Brooklyn1 wrote:
>
> On Thu, 29 Sep 2011 06:08:47 -0500, "Pete C." >
> wrote:
>
> >
> >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.
>
> That's a waste of money. There is very little on today's new vehicles
> that DIYers can do, and other than simple routine maintenence (lube
> and tire inflation)

Oil and oil filter change, fuel filter change, coolant checks and
changes, transmission checks and changes, brakes, shocks, etc. There is
very little on a new vehicle that a competent DIYer *can't* do really,
and proper scan tools which used to be quite expensive are pretty
affordable these days.

> most DIY futzing will negate the warranty.

Nope, that would be illegal per the Magnusun Moss Warranty Act (sp?).

> Even
> dealerships can't diagnose other brands, they haven't the computerized
> diagnostics.

Yes and no, much of the diags are standard federally mandated OBDII so
any scanner can read that data for all brands. There is manufacturer
specific extended data and with most scanners it is just a matter of
purchasing that extra option if desired.

> My new Toyota has a big warning light in the dashboard
> that blinks very annoyingly when it's past time to go in for service,
> and I can't turn it off, only the dealer can by plugging it into their
> computerized diagnostics while performing the services, and knowing
> the code for each service... they contact me to make an appointment
> well before that light grows to an annoying intensity... once I
> couldn't make it on time and that idiot light made it near impossible
> to drive at night without taping over it, was very annoying. I can
> bring my 20 year old Toyota into my local grease monkey garage for
> tuneups and such but they can't do much of anything with my new
> Toyota.

Again, you can DIY this stuff quite easily. Autoenginuity is one PC
based scan tool that is quite decent and has manufacturer specific
support at reasonable prices.