19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
Buy another book. Any book., 2002-12-12
Where can I start - I bought the Haynes manual to do some work on my E30. The book has two main problems - it doesn't contain the information you need, and some of what little information they bother to include is just plain wrong. It's the sort of book to put on the table in your reception area, if you're a dentist, where people will be so angry after reading a little of it that they'll forget their fear.If you're thinking of buying the book, here's what to do: Decide on the jobs you need to do, try and figure out from the book whether it tells you how to do them or not (it won't); then buy something else. I'm tempted to go into detail, but really, everything in the book is tackled in such a superficial and unhelpful way that there's no one area I can spotlight. But I'll just note one of the deliberate errors.
If you need to change the water-temperature sensor which tells the engine management system how hot the engine is, just follow the instructions, using the picture provided. They're very specific about which is which... but you'll end up removing the sender for the water temperature gauge. How the guys in the parts department will laugh when they spend hours scratching their heads, trying to find a match for it.
Good luck
46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
Better than nothing but the Bentley books are way better, 1998-10-28
This is a thick book with most of the information you need. However there are no good drawings and the photos don't help too much. They try to cover too much and are not organized enough. I don't think telling you how to take apart and put together stuff is enough. Diagnostic tips, like the Bentley manual is what you need. However, this is alot cheaper.
66 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
Written for the mechanic that fixes everything with a hammer, 1998-07-23
The writers assumed that the reader wouldn't be able to handle anything more difficult then an oil-change or brake-shoe adjustment. Doesn't include meaningful schematics and recommends that you take your car to the shop if having air-conditioning problems. When confronted with taking out the car stereo from the dash it recommends that you buy the "special tool" needed to do the job (you need a metric allen wrench, but you won't find that out by reading this book).