Vehicle Owner's Manual

[phillydude]

<<I also follow a yard tool related forum (gardenweb.com) and some of the folks there really love their 2-stroke engines (mix gas and oil).  A lot of them buy the only brand of lawn mower I think that still sells a 2-stroke, Lawn Boy.>> 

First off, you need to get a life if you post to a "yard tool related forum."

But I know what you mean about the Lawn Boy... my groundskeeper swears by it.

That's one thing I don't miss... spending four hours a week on the landscaping.

[OynxSTS]

1) I think the poll is incomplete you need an option for:

"I have read my manual, understand it and continue to ignore it" or

"I have read my manual and disagree with the sections regarding oil change intervals and fuel grade "

2) Regarding Honda small engines... In my yard I run both... The Lawn mower Honda is 3 years old, starts on the first pull, runs great, quiet, and clean... My B&S motor is on my roto-tiler. I have to adjust the carb each season and takes 5 pulls to make it go... When it does start it sounds like the world is coming to an end and it belches oil and smoke out the exhaust.

Which engine is better? Well the fact that the B&S motor is almost 60 years old... I'll reserve judgement until the Honda has provided that much service...

PS Lawnboy 2 Stroke engines IMO Total Crap... (I had one of those too... Gave it away) Hard to start, hard to run, dirty, smelly, noisy engines... I hate mixing oil and I hate two strokes.. environmental disasters..

[TDK]

Marika,

I used to read the owner manuals when there was nothing else to read and waiting for "She who must be obeyed" to finish shopping. However, I have changed cars less and/or gotten crankier with the need to read a manual.

It seems to me that a well-engineered car (or any other consumer-orientated device) should be intuitive to operate or offer an interactive, digital display to explain a given complex function. For example, the RDS feature (if that's even the correct acronym) should scroll the directions in its screen - if needed. Or better yet, it should just figure it out by itself.

The nice DVD displays coupled with really smart cars - should be able to play a "owner's movie", complete with interactive Q & A.

Regarding Lawn mowers (and to some degree - intuitive machines):

About 30-years ago, we were given a Lawn-Boy that "looked" OK and seemed to be all there. However, we were told it "got hot once" and could be hard to start... I got it to run great and was about halfway through the inside yard (surrounded by a 6-foot tall wooden fence) and the dang thing just quit!

Oh, some little thing right? I worked and wailed on that POS for nearly 2-hours. I was so motivated that at one point I grabbed the handle and threw it completely over the fence (those machines were nice and light by comparison...).

It cleared the fence and rolled own the hill on the other side into the curb ending up sorta upside down (this impromptu launch must have looked interesting from the street). I had a beer or two and walked up to it later with a can of gasoline (not mixed) and a match to let it know - it better mow. Or, be set on fire in the street - for vengeance is mine sayeth the owner.

Well, it started up just fine and finished the entire yard without a sniffle. Sure, I gave it to someone else to enjoy, but I know to this day that it understood me perfectly well.

[dooscoop32]

I remember hearing once that there are two books which just about everybody in this country owns but nobody reads; The Bible and the owner's manual!

I have glanced over mine but it is far too much to comprehend in its entirety. Other than that, I just refer to it when I need to.

[ALBUNDY]

I have read it cover to cover and understood it. 10x easier than the FSM.

[Texas Jim]

I have read most of mine. Especially the sections about how the stuff works. Some of the sections more than once. I am a little slow sometimes.

[Bruce Nunnally]

Having the pdf file version is VERY handy for searching items, or flipping quickly through to interesting sections.

[WarrenJ]

I probably read it once every three months. Sometimes I discover things I'd forgotten.

Regards,

Warren