Imagine the poor Bolshevik who had to fix Stalin's Packards...needed a translator...

I will give the microprocessor one nod: electronic fuel injection on diesels is a godsend.

On the Extended Warranty thread: my father in law had to get a new snazzy LCD flatscreen TV...at age 95, he went for the 5-year warranty...now that's confidence that you'll be able to outlast it or B$&*h at the service representative who tries to get out of it before it expires.

Thank you I will.

cut some 1/2" wide very long strips of aluminum tin foil and wrap the knurl about 10-12 times...then (best to use a Knipex brand) gently grasp it with a channel lock (not vise grip) and the aluminum will be sacrificial and compress into the teeth of the knurl and those on the channel lock jaw. GENTLY, rotate...if your sensing it is slipping or going to damage the knurl, do a test grasp, then remove the wad of foil wrap and inspect to ensure no damage...add more layers...its supposed to take up the difference.

If someone has a better method...try theirs if its more safe...you could cut some small maple/oak hardwood horseshoe shapes and do the same thing in place of the foil layers

I've reviewed the Factory Service Index and fixed any linkage issue with documents/pages that it said were missing but have been filled in over the years.

Since we now have Service Letters going back to Vol 1, I supposed the index needs to be updated to include models before 1933. If anyone wants to take that on, please let me know.

I have also added an "ALL ITEMS" option to the category listing. So, before you picked a series like "1955-1956" and were presented with the categories "Brakes, Fuel, etc.", the new "ALL ITEMS" category gives you an entire listing of all Services indexes on a single page for the selected series. This is helpful if you are not sure what category an item you are looking for may be under.

After all the updates and going back through the list, these are the items we are still missing as far as Service Letters/Counselors/Bulletins:


Service Letters

SL VOL 1, NO 6
SL VOL 1, NO 8
SL VOL 1, NO 14
SL VOL 1, NO 15
SL VOL 2, NO 2
SL VOL 2, NO 3
SL VOL 2, NO 12
SL VOL 2, NO 13
SL VOL 2, NO 15
SL VOL 3, NO 9
SL VOL 3, NO 13
SL VOL 6, NO 24
SL VOL 8, INDEX
SL VOL 9, INDEX
SL VOL 12, INDEX
SL VOL 13, INDEX
SL VOL 14, INDEX
SL VOL 15, INDEX
SL VOL 16, INDEX
SL VOL 17, INDEX

Service Counselors

SC VOL 18, NO 12?
SC VOL 18, INDEX
SC VOL 19, INDEX
SC VOL 20, INDEX
SC VOL 24, NO 7, p. 27 (1950)


Service Technical Bulletins

STB 46T Dealer 1
STB 46T-8, Dealer 4
STB 46T-9, Dealer 5
STB 46T-10 Dealer 6
STB 46T-13 Dealer 9
STB 46T-14, Dealer 10
STB 46T Dealer 12
STB 46T Dealer 13
STB 46T Dealer 15
STB 47T-? (Zones only) (Convertible Handles)
STB 49T-4 (Zones only)
STB 49T-12 (Zones only)
STB 49T-14 (Zones only)
STB 49T-25 (Zones only)
STB 49T-30 (Zones only)
STB 49T-34 (Zones only)
STB 49T-37 (Zones only)
STB 49T-40 (Zones only)
STB 50T-1 (Zones only)
STB 50T-5 (Zones only)
STB 50T-11 (Zones only)
STB 50T-17 (Zones only)
STB 50T-25, Dealer 20
STB 50T-28 (Zones only)
STB 50T-29 (Zones only)
STB 50T-30 (Zones only)
STB 50T-42 (Zones only)
STB 50T-44 (Zones only)
STB 50T-48 (Zones only)
STB 51T-3 (Zones only)
STB 51T-10 (Zones only)
STB 51T-14 (Zones only)
STB 51T-25 (Zones only)
STB 51T-36 (Zones only)
STB 51T-45 (Zones only)
STB 50T-60 (Zones only)

If you can fill in any of the missing items, that would be most helpful in completing the archive of these items and also in helping build out the Service Index.

Thanks!

I want to rebuild the master cylinder on my 1936 120 without damaging the knurled edge of the plug. Years ago, I would simply use a pipe wrench when rebuilding
a master cylinder in an old car but now I want to avoid damaging the knurling. Was there a special wrench made for this and if so, where would I find one? Could
I wrap the part in copper sheet to avoid damage? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

To enrich the discussion, below is an excerpt from the manual for a Chaika. The car was built from 1959 to 1981.
I could not resist.

Attach file:

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  adjusting the valve clearance.jpg (67.93 KB)

Quote:

Not to be in grumpy youngster mode but I can guarantee that 1974 owner's manuals did not tell you how to adjust the valves. Probably would have to go back a lot longer than that to find one that did. Nor do manuals today warn to not DRINK the battery acid... of a sealed battery...

I have a 23 Highlander Hybrid which is pretty much the same car as a 24 Rav4 Hybrid. I have read nearly all the manual. The problem I have with it is that it's not user-friendly. A great deal of the info in there is fluff which makes it a real snoozefest and you can read whole sections and retain little. In other words, the manual is long, but it's also poorly written. If carmakers actually assumed that people would read such manuals, they could have made it much better.

Even 20 years ago, while not being a great deal shorter, the car manuals were more illustrative IMHO.

By the way, this is from someone who writes manuals at their day job. Guess where I get inspiration for the form of some things... that's right the Packard service manual.

I am definitely in grumpy geezer mode and have been for some time. Probably brought on by the fact a substantial number of brain cells are refusing to work in sync or even at the same time anymore -- or it could just be old age.

I got a chuckle out of your comment about microprocessors in toasters because it is so true. Also washing machines and refrigerators that talk telling you what you are running out of or washers saying how dirty the clothes are.

I spent 40+ years in the medical imaging industry and when I retired even the low cost machines were in the midst of transitioning to computer operation over discreet components and control switches. The main computer coordinated things but other components had on average less than a dozen microprocessors in communication with the main computer to run an entire room. Those you could at least narrow down and change a board to get operational but sometimes it was a time consuming challenge to isolate a problem down to a specific area. Today about 15 years later some of the guys still working I keep in touch with tell me it is a whole other story. Microprocessors are even more prevalent and are controlling individual functions and in addition, almost every major component has a full blown computer at its heart. Because that computer and a lot of the individual microprocessor run pieces are certified assembled items on a major failure you usually wind up changing the item. Sometimes just the computer will do it but because to keep the certification they have to go thru an extensive test process so are not considered serviceable in the field. Translation: $$$

When buying the Toyota the sales guy was pushing option packages, one of which was a special if bought with the new car deal on a 10 year cover everything in the car except tires and wiper blades service contract. Medical also pushed contracts and in some cases they saved a customers bacon but in other cases they were an expensive piece of paper. I was going to pass on the contract but when the sales guy told me this Toyota had over 200 single chip computers better known as microprocessors -- almost one running every single component -- I took notice. He said unless they are defective and fail right away they are sometimes not covered by the warranty and are on your nickel farther down the road when the warranty is over. Based on what I experienced with computer control and what my brother was quoted last month in repairing his Subaru transmission, sales guy did not have a hard sell as the price of the contract when bought with the car was less than the transmission repair.

Never seen the gears sold without both the shafts, because if the gears are worn enough to need replacing, it's a sure thing the shafts do also.

jack vines

As long as we are in grumpy geezer mode:

all you get these days is a small glovebox manual with "take to authorized dealer" as the remedy, where they then proceed to "remove and replace entire foreign-sourced subassembly" at near-total-the-car cost so they can sell you a new vehicle; then make a killing on your trade-in.

Ive worked on Packards for 54 years as well as all the "modern" cars Ive owned in the same timeframe...nothing beats straightforward individual systems to isolate, diagnose and fix using US customary wrenches, a multimeter and old "machine sense" logic...same for my 1954, 1962, 1979, 1983 farm machinery...after that things got stupid...even toasters (a simple resistor/thermostat) now have microprocessors in them.

Working on Packards is parallel to working on Mechanical Sculpture...except for Bijur and Ultra-Magic transmissions.

...there, now I feel better