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shop manual

6020 Views 13 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  sheri, 
H
Before I go to Helms, anybody have or know where to purchase a factory shop manual?
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mswaim
Don't have the books, but I picked this up some time back. It's been pretty helpful in learning all the little things, but it also has parts replacement demos, troubleshooting tips, etc. Think of it as an animated shop manual.

The really hard part for me was finding a VCR to watch the tapes on!!!
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mswaim
Another shot.
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P
You can have your dealership's Parts dept. order one for you. Two thick volumes and pricey as a medical text, but I think well worth having on hand. Just be careful not to embarrass the factory authorized mechanic by showing more knowledge about your car than he has!
pob
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Helms wants $300 for a CD rom; $135 for the paper copy. I've used both for other marques, and tend to prefer the paper copy. The CD is good for printing out what you need, and taking those pages to the car, instead of the huge tome.
They want exactly the same fees for my '03 Silverado, which consists of five (5) volumes, approx. 10" total thickness.
Uh, the paper version, that is.
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mswaim
Besides the items I've already shown, I have the complete parts list for the XLR right down to every nut and bolt, listed by part number and location. The book has exploded views to show all items in place.

Over the years I've worked with tons of manuals, I really prefer what I have now. Much easier to use and the format was designed by GM for their techs to use in the shops as a guide for repairing and maintaining the XLR.
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Continuation

pob said:
You can have your dealership's Parts dept. order one for you. Two thick volumes and pricey as a medical text, but I think well worth having on hand. Just be careful not to embarrass the factory authorized mechanic by showing more knowledge about your car than he has!
pob
Click to expand...
pob - sorry, too late. Over and over I find more and far better information here on the XLR Forum than at my "factory authorized dealer".

I gotta have one of those manuals.

The XLR, and the lack of knowlege about it (exception granted to our own, Allen) by Mr. Goodwrench harks back to the same types of problems experienced by owners of the storied Corvette ZR1. Mr. Goodwrench never really learned how to work on it. So in frustration, ZR1 owners just quit 'em, and started taking their high tech 'vettes to specialty shops, like our own local "Corvettes of Houston".

Even my pedestrian LT1 will never see Mr. Goodwench again. I wonder if XLR owners are to have a similar fate.

And as of today, our XLRs are even more rare...

From the nation's Fattest City, :eek

aviator
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H
I buy the factory shop manual for every car I own. The wiring drawings are worth the the purchase price. Helm is the GM factory distributor of GM shop manuals. (www.helminc.com). I'll place my order in a day or so, and let you all know what I think when I've looked it over.
Don't confuse these tomes as the garbage from Haynes, or other 'service manuals' at the local parts house.
BTW, mswaim: I tried my local dealer to see about purchasing the videos you have, and they looked at me as if I was crazy.
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Shop Manauls

I bought the Helms CD shop manual. In my case it was worth the $300.00 as the CD cover's all GM cars and truck back to 1991. So I have all the data for my 2 cars (XLR & Eldorado) and truck (Chevy)
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mswaim
harry yarnell said:
I buy the factory shop manual for every car I own. The wiring drawings are worth the the purchase price. Helm is the GM factory distributor of GM shop manuals. (www.helminc.com). I'll place my order in a day or so, and let you all know what I think when I've looked it over.
Don't confuse these tomes as the garbage from Haynes, or other 'service manuals' at the local parts house.
BTW, mswaim: I tried my local dealer to see about purchasing the videos you have, and they looked at me as if I was crazy.
Click to expand...

The nice thing about the tapes and accompanying books are they describe all of the codes and diagnostic readouts needed to help decipher anything your tech tries to sell you as "normal operating parameters".

Every dealer should have received a set (at least one) as part of their techs training, unless they don't have anyone actually certified and trained to work on the XLR.

I agree with your rating of the Helm shop manuals. I have several and also think they are the best ot there.
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H
Well the manuals arrived; 5" of printed matter in two volumes.
Did you know you have TWO fuel tanks in your XLR? I didn't know that. One on either side of the trunk. The transfer of fuel is akin to an airliner with wing tanks! But that's the most pronounced thing I can remember. Spent about an hour going thru these two tomes, and to tell you the truth, I'm disappointed. Left me with my head spinning; and I have been working on cars for 50 years.
All drawings are sketches; no photographs. Helms has done this for years. But the complexity of the XLR makes the sketches hard to comprehend. Case in point; the section on the dual gas tanks (pg.6-1252) is hard to invision; I've got to get it up on a lift to see what they're talking about.
Section 8 has always been the electrical section for Helms. This is where I go for electrical schematics. No more. Some electrical schematics are in other chapters, but are only a small sample of the wiring drawings required. And then they are in the european style of schematics. I HATE that!!! VERY difficult to interpret and trace.
The engine chapter runs over 1000 pages. Very little on the transaxle. Apparently a seperate manual.
I think I'll start a quest for a savvy dealer in the mid atlantic area who may have a clue as to servicing this unique vehicle.
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Harry, if you even run across something labeled "aux video" or "aux audio" could you please PM me? I haven't had much time recently but I'm still interested in tracing those lines.

Thanks any help!

Andy
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Harry I posted a picture of the under side of my XLR a few months back. It show the the 2 fuel tanks. The CD has a complete section on the Transaxel. What I have been trying to figure out is how both tanks are fill. Can't see anything from the under side. Robin
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Are you after the schematics for the Nav system and power/ground distribution? I printed them off if you need them. pm me and i can get them to you.
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