[alexcabrera]

The single best thing you can do is buy the Bentley Repair Manual (http://www.bentleypublishers.com/) for your car. They're expensive, but will show you how to take your model apart and put it back together again. If you want to learn how a car works, the best thing you can do is take one apart and then try to get it running again.

When you're working on a car, dead tree repair guides + a beater laptop are your best friends.

[jokr004]

Haynes (http://www.haynes.com/print) is also a great resource.. might not be quite as in depth as the Bentley guide, but they're a lot cheaper and more than enough info for a novice.

[taco_emoji]

Neither of those have my 2012 Forester :(

[yason]

I can recommend the Bentley manuals.

With general knowledge of how an internal combustion engine works I basically learned how an actual car really works by reading through one back in the 90's.

The Haynes manuals are merely worth a quick reference book if you really need to know something model-specific and you don't have access to the maker's original service manual, but not much more.

[giancarlostoro]

Except I can't find my 1999 Ford Explorer Sport in those, are there alternatives?