Online Auto Repair Manual Reviews: Mitchell 1 DIY

One of the newer online auto repair manuals available is Mitchell 1 DIY. The service is running on its sixth year now, and it has built up quite a sizeable database of online repair manuals over that short span of time.

Here are some of the pros: Mitchell 1 DIY contains a wide range of information, and the database covers nearly all domestic and import cars with model years from 1983 to 2009. You get general repair information such as basic troubleshooting and resetting procedures, along with more detailed instructions for electrical, engine or transmission work. Maintenance information such as lubrication, inspection and servicing schedules are also part of the service.

Mitchell 1 DIY also has a lot of credentials to back its claims up. It was given the Blue Seal of Excellence award by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (otherwise known as the ASE), which also provides certifications for auto repair and service professionals. In addition, the editorial staff for the Mitchell 1 auto repair manuals includes Master Technicians and Quadruple Master Technicians also certified by the ASE. Now that’s what people mean when they look for credentials.

Subscriptions start at $10.49 for a week-long subscription. Now, that can be a bit pricey especially if you can get access to other vehicle-specific manuals at $14.95 for a whole month’s access. Mitchell 1 costs $16.99 for one month, and its annual subscription will cost you $29.99 (compared to Chilton’s $24.95 annual fee). Of course, for the excess cash, you’ll be getting material backed by certified professionals. Paypal and major credit cards are accepted forms of payment.

With an extensive coverage in terms of vehicle year, make and model as well as comprehensive information, Mitchell 1 DIY is an excellent option for auto enthusiasts that are willing to shell out some money for a reliable and certified resource. If you have the money, do try it out.

FixYa: Free Online Tool for Automotive Repair

Sometimes, it can be a hassle for consumers to contact customer support, especially when it involves some sort of issue or problem involving the product. This can be especially difficult when cars are involved, because of the sheer expense one has to incur for this investment. If you’ve encountered this sort of hassle when troubleshooting problems for your car, you might want to check out FixYa.

FixYa is basically an online community that revolves around the collection of resources and data, especially those that deal with troubleshooting, product tips and technical information.

The site covers a broad range of categories, and Cars is one of them. You can find all sorts of data on a wide variety of vehicle makes and models. There are rundowns of common problems per car, along with the suggested solutions for those issues. It provides what many car owners need when faced with a problem: the information to fix whatever is wrong with their rides.

Since it’s a community, other users can also chime in and share their know-how, their experiences, their expertise and their suggestions. It functions much like a forum does, except there is a bit more organization to the information. The site really encourages individuals to repair their stuff when possible, and even manufacturers are reaping benefits because the information is handed to the customer firsthand.

Other FixYa categories include consumer electronics, computers, toys and health, among others. If you’re all out of good places to hunt for information, you should definitely take FixYa out for a spin. With over 20 million people visiting the site and with over a million items covered in the site’s database, it really is a treasure trove of customer support and technical information. Who knows, you might even get to like the community and end up staying there even after finding the solutions to your particular problem.

November Post Roundup

It’s already December! It’ll be Christmas in a few weeks, and we hope you’re already starting to get accustomed to the chilly weather and that you’ve begun preparations to make the season warmer. Anyway, since it’s a new month, let’s have a roundup of our previous posts this past month, just in case you’ve missed some of our tidbits about online auto repair manuals.

Auto Repair is Made Easy Thanks to Online Auto Repair Manuals

This post basically outlines how online car repair manuals, especially those free manuals, can really help make auto repair easier for car enthusiasts and DIY beginners

Online Auto Repair Manuals Save the Day

How my friend Jerome encountered a relatively baffling issue from his Nissan Pathfinder’s AC blower—and how searching for a free online auto repair manual saved the day. There’s a lesson here somewhere about how being specific on your searches can lead to great results.


Online Repair Manuals: Google Tips

In this post, we give a few tips and tricks on how to refine your search and modify the results to suit your needs, as well as how to get better resources out of each Google search.

Online Auto Repair Manual Reviews: Haynes and Online Auto Repair Manual Reviews: Chilton

Take a look at Repair Manuals Online’s take on a couple of the more prominent online car repair manuals. We’re hoping to get more reviews done in the next month, so watch out for those as well!



We’ve got loads more waiting for you in December, so make sure to bookmark the blog and check back often. Additionally, if your partner loves cars and wants to start working on his or her ride, then you can always subscribe him or her to an online repair manual for Christmas. Now that’s a unique gift idea!

Online Auto Repair Manuals: Empowering the DIY Beginner

Having a reliable set of online auto repair manuals to guide you is a surefire way to make DIY car repair much, much easier. If you look at the big picture, you’ll see that these online auto repair manuals, particularly the free online repair manuals, are perhaps the primary tool that empowers the novice DIYer. How so?

Looking at things closely, you’ll find that online car repair manuals are like the elementary school books for DIYers; they teach about the ABCs of automotive repair. It may seem easy to many experienced mechanics and enthusiasts, but not all people have a clear grasp of the various concepts and the technical know how you’ll need when tackling automotive repair.

There are many who struggle with anything but the most basic of maintenance or servicing tasks. That’s not to belittle or demean anyone who’s like that. That is why things like free online auto repair manuals exist—in order to give the common man the knowledge necessary to perform particular car repair, maintenance and service tasks on his or her own.

Others may argue that many, if not most, of the available online repair manuals are still too technical for many people. Well, it just depends on which repair manual service you subscribe to. There are different services one can use, and one should be aware of his or her preferences when choosing which service to patronize. There are online manuals that offer the kind of content that is easily understandable by most people. It’s all a matter of assessing the services and features as well as reading up on testimonials and reviews.

These online repair manuals, more specifically the free ones, really are great tools that give power to the DIY beginner. Everyone has to start somewhere, and if you’re just getting your feet wet in automotive repair and customization, getting a reliable car repair manual is a great place to start.

When in Doubt, Consult an Online Repair Manual

Stock knowledge can be a very powerful thing. You’ll be able to remember trivia and facts in an instant, and you won’t have to constantly review stuff you’ve learned or consult sources just to verify if some piece of information is correct or accurate. Still, there are times when your vault of stock knowledge can fail, and this is disastrous for anyone working on an automobile. After all, getting the wrong specs or performing the incorrect procedure on a car can lead to disastrous and expensive results.

When you don’t really have the answer for anything related to auto repair, that’s your cue to log on to the Internet and get your trusty online auto repair manual. It’s all about getting fast and easy access to the sort of information you require to work on your ride and finish important repair or maintenance tasks.

There are also manuals that provide schedule and specification info, so if you’re not sure how much torque this bolt requires or how often you need to service that component, you can always check using the manuals you are able to get your hands on.

And remember the best thing about the World Wide Web: you can get a lot of information for free. You don’t really have to spend a cent (well, except for paying your Internet service provider) just to get reliable information and accurate online repair manuals.

So, when in doubt, don’t hesitate to consult an online car repair manual. We can’t always count on stock knowledge to carry us through the day, and sometimes it is definitely best if we have a reliable resource to confirm if our stock knowledge is accurate as well. Start finding good online repair manuals immediately and build up your collection. You’ll never know when you will need information, so you should at least have a few manuals on hand.

Online Repair Manuals: Google Tips

In this post, we’ll be offering you more tips on how you can easily search for good online auto repair manuals. One good way to facilitate searches is to make sure that the search terms are well-defined and strategic enough to get relevant pages. All it takes is a little crafty search engine know-how in order to get the results you want. Google is your friend, and here are some ways to refine your searches.

Use quotation marks

Enclosing your search term with quotation marks will net results that are exact matches to what you searched for. This will allow you to filter through pages that contain your keywords, except they occur separately, so it’s not really what you want.

Limit your search terms

You need to know exactly what you want to look for. If you’re looking for a generic repair manual, indicate it in your search. If you want a diagram for a particular component or system, make sure you type that in your search query. Don’t be too conservative with your search. Don’t say “Porsche Repair Manual” if you really wanted to look for a “Porsche 911 Service and Maintenance Schedule.”

Use the “Search within results” function

Once you’ve already gotten an initial page of results, you can still search through those results! Neat, huh? This is a good way to look for particular content using only the results you already have, instead of searching through the whole World Wide Web.

The * Wildcard Can be Really Helpful

Not many use the * character in their Google searches, but it can be quite useful. The * will stand for any term, so if you are unsure about what should be part of your search keywords, you can use this to help look for viable results. For example, if you don’t remember the full name of a certain part, you can let the * do the trick.


These are just a few tips when working with Google searches to look for free online repair manuals. As we’ve discussed previously, there are still many other avenues through which you can find reliable online car repair manuals, and we’ll save the tips and tricks for those for a later post.

Getting Some Free Online Auto Repair Manuals

Last time, we touched on how you can look for free downloadable online auto repair manuals. We mentioned the benefits of being able to cut down on repair expenses since you'll be doing the jobs yourself instead of paying your auto mechanic by the hour. In this post, we'll try to provide some more pointers and we'll even add a few links to get you started.

There are blogs that offer a wide array of different online repair manuals, auto repair guides, and just general information on various vehicle makes and models from all sorts of model years. You can find general specification manuals, schedules for periodic maintenance and service of various auto parts and systems, general repair manuals for particular vehicle models, installation instructions for specific vehicle components and accessories, and a load of stuff related to car repair.

Here are some good examples of sites that compile auto repair manual information, and they also have the added benefit of providing download links for a wide variety of manuals all in PDF format. The first one is http://www.freeautorepairmanualz.com, with its blog-style entries per manual. The good thing is that they are all sorted out by make in the sidebar, so you can use that to filter through their stuff. You can also use the search button above the sidebar to check if they have what you need. The other site is http://www.autozmagz.com/, which functions basically like the site discussed above. The difference is that you'll download the PDF file right away when you click the Download link.

There are many other sources for free auto repair manuals and free general car repair information. All you have to do is look for what you need specifically, including your vehicle's make and model in order to make sure that the results you get are relevant.