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Hey hey! My name is Nicolaas Van de Houten. I’m 35 years old and live in Southern California (Riverside county).
I was very happy to hear that you have created this realm for teaching videos (specifically for electrical diagnoses). I am a DIY’er of about 2.5 years now. It all started when the great mechanic I was going to (who only uses Toyota/Lexus OEM parts) quoted me huge amounts for parts such as the struts and an oxygen sensor on my 99 Lexus ES300. I knew I wanted to take extremely good care of this car because the first owner took immaculate care of it. I did not care for my previous car very well and didn’t even know how to change my own oil, or even replace an engine air filter (or know what that is). I just didn’t want to spend huge amounts on my mechanic’s labor costs for my new awesome Lexus. I then made learning about my car, auto repair, etc. a new obsession of mine. After 2 months of research, repair manual acquisition, parts sourcing, video watching, etc. I ended up doing the OEM struts on my car with some physical help from my step dad (who has also never done struts). Fast forward a couple years to now: I have done all the maintenance and repairs on my own vehicle and on other people’s vehicles. This includes things like oil changes, ATF changes, power steering, spark plugs/coils, throttle body cleaning, IACV, coolant changes, brake fluid flushes, fuel filter, thermostat, A/F & O2 sensors and other various sensors, starter contacts repair, alternator, brake pads and rotors, window regulator, intake manifold gaskets. My next big project is my timing belt / water pump (pulleys, tensioner, etc.) which I have researched the heck out of for almost a year. I’ve practiced on junk yard cars in my free time, figuring out best methods for doing things in those timing / crank/cam areas of the car. I have probably purchased a few thousand in tools over the course of this 2.5 years of my new hobby. I have learned so much information about cars and their various systems and how certain parts of automobiles work. My biggest weak point is the electrical and electrical diagnosis and I most certainly want to strengthen my weakness. A while back I had watched many of your videos and it was your teaching methods on things like fuel systems, fuel trims, etc. that taught me on those topics better than most other videos or channels out there. So now I am here and completely willing to chip in on this monthly sub since I know you’ve got a teaching mentality.
More about me:
In my 20’s I gave up on a lot of things, and was on disability for major anxiety and depression issues. I was convinced I was going to die at a young age, but this turned out to be very psychosomatic. I eventually started digging myself out of this hole of despair I nestled myself into because I wanted more out of life than hopelessness and stagnation. I became a security guard and found myself in a very low stress full time job. I left the disability life. I was able to tackle going to community college while working because I could do my homework while at work. Since then, I’ve acquired 2 associate degrees, and I’m still a security guard, still with the ability to study at work. There’s been a good degree of uncertainty in what kind of career path I want to take. These past 2 years I acquired a degree in Health Information Technology and passed the test for a RHIT (registered health information technician) certification, and I’ve totally changed my mind. I was getting into that field for the wrong reasons and don’t have a drive for it after acquiring the degree/cert. Now I know though: Automotive repair is my obsession and I should be doing something I love. I want to get deeper into this and make it a career. I’m going to make it happen.
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