yeah howstuffworks.com (i think thats the place
) is actually great, for almost anything. ive spent hours reading there.
also, to really get into automobiles start with your own car. what kind of car do you have? pick up a factory (not chiltons or something else) repair manual for your car. they are about 50 to 80 dollars depending..
do a general tune up, change the belts, spark plugs, replace the fluids your self. check the timing. basic stuff like that. when something breaks, figure out what broke, check out what the repair manual says on how to fix it, then fix it! youll save your self lots of money on repairs, and at the same time youll learn alot about your car, and automobiles in general.
everything on a car is really very straightforward. its the actual trouble shooting when something goes wrong that can be tough.
for instance, i just completely replaced my engine and almost all electronic components. its hard to find all the little electrical "gremelins" (bugs!) that are causing my car not to run right.
for example, the car ran a little (poorly) but it ran, however the engine stalled out. upon restart the check engine light came on. (thats a good thing, now i have a place to start trouble shooting) i pulled the error code from the ECU, which told me that there was some problem with the air flow meter.
now of course the computer could be wrong, and it could a different, but technically related problem, like a vacuum leak. but now i have a place to start trouble shooting.
some people say they learn just by doing, and not by reading, but thats bull. those people will never gain full knowledge over what they are doing, unless they have a master mechanic teaching them.
read as much as you can. thats really the most important advice. this also applies to computers!
09-22-2004
