by Mobile Mechanixx

Created on: January 28, 2007   Last Updated: April 23, 2007

Autozone is an incredible sight for many cars. However, newer vehicles, and some older ones are not covered. Google searches can often turn up sites devoted to enthusiast's of a particular car. These sites can be very helpful, but searching, and reading them with patience is definitely required. This lets the user know, in most cases, the false starts from the eventual solution.

If your car is fairly new, and still under warranty, obviously even simple repairs can be taken to the dealer. Tune ups, on the other hand, can be costly. One of the best sources for information is published by Haynes. A Haynes manual is an almost indispensable resource for the car owner who wishes to perform repairs on his/her own vehicle.
Haynes usually publishes a manual for a car after a reasonable warranty period would expire. While this does not help with general maintenance at the begining of the cars life cycle, it is invaluable later. When published, the manual is chock full of information. It will cover just about everything the car owner needs to know. It will begin with general information about routine maintenance, tools the owner will need for most common repairs, specifications of fluids and filters, and an extremely helpful chapter on diagnosing problems.
After the first chapter or so, however, is when the manual truly begins to shine. The subsequent chapters are presented in an orderly manner, and cover almost any repair, including specific information on how much torque each bolt requires, other materials neccesary to complete the job, and most importantly, actual photographs. These photos are taken during an actual teardown, and rebuild of the entire automobile, unlike many manuals that only contain drawings. It is these photos, along with exceptional writing, that can help a vehicle owner become able to rebuild even his/her own engine, without prior experience, that make the manual so valuable. Explanations and added arrows are concise, and very easy to understand. Quite often, it will even contain advice on how to find more help if necessary.
If you own a car, have a very basic understanding of how to use hand tools, and are inclined to fix your own vehicle, run, do not walk, to the nearest auto parts store, and purchase a Haynes manual for your car!

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