What a mobile mechanic can fix in your driveway, and what needs a shop

A lot of car repair is taking a worn part off and bolting a new one on, and most of that happens at the wheels or from the top of the engine bay. That kind of work doesn't need a building around it. It needs a level spot, a good jack and stands, the right tools and someone who knows what they are looking at.

From Josh's list, these are driveway jobs on most cars. A few cars make one of them harder than it should be, and Josh will say so when he quotes it.

• Brakes
• Oil changes and engine air filters
• Transmission fluid and power steering fluid
• Coolant flushes
• Alternators and starters
• Serpentine belts, pulleys and tensioners
• Radiators and radiator hoses
• Gasket jobs, like a leaking valve cover gasket
• Engine diagnostics when the check engine light is on

Josh also lists timing belts, timing chains, camshafts and engine replacement. Those are big jobs with a lot of parts coming off the front or the top of the engine, and how they go depends a great deal on the car. On one engine the timing belt is fairly easy to get at. On another the engine sits sideways in a tight bay and everything is harder to reach.

So these get talked through before anything is scheduled. Tell Josh the year, make, model and engine, and he will tell you how he would handle it at your place, or if it is one that needs more than a driveway.

Some work needs the car up in the air at full height or a machine that doesn't travel. Rebuilding a transmission is the clearest example. The transmission has to come out from under the car, and on most cars that means a lift and a transmission jack.

Wheel alignment needs an alignment rack. Machine work on a cylinder head, like resurfacing it, happens on machine shop equipment. And some engine jobs sit right on the line, easy on one car and a shop job on another. If your job is one of those, Josh tells you when he quotes it, before any wrench turns.

The car has to sit where it can be worked on safely. Mostly that comes down to the ground under it and the room around it.

• Flat and level. A car on a slope can roll or shift on its stands.
• Hard ground. Concrete or asphalt works. Jack stands can sink into gravel, grass or soft dirt.
• Room on both sides, enough to open the doors wide and slide a jack under the car.
• Room at the front to get at the engine, since most engine work happens from there.
• The keys, and a car that isn't blocked in by another one.
• A place where car repair is allowed. More on that below.

Plenty of homes around Kansas City don't have a perfect flat slab. Out around Piper there are a lot of gravel drives, and some driveways in the older neighborhoods closer to the river have a real slope. That doesn't rule the work out. It might mean pulling the car into the garage or onto a flatter patch, or putting something solid under the stands. Tell Josh what you have and he can say if it works for the job.

Street work is its own question. Some cities, homeowner associations and apartment complexes limit car repair on the street or in the lot. Check your lease or HOA rules before you book, so nobody knocks on the window halfway through a brake job.

When the work happens outside, the weather gets a say. Spring storms build fast in the afternoon, July and August turn a driveway into a griddle, and January wind makes a long job hard on bare hands. Plenty of work still gets done in the heat and the cold. But a long job like a timing belt is easier to plan around a dry day, so talk it over with Josh when you set a time.

If you have a garage with room to work, or even a carport, mention it. Keeping rain off an open engine bay makes some jobs a lot easier.

The quickest way to find out if your repair is a driveway job is to describe it. Text Josh the year, make and model, what the car is doing, and a little about where it is parked. A photo of the spot and a short video of the noise both help.

He tells you what he thinks it is, whether it fits at your place, and what it costs in a clear quote. If it needs a shop, you hear that up front instead of after the car is apart.