(OT) car questions ng?

There are plenty of "forums" on the internet for auto repair. Search google.com for the name of your vehicle manufacturer along with the word "forum". Examples...

GM forum Toyota forum chevy forum etc.

Auto repair types tend to not be electronic or computer savvy, so most of the discussion will be on web site "forums" and not on Usenet.

Also these days vehicles are quite complex with all the electronics. You pretty much need a factory service manual set, a computer code reader, and a multimeter for many repairs/troubleshooting. You can order factory service manuals from your dealer.

These books are quite detailed. For example a 1999 GM truck factory service manual set I have is about 6000 pages long total and has 4 books to the set. These tell you exactly where things are for your specific vehicle as opposed to those little books sold at auto parts stores (useless these days).

Urgh, that's sad to hear; I've always found web-based forums extremely inconvenient compared to usenet groups. Mailing lists aren't quite so bad, but they still have the disadvantage of needing yet another account and introducing yet another service to manage (particularly annoying when it's a one-off question!)

Yeah, I've stated before that I aim to never own a vehicle that's newer than I am, so I tend to avoid a lot of those issues :-)

This is for the wife's car though (a baby at '97 vintage), so what you mention does become a factor for certain types of problems. "thankfully" the issue with hers is a vibration-related fault, so I can hopefully avoid a lot of the (diagnostic) expense.

Yep. I've tried to always have proper service manuals for my vehicles (although I still need one for my old F-100). I did wonder what the "parts stores" - Chilton etc. - books were like, as I suspect they might be better used as toilet paper... they probably seal them in the stores so you can't browse them before purchase and realise how bad they are ;-)

Having said that, if they list torque wrench settings and other "mechanical" details that can be enough in a lot of cases, I suppose - but I still don't like 'em vs. having the "real thing" (although I've found errors before in factory manuals, so they're not always perfect either).

cheers

Jules

I've had good luck with alt.autos.dodge for my caravan.

Search the newsgroups for the brand of vehicle that interests you and you should find an appropriate newsgroup.

Don

rec.auto.repair

correction rec.autos.tech

Awesome - that looks like the critter! Thanks :)

J.

For your "old F-100" there is alt.trucks.ford

Threads are few, but plenty of people check the group and reply.

Can't recall seeing any spam to speak of.

Jules wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@remove.this.gmail.com:

What a baby U R.

I've always had pretty good luck with rec.autos.tech, and the brand-specific groups in that tree. (ie, rec.autos.tech.honda)

-- aem sends...

There are some very well run automobile repair forums, with vast amounts of resources and experience behind them, that make repairing certain makes of newer vehicles a piece of cake.

Unfortunately though, you have decided to keep the make and model of the vehicle a secret from us, so I can't suggest one of them for you.

Jon

It's a Toyota (Avalon).

cheers

Jules