Are the Haynes Car Repair Manuals worth buying?

I have been having a lot of problems with my renault clio recently and have been tempted to buy one of these manuals, so that i can maybe deal with the problem myself. How well detailed are they and are they explained well enough for someone whos not an expereinced mechanic to fix some problems themselves?Are the Haynes Car Repair Manuals worth buying?
They hav helped me work on my own cars for years, everything from CV joints to tuneups to $5 alternator rebuilds (in older cars) to electrical wiring diagrams. And have saved me a lot of trouble by keeping me from trying something that I could see was over my head. For the $16 at the store, or $25 online I have found them very worthwhile. The jacking safety and tool tips and regular vehicle maintenance tips in the front alone were worth a million dollars--what price would you put on your life? What they don't cover--transmission rebuilds and AC--take special training and expensive tools. And they prevent unpleasant surprises, like disconnecting your battery and losing the radio code, or exploding your air bag unexpectedly, when the solution is easy...



You can probably get the factory manual for your vehicle at http://eAutoRepair.com. for about $15 for a 1 month subscription that permits you to download sections or the entire manual (Careful! Mine was over 500 pages! And I forgot to set the big Library printer to print BOTH sides of the page in Page Setup!) It is valuable, and has some things that the Haynes doesn't, but the only drawback is that it is written for trained mechanics only, and won't tell you every detail like the Haynes. It is expected that you know the details already. But the information is invaluable, more than worth the small price.



I found both by doing a Yahoo! Search on "auto repair manuals" without the quotes.
they are OK depending what you need to do. For more complete information autozonedyi.com has a subscription service for your particular vehicle complete with updates on TSB (technical service bulletins). This comes from "all data " which is what many professional mechanics use.Are the Haynes Car Repair Manuals worth buying?
In my opinion the Haynes manuals aren't worth the price you pay, as they frequently omit areas that they think you should be leaving to the mechanics, such as a/c systems. (In fairness to them, this is probably done to protect themselves from lawsuits.)



Given that your car isn't even sold in the US these days, you're far better off picking up a genuine factory shop manual. These are what dealership mechanics use, and they're waaay better than the Haynes manuals.



I've purchased these for every car I've owned the last ten years, and can't imagine going back to the Haynes. The best place to find 'em (especially for a Renault) is on eBay. I've paid as little as 5 bucks for one, and as much as 90 (for a 3 volume set).



It also wouldn't hurt to surf the web for some Renault-specific websites, such as this one: www.clubrenaultsverige.com



Good luck--hope this helped!
Here in the UK the Haynes manuals are very helpful. They give good guidance with photos on how to test remove and refit items.

If your problem is very technical then this may not be the book for you, as they may not cover in depth testing.Are the Haynes Car Repair Manuals worth buying?
for the 13 bucks it's well worth it, even got pictures.
Haynes manuals are pretty good, but as it was mentioned earlier in this post, they do like to omit exact instructions on how to take apart some things. They will show you most everything you need to know for basic - moderately involved repeir work. Chilton books are about the same as Haynes (price detailed, instructions, etc) I personally get one of these type of books for every new vehicle that I buy. I had a '94 Cougar and used a Haynes manual for instructions on how to replace a Heater core ( 81/2 hours of labor to replace a $35 part) and the instructions were pretty precise