I for one despise living in a 'throw away world'. Call me old school, cheap, out of touch, whatever. My garage and shop are full of stuff. Don't you dare call it junk like my wife does! It's just stuff I have not found a purpose for as of yet.
As to troubleshooting vs changing out parts. I see it as a sort of figuring out a 'who done it'. It also gives me a chance to use some of that junk, uhhh...I mean stuff.
With all kidding aside I will say this. With friends and myself driving hundreds of miles away from home in 50+ year old cars/trucks its nice for someone to have a very good understanding of how all the different systems work and how to troubleshoot them. This is because your just plain lucky if you breakdown in the parking lot of a FLAPS.
