Auto Repair For Dummies

Deanna Sclar

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781119543619
• eBook ISBN: 9781119543701
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Automotive Transportation & Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Auto Repair For Dummies, 2 nd Edition (9781119543619) was previously published as Auto Repair For Dummies, 2 nd Edition (9780764599026). While this version features a new Dummies cover and design, the content is the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product.

The top-selling auto repair guide--400, 000 copies sold--now extensively reorganized and updated Forty-eight percent of U.S. households perform at least some automobile maintenance on their own, with women now accounting for one third of this $34 billion automotive do-it-yourself market. For new or would-be do-it-yourself mechanics, this illustrated how-to guide has long been a must and now it's even better. A complete reorganization now puts relevant repair and maintenance information directly after each automotive system overview, making it much easier to find hands-on fix-it instructions. Author Deanna Sclar has updated systems and repair information throughout, eliminating discussions of carburetors and adding coverage of hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles. She's also revised schedules for tune-ups and oil changes, included driving tips that can save on maintenance and repair costs, and added new advice on troubleshooting problems and determining when to call in a professional mechanic. For anyone who wants to save money on car repairs and maintenance, this book is the place to start. Deanna Sclar (Long Beach, CA), an acclaimed auto repair expert and consumer advocate, has contributed to the Los Angeles Times and has been interviewed on the Today show, NBC Nightly News, and other television programs.

Part 1

Getting to Know Your Vehicle

IN THIS PART …

Ever seen someone try to figure out how to open a can of sardines? They have the key in one hand, the can in the other, and they poke, prod, and pry until they finally decide that saltines alone are fine. If you’ve ever tried to open the hood of your vehicle or jack it up without the benefit of prior experience (or paying attention when someone else did it), you may feel as confused as the sardine-lovers seem. That’s why this part covers the things every driver should be able to do, safety tips that everyone who works on cars should know, and the tools you can use to get your vehicle running smoothly again. You find out how to buy the right auto part on your first trip to the store and how to do a monthly under-the-hood check that can prevent breakdowns on the road by 70 percent!

Finally, I take a quick trip through all the automotive systems involved in operating your vehicle to show you what each one does, how it does it, and how they relate to one another.

Chapter 1

Things Every Driver Should Know

IN THIS CHAPTER

Knowing when to do it yourself

Paying attention to safety

Filling the tank yourself

Getting under the hood

Taking things apart (and putting them back together again)

Jacking up a vehicle and changing a tire safely

Getting into your car when you lock yourself out

If you’re not particularly mechanically inclined, you may watch those who are with admiration, amazement, and exasperation because they have something you don’t: an understanding of how things work and how things fit together. When they take something apart, they can reassemble it the way it was. When they say that they want to take a look under the hood, they can actually get the darn thing open. And when they need to change a flat, they don’t spend ten minutes trying to figure out which end of the jack is up.

The good news is that you don’t have to be born with a wrench in your hand to know how to fix things — even things as seemingly complicated as a car. I know; I’ve been there. The Introduction tells you all about my automotive epiphany.

Of course, the simplest tasks can sometimes be the biggest hurdles to overcome. After all, if you can’t even figure out how to open the hood, how can you check the oil or the coolant level? That’s why I begin this book with the basics: simple jobs that you’ll need to do again and again — like opening the hood, jacking up a car, and changing a tire. I also include instructions for filling the fuel tank yourself (it’s cheaper than full-service), a surefire method for taking anything apart and putting it back together again, and safety pointers that every mechanic — experienced and beginner — should heed.

Whenever you encounter a term set in this font, you’ll find it defined in the glossary in Appendix A.

Before You Tackle Any Job

It’s wonderful to do things yourself. You spend less money, you get a sense of power knowing that you did it on your own, and you know that the job’s been done right. Nevertheless, to avoid getting in over my head, I always ask myself the following questions before undertaking any job:

• Do I really want to do this? Will it be fun — or horrendous? (I try never to do anything that doesn’t feel good unless it’s absolutely necessary.)
• Do I know how to do it? If not, where do I go to learn?
• Does it require such expensive tools that it would cost less to have someone do it for me than to buy those tools? Can I borrow or rent the tools I need?
• If I goof, can something be seriously damaged? Can I be hurt?
• How long will it take, and what is my time worth? From that perspective, how much money will I save by doing it myself?

You’ll be happy to know that almost every job in this book should pass the test of these questions. If you find a task that doesn’t, don’t hesitate to turn it over to a professional — after you read enough to know that the job is definitely necessary, what it entails, whether the work has been done properly, and how to get satisfaction if it isn’t. With that in mind, let’s get on to the very first thing you need to know in order to work on your vehicle.

WHAT THE BIG GUYS TAUGHT ME ABOUT BUSTING THINGS LOOSE

If you try to remove a bolt or a spark plug and you can’t budge it, don’t feel like a weakling. At first I thought that I had trouble because I was female, so I asked the biggest guys in my auto class for help because it would have been embarrassing if some little guy could do it. To my amazement, I found that often the big guys struggled, too! The difference was that they always prevailed. What I learned from them is that strength depends less on size or sex and more on the way in which we’ve been taught to focus our strength. People who are handy with tools usually have learned to pour their strength down their arms and into their hands, and focus it on the tool they’re using. The guys also showed me that the longer the handle, the more leverage you have. And from watching them struggle, I learned that the patience to persevere comes from having the confidence that eventually you will succeed. So now I approach hard-to-move objects with the proper tools, focus, and patience. It works!

Buying the right parts for your vehicle

Before you go shopping for parts to replace those on your vehicle, read the tips in this section carefully. They can help you avoid what’s probably the most annoying part of any automotive job: disabling your vehicle to work on it only to find that you need it to drive back to the store to exchange the stuff they sold you in error! Before I learned how to do it right, this happened at least two out of every three times on every job I did.

This section tells you what you need to know when buying any part. Sections in other chapters that deal with jobs that require buying replacement parts provide tips on buying them as well as what tools and other stuff you need for that task. Chapter 3 tells you how to buy specific tools and what they’re used for.

To buy the proper parts for your vehicle, you must know its specifications (or “specs,” as they’re often called). Most of this information should be in your owner’s manual, and a lot of it is also printed on metal tags or decals located inside your hood. You can usually find these in front of the radiator, insid...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Part 1: Getting to Know Your Vehicle
• Part 2: Powering Up with Air, Fuel, and Fire
• Part 3: Staying Cool and In Control
• Part 4: Smoothing the Ride: Steering and Suspension, Tires and Transmissions
• Part 5: Staying Safe and Dealing with Emergencies
• Part 6: Helping Your Vehicle Look Its Best
• Part 7: The Part of Tens
• Appendix A: Practical Glossary of Automotive Terms
• Appendix B: Specifications and Maintenance Records
• Index
• About the Author
• Connect with Dummies
• End User License Agreement