Old Repair Manuals

isellhondas

I finally threw away two Motor's Repair Manuals along with a Chilton manual. Anyone remember those?

The Motor manuals would cover about ten model years and were very detailed. You could fix your windshield wipers or overhaul your automatic transmission. I would think these manuals are no longer published due to the complexity of todays cars and the internet videos.

I also found an interesting paperback called Cherries and Lemons that covered used cars. How to buy a good one and others to avoid. I think Mr. S is familiar with that book. That is one I didn't throw away!

Mr_Shiftright

I have a couple of those old manuals. They're still useful if you have friends with old cars!

The Cherries and Lemons book is completely outdated now, of course, and with all the slick self-publishing opportunities on the Internet, you can produce a book today that looks better and costs less to make.

I personally still like to work from print manuals, or at least to be able to print pages from the online databases. But really, there's nothing like step-by-step instructions with photos.

So many of the YouTube repair videos are so poorly produced that you have to watch them 5 times before you get a clue. However, there are a few guys doing good work on video.

isellhondas

I've watched a couple of Eric the Car Guy videos and he does pretty good at them.

Mr_Shiftright

He's not bad.

thecardoc3

Mr_Shiftright said:

He's not bad.

I'll tell Eric you said that......VBG

Mr_Shiftright

Tell him he's much better than Scotty Kilmer! I've watched lots of his videos and certainly learned some things. My only comment is that he get away from beater cars and discuss more modern stuff.

Seems like a nice fellow.

thecardoc3

Getting out of the old cars and working on the newer stuff demands a huge increase in tooling and training expenses. That's part of why he got himself into some trouble when he tried to talk about engine oil and if people really needed to use synthetics a few years back, he really didn't know about the changes and thought he was prepared to discuss the topic. I helped him out with that and have helped him a number of other times when he did a video that needed some more current information. I didn't even bother chatting with him when he tried the new tires on the front or rear experiment. He eventually realized that the "data" he collected only supported the idea that his testing wasn't precise enough to draw any firm conclusions from it.

Eric represents a lot of the current shop owners who are doing just enough to exist at their own level and hope to hang on long enough to retire some day. Those shops hold prices below a level that allows for growth and technical advancement of the trade and its people in general. They are part of why there are getting to be fewer, and fewer qualified technicians.

Scotty has played the YouTube game all the way to making big bucks with it and takes advantage of the tribal knowledge of the viewers. He doesn't even care if what he puts out there is wrong as long as it fits the popular opinions, because that sells. (Sound familiar?)

If you really want to see more up to date information try watching ScannerDanner from Rosedale tech
(Tried to link his channel but it won't play so just search for it on YouTube)

FWIW, you will see routines and information on his video's that have been created by techs like myself over the last few decades.

Mr_Shiftright

I can't imagine all the perfectly good 02 sensors, MAPs, MAFs and TPSs that have been thrown away thanks to YouTube.

thecardoc3

Mr_Shiftright said:

I can't imagine all the perfectly good 02 sensors, MAPs, MAFs and TPSs that have been thrown away thanks to YouTube.

You forgot to mention all the perfectly good gas caps that are in the trash right beside those other parts.