Cobaltchat.com

does anyone have any experience using this book for maintenance of the engine and drive systems? Is it too similar to the VP Operator's Manual or does it have more info, greater detail, better pictures, etc? thanks in advance for your input.

Tons more detail than an operator's manual, and pictures to help. There are usually some on the rack at West Marine, if you have one nearby, where you can get a better sense of the content.

They are horrible. Get the OEM manual.

The OEM manual will be many different books that you have to get. One will be the drive, another the engine, another electrical and another fuel system. Each of these book is the size of the Seloc.

On one of the forums I am on, Seloc manuals are referred to as being good for knee pads.

bruceb58 wrote: Sat Feb 11, 2023 10:03 pm They are horrible. Get the OEM manual.

The OEM manual will be many different books that you have to get. One will be the drive, another the engine, another electrical and another fuel system. Each of these book is the size of the Seloc.

On one of the forums I am on, Seloc manuals are referred to as being good for knee pads.

I assume that the "OEM manual" selection you are referring to are not what came with the boat but more of a group of technical manuals for mechanics. My understanding (and I could be wrong) is that the boat only came with one book, similar to this one. I'm interested in a book that provides a bit more photos and further description for understanding and servicing my boat for topics most handy guys can handle, not taking the engine apart.

That is correct. That is an operators manual...not a service manual.

They are not easy to find used. Older manuals pre 2000 are WAY easier to find. For my last Volvo which was a 1997(LK Model), I actually bought the entire set from an online Volvo Penta dealer.

What kind of things are you wanting to do?

I actually started with a Seloc on a boat I had a long time ago. It was an OMC Cobra. I started with a Seloc and it became so frustrating using it, I bought an OEM OMC manual for it. Was a night and day difference. There were things in the Seloc that were just plain wrong.

Start by looking here:
https://www.volvopenta.com/en-us/servic ... handbooks/

After poking around a bit, I was able to find the workshop manual for my engine here, among other places:

https://www.downloadboatmanuals.com/motors/volvo-penta/

bruceb58 wrote: Sat Feb 11, 2023 10:03 pm They are horrible. Get the OEM manual.

The OEM manual will be many different books that you have to get. One will be the drive, another the engine, another electrical and another fuel system. Each of these book is the size of the Seloc.

On one of the forums I am on, Seloc manuals are referred to as being good for knee pads.

I didn't find that to be the case at all for my drive. There were some cases where the Seloc manual actually explained things in more detail than the factory manual. I also have the Clymer manual. I lay all three side by side when I'm working on something new that I don't have practice with. Considering that the Seloc and the Clymer manuals are fairly inexpensive compared to paying any service person for work, I wouldn't discourage anybody from getting them as references.

slideruleracer wrote: Thu Mar 30, 2023 2:32 pm

bruceb58 wrote: Sat Feb 11, 2023 10:03 pm They are horrible. Get the OEM manual.

The OEM manual will be many different books that you have to get. One will be the drive, another the engine, another electrical and another fuel system. Each of these book is the size of the Seloc.

On one of the forums I am on, Seloc manuals are referred to as being good for knee pads.

I didn't find that to be the case at all for my drive. There were some cases where the Seloc manual actually explained things in more detail than the factory manual. I also have the Clymer manual. I lay all three side by side when I'm working on something new that I don't have practice with. Considering that the Seloc and the Clymer manuals are fairly inexpensive compared to paying any service person for work, I wouldn't discourage anybody from getting them as references.

I had one for my OMC Cobra and it was plain wrong for many things. Timing and dwell numbers were wrong. How to adjust the shift cable were wrong, which is super important on the Cobra.

I found the factory manual on eBay that was very inexpensive.