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Finally getting around to getting some help for the 1984 Oldsmobile Toronado I have.
Im doing some searching, and wondering what peoples preference is.. and recommendations where to get them from.
Get an original factory shop manual. Do not get a reprint of the CD version. You want one with a few greasy fingerprints on it. You should find one on ebay but prices can vary. You should be able to get one of $35-40.
Get an original factory shop manual. Do not get a reprint of the CD version. You want one with a few greasy fingerprints on it. You should find one on ebay but prices can vary. You should be able to get one of $35-40.
I agree that an original is best, but I have a reprint and it has all the pages and has held up well over the years. I think I got it from Faxon.
Actually, I make copies of the spec sheets and frequently used pages and put them in page protectors and three ring binders. That's the old project manager in me.
Rather than buying a CD, look here for an on line version:
Original 1984 paper manuals can be had on ebay for considerably less than the price of that CD. Write a search string and run it daily. You'll find them quickly.
I bought a reprint of the '67 chassis manual. It was well done, with clear, easy to read text and diagrams. But it had one big problem that I didn't notice until I needed that part of the manual, and I didn't think to check when I bought it. The wiring diagrams, which are in color so you can tell which wire is which as you trace them and as you compare them to what's on the car, were not copied in color in the reprint. You cannot tell the colors of the wires in a black-and-white reprint, so the wiring diagrams are MUCH less useful. I bought an original CSM on ebay shortly after finding that problem.
I presume a pdf version on a CD would have been scanned in color, so a CD manual might be OK in that regard. But original paper is still the best.
You probably want one of these, too. They're not much money, but there are a lot of them for sale on ebay, and I'm guessing they're needed frequently by anyone servicing these cars.
Geeze, I didn't say he had to buy one of the ones I pointed at. I said there were many more available. I was just listing the first few I came across to show how readily available they are.
Wow thanks for those links.
I emailed the fellow about shipping on them. Thank you!
I was obviously not searching the right things on eBay
i will admit I was thinking about getting the CD version. But like what was mentioned, I never thought they were scans, and that they might not be in colour on the wiring diagrams.
Remember, this is 1984, not 2018 or 2008 or even 1998. There were no pdf files. There were no desktop scanners. There were no CD ROM drives. (There were no CDs at all, except that they were just then starting to replace vinyl LPs.) We still put actual film in our cameras and got it developed at Fotomat. 5.25-inch floppy disks, monochrome monitors with Hercules graphics cards or low-resolution CGA color monitors with a whopping four-color, 320 by 200 resolution ruled the day. There were still mimeograph machines in offices and schools. Actually "Xeroxing" something with a Xerox copier was still somewhat exotic, expensive, and not found in every office. I was in school at the time, and there was ONE copier in a central location that was shared by all of the departments in the three-story building, which probably amounted to something like 300 or 400 people using one copier.
The ONLY version of these manuals produced originally was on paper. Thus the only way they are in electronic form today is because someone scanned a paper copy.
Last edited by jaunty75; July 2nd, 2018 at 08:07 PM.
Remember, this is 1984, not 2018 or 2008 or even 1998. There were no pdf files. There were no desktop scanners. There were no CD ROM drives. (There were no CDs at all, except that they were just then starting to replace vinyl LPs.) We still put actual film in our cameras and got it developed at Fotomat. 5.25-inch floppy disks, monochrome monitors with Hercules graphics cards or low-resolution CGA color monitors with a whopping four-color, 320 by 200 resolution ruled the day. There were still mimeograph machines in offices and schools. Actually "Xeroxing" something with a Xerox copier was still somewhat exotic, expensive, and not found in every office. I was in school at the time, and there was ONE copier in a central location that was shared by all of the departments in the three-story building, which probably amounted to something like 300 or 400 people using one copier.
The ONLY version of these manuals produced originally was on paper. Thus the only way they are in electronic form today is because someone scanned a paper copy.
Ha! I deserved that, as yes I should have realized.
I think you enjoyed writing that.
I was born in the late 70’s.
I was surprised when I saw there was CD available for these. Now it makes sense.
Ha! I deserved that, as yes I should have realized.
I think you enjoyed writing that.
I was born in the late 70’s.
My comments were not intended as a criticism, but I suspected that you are too young to remember anything before the era of CDs, digital cameras, and the internet. There really was a time when there were video rental stores on every street corner renting VHS tapes and when cell phones did not exist, "car phones" were exotic and expensive and only used by people on TV like "Cannon" (go look that one up), and we had to actually use landline phones at home and....gasp....pay phones when on the road!
It was also a time when people at a table in a restaurant had no choice but to talk to each other.
I have been happy with the CSM for my 65 in PDF from Dave Graham Literature. Wiring diagrams are in color and convenient to use, enlarge and print. That said, original can't be beat. Having both is ideal.
Speaking for myself, my preference is always for a paper manual. Given the low cost of a CD I tend to have both. I can tell you the paper manual sees a whole lot more use than the CD. I also like having a Motors Manual, if available.
Hard to beat those old Motor manuals. The way they explain all the different systems is fantastic. I have collected them for years and pretty much have been giving them away to people that can use them as I downsize. They explain better then the factory sometimes. All the old independent garages and gas stations bought one each year.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Originally Posted by redoldsman
Get an original factory shop manual. Do not get a reprint of the CD version. You want one with a few greasy fingerprints on it. You should find one on ebay but prices can vary. You should be able to get one of $35-40.
^^^^This. OEM printings show the details in better clarity. I had a set of Manuals for my 83 Ninety Eight. One was for the Chassis, and one for Electrical. Yeah, that much stuff and crammed into 2 volumes about 2" thick each.
I bought a reprint of the '67 chassis manual. It was well done, with clear, easy to read text and diagrams. But it had one big problem that I didn't notice until I needed that part of the manual, and I didn't think to check when I bought it. The wiring diagrams, which are in color so you can tell which wire is which as you trace them and as you compare them to what's on the car, were not copied in color in the reprint. You cannot tell the colors of the wires in a black-and-white reprint, so the wiring diagrams are MUCH less useful. I bought an original CSM on ebay shortly after finding that problem.
Until I read that ^^^ I've been saying that a reprint was just as good as an old original. I never realized there were color pages, so I've been hand coloring the circuits on the reprint version as needed!
In New England, they call that "dawn breaks over Marble Head". I'll never suggest a reprint version again.
July 1st, 2018, 09:34 PM
Cannon...hell, think about Peter Gunn.
