I see that the 08 CTS service manual is still not available from Helm. Any idea on how long GM usually takes before releasing a service manual on a new or updated car model? The 09's will be here pretty soon.

Amazing isn't it?

Funny thing is, when I wanted a service manual for my Brand new 2003 Murano (There was no 2002), I simply went to the Nissan web site and DLd the Factory Service manual PDF..................... for $20..........And it was available soon after I bought my car.......probably by Sept/Oct 2002........

Now, I am not saying that it is a contest, though the comparison of whom is more user friendly is rather stark.........but this IS ridiculous.............

So many questions come up around here that could be solved in minutes if we had the Service manual........

Since GM does not own Heim its there call, the dealers do not use a paper service manual its available to them on the GM tech system.

We can get paper copies, in fact I think we do.
The new books are usually about 3,000 to 5,000 pages.
They come in 3 or 4 book sets. I use the manual online.
I am sure they are in print but if they don't show them as available...?

I see by looking that even for us dealers they are on backorder.
They don't show as available for folks on the street.
Hmmm... not sure what that is about.

Does GM/Helm still not give us an electronic version? I thought the paper manuals I got in 2000 were going to be my last...

There are a couple places I think where you can buy access to the electronic manuals.
Not sure if you can "buy" one.
The disc sets they used to make were for all GM cars and light trucks, but the CD sets stopped.
They went to a backup DVD that comes out quarterly and each dealer gets ONE.
You can't buy discs of individual cars that I know of.

It seems as though there are some sites that give you access for a certain amount of time.
I don't know of any specifically. I thought AC Delco had a way but I can't find it now.

www.alldata.com and you can buy a subscription for one car for a reasonable price.

Oh, that's nice! I guess I'm still tempted to buy the paper manuals, but that's a excellent alternative. Hopefully I won't need the service manual for the first few years I own the CTS :)

I am not a big fan of alldata, but for the price it is certainly better than nothing.
A little easier to navigate than 4,000 pages of paper manual too.

Since '98 the manuals have been a printer dump of the online manual and it is pretty hard to find what you are looking for.
In fact, GM just went to something called "Global Diagnostics" and it makes it even harder to follow.
Don't get me started....