car parts have always been, it just made sense to trade out parts that were broken, or otherwise beyond use, with parts that may be used but still have plenty of miles left.
This is why most mechanics new to an area will quickly find several salvage yards. Those that have established shops almost seem to have a clairvoyant sense of which parts are in which yards. It does not matter if we are talking about salvage yards in Utah or pick and pull yards in California, a good mechanic will know where to find the best parts. This not only saves money for the customer but also helps to ensure that the parts can be found in the first place; this is a virtual requirement for cars that have rare parts. A mechanic cannot fix a vehicle without the parts in hand, after all, and so it can only help to know where to find them.
If that applies to a professional mechanic then it applies double to the home mechanic. Given the price of new parts, it is usually best to look for used parts first; there are plenty of options. Better yet, using used parts is great for those looking to do something about pollution. A part taken out of a salvage yard is one that does not need to be forged new, saving the carbon cost of making a new part. Better yet, that means that you are rescuing a part and putting it to the use that it was meant for.
This also hearkens back to one of the oldest traditions of car maintenance. There is no doubt that the first mechanics pulled used parts from the first models for the second models. It meant not having to reforge new parts, a process that could take days. While in some cases the parts are virtually brand new, used parts can be found in a variety of different conditions. Thus, the home mechanic needs to be aware of the possibility of potential and be on the lookout for them; finding a necessary part should be the first step to a lengthy inspection process to make sure that the part will actually work.
Of course, anything that applies to the home mechanic applies to someone just doing maintenance as well. While it may not be useful for most maintenance jobs, there are some cases where knowing where to find parts may not be a bad idea. Windows and mirrors are the most looked for parts for basic maintenance, but that could include gas caps, doors, and even antennas. The person doing home maintenance is looking primarily for parts that can replace parts that have minimal damage, while at the same time keeping an eye out for other parts that may be useful in case of greater issues, such as engines and transmissions.
Salvage yards are also treasure troves for those doing restorations. Restorers always have problems finding parts; it is part of the bane and challenge of being a restorer. As such, they probably know the salvage yards around them pretty well and have no problem recycling old parts into current projects, especially if it involves bragging rights. Given how hard it is to find old parts, they even have networks set up specifically for tracking down hard-to-find parts. No one does recycling better than a restorer.
Recycling is a major part of the life cycle of almost any vehicle. Some vehicles are even made up of mostly recycled parts, even if it is just by accident; they have been around long enough that most of their original parts have been replaced. While this brings into question if the car produced is the original vehicle, this does make the vehicle a prime example of how well recycling works, making it a great example of recycling in the overall picture.
Earthgarage – Greener Car. Fatter Wallet.