 2008-12-01 - Where I started
This book is one of the most important I have read in a long time. I really had a positive experience with it.
My wife started staying home to raise our growing family and I have had to find ways to save money and make it on one salary. The breaks were going on my car and I did NOT want to put the bill on my credit card.
A guy at Church told me that disk brakes were easy. I should do them myself. I bought this book, looked on-line for vehicle specific directions (Auto Zone has a GREAT website), bought a ratchet set and got to work.
My friend was right. I replaced brakes and rotors and bought tools and books at it cost me less than it would have cost at a facility to get the brakes and rotors done for me. Plus, I was equipped to do it again and again.
This brings me to my first criticism of this book. She doesn't recommend you do your own brakes; even disks. That is NONSENSE. I am deducting one star for this.
Anyway, what reading the book did give me was a pretty good knowledge of how a car worked.
Her directions on how to change oil are excellent. In my own learning curve, I did brakes before I changed oil. You should DEFINITELY change the oil and do the air filter first to build your confidence and see if you enjoy working on the car to begin with.
After doing my own brakes with success, doing my own oil, changing my air filter, and changing the PCV (EASY) I was HOOKED. My car was handling better than it had when I first bought it and I felt like the man!
Then, the check engine light came on on my mom's 2001 Suburu Forrester. The car was idling very roughly and even blowing some white smoke.
The car's warranty had JUST expired. To make matters worse, I had read online that the car was prone to head gasket problems, and when I plugged the symptoms and make and model into google I came up with a ton of very bad scenarios.
So, I drove her car down to Auto Zone and had them check the engine with the computer. This is a FREE service (go AUTO ZONE!) The guy at Auto Zone said the computer told him the problem was in cylinder three. I asked if this meant a possible head gasket problem and he shook his head and said, "Look; do cheap work first to eliminate simple possible causes. Only move on to the expensive fussy stuff AFTER you check the cheap and obvious. For now, change the plugs and wires and see what happens."
I had never done this before on any vehicle.
In the interim I bought the service manual for my mother's car, and found it VERY helpful, BUT, the directions on how to change plugs and wires are so thorough in this book that I barely needed the manual.
So, I got out my new ratchet set and got to work. With the help of this EXCELLENT book the work was doable if not easy. (Luckily my set came with a NICE spark plug socket!)
I got the job done, and at the same time did an oil change and checked the PCV. I unplugged and removed the battery to reset the computer (to get rid of the check engine light) and to help me get at the plugs (its a little tight in there).
Once the job was finished (it took me about 2 hours.... first timer!) I had mom take it out for a test drive.
She said it hadn't run better... ever.
The idle was smooth, all the roughness had disappeared. When I "read" the spark plugs (this book makes it EASY as there is a detailed guide on how to read plugs in the spark plugs chapter) it became clear that because mom only does short mileage runs in town for low mileage the plug in that third cylinder had become carbon fouled. The plugs were all fouled to some extent, but the one in the third cylinder was NASTY.
By now you can see what this book has done for me.
The author takes time to avoid potential law suits. She doesn't recommend you do your own shocks and struts (you can hurt yourself and need a strut compressor... you can get one here at Amazon) she doesn't recommend you do your own brakes (why?) she doesn't cover a lot of stuff.
BUT, if you read the book you will get a real good idea of how stuff works, get good advice about purchasing tools, learn that you can and should do your own oil, your own plugs, your own basic preventive maintenance, and you will learn how to speak to your mechanic in an educated manner.
I have gone a little crazy. I got the service manuals for every vehicle in the household and have read them for fun. I have done plugs, wires, brakes, pcv's, oil changes, chasis lubes on all the vehicles, and am about to do shocks and struts on one. I keep getting calls from the dealer saying (on my car with 100,000 miles and no warrantee) to bring it in for scheduled maintenance. Sorry buddy! My Chilton's manual has a more aggressive preventive maintenance schedule and I do all the work myself. I will keep the at least $300.00 bucks you would charge thank you. I have saved 1000s of dollars since I read this book.
I've also had FUN.
Well worth the purchase.
 2008-11-23 - ehhhh your manual will probably give you more info
this book is ok, but it really dosent help at all. I suggest just reading your manual in the glove box of your car. But if you want to prove me wrong then go ahead.
2008-08-07 - Auto Repair for Dummies
I bought this book because I wanted to expand my knowledge on cars and engines. It did not work out as expected. If you have NEVER worked on a car before and you have NO IDEA about parts then I do recommend this book to you. For someone that knows even the basics this book is totally pointless and boring. There is nothing to teach you. If you are the kind of person that brings the car to the mechanic and is like do whatever you have to do then buy the book. If you can make something as simple as an oil change by yourself then do not.
 2008-03-10 - Extremely useful to this novice
I've always relied on mechanics (with mixed results), but I wanted to know what was going on with my car and to be able to perform basic maintenance myself. This book is very easy to use (MUCH better than my owner's manual). It provides a good overview of how cars work, as well as specific advice for particular repairs and maintenance. If you're already a gearhead, this is presumably too basic, but if the inside of your car is a great big mystery to you, this is definitely the book to get.
2008-01-04 - This book is a life saver
Before this book I didn't know a thing about cars. Now, I would still say that I don't but, I would NOT go to the mechanic for everything.
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