Auto Repair Manuals

By Terje Ellingsen

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 downloadable manuals


Printed 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 aproximate 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 breif 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.

Terje Brooks Ellingsen is a writer and internet publisher. He runs the website cheap-used-cars.w-eland.com Terje gives advice and helps people with automotive issues like auto repair help and car fix manuals