.... but a little story first. I've always loved cars and their mechanics on how they work since I was 10 years old (now 54). Around when I was 15 or 16 years old a Chevrolet mechanic friend of my dads gave him to give to me two 1972 Chevrolet Shop Manuals. This is where I really learned about cars even though I didn't have one yet.

I also went to GM school and got a bunch of manuals in 1973. I made it a habit to buy GM service manuals for most every car I've had since. Like my 85 Corvette, 95 Tahoe and my wifes 02 TBlazer.

What I'm trying to say is, most all of us are lost when it comes to cars and their computers, and all the sensors everywhere. The GM shop manuals (as a lot of us know that have them) can walk us step by step to solve any problem with our cars.

This forum is good as there are people who know what their talking about. But, I see in some threads there's a lot of guessing from some who want to be helpful. Sending the one with the problem on wild goose chases and buying parts that aren't needed. Again, I do have to stress my point this forum is good and has a lot of people who know what their talking about.

It's also hard to diagnose a problem for anyone trying to help another 100 miles away to 2,500 miles away. So, we should all have that GM Service Manual to help ourselves out when we're in a jam.

I don't mean to offend the guys and gals who know what their talking about in this forum.

 

ya i know what you are saying. a lot of times i see that but someone usually chimes in and hopefully its not to late. diagnose first dont just keep throwing money at it when random people tell you they had the same problem and this is what fixed it.

 

I really think that your comments are well intended. But, a lot of what goes on here are forum members asking for help and seeking advice.

Personally, I've been helped numerous times and certainly more times than I have "helped" others. And I agree that service manuals, if available, are a good resource. But, factory service manuals are not always available to the member seeking assistance. I think by-in-large that most members providing advice and/or solutions tend to qualify their answers whenever necessary. For example, if they are not a true "mechanic" they say so. And they do so b/c they know how expensive parts are today for our rides.

I love the "spirit" of this forum, and I think you do too! Lastly and most importantly, the member requesting help has a responsibility as well and that is to thoughfully consider all responses before taking any action.

SAVE THE WAVE

 

I know exactly what you mean. Ive been on a few goose chases since I put the new motor in. I started to second guess my own experience against others ideas because im very green when it comes to EFI. Im done chasing my tail.

Everyone does try to help with the best of intentions, but sometimes you must weed through all of the bad ideas to find the good ones. But its an open forum, so......

 

A reprint of any year Corvette GM service manual can be had. All the Corvette parts houses have them like Mid America, Ecklers and a few hundred others. There's also reprints of the factory assembly manuals for every year. Armed with these 2 manuals anyone can do anything to their cars.

I learned a long time ago, if I ask 6 different people what my cars problem was I got 6 different answers. And went down many a wrong road. The GM manuals you get your answers on how to diagnos a problem and come to its solution a lot faster and they eliminate the guessing.

There are a lot of knowledgable people here that really know their stuff. There's a lot of wanna be mechanics here too that lead others down wrong paths in need of help. Nothing wrong with asking questions here, but the manuals take the mystery and confusion out of any given problem. GM made our cars, they know how to fix them best and it's all in black and white in their manuals.

I just wanted to give a suggestion and help others with starting this thread. A lot of new (used) Corvette owners don't know these reprinted manuals are out there. And they look just like the ones GM had when our cars were new for the mechanic/technitians who worked in the dealerships. Heck I didn't know anything about my 85 when I got it. It was so different than my older Corvette's, I was lost. The manuals sure helped take the guessing and mystery out of a lot of things. Time and technology passed me right on by. The manuals got me out of my cave and back to current times, well at least to 1985. LOL

 

Sorry, I wasn't clear in my first response ( and this can be another problem when asking or answering posts).
What I meant by service manuals not being "available" relates to the time of the member's request for help and particuliarly when they need immediate assistance. Often members that do provide guidance reference the service manual and recommend that they be purchased in the future. And always they recommend the GM service manual.

Sorry for any confusion.....

SAVE THE WAVE

 

That's what I thought the purpose of this or any forum was for. If everyone had a FSM and could read and comprehend everything, they could fix the problem themselves. There'd be no need for CF-except maybe as a chat room. Many of the replys are based solely on a individual members experience w/their own C4--they read the OPs thread (which more often then not has very-very limited info about the problem) and shoot from the hip so to speak. Much of the responsibilty falls on the OP to give good,accurate and complete info from the jump IMO--otherwise you've got that "garbage in/garbage out " thing going on.

In my case I ask very few questions as a OP, but I do reply often--hopefully I've helped a couple people--I often wonder though because more often then not the thread doesn't get "closed" so to speak. I feel it's important to close a thread because someone who is not posting answers/suggestions but simply trying to follow the thread never knows the end result which could help them one day.

I often wonder why I take the time to post suggestions/answers after all I don't get paid for it nor do I get any pats on the back. I've made a good living for years "turning wrenches" and I've got all the t-shirts,hats,diplomas/banners and on occasion I do get a pat on the back. I think the reason I post is simple--I love Vettes, most of all the C4 it makes me proud when I'm driving mine and I meet another C4 and we exchange "The Wave". If I've helped in a very tiny way to keep 1 or 2-- C4s on the road then I'm glad.

To the original OP of this thread I understand that no offense was meant and none taken here. I sorta needed to get it off my chest, as you did.

 

No need to use the word sorry Vetteman 42. Twisterup, I know what your saying too. I think this forum would still stay the same if everyone had a factory shop manual. There would still be questions asked in the forum.

All I'm saying is when I learned a long time ago to read and follow the step by step instructions in the manual I eliminated the needless spending of money on parts I didn't need, parts that friends of mine insisted I needed. I also leaned that me telling people what they needed to fix a problem was sometimes wrong. I'd always use the word "maybe" this is what you need to buy. I never wanted someone to run out and buy something that didn't solve their problem. And there's a lot of this same thing that goes on here in this forum. The factory service manual takes the guessing out of problems.

If I was able to get to one person and make them think, I'm going to get a GM manual on my car, then the thread I started did good.