I am really handy (construction, wood working, etc.) however I just don’t know a lot about cars other than the basics. I just never learned. I would like to start doing my own maintenance, can anyone recommend where to start? What guide?
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Your car’s owners manual–read and follow its maintenance guide religiously.
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Get a Haynes or Chiltons manual at an auto parts store or online. They cover all the basics, plus major jobs in fair detail. They are far from perfect but well worth the $25 cost. Professionals will tell you to buy a shop manual but they are much more expensive and may not be worth it unless you want to tackle more difficult jobs.
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You may want to take a course at a community college in your area.
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Good tools are a lifetime investment. Get Sears Craftsman or better quality. DO NOT buy any Chinese made junk. You will live to regret it.
Another source is YouTube.
There are a lot of people take video of themselves performing various tasks on their cars (oil change, spark plug change, brake pad change, etc), and post them up. Just search for your car, and include the words for the service you want.
An example would be “Jetta oil change”, and see what you get for results.
I got a couple of great results from that search.
BC.