Are you ready to start working on your own car? It is an appealing idea considering the cost and time involved in taking your vehicle to a repair shop. But following the instructions in a repair manual can be more complicated than you may think. This article will answer some of the common questions about working from a repair manual and hopefully allow you to be better prepared for your repair job.

One issue is whether you are physically equipped to perform the procedures in your repair manual. For light jobs there shouldn’t be a problem but some repairs involve heavy lifting, applying torque, and other actions requiring physical strength. Be realistic about whether you can complete the repair, do your research, and you should be fine. (more…)

If you have been doing your own car repairs for any period of time, you understand the need for a repair manual. Without instructions to follow, even an experienced repair technician can make serious errors. But paper manuals are vulnerable in the home and especially in the garage. Let’s discuss some of the most common causes of repair manual damage and what you can do to avoid them.

The repair book’s worst enemy is shop grease. One little dot turns into a smudge, and that smudge might as well be printing ink because it is not coming off and will completely obscure anything underneath it. Take extreme care not to touch your manual with greasy hands or position it near any dripping components. (more…)

A lot of do-it-yourselfers grab a repair manual and dive into a brake job as their first repair with little or no experience. While repairing your brakes is considered one of the more approachable procedures for shadetree mechanics, there are some precautions that your manual may leave out which, if ignored, can result in a messy repair job, an unsafe vehicle, or personal injury during the repairs.

One of the major dangers of repairing your brakes is that it is necessary to lift and support the vehicle. Your repair manual probably doesn’t cover how to lift a vehicle in detail and the importance of this can not be overstated. You can be severely injured if you are working on the car and it collapses down onto the ground. Don’t try to get by with wooden blocks or other impromptu support devices. (more…)

So you have decided that you are going to tackle that nagging repair job this weekend. You did the same job on your previous vehicle, and you are thinking that maybe you will just “wing it” this time without a repair manual. You should think about this carefully, because this decision can have serious implications both for your likelihood of success and for your physical safety.

Even if you know the gist of what you need to do, you can’t take for granted the information that you are not going to have available to you if you wing it. Even small repairs often require exact torque specifications or special tool numbers. If you wing it, you are going to have a sloppy repair job at best, and an unsafe one at worst. Some of the most common areas for DIY repair are also critical to safe driving, such as your brakes, steering, and suspension. If you mess up working without a manual, you can put yourself or your family at risk. (more…)