What Online Repair Manual Do You Use?

leboyd · April 20, 2009

I'm looking at eAutoRepair.com for the online repair manuals/TSBs/etc.

What have you used and how did you like them?

TIA

1997 Chevy Tahoe 4x4

Zembonez · April 20, 2009

I'm looking at eAutoRepair.com for the online repair manuals/TSBs/etc.

What have you used and how did you like them?

TIA

1997 Chevy Tahoe 4x4

I'd go with a GM service manual myself. It has EVERYTHING in it. Sometimes nothing compares to the real source in a good paper manual.

TSBs are available online but on a 97 model they are mostly not going to apply. The 350, AT, transfer case, axles, electrical, and fuel systems on those trucks are covered pretty well in Chiltom manuals too.

bill190 · April 21, 2009

I don't use an online repair manual or a CD. I have the factory service manual set, which for my GM truck is a 4 book set. (Service, Computer, Wiring, Tear down.)

The reason I prefer the books is because at night I can sit back and read them. Then think a bit. Then pick them up and look something up (hummmm.. maybe that gizmo could be the problem? Let's take a look in the book. And there the book is. I can pick it up and take a quick look.)

And I frequently take my books out to my truck so I can look at them while working on the truck.

Also the wiring diagrams are in a large book about 2 ft. wide by 1 ft. And many times the diagrams continue from one page to the next. So I open the book up and it spreads about 4 ft. across. But everything is there and I can see it all. Trace wires on the diagrams with my fingers over to the next page. Hard to do this on a computer screen where you can only see 1/4 or less of each page.

BUT, with wiring diagrams, there is an advantage to CD versions. That is you can search for things. For example there may be a connector you want to find elsewhere. You can easily search for it rather than having to look it up in the index. Or search for a particular word like hazard or stop. Then find everything relating to that.

txab · April 21, 2009

Factory manual and Alldata, cause I get it free.

2007VictoryRed · April 21, 2009

I'm looking at eAutoRepair.com for the online repair manuals/TSBs/etc.

What have you used and how did you like them?

TIA

1997 Chevy Tahoe 4x4

I'd go with a GM service manual myself. It has EVERYTHING in it. Sometimes nothing compares to the real source in a good paper manual.

TSBs are available online but on a 97 model they are mostly not going to apply. The 350, AT, transfer case, axles, electrical, and fuel systems on those trucks are covered pretty well in Chiltom manuals too.

What web site do you go for the tsb's?

leboyd · April 21, 2009

I don't use an online repair manual or a CD. I have the factory service manual set, which for my GM truck is a 4 book set. (Service, Computer, Wiring, Tear down.)

The reason I prefer the books is because at night I can sit back and read them. Then think a bit. Then pick them up and look something up (hummmm.. maybe that gizmo could be the problem? Let's take a look in the book. And there the book is. I can pick it up and take a quick look.)

And I frequently take my books out to my truck so I can look at them while working on the truck.

Also the wiring diagrams are in a large book about 2 ft. wide by 1 ft. And many times the diagrams continue from one page to the next. So I open the book up and it spreads about 4 ft. across. But everything is there and I can see it all. Trace wires on the diagrams with my fingers over to the next page. Hard to do this on a computer screen where you can only see 1/4 or less of each page.

BUT, with wiring diagrams, there is an advantage to CD versions. That is you can search for things. For example there may be a connector you want to find elsewhere. You can easily search for it rather than having to look it up in the index. Or search for a particular word like hazard or stop. Then find everything relating to that.

Bill, thanks for the input. You are correct about the wiring diagram books, but I can do the same thing with my laptop that you can do with the other manuals. I take it to the garage/vehicle and I read it on the couch while watching TV. But I can can search and often times I can enlarge the font size (Ah, the days when I could read 6 or 8 point and now lucky with 12)!

The two I'm looking at are alldatadiy and eautorepair. eautorepair has the tsbs. Should I assume that the quality of both are similar??? I have used alldata before (years ago), but not eautorepair.

Does anyone know if you can switch a vehicle? I noticed the price for alldatadiy for 5 years is $45. It's possible, but unlikely that I will still have my 97 tahoe in 5 years (by then it will have about 300,000 on it if I kept it).

TIA,

Larry

CapitalTruck · April 26, 2009

I got the factory manual books for my GMT800, I also have alldata subscription. As was mentioned earlier, sometimes nothing compares to the paper manual.

jlcmotorsports · April 26, 2009

Do a search for Blownc5. He has the factory repair manuals in electronic form on dvd. You can print pages and search by keyword. Great value too, around $20. Good luck!