Our easy-to-use car shop manuals can save you money in maintenance and repair bills. Step-by-step procedures and detailed illustrations guide you through every job, from routine maintenance and troubleshooting, all the way to complete teardown & rebuild. Introduction: Vehicle identification numbers; Buying parts; Maintenance techniques, and more. Tune-up and routine maintenance; Engine and overhaul procedures; Cooling, heating and air-conditioning systems; Fuel and … More >>
#1 by Alp on June 29, 2010 - 5:21 am
I’m not a mechanic, but my father-in-law knows about cars and has his own hydraulic lift in his garage. We use these manuals to do our own car repairs. In the Saturn I used to own, we have changed a couple of sensors and the brakes saving me hundreds of dollars in mechanical repairs.
I traded the Saturn for a Hyundai, so I needed to get the Hyundai manual. We will be using this manual for some repairs and maintenance work we need to do. We’ve found these manuals very useful. If you are mechanically inclined and have the right tools, it will save you hundreds of dollars down the road.
Rating: 5 / 5
#2 by BargainHunter on June 29, 2010 - 6:52 am
As a DIY’er, Haynes manuals are indispensable to me when working on the car. They are written in clear, easy to understand language. The chapters of this book are:
Chapter 1 – Tune-up and routine maintenance
Chapter 2 – Engine
Chapter 3 – Cooling, heating and air conditioning systems
Chapter 4 – Fuel and exhaust systems
Chapter 5 – Engine electrical systems
Chapter 6 – Emissions and engine control systems
Chapter 7A – Manual transaxle
Chapter 7B – Automatic transaxle
Chapter 8 – Clutch and driveline
Chapter 9 – Brakes
Chapter 10 – Suspension and steering systems
Chapter 11 – Body
Chapter 12 – Chassis electrical system
Book also includes wiring diagrams. Each chapter starts with a listing of component specifications and torque specifications, which is extremely handy. In chapter 6, the book does list generic OBD-II trouble codes and definitions; however, it lacks a specific troubleshooting flow chart for each code. (You’d probably need the factory service manuals for that level of detail.) It does provide valuable information on testing sensors, though.
Each Haynes manual typically starts with general information and safety tips–like how to jump start the vehicle, how best to jack it up, etc. (This book is no exception.) Also included in the introductory section is information on specialized tools, chemical information, and conversion factors. There’s a helpful troubleshooting section in the front of the book that lists symptoms and possible causes of common problems. There’s a useful index in the back of the book for easy lookup of information. Inside the rear cover are color pictures for reading spark plugs.
In my opinion, this book is well worth the money if you do your own repair work. If I’m undertaking a major repair job, I will typically purchase this book along with another service manual and compare the two for an objective view before tackling the job. Haynes is my favorite among non-factory provided repair books.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by W. Kern on June 29, 2010 - 9:48 am
I am definitely not a car guy and need this manual for all sorts of “small” jobs. For the most part it is fairly accurate. Recently I noticed that the pictures and instructions for changing your headlight bulbs was not completely accurate for my vehicle (2004). The first two pictures are correct but the third one demonstrating how to remove the bulbs was not even close to right. I was kinda baffled until I took a hard look at the housing and noticed the spring clips to remove the bulbs. The picture shows someone removing the housing to get to the bulb. Anyway…without the manual, it might have taken me longer to figure out many other projects. Definitely a must have.
Rating: 4 / 5
#4 by T. Clark on June 29, 2010 - 12:39 pm
I’ve used the book for only one big job – replacing the struts all the way around on a 2003 elantra sedan. The book was reasonably helpful, but left out a lot of details that would have been useful for a home mechanic like me. For example, the book said simply “remove the 3 bolts holding the top of the strut” (referring to the rears). The bolts are not accessible without folding down the seats, removing the 3rd brake light, removing the rear deck cover, unbolting and removing the rear seat side bolsters, and removing several brackets. I’m sure guys who do this for a living would find that easy, but for me discovering where the fasteners were, what type they were, and how to remove them without breaking the plastic was a challenge. Describing it as simply as it did also grossly misrepresented the effort involved. I found better documentation and descriptions on the web for this repair. Still, overall, it provides good enough guidance to be useful. I don’t consider it a wasted purchase, I just think it could use a lot more detail. I’m not sure that any of the manuals out there do.
Rating: 3 / 5
#5 by flyone11 on June 29, 2010 - 2:12 pm
Great product , typical of all Haynes manuals . Easy to read , and pretty decent photos to help those of us “backyard mechanics” out there . The only downside I did notice is the quality of the paper used by the publisher . Definately a lot thinner paper than earlier editions . I would rather see the heavier paper even if at a cost increase .
Rating: 5 / 5