My sister has been having problems with her car stalling. She's been to multiple mechanics, has had a couple of parts replaced, and is still experiencing the problem. Sean looked online for information so we now have an idea of what she needs to try next.
So I looked up her car on Chilton. No problem getting to her car's information. But then...
I knew that at least one of her replaced parts was a recalled part. Sure enough, the bulletin/recall list with the symptom choice of stalling listed the ignition switch. Good to know, but not really helpful, as it didn't fix her problem.
Then I went to the repair tab -- which wasn't helpful to me. There is so much information. I know I'm not a mechanic or someone who knows much about cars, but I do know about this particular problem. Based on Sean's online research, I know that the "main relay" is the likely culprit and I understand that it is an electrical problem, not a fuel problem. The "repairs" section doesn't help with that. It doesn't provide a nice "symptoms" selection with a list of possibilities, as the recall section does. I opened up most of the information for both the fuel and engine electric areas and didn't find anything with "main relay."
Not only was this not helpful in finding out more information to help my sister, it didn't even help me gather a "second opinion" on information found elsewhere. But perhaps that's not Chilton's goal. If it is to show people how to do something that they clearly know needs to be done, then I think it does offer straightforward information. However, their tagline is, "Where smart enthusiasts click for service information" and in this case, it didn't give me the service information I needed.
All that written, I am thankful we have it, especially as a branch. This is one of the databases I show people most often. Just yesterday over the phone I told a woman about it and she was very grateful.
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