It is a wonderful idea to look at free online automotive repair guides. Unfortunately, how credible is that online automotive repair guide? Chances are it is an unreliable manual. You will eventually be stuck reading a general repair manual that has nothing to do with the specifics of your vehicle. This is not a wise decision because you are putting yourself and vehicle at risk for dangerous mistakes.
You don’t know who authored it: This can be a downfall to you because information on the Internet can come from anywhere. The author could be someone that just wants more clicks to his site. They really might not be serious when they are posting this information and it can only come back to hurt one person.
The vehicle information might not match your own: If this is the case, you are altering your vehicle based on a generic repair guide. For instance, if you own a Honda CRV and there is a repair guide on Ford Mustangs you will not get the correct information that you need. These two vehicles are totally different and the engines are not built the same because of the different models. Once you make changes to your Honda CRV with details from the Ford Mustang, you might have already damaged your vehicle. Wiring and specific parts will now have to be taken apart and put back together again. You could save yourself a lot of trouble by not following free guides on the Internet.
The Information could be Outdated: One of the worst things that come from using free automotive repair guides is the information you are reading may be outdated. Some vehicles may have recalls or information from the manufacturers may not be released until months later. If these are not noted in the repair guide you might make changes to fix something and then wonder why these repairs never worked. If you check the dates on the guides you will notice that these are not updated often.
Malware might be attached: Unfortunately, some of the free automotive repair guide sites require you to download them in order to view them for free. You are putting your computer’s safety in the hands of a website that you don’t know much about. Also, you are now going to be at risk for viruses and spyware. Protect your computer by not going to these sites that are capable of leaving you with an expensive problem to fix.
The guides are not actually free: Some of the automotive repair guides that you find online may advertise that they are free. However, when you click to read certain documents you are then being asked to pay to see the rest of the information. This is not something that you want to deal with. You are now going to be at risk for entering your personal information into a site that can steal your information. One of the best places to get information like this is from a site that deals directly with your own model and make vehicle.