Customer Reviews

General Motors Corvette: 1984-96 Repair Manual, 28502- Covers All U.S. and Canadian Models of Chevrolet Corvette

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

While this book gives overall information, it is lacking much of what is needed by the wrench that is doing the hands on repairs. If someone else is doing the work and you want to know what is being done then this book will suffice.

THIS BOOK IS PRETTY GOOD FOR THE NOVICE SHADE TREE MECHANIC. THE ONLY SECTION A LITTLE WEAK IS THE ELECTRICAL SECTION IN REFERANCE TO THE DIGITAL DASH BOARD. OTHERWISE IT HAS A LOT OF INFORMATION FOR THE C4 CORVETTE OWNER.

Its impossible for the car to change once it comes out but do the Chilton Books on how to repair them change?

This book is absolutely useless.

I would recommend purchasing an updated Chilton's from your local auto repair shop.

I have just started doing multiple maintainance projects on a 94 coupe. Chilton helps but since the book spans the complete C-4 generation it can be confusing depending on which engine you have. There is a critical error on spark plug gap. The books gives .035 for all years. The later models take a .050 gap. Double check your year before install. It is difficult to get the plugs in, you don,t want to do it twice. The graphics in the book are not great and the black and white pictures seem hard to see in some cases.

This is an excellent resource for the back yard mechanic but whenever you work on a Corvette, you might want to check with the more experienced before you tackle certain jobs. From replacing your battery to working on the engine or brakes, the diagrams and instruction are helpful. Like every other manual of this type, the explanations are not always completely obvious to the most casual reader. However, when you own a Corvette, the consequences of mistakes are more costly. Buy it, use it, but always consult the Corvette Forum on the Internet and other trusted sources.

To ALL Corvette weekend warriors: This keeps tinkering simple! Chilton has done it again. Typical "shop" manuals are over $100.......Have "practical" knowledge for under $20!

Shame on you, Amazon! You should never sell a book of this poor quality!

Let's start with the diagrams. If you stole some diagrams from a 3rd grader, then photocopy them 15 times -- making a copy from the copy from the copy -- you'd still not have diagrams as poor as these. About 40% of the diagrams are so small it is hard to tell what they are trying to show you. Funny thing is that there are lots of (unusable) diagrams, which in turn means there is less space for text and explanations. This is a JOKE!

When they do decide to show you an actual picture of the car/engine/electrical system, the picture is of such poor quality that it is usually worthless. This is extremely low quality paper (I've used better quality paper to line my cat's pan), so the picture quality is going to be poor to begin with. Some of these pictures look like they were taken from behind a peanut-butter covered lens.

As for the text and explanations, it is horrible. The explanations lack any detail, and in some spots simply confuse anyone who reads English. Here's one of my favorite parts.

Section 4-23 covers the Mass Air Flow sensor. I'm sure some really experienced mechanics know exactly where this is, but experienced mechanics would never use this book. Only us dumb hobbyist are foolish enough to buy this book. So you'd think that maybe they would write it for us dolts. Wrong!

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not completely inexperienced, so I have some idea of what to expect in a decent repair manual. I've rebuilt a couple motors in my life, but there is no way this book is helpful to even someone with that kind of experience. I can't imagine how someone with less experience will find anything useful in this trash.

Back to the MAF: there are only 2 pargraphs, total, and neither of them actually tell you much. There are NO pictures of where the MAF is on the actual engine, so how helpful is that to someone who has never worked on a 'vette before? What makes it worse, the instruction set is so confusing that you can't really tell what they are trying to explain.

Consider the following instruction: "1. Visually check the connector, making sure it is connected properly and the terminals are straight." Okay ... but how the heck do I know where it is, since you have not provided a picture or even a crappy diagram showing the actual motor. And how does someone know whether it is connected properly? The wire could be on backwards, for all the information you get out of this instruction set. And this is actually one of the better written sections.

Remember, this book is supposed to be written for the non-professional. Someone with limited experience might know what an MAF is, but not necessarily know where or even how it is connected on the 'vette. Even an owner with a little experience could use something more than what the editors of this junk have given us. Fortunately, I had enough experience that I was able to find the information on the Internet. That begs the question, if I am going to need to go to the 'net each time I work on the car, then why do I need this book?

The book simply tries to do too much with too little. The few decent pictures that are in the book are of only one model out of a 12-year range. I guess I should have known better, but the cover said it "Covers all U.S. and Canadian models of Chevrolet Corvette." I guess it does ... in the same way that pancakes cover all breakfast foods.

The biggest joke of all, the book claims to include "wiring and vacuum diagrams." First problem, the wiring diagrams they do include look like they were drawn on an Etch-a-Sketch, then placed on top of a poor quality photocopy machine, and then photocopied a couple dozen times (see my first comment above). The diagrams were then shrunk to fit an area roughly the size of a large postage stamp and then put on poor quality paper.

Some of the wiring diagrams actually look like the same third grader that did the diagrams tried to simulate a schematic form on a Big Chief notepad. Problem is, the third grader spilled his chocolate milk on the copies before the publisher reduced them in a size so small that the average human couldn't read any of the numbers. It is so bad, I even used a magnifying glass to examine some of the diagrams, but then I realized that many of the numbers were not actually human representations, but some sort of alien hieroglyphics.

While this book gives overall information, it is lacking much of what is needed by the wrench that is doing the hands on repairs. If someone else is doing the work and you want to know what is being done then this book will suffice.