If you are an amateur auto mechanic who loves to dig in the car engines until the wee hours while most people are under their blankets, entails the spirit of the “do-it-yourself” -doer and are not afraid to get grease on your hands or if you are in an emergency situation, a very handy resource is the availability of the right auto repair manuals.
There are two types of car repair manuals:
Online Manuals
The best thing about online manuals are that whatever manual you’ll need for whichever car brand, it is only a few mouse clicks away; you can load it down from the internet in no time.
If the time is a significant factor for you, for instance if you are in a situation that requiers repair information immeadeatlY and your knowledge about the specific problem is limited, the fastest and cheapest solution is to go online to find high quility vehicle repair manuals.
Some of these manuals include not only repair information, but also updated technical service information and some of them even include approximate business hours. This is valuable info if you decide to take your car to a mechanic: You’ll know in advance how much you could expect to pay for the repair. Most of these websites charge a minor fee for their service, but compared to what you’ll get back, it is worth it.
Good vehichle repair manual sites also features updated diagnostic and maintenance information. Their manuals are Original Service Manuals Written by the manufacturers and contains the original workshop repair descriptions. Therefore many professional auto technicians are using quality downloadable manuals. .
Good manuals contain thousands of pages of diagrams and all the necessary detailed information for the specific vehicle and car part repair.
Printed manuals
I have chosen to make a brief review of three of the best printed motorcar fixing manuals available on the market today. If you chose these instead of the online alternative, expect some time for shipping and handling.
Bentley
- the target is the experienced mechanic, and is considered by many experts as the hands-down best reference.
- probably the most detailed car repair book available
- Unfortunately, Bentley focuses on European models mostly, not US models.
Factory
- The target for these service manuals are factory certified mechanics, and unfortunately not amateurs
- may require access to special tools only available to authorized mechanics.
Chilton
- Simple step-by-step procedures, easy-to-follow standard format
their targeted audience is the average, general backyard mechanic - focusing on maintenance and basic repairs
- containing lots of sequential photographs and graphics to simplify maintenance and thus make the job easy and fun.
- new cars are treated with thorough attention. Older cars however, get lumped together and the instructions for these are a little more generalized.
