Hello all, Like many of you I enjoy working doing routine maintenance and occasional troubleshooting on my cars.  I was wondering what is the next step up for the do-it-yourselfer after Haynes or Chilton manuals.  Often these tell me to take it to a dealer for certain problems, which I don't really want to do.  I guess I'd like to know how to get the manuals and equipment to do more complicated stuff (like finding the cause of the knocking in my 86 sable). Thanks.         I have always used the official V.W manuels.These are the same as the shop uses. I'm sure Your mercury dealer sells official manuels for your sable, or at least they should be able to tell you where to get them.

First, how on EARTH can you lump Haynes and Chilton manuals together?? Haynes is infinitely better than Chiltons.. C's more useful as paper towels than as a repair manual.  Haynes have been consistently excellent, no matter what the car, and don't seem to cost any more than Chilton. But, it's true, there are better.. The factory shop manuals are always the best (unless it's an Italian car! ), and are highly detailed. Unfortunately they're not always available for an older car, & are rather pricey. So...boogie down to your dealer & be prepared to spend $50-$100+ for some massive volumes about your car.  As far as the old cars go..swap meets. If you're serious about working on the car, I find that just one manual is never enough..I get them all...there are often a number of different ways to get at a particular part. cds not bad reading, either

Hello all, Like many of you I enjoy working doing routine maintenance and occasional troubleshooting on my cars.  I was wondering what is the next step up for the do-it-yourselfer after Haynes or Chilton manuals.  Often these tell me to take it to a dealer for certain problems, which I don't really want to do.  I guess I'd like to know how to get the manuals and equipment to do more complicated stuff (like finding the cause of the knocking in my 86 sable). Thanks. I recommend getting the shop manual for your car also, but for me, that wasn't enough.  I went to my local libraries and checked out textbooks on auto repair (or go to your local community college).  The textbooks provide a good background for most sub-systems, and since they discuss more than one manufacturer, you can compare their solutions and figure out what problems each one is trying to get around. The textbooks that I've seen tend to concentrate on American cars more, but I'm sure there are some covering foreign cars if that's what you want. Brian

:First, how on EARTH can you lump Haynes and Chilton manuals together?? :Haynes is infinitely better than Chiltons.. C's more useful as paper :towels than as a repair manual.  Haynes have been consistently excellent, no :matter what the car, and don't seem to cost any more than Chilton. Well, I've said just that many times too, but lately haynes quality has really gone in the toilet. If you are talking about say a 1980 or older car Haynes is excellent. o...boogie down to your dealer & be prepared to spend $50-$100+ You dont get a GM service manual for only $100, nor do you get them from a dealer (there is a number to call in the owners manual to order a shop manual)

As everyone said the official shop manual is uasually better. I've had them for  all my cars 8VW's and 1 1960 MGA. Bently was the publisher of those manuals. Unfortunately when I called Benmtly to get one for my '94 BMW 325is they said curtly that they have no plans to publish one. Haynes is the only one so far that has come ut with a manual for the e36  325 BMws. I really mss the trouble shooting that  the Bently manuals have. Holly G.McReynolds This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (HollyS Mac) '94 BMW 325is - My Little Red Dancer I will walk where my own nature would be leading; it vexes me to choose another guide.- E. Bronte

:First, how on EARTH can you lump Haynes and Chilton manuals together?? :Haynes is infinitely better than Chiltons.. C's more useful as paper :towels than as a repair manual.  Haynes have been consistently excellent, no :matter what the car, and don't seem to cost any more than Chilton. Well, I've said just that many times too, but lately haynes quality has really gone in the toilet. If you are talking about say a 1980 or older car Haynes is excellent. I have to agree.  It used to be that there was absolutely NO comparison between Haynes and Chilton.  The older Haynes manuals are excellent sources of information.  Unfortunately, I've noticed that the latest Haynes offerings are coming from the Chilton Print one book and change the model for different cars philosophy.  I still like the Haynes better but they just aren't as good as the old '70s vintage stuff. The big advantage that Haynes has (had?) is that they actually procured an example of the model they were describing.  Then they took apart whatever it was they were describing and wrote from that.  Chilton is much more just a reprint of specs and factory procedures which often assume access to special tools, etc. When someone asks me about Chilton I usually reply: Engine overhaul -         Step 1.  Remove engine         Step 2.  Repair engine         Step 3.  Replace engine greg