Category Archives: Repair Manual

Missing Car Owner’s Manual? You can download owner’s manual for free.

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You may not have paid much attention, but a car owner’s manual contains lots of useful information such as how to operate A/C, audio, switches, and other interior components, descriptions and meaning of indicator lights, maintenance schedules, specifications of oil and fluids, and so on. New vehicles come with an owner’s manual from a manufacturer, and it’s stored in the glove compartment. But what if you don’t find one in there? If you have purchased a used car, there is a chance that the previous owner lost one. It’s been missing since you bought the car. Fortunately, you can download owner’s manual for free.

image of car owners manual in glove compartment

PDF, Digital-Version of Owner’s Manual

Most manufacturers offer digital-version of their owner’s manuals for free. First, you need to go to the manufacturer’s website of your vehicle and type “owner’s manual” in the search box. You will get a list of search results including an owner’s manual or something similar and click that. Then, you will enter the year and model of your vehicle or choose them from a drop-down. This is an example of PDF-version of Acura 2010 MDX owner’s manual. It’s clear and full-colored. And you can jump to the page from the index just like e-books.

You can download and keep it on your mobile device such as a smartphone which you may always have when you drive. Now, you can open the file and read them whenever you need it. It doesn’t matter if you are in the middle of nowhere or with no data connection. It may be even better than a printed-version of owner’s manual as it doesn’t take space in a glove compartment or anywhere else.

Booklet, Printed-Version of Owner’s Manual

If you prefer a traditional printed-version of owner’s manual, you need to order through the manufacturer’s website. It seems many manufacturers rely on the website called HELMINC. So, it’s better to check the website first if you are looking for a printed-version of owner’s manual. Unfortunately, the availability of printed-version of owner’s manuals is much smaller than the availability of digital-version of owner’s manuals. And, printed-versions of owner’s manuals are not free. Their prices range from $40 to $60.

image of find car owners manual

What if you don’t find an owner’s manual of your vehicle?

If you don’t find a printed-version of owner’s manual, just get a digital-version of owner’s manual. As mentioned above, it’s more beneficial than printed-versions when you download and keep it on your mobile device. If you want to stick to a printed version, you may find one on eBay. If you don’t find either version on the manufacturer’s website, your vehicle may be too old or rare. In this case, you may want to try to find one on eBay, too.

image of find car owners manual on ebay

Useful information from owner’s manuals, which you may not know

You probably know that an owner’s manuals contain information like how to operate switches, move seats, or where to find a fuse block and what each fuse is responsible for. But there are more, and you may not know of them. Here are some useful information you can get from an owner’s manual.

Bluetooth Connection Setup

Many modern vehicles have a Bluetooth-enabled audio player as a default option. Bluetooth allows you to play your favorite songs in your mobile device without physical wiring. But what if you rent a car? You may not even know where to begin for Bluetooth connection. Rental cars should have an owner’s manual in a glove compartment, and read it instead of guessing and make unsure attempts many times.

Service Reminder, Engine Oil Life Reset

Many vehicles have an indicator light or message to remind you of maintenance. This maintenance is usually an oil change. These vehicles calculate the engine oil life based on how many miles you drive and how long the time passed since the last oil change. When the engine oil life gets close to 0%, you see the indicator light or message. And this system needs to be reset when you change the oil. The procedures of resetting it vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and model to model. You can find how to reset on an owner’s manual. I guess it’s good to know for not only owners of the vehicle but also auto mechanics. Because you can’t memorize the procedures of all vehicles, and many customers don’t know how to reset. Instead of opening a glove compartment and turn pages of customer’s owner’s manual with dirty hands, you can see that by looking up digital-version of owner’s manual on your computer.

Conclusion

Owner’s manuals are neglected by many people. Sometimes, they’ve never been opened by owners. But, I bet you will find some useful information about your vehicle from the owner’s manual. I suggest you glance all pages at least once when you buy a vehicle. If it’s a used car, and you don’t find one, just search online and download it. If you prefer a printed-version, keep in mind that they can be out of stock and no longer available. If it’s the case, go to eBay, print out all page of digital-version or just download to the mobile device you always carry when you drive.

Need a car repair information? Ask a Mechanic Online

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When you have a question about your car’s problem, probably, it is the best way to ask a mechanic. But, instead of taking your car to a repair shop only for asking questions, you can just ask a mechanic online with a small fee or even for free.

JustAnswer.com – The easy way to get expert help

JustAnswer is a website that visitors and experts for various categories connect, and then ask and answer the questions. The categories include tax, finances, lawyers, doctors, vets, techs, and automotive. There are many verified mechanics available to answer your questions 24/7.

You first need to sign up and create your account. Then, put your payment information such as credit card, debit card, and PayPal. When you ask a question, they deduct a fee ($20 to $30). If you are satisfied with the answer, a portion of the fee will go to the expert who answered your question. If you are not satisfied, you will have options to request another answer or a refund.

Don’t forget to leave feedback. If you don’t leave positive feedback, or not request another answer or a refund if you are not satisfied, within 30 days after you received the answer, JustAnswer will take the whole fee. However, the time of response may vary on categories and types of questions.

You can ask as many follow-up questions as you need to until you get an answer that satisfies you. You can also have an option to get a refund.

Fees are literally a fraction of cost that may be charged by a local repair shop. And, it saves you time instead of taking your car to a local repair shop and waiting for hours in a waiting room.

2CarsPro – Ask Your Auto Repair Questions

There is another website that is a similar, question-answer type of website. 2CarsPro – Ask Your Auto Repair Questions is entirely free of charge. Most of the time, it takes a much longer time for an answer. And it may be less detailed than JustAnswer.

However, if the same exact is already listed here, you can get an answer more quickly than JustAnswer. It’s the only thing that is better than JustAnswer.

So, it’s the best place to start to search.

Conclusion

Thanks to the internet, you can ask questions and get answers without leaving home. You may get the exact solution by searching on Google, but if you don’t, there are websites to ask your question and get an answer with or without a fee. JustAnswer.com is the website with a fee. Their answer is detailed and quick, and you can ask follow-up questions without an extra cost. You also have an option to get a refund. JustAnswer.com saves you time. If you have a question, click here or type in the box on the right to start asking.

How To Do It Yourself Auto Repair

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You should know how to fix your car before you start a job. Otherwise, you will waste your time by opening up some other parts that are not related with the problem or going to a parts store to buy extra parts and tools. Preparing for everything lets you save your time and fix your car easily. Let’s see more details how to do it yourself auto repair.

There are auto repair manuals because you can look up not only when you get lost in the middle of the job, but also before you start the job. You can get the outline of each job, tools you need for a repair, or you can tell how long it normally takes to finish a job so you choose the best time to do it without a rush.

Repair manuals tell you whether you need to use a jack and crawl under the car. This helps you decide where to repair your car. You do not want to do this kind of jobs on a dirty ground. Even if the ground is clean but dangerous to use a jack for some reasons such as it is not level, or there is no room to place a jack when you work in your tiny garage, you will have to change the work place. Imagine all procedures of the job you are going to do and you can pick the best place and position for the job.

As for tools, you should own a basic mechanic tool set for any kinds of job. Buying a set is much cheaper than buying items one by one. You should own a basic size range of sockets and wrenches, 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 ratchets and extensions, pliers and screwdrivers, and so on. You will buy the other tools individually when you need them.

To do auto repair, you need not only tools ,but also some equipment sometimes. If a job is a water pump replacement or a radiator change, you do not forget about a container to catch anti-freeze: however, there are many repairs that require to disconnect coolant hoses and drain anti-freeze. Whether you work on a street or in your home garage, you should not mess up the ground.

As you see, looking up information in auto repair manuals in advance have many benefits. You can save your time, perform a job smoothly without hassles, and keep your work place clean so that you will contribute to protect the environment.

How To Get Free Repair Manual Online #2

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There are many ways to get online repair manuals for free. Just typing your car’s make, model, year, and a specific term such as a name of parts, you will see many websites, forum posts, etc… Some websites are created by auto repair manual companies and they cost you a subscription fee to use their manuals. But forum sites is usually free. By typing your car_model+forum, you will find the forum and you may find the answer you are looking for as well. You may not find the information you need but you can also post your question and wait for an answer from other forum users. This may be a little time-consuming way to do. But it is free. Even if you have a good repair manual, you should keep in mind that there are always forums to help your auto repair jobs.

What else? Some auto parts store offer online car repair manuals for free. Autozone.com is popular for free manuals. You will need to register (also free) to get access to the manuals. AutoZone has manuals of many models and years and you will have access to all of them after a free registration. The manuals are neat and easy to see and navigate. The contents are somewhat lacking of information as compared with paid online repair manuals. But again, it is free and no harm to you except you keep receiving promotional emails from AutoZone.

As a useful technique, there is an Image search to take advantage of. Most browsers are default to Web search. By changing it to Image search, you will have greater chance to find wiring diagrams, or pictures and illustrations. Needless to say, visual contents are helpful in finding the location of the part, estimating the difficulty of the overall procedure. Using Image search sometimes save you a lot of time when you try to get free repair manual online.

Online car repair manuals keep our planet clean. They don’t consume trees. That is why many publishers such as Chilton’s and Haynes tend to have more and more online car repair manuals. To use most online car repair manuals, you need to pay a subscription fee, monthly, annually, or even lifetime, depending on publishers. If you have no clue to choose which publisher is the good, look for a sample page in their websites. Most publisher’s website have sample pages. ALLDATAdiy.com has complete manuals of 2 specific vehicles as a sample. If your car’s models and year are the same as these sample vehciles, you are so lucky to use the manuals for free.

How To Get Free Repair Manual Online #1

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You probably know that auto repair manuals are very important when you work on vehicles. Before you start opening up the parts of your vehicles, it is wise to look up the procedure of the repair or possible causes of the problem in repair manuals. Repair manuals are great help to both do it yourself auto mechanics and professional auto mechanics. You can get exact information you need in no time by subscribing online car repair manuals. But what about a free repair manual online? You may have heard that you can get repair manuals for free. Or you see many phrases, such as free auto manuals download, car wiring diagram for free, etc…

It is true that there are many free repair manual online. One of places you can find free repair manuals is a library. You don’t have to go to the library right now. Because the library may not have the manual you are looking for. Libraries have their own websites. Visit the website first and type your car’s model and year. After you make sure they have the your car’s manual, go to the library and check out. But printed manuals don’t have as much information as online repair manuals have.

Because of the advance of technology, newer vehicles need more and more pages. Printed repair manuals of newer vehicles should be several times thicker than the manuals of older vehicles. The reason you don’t see such books is the contents of printed repair manuals are limited to basic information. They don’t have the information of new technology or detailed wiring diagrams. Of course, how much information you need depends on the level of your skills. If you do only routine maintenance like oil change and tune up, printed manuals are probably sufficient for you.

The drawback of printed manuals is that it’s hard to find pages you collect information from. Unlike online repair manuals, there is no search box to type names of parts you are going to replace or trouble code’s number you just retrieved by a scan tools and want to know the cause. After you manage to find the pages, make sure to copy the pages. Don’t take the manual to a work place and look it up while working. Soon it will be full of fingerprints on all pages. Remember they belong to the library.

Regardless of disadvantages, printed repair manuals are still around on the market. That is because they target on do it yourself mechanics who do only basic jobs. Again, they are enough for those who do only routine maintenance. If you want to own the manual instead of borrowing from library every time you need, you can find almost all cars’ manuals on the Internet. Haynes and Chilton are very reputable publisher of auto repair manuals for many years. You can also find used manuals as well as new ones with discount on eBay.