If you live in the UK there maybe a Haynes manual available (not sure if these are available outside the UK). These are books published by Haynes and typically

If you live in the UK there maybe a Haynes manual available (not sure if these are available outside the UK). These are books published by Haynes and typically have photographs and descriptions of common faults, engine rebuilding step-by-step guides as well as more simple servicing activities. Some cars are popular enough to have dedicated websites devoted to them with guides and forums (e.g. Smart car: http://fq101.co.uk http://fq101.co.uk). It should be noted that servicing ones own car comes with pitfalls. You must invest in quite a lot of expensive tools, have a workshop area or driveway to do the servicing and ultimately if you fail to complete the task, you might end up with an unusable or dangerous car. A good reason to know about how cars work and what goes wrong with them is that when choosing a good garage to have service it, you are in a stronger position and cannot so easily be tricked into having servicing done when it is not necessary.