GM updates Web Site, service manuals

Jan. 1, 2020
General Motors is making changes to its service manuals and Goodwrench Web site to make it easier for technicians to find the right parts and repair information they need.

General Motors is making changes to its service manuals and Goodwrench Web site to make it easier for technicians to find the right parts and repair information they need.

In his technical presentation, “General Motors Service Repair Information,” at the I-CAR International Annual Meeting on Friday, GM’s shop foreman and collision industry liaison Joe Blanton presented information on some of the company’s latest programs, as well as an update on repairing new high-strength steels.

Blanton discussed changes that have been made to the GM Goodwrench Web site (www.gmgoodwrench.com) to improve navigation. He also said that service manuals have been upgraded to provide links to additional information, making it easier for technicians to complete a repair.

“If you look at the part you’re replacing, it will call out all of the cautions and notices on the steel,” Blanton says. “If you click on that, it will tell you what you can and can’t do, whether you can use heat or not, and what kind of attachment methods you can use.”

The new service manual format ties in to GM’s educational efforts around the new advanced high-strength steels. “We’ll call out by part what the item is made of, so you know if it’s high-strength steel or boron or dual-phase,” Blanton says.

There will be a special section in the manual for each vehicle outlining how the new steels can be repaired. The new format will begin with a few of the 2008 models, but will be rolled out across the line with the 2009 models.

Blanton said that by calling out the different types of steel in the car, technicians will be able to identify what parts can be repaired. “We will show for each one of these items what you can and can’t do with it,” he says. “For example, if it’s boron and it’s bent, you basically need to replace it.”

Blanton presented an overview of the laser brazing techniques used in GM’s factories, as well as recommended repair methods for those components. He also touched on the global nature of GM’s design process. “We’ve moved to a model where we can design in one area and build in another part of the world,” Blanton says.

He also briefly discussed hybrid technology. “Training is the most important thing with hybrids,” Blanton says. “If somebody goes ham-handed into working on one of those models, you have some pretty serious voltage and amperage behind them. You have to know what you can and can’t do on those vehicles.”

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