Good Repair Manuals

[confusedperson]

I recently had a problem with my tail lights, so I bought a Haynes Repair Manual for I think it was 89 to 95 T-birds and Mercury. Not too sure on the date models it covers. Well I was going through the manual and found that some of the illustrations were difficult to understand along with the parts. Some of the parts in the illustrations look similar to each other. Not just that, I didn't see the manual cover what I was looking for, which was the break-down of the brake light switch/tail lights/electrical components (maybe I missed it) or I got the wrong manual. However, the things it covered, were indeed covered well, but I had a bit of problem understanding the pictures/illustrations.

Well my question is...Does anyone know of repair manual(s), for a 1995 T-Bird which are easy to follow. Preferrably if it covers electrical components, like brake lights(switch), tail lights, among the things manuals usually cover or just electrical by itself.

Also, is there a manual/catalogue which labels the names and gives a picture of car parts for identification. Preferably if it's in color, otherwise black and white is good enough.

One more thing, I've seen that some auto parts stores have computer programs for looking up parts of cars. There is a particular auto parts store which not only searches for the parts a specific car needs but it gives a color picture of that part. So I was wondering if that program can be bought by the public, or where I can find it.

Sorry to be asking too many questions, I am beginning to have an interest in the automotive department, so I would like to start by reading repair/identification of parts/ manuals.

Thank You!

[97Bird]

Ask your library for the Mitchell electrical manual for your year car and photocopy the pages you need or order OEM service manuals from Helminc.com

[RickwithaTbird]

chilton sucks. they dont tell you where anything is. they assume that you already know where every single part of the car is at. plus their electrical diagrams are only for the engine, they left out the rest of the cars electric.

[confusedperson]

Well I went to my university library today (as 97Bird had suggested) and found loads of repair and automotive-related books. However, most of them were from the 50's, 60's and 70's. It's sad to know that my university library doesn't carry earlier editions to these books, unless they were checked out already.

Luckily enough, I did find some moreless recently published books that were helpful, although not quite repair manuals. These books include:

The Backyard Mechanic Vol.1,Vol.2,Vol.3 - Dated 1980 - These books, which are really a compilation of a magazine that was printed long ago called DRIVER. They give very basic, general information of car maintanence. It is very straight forward and easy to follow. They tell you why you shouldn't do some things, what procedures to take when doing some things, and they even give some pointers on buying a used car. It does contain a lot of reading material as opposed to steps and instructions on how to do something, which is why I think it's good for a novice, like me.

Dictionary of Automotive Engineering 2nd ed. by Don Goodsell 1995 - This is exactly what the title says it is, a dictionary of automotive terms. This book also includes abbreviations to automotive terms as well as some illustrations to certain definitions.

Well hopefully this helps someone. Those were the four books I checked out today. But the idea of going to a public library instead of buying the books sounds much better. Perhaps by this weekend I'll go to my city public library and find some good repair manuals.

Thanks you guys!