Do It Yourself Car Maintenance: Auto Repair Manuals
Each new vehicle comes with its own manual, like any other new gadget or appliance. It does not have instructions on how to drive your car because this is something that you already should have learned while you were in driving school. What it provides instead are guides on how you can use your car’s various features and components such as defroster, air conditioning, heater, and many others. Depending on your car’s manufacturer, it may also include reminders and tips on basic car maintenance and responsible car ownership.
However, you should not mistake a car owner’s with a car repair manual or guide. The former has basic information on how to operate a car’s different systems and components. Car repair manuals, as the name suggests, deals with auto repair. A repair manual may also have illustrations on using and maintaining your car, but it concentrates on giving comprehensive guides in system repairs and replacing car parts. Car repair manuals are useful when you need to fix small issues on your own or if you want to save money on car repair shop bills.
Because of the large number of topics that car repair manuals can cover, it would be hard to put them all in just a single document or book. In fact, we could probably produce thousands of pages of repair guides if we were to compile all the different kinds of repairs one can do in a car. Because of this, repair manuals typically come in various types, whether in print or online.
For basic maintenance and troubleshooting of the most commonly replaced parts like fuses, windshield wiper inserts, and turn signals, use a generic car repair guide. Because they are generic, they can be used as guides for repairing cars of various makes and models.
If there are generic car repair guides, there are also vehicle-specific repair manuals. Their content is practically the same as the generic repair manuals. The difference is that they are especially made for certain car makes and models. They are meant to be used for more complicated and complex car troubles because they are tailored for specific kinds of vehicles.
If you want to do your car’s troubleshooting and repairs yourself, make sure that you are consulting the right kind of auto repair manual. Refer to a generic repair manual for basic troubleshooting guides and a vehicle-specific repair manual if the issue is unique to your vehicle. As long as you have the correct auto repair guide in your hands, learning and performing repairs on your car should be straightforward and effortless.