When your car won’t start, the dashboard lights up, or a mysterious noise won’t quit, you don’t need a mechanic—you need clear, practical guidance that gets you back on the road. Petersen’s Basic Automotive Troubleshooting is the hands‑on companion every driver and home mechanic wishes they had: straightforward diagnostics, step‑by‑step checks, and proven fixes that demystify common vehicle problems without jargon or guesswork.
Start with the essentials—battery, starter, and charging systems—and learn quick tests that tell you whether a weak battery, corroded connection, or faulty alternator is to blame. Move through fuel delivery and ignition systems with simple procedures for isolating clogged filters, failing pumps, and misfiring spark plugs. When the engine runs rough or stalls, this book shows you how to read symptoms, interpret smells and sounds, and narrow down causes with minimal tools.
Electrical gremlins are tackled with clear wiring diagrams, fuse and relay troubleshooting, and practical tips for tracing shorts and intermittent faults. Cooling and heating problems are explained with easy checks for thermostats, radiators, hoses, and water pumps so you can stop overheating before it becomes catastrophic. Transmission and driveline sections break down slipping, hard shifts, and vibration issues into manageable diagnostic steps that save time and money.
Every chapter emphasizes safety, efficiency, and the right tool for the job. You’ll find checklists for pre‑repair inspections, recommended diagnostic sequences that avoid needless parts replacement, and quick‑reference charts for common fault codes and their likely causes. Photographs and clear illustrations show test points, component locations, and the correct way to perform routine checks, while troubleshooting flowcharts guide you from symptom to solution without getting lost in technical detail.
This book is written for people who want results: no fluff, no unnecessary theory—just practical, repeatable methodsthat work on a wide range of domestic and import vehicles. Whether you’re a weekend tinkerer, a new driver who wants to understand what’s under the hood, or someone who needs to decide whether a repair is worth the cost, Petersen’s Basic Automotive Troubleshooting arms you with the confidence to diagnose problems accurately and act decisively.
Clear, compact, and built around real‑world experience, this guide turns frustration into competence. Keep it in your garage, glove compartment, or workshop: when a problem appears, you’ll have the steps, checks, and common‑sense solutions you need to fix it—or to explain it clearly to the shop so you don’t pay for what you don’t need.