One of the benefits of driving a car built in 1984 is that when something goes wrong you can usually just take the car apart until you see what’s sticking or leaking or broken, then get a replacement piece and put it all back together again. All you need are some basic tools, a can to catch leaks and a shop manual to walk you through the process. That’s the theory, anyway.
In practice, the shop manual doesn’t always provide quite enough detail to get you through a job you haven’t done before with confidence. That’s when I head to The Seattle Public Library’s website and call up their online automotive repair resources.
I did this most recently when I needed to change the brakes on my new-used car for the first time. I logged into the library’s website and searched for my car in ChiltonLibrary.com. Then I located the section on “brakes” and clicked down to “rear drum brakes.” Pretty soon, I had a whole array of diagrams and instructions to walk me through the job I needed to do.
But wait, it gets even better. Since I have a laptop and access to wifi, I was able 
to grab my tools, take off a wheel, and then sit on the curb next to my actual car watching video of an expert doing the work I was about to perform. When I started changing the brakes, I could watch the video again, pause it when I needed to, and flip back and forth to see the instructions and diagrams. It’s not as good as having my dad on scene, but it’s still pretty fantastic – especially when I think of all the money I saved by doing the work myself!
Want to learn more about online automotive tools you can access for free with your Seattle Public Library card? Head on over to http://www.spl.org/ and Ask a Librarian!
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