Do it yourself auto repair has become more common as of late. People are learning to troubleshoot issues to find out what is actually going on, getting an auto repair book (if they don’t own one), buying the parts from their local auto parts store, and fixing the problem themselves.
Auto repair books and manuals can be found in the parts stores, in the bookstores, and online. Amazon offers a good selection of Haynes and Chilton repair manuals. Those are sorted by year, make and model of each vehicle. You may even buy them used if you wish.
There are a lot of places online that offer “how to’s” on basic auto repair. If you aren’t familiar with doing your own auto repair, you may talk to other people in the parts store, the local garages, at car shows, cruise nights, swap meets, etc.
There are a lot of blogs and groups online that share ideas, places for to get hard-to-get parts, resources, specialized tools, and Questions and Answers (Q & A). Just type into the address bar something like “how to repair front brakes” and see what comes up. You can get more details in the search with year, make and model also.
I work in a parts store and we have the ability, for some cars not all, to show how to repair or replace that particular part. You just ask the counter person if that store has the ability to print such instructions out for you when you purchase a particular part.
*Note – not all stores have this option.
If you need a specialized tool, not all parts stores will carry them. You should access places such as Sears, Harbor Freight, some small hardware stores such as Star Hardware and Conyers Hardware to get what you are looking for. You can even find them in Lowes or Home Depot. If you cannot find them there, look online for them BEFORE you do the job. These things take time to be ordered, shipped and delivered to you.
