Dan Abel wrote:
>
> In article >,
> dsi1 > wrote:
>
> > On 9/28/2011 1:00 PM, Dan Abel wrote:
> > >
> > > Our little car wasn't working right. My wife said she'd take a look.
> > > Well, that sounded useless, but OK. What harm could she do?
> > >
> > > Later she says it doesn't work at all. I asked her what she did.
> > > Pulled all the wires out of the distributor. Did she put them back?
> > > Yes. In the right order? Didn't know. Did it matter? Yes. What to
> > > do next? Call the tow truck!
> > >
> >
> > You could try guessing the wiring. The shortest wire would probably be
> > for the spark plug closest to the distributor. The longest would
> > probably go to the plug the furthest away. You can figure out the rest.
>
> She didn't pull the wires off of the spark plugs. They were still
> connected, and all of them were the correct length to fit any connection
> on the distributor.
>
> > OTOH, all you have to do is Google "cylinder firing order" and then the
> > make and model of your car.
>
> I don't think that Al Gore had invented the internet yet.
>
> :-)
>
> I'm sure I read the user manual, and it said nothing of use. I bought a
> really nice Hyundai Sonata about a year ago. The first thing I do when
> I buy a car is read the user manual, cover to cover. But half of the
> darned thing (and it was really thick) was about how to use the radio!
> I don't even listen to the radio!

When I buy a new vehicle, I order the factory service manual at the same
time. I also read them cover to cover so I know how everything works and
am more aware of any developing problems.