Mitsubishi 4WD Club Trev's Tip 21. 

Trev’s Tips

A helping hand

Try as I might to give everybody as much information as possible on reasonably common or at least easy to fix mechanical repairs the reality is that if something is going to go wrong with your car, bike, boat, generator, or any of the other toys laying around the house I probably haven’t said anything about how to fix it.   Therefore this months Trev’s tip is on helping yourself.

In many cases self help is a lot easier than you might think.  The most important thing of all  to give you a helping hand when working on mechanical implements is to have a good workshop manual.   The factory owners manual is  good for general operating instructions and some technical data but won’t  really give much information on how to perform repairs.  This is probably because manufactures would prefer you returned the items back to them for servicing at great expense to you.

The other issue is that if you buy something second hand such as an outboard it often won’t come with any manuals at all. 

So how can we get hold of these manuals.  Easy, go to your local library and chances are they’ll have a manual for it.  Bet you didn’t know that did you.  If they don’t have it then the State library will so you can put in a request with your local library to get it from the State Library for your use.  Generally they don’t have the manufactures manuals but they will have the Gregory’s or Selco type manuals that give reasonably detailed step by step repair instructions and illustrations for a whole range of problems and has many tips on care and maintenance of your mechanical goodies (not just cars).

Best of all you don’t even have to go and spend hours searching the libraries looking for the book you want.  Most libraries have their catalogues online so you can find exactly what you are looking for in the comfort of your own home (or work office) then just ring the library and ask them to put in a order for you.

The web address for the State Library where I have found most of the manuals I have needed is  http://www.liswa.wa.gov.au/.  Your local library directory can be found on  the State Library web page by clicking on the All Western Australian Public Libraries link or following the  web address

http://www.liswa.wa.gov.au/pdf/publibdirshortoct04.pdf

I have used this service on a number of occasions now and have generally found exactly what I am looking for and the book has arrived for collection at my local library in less than a week.

Apart from workshop manuals the internet is a great source of information.  A few sites I have mentioned in previous articles but the best one (just to remind you ) is the Pajero club of Victoria forum page. 

http://www.pajeroclub.com.au/home/publicforum/

It has great discussions about common problems and many of the responses come from Pajero owners so they seem to know what they are talking about.

Failing these two options type your problem into Google.  You’ll have to search a bit for the right answer but generally you’ll find something to help.

Best of luck

Trevor

Did you know that in California a vehicle without a driver may not exceed 60 miles per hour.  Go figure.