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The older cars like the 2005 Chevy Equinox are great for repairs. You can just buy a Chilton or Haynes manual for most of these which gives a complete vehicle t

The older cars like the 2005 Chevy Equinox are great for repairs. You can just buy a Chilton or Haynes manual for most of these which gives a complete vehicle tear down and details step by step almost all repairs.

nebula8804 4y ago
Hard disagree. This car is a nightmare. Off the top of my head: 1. Transmission dipstick requires removing the engine mount to get access and is also held down with a bolt. 2. Various electrical issues with wiring cause premature failure and "gremlin" like issues. You could end up on the side of the road and not be able to diagnose the issue. 3. The transmission on some trims are solid while others are this terrible Aisin unit that used Toyota trans fluid and has a high failure rate. 4. A smaller issue but annoying nonetheless: No easy way to add AUX in to the stock stereo. It is bare bones and they didn't even add any header. :/ The Mazda I referenced predated AUX input but they exposed an input for SatelliteRadio/Cassette/Minidisc and that gives you the option of removing something to replace with AUX. The GM Unit? Nothing. While I recommend the repair manual in my comment above, in this case the real lesson it will teach you is how much headache you will begin to encounter should you choose to repair this car. But to clarify, in terms of documentation, there is a lack of Youtube videos going into deep detail about every little issue on this car like the Mazda has. The Mazda has tons of channels covering it. The Chevy? Not so much. The Manual tells you how to fix subsystems but would never cover little things like the window switch not working and the fix being to stuff a bit of a q-tip stick in the rubber pressure button to permanently resolve the issue. The manual would just tell you to replace the part altogether. Thats what I mean by the car being documented inside and out. It has been studied so much that there are actual practical fixes to specific parts.
- bigtunacan 4y ago
  You completely missed the point. Manufacturer manuals can be hard to come by, but with older vehicles there are often after market manuals that were reasonably priced and quite exhaustive in details down to the proper torque of a bolt. YouTube generally covers just enough to have destroyed the market for real repair manuals and over half of the top YouTube results are someone that figured out how to do something, but doesn't really know what they are doing so they are like, "Just shove a q-tip in there it fixed it for me." SMH
  - nebula8804 4y ago
    >You completely missed the point. Manufacturer manuals can be hard to come by, but with older vehicles there are often after market manuals that were reasonably priced and quite exhaustive in details down to the proper torque of a bolt. No I did not miss the point. Yes the manuals are great for having torque specs and proper steps for diagnosing and replacing components. YOU missed my point: That the steps themselves are terrible for DIY people DUE TO THE DESIGN OF THE CAR. It sounds like you didn't even read my comment in full. I HAVE the manual for this car. It is still a massive PITA to work on this car vs the Mazda (of which I also have the Haynes manual). >YouTube generally covers just enough to have destroyed the market for real repair manuals and over half of the top YouTube results are someone that figured out how to do something, but doesn't really know what they are doing so they are like, "Just shove a q-tip in there it fixed it for me." SMH You are really dismissing a lot of additional knowledge that is gained by crowd sourcing with your snarky comment. This particular module controls the buttons for the windows. It is a 300$ part. The fan community figured out it stops working because a 1mm piece of plastic breaks off and stops contacting a rubber membrane. A tiny piece of a q-tip fits the membrane cavity perfectly. The Haynes manual states to replace the whole 300$ part (on a car that is worth only around ~3k since it is 15+ years old). If you want to waste that kind of money go right ahead but for everyone else all of this focus on the car has uncovered interesting fixes like this.

nebula8804 4y ago

Hard disagree. This car is a nightmare. Off the top of my head: 1. Transmission dipstick requires removing the engine mount to get access and is also held down with a bolt. 2. Various electrical issues with wiring cause premature failure and "gremlin" like issues. You could end up on the side of the road and not be able to diagnose the issue. 3. The transmission on some trims are solid while others are this terrible Aisin unit that used Toyota trans fluid and has a high failure rate. 4. A smaller issue but annoying nonetheless: No easy way to add AUX in to the stock stereo. It is bare bones and they didn't even add any header. :/ The Mazda I referenced predated AUX input but they exposed an input for SatelliteRadio/Cassette/Minidisc and that gives you the option of removing something to replace with AUX. The GM Unit? Nothing. While I recommend the repair manual in my comment above, in this case the real lesson it will teach you is how much headache you will begin to encounter should you choose to repair this car. But to clarify, in terms of documentation, there is a lack of Youtube videos going into deep detail about every little issue on this car like the Mazda has. The Mazda has tons of channels covering it. The Chevy? Not so much. The Manual tells you how to fix subsystems but would never cover little things like the window switch not working and the fix being to stuff a bit of a q-tip stick in the rubber pressure button to permanently resolve the issue. The manual would just tell you to replace the part altogether. Thats what I mean by the car being documented inside and out. It has been studied so much that there are actual practical fixes to specific parts.

bigtunacan 4y ago
You completely missed the point. Manufacturer manuals can be hard to come by, but with older vehicles there are often after market manuals that were reasonably priced and quite exhaustive in details down to the proper torque of a bolt. YouTube generally covers just enough to have destroyed the market for real repair manuals and over half of the top YouTube results are someone that figured out how to do something, but doesn't really know what they are doing so they are like, "Just shove a q-tip in there it fixed it for me." SMH
- nebula8804 4y ago
  >You completely missed the point. Manufacturer manuals can be hard to come by, but with older vehicles there are often after market manuals that were reasonably priced and quite exhaustive in details down to the proper torque of a bolt. No I did not miss the point. Yes the manuals are great for having torque specs and proper steps for diagnosing and replacing components. YOU missed my point: That the steps themselves are terrible for DIY people DUE TO THE DESIGN OF THE CAR. It sounds like you didn't even read my comment in full. I HAVE the manual for this car. It is still a massive PITA to work on this car vs the Mazda (of which I also have the Haynes manual). >YouTube generally covers just enough to have destroyed the market for real repair manuals and over half of the top YouTube results are someone that figured out how to do something, but doesn't really know what they are doing so they are like, "Just shove a q-tip in there it fixed it for me." SMH You are really dismissing a lot of additional knowledge that is gained by crowd sourcing with your snarky comment. This particular module controls the buttons for the windows. It is a 300$ part. The fan community figured out it stops working because a 1mm piece of plastic breaks off and stops contacting a rubber membrane. A tiny piece of a q-tip fits the membrane cavity perfectly. The Haynes manual states to replace the whole 300$ part (on a car that is worth only around ~3k since it is 15+ years old). If you want to waste that kind of money go right ahead but for everyone else all of this focus on the car has uncovered interesting fixes like this.