Auto Repair For Dummies :: Education by Design Store

Editorial Review
Most of us don’t know the first thing about the machines we’re licensed to drive – and this can turn a ticket to freedom into a ticket to trouble. If you’re like most people, you probably tend to drive around until something goes wrong with the car. You then incur the expense of replacing worn and burnt-out parts (or the entire engine) when low-cost, regular maintenance could have kept your wheels turning for a long time.

Auto Repair For Dummies is indispensable for anyone who is tired of nodding and smiling at the incomprehensible mutterings of your mechanic, only to end up shelling out money for repairs that you neither fully understand nor always need. This easy-to-understand guide is also for you if you

Don't have the vaguest idea of how a car works.
Can't identify anything you see under the hood of your vehicle.
Are tired of other people assuming (especially if you’re a teenager or a woman) that you aren’t capable of handling repairs yourself.
Don't want to feel helpless in an emergency.
Are tired of being ripped off because of your own ignorance.

This book shows you how your car works; what it needs in the way of tender loving care; and how to keep from being overcharged if you need to entrust repairs to someone else. Auto Repair For Dummies also gives you the scoop on these topics and more:

What makes your vehicle go (and how and why)
A program of "preventive medicine" to avoid trouble
Shopping for tools and knowing how to use them
Diesel engines and alternatively powered cars
How to keep your car looking its best
Dealing with on-road emergencies
Checking your tires, alignment, and steering

Customer Reviews

Auto Repair for Dummies

2008-08-07
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.

Extremely useful to this novice

2008-03-10
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.

This book is a life saver

2008-01-04
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.

Fantastic, Easy-to-read, Informative Book

2007-05-30
After watching my sister go through several Auto Tech classes to learn how to work on a car, I was intimidated by the amount of time & money I thought it would take to get the same knowledge. Then I found this book. I've been a faithful reader of the Dummies books for a long time, and this one just reinforced my opinion of them.

After reading this book, I am able to change my own oil, check & change my brakes, change a flat tire, know which replacement tire to buy and why, and diagnose almost any car problem myself. I have saved hundreds of dollars (maybe over $1000 by now) because I knew exactly what I needed a mechanic to do to my car whenever I took it in.

As a bonus, my car now runs better than it ever has before, because this book also covers preventative maintenance in extreme detail. It even lays out a monthly routine for you for checking most of the systems in your car.

I highly recommend this book to absolutely anyone who wants to learn about cars. Even if you know nothing except how to start, drive, and stop your car -- before reading this, I thought the rim CAME WITH the new tire! -- this book is for you.

super informative

2007-05-01
Has been an all-inclusive auto resource. For newbies, but is packed with stuff.

Recommended by Tightwad Gazette

2007-02-24
Most of us don’t know the first thing about the machines we’re licensed to drive – and this can turn a ticket to freedom into a ticket to trouble. If you’re like most people, you probably tend to drive around until something goes wrong with the car. You then incur the expense of replacing worn and burnt-out parts (or the entire engine) when low-cost, regular maintenance could have kept your wheels turning for a long time.

Don't have the vaguest idea of how a car works.
Can't identify anything you see under the hood of your vehicle.
Are tired of other people assuming (especially if you’re a teenager or a woman) that you aren’t capable of handling repairs yourself.
Don't want to feel helpless in an emergency.
Are tired of being ripped off because of your own ignorance.

What makes your vehicle go (and how and why)
A program of "preventive medicine" to avoid trouble
Shopping for tools and knowing how to use them
Diesel engines and alternatively powered cars
How to keep your car looking its best
Dealing with on-road emergencies
Checking your tires, alignment, and steering

By handling the simple maintenance and tune-ups and being able to diagnose trouble and perform the less complex repairs yourself, you’ll save some serious money. Once you break the ice (or crack open the hood), the heady sense of power will carry you through basic car repair and maintenance with confidence and ease.

Remember, it's an old book with updates 2007-01-23
A lot of complaints are written about how dated this book is - well, for a book who's first edition came out in '83, 8 years before the first "for Dummies" title in the series came out, it's pretty good. Remember also, it was written for people with no mechanic/auto knowledge. My father's mechanic friend recommended it to women who came into the shop who were intimidated by mechanics.

I bought this when I bought my first car, in 1983, along with my copy of Muir's "How to keep your Volkswagen alive...". Between the two of these books I was able to keep my car (9 years old at the time) maintained and tuned until it got destroyed in a crash.

I would definitely recommend it to anyone who doesn't understand cars, though I would recommend your car's shop manual if you want to do more than basics.

amazing must have 2006-08-25
this is amazing now i can go to the mechanic and actually understand what he is talking about, and avoid being ripped off...

also there are so many tips on how to do it yourself so no need to go c a mechanic ..

Good book for the amature mechanic 2006-02-28
Good advice and clear directions for the novice mechanic.
Highly recommended.

Not an Auto Repair Book - Very Basic, Maybe Too Basic 2005-12-24
I put this book on my Wish List at Amazon.com. It is exactly what I need and the other reviewers give it a good rating. But HOLD THE PRESSES not so fast. I went over to the local book store and happened to see a copy, so I sat down for 10 minutes and quickly took in as much as I could.

First of all the title is misleading. It is not about car repair despite the size of the book's big 600 page thickness. It should be called

"Dummies Guide to Car Ownership".

It is like a large owners manual that comes with every new car. This book cannot be used to repair your car. You can use it to understand how the car works, when to change the oil, and what certain parts do but it is (definitely) not a car repair book. Maybe if you bought a used car and it has no manual buy this book, or you just bought your first car and you are clueless, then okay buy the book, but if you are that clueless - do not fix your car. Get help.

It is like a cartoon book on very basic things. For example one section is how to open the hood (I kid you not!). Another is how to change the tire. Another how to check your fluid levels. There are cartoons showing the suspension, the motor combustion cycle, etc. all the things that are basic. It is not a guide to repairing a serious problem or maybe even a not so serious problem in your car. There are a few interesting items in the book like PVC valves and cartoons showing how they bleed exhaust gases back into the input manifold, etc.

Okay so you want to repair your Chevy or your Honda or your VW or your Ford pickup. This is what you do. You go to a store like Autozone or similar (this is not an endorsement) and you buy a shop manual for your exact car - say a 1999 Chevy Lumina V6 3.8 L, that is for the make, the model, with the year and exact engine or the equivalent book for $25-$50. bucks. Maybe you can get it for less. Then you use the shop manual as a guide to determine what to change and how to do it, and buy the parts at an auto supply place. If that manual is too complicated, just go to a garage, or get help from a friend that has some experience.

If you know the basics about a car, skip the book.