Lesson #2 Part 1 ChiltonLibrary

Question #1
Well we are way past 30,000 miles on my 2004 PT Cruiser.  Like 100,000 miles over but there was a list of about 12 things we should have done including: Service/inspect the transaxle fluid level (have no clue what that is), change the spark plugs (pretty sure we did that), and service/inspect tie rod ends and boot seals (just had that done). Was curious about 130,000 miles service (which is about what we have on our car) and apparently the service schedule resets itself at 78,000 miles.  Good to know.

Question #2
Apparently the default is not set to sort by date, but you can easily do that by clicking on "issue date".  The last service bulletin for my vehicle was issued for Power Steering Pressure Hose 9/1/2004.  I don't know if that is good that there hasn't been a service bulletin in 10 years or if the repairmen just gave on it.

Question #3
I went to the repair section and looked up brakes.  I have no clue what any of it means because I know nothing about cars.  But there are step by step instructions, diagrams, and my favorite, videos.  After watching a couple of the videos it kind of made sense.  Just seeing the actual parts really helps. I  am not going to be able to change the brakes on my car after looking at this but this would be very useful to someone who knew anything about cars.  I could probably muddle my way through a small, superficial repair using this.  Not the brakes though or anything important, not because I think that the information is presented poorly but you need to have some knowledge going in to really get the benefit of this.

What I did find that might be helpful is the Chilton Community link at the bottom of the page.  There is a wiki of automotive terms, blogs and forums which appear to have Chilton editors responding to some of the questions.  That might come in handy for someone like me who is lacking in knowledge in this area.