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What is a Line Wrench?
What is a line wrench? It's a very handy tool when you are working with fuel lines, brake lines, or any other tight squeeze line situation.

Tire Pressure Monitoring Caps - Gimmick or Useful Accessory?
Automotive gimmicks have been around since the invention of the automobile. The automotive equivalent to snake oil is a fly by night company's standby when they need a quick buck. Most people don't understand how a car works, tire pressure, so they fall for it. Do tire pressure monitoring valve caps work? Valve cap indicators are around, but should you buy them if your car doesn't have TPMS?

Get Yourself an Auto Repair Manual
Everybody needs a car repair manual for their car. A repair manual will guide you through auto repairs and maintenance. You can buy your auto repair manual online. If you don't have a repair manual for your car, get one today!

A Little Ha Ha For You
This is a funny joke about car repair or auto repair humor.

Top 10 Auto Repair Gift Ideas
Got somebody on your list that's diving into doing their own auto repairs and maintenance? They'll need the tools and supplies to do the job. These Top 10 gift ideas are reasonably priced and essential to the home mechanic. And you can buy them now from one of About.com's trusted retailers. Now that's worth a click!

How To Assemble an Engine Hoist
Work on cars long enough and at some point you'll need to pull an engine. You'll need the right tools to do this, the most important being an engine hoist. A basic engine hoist can be found at places like Norther Tool for very little money. Before you buy one, be sure you know how it works and how to assemble it (harder than using it!).

Useless Tools Together At Last
This is the Island of Misfit Tools, a very happy place where the most useless of auto repair tools come to do what they do best -- nothing.

LED Shop Lights: Toys Or Useful Tools?
LED technology has come a long way. We see the LED used to light everything. But are they enough to light your way when you are repairing your brake master cylinder or another important auto repair?

A Work Shop Essential - The Fluorescent Work Light
Lighting your work space is very important. Any auto maintenance done in the dark is risky. A proper shop light is a must. You could buy any shop light, but knowing which one works and which one stinks will help you in the long run. Whatever you do, don't try to work without a work light under the hood.

Tire & Battery Brush - The Useless Tool
Ever see an auto repair tool on the shelf and wonder if it's useless? If you're an auto mechanic you've seen them all, and they all stink. Here's an especially useless example.

Taming the World Wide Web
With the information age has come a glut of, well, information! Some of this info is good, some can lead you in some seriously bad directions, especially when it comes to auto repair. These days you'd be a dunce to ignore what a valuable resource the web can be, but proceed with caution. A few tips on how to maintain a postive course can be priceless.

Know Your Tools: Torque Wrench
Torque this, torque that. Who gives a torque? You should, because without a torque wrench, you might develop a rare strain of automotive leprosy and start to fall apart, literally.

Tool Talk: Pliers
We should all bow to the lowliest tool in the box, or at least close to it. Pliers can be found everywhere, from kitchen junk-drawers across the nation to tool boxes belonging to master mechanics. There's a reason it's so prevalent. Be sure you know what it works for and what it does not work for.

Know Your Tools: Phillips Head Screwdriver
Henry F. Phillips patented the Phillips screw and screwdriver in 1936. It became so popular that he lost the patent by 1949, meaning that everybody could take advantage of this revolution in screwing. Know what it is and how to use it, because it might be your most grabbed tool.

Know Your Tools: Flat Head Screwdriver
The old flat head, or blade screwdriver is still around. From time to time you even need it to work on your car. Be sure you know its limitations, or feel free to destroy one from time to time, it's a way of life.

Tool Talk: Nutdrivers
Some tools you can't live without. Others you just don't want to live without. Nutdrivers can make your life easier and more productive. For not a lot of cash, you too can be convenienced by this useful tool. Check it out.

Tool Talk: Socket Extensions
If Plastic Man had chosen auto mechanics over saving the world, he would've had it made. The rest of us can't do that sort of stretching, so we've got a tool box full of little helpers, called extensions, to increase our reach. Learn what they are and when they're useful to make your life much easier.

Tool Talk: Oil Filter Wrench
Changing your own oil? Good for you! Before you completely slime yourself be sure you have the right tools for the job.

Tool Talk: Ball Peen Hammer
I don't know what a peen is or what it has to do with a ball, but put them together on the end of a stick and you've got a very useful tool for bodywork. Get familiar with it before you go wild, it's easy to do more harm than good if you get out of hand.

Tool Talk: Adjustable Pliers
The much more useful son of pliers, let me introduce you to the adjustable pliers. Just as versatile as the small ones, but times 3 (or 5 depending on which one you bought).

Tool Talk: Torx Wrench
When Textron fastening systems needed a screw that would resist cam-out better than the popular Phillips head, they went to the drawing board and came up with the Torx system. Yadda yadda yadda ... years later we're using them to hold parts on cars. You'll need this special tool to get them off.

Tool Talk: Breaker Bar
Another very useful, and fairly dramatic tool, the breaker bar can get you out of some tough situations. It gives you enough oomph to unstick the tightest of nuts and bolts. It might be magic, or it might be a well designed tool. You be the judge.

Tool Talk: Snips
Please don't use scissors or pliers to cut or strip wires on your car. get yourself a pair of proper wire cutters, also known as snips in the trade. Basically, if the tool you're cutting wires with doesn't look like this, you need to reassess and reconnoiter at the auto parts store.

Tool Talk: Vice Grips
Get a grip on your repair job no matter how bad the guy before you screwed things up. If you're stuck, there's a good chance the Vise Grips can set you free. Get familiar with the versatility of this common tool to help you out in a pinch.

Tool Talk: Timing Light
If you've ever looked in a mechanic's tool box and seen what looked like a ray gun, it was probably a timing light. For proper tuning of your engine, you'll need one. There's no reason to be intimidated by this strobe-action instrument.

Tool Talk: Wire Crimper
There is just no excuse for rigging together your electrical system using shotty tools. If you've been using a hammer to crimp your electrical connections, you should take a look at this tool and decide which one will work out for the best.

Tool Talk: Test Light
Dumb reckoning works fine in horseshoes or fast food ordering, but please don't make the same mistake when you're doing electrical work. This simple tool will guide you through dozens of repairs and keep you from frying your car's important wires.

The Open End Wrench
No tool kit is complete without a set of open end wrenches. When you are repairing your car, a tool that "sorta fits" isn't cutting it. Open end wrenches are exactly sized to fit the bolt you are working on. This prevents damage to your car and damage to your knuckles.

The Allen Wrench
You always need to have the right tool for the job. If a bolt on your car needed to be really tight, they might have used an allen bolt. You'll need an allen wrench to take it off. Be sure you know what you're looking at and how to use it.

The Crescent Wrench
The Crescent Wrench is a versatile tool that should be in every tool box. Did you know that Crescent was actually the brand name for one company's adjustable wrench?