Does anyone know where you can find the meaning for all of the acronyms found in the service manual?

Examples: ECM - Engine Control Module; VSS - Vehicle Speed Sensor; CKP - Crankshaft Position Sensor; etc., etc., etc.

Is there a list anywhere? You would think there'd be a legend in the manual but if there is I sure can't find it. There's literally dozens of these acronyms throughout the manual and every now and then I'm scratching my head trying to figure out what part they're talking about.

Anyone else ever find themselves in a similar predicament?

Thanks.

 

How about at the back of the service manual! It's in the section titled Glossary, Acronyms and Abbreviations

 

I'm sorry but this is funny.

 

Well yeah! How about that? Plain as day. Thank you.

And to atrain68 - You're right. It is kinda funny. I swear I've looked for that twenty times and never found it. Even been through the table of contents a few times. Was always looking for "Acronyms" in bold. Never occurred to me to look under "Glossary".

 

Live and learn, better to ask than never find out.

 

The Clean Air Act of 1990 specified that all manufacturers standardize their terms and abbreviations using a common industry wide list. This list was established by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). The SAE standard is SAE Paper number J1930

From the SAE Website: http://www.sae.org/servlets/jdatabus1930/

"As the number of sophisticated electrical and electronic (E/E) systems on motor vehicles has increased, the number of terms, abbreviations, and acronyms which describe various components of these systems has increased enormously. To bring some order to the proliferation of such terms, abbreviations, and acronyms, the Vehicle E/E Diagnostic Systems Committee has prepared this document


The nomenclature used to convey automotive service information is being standardized in order to more accurately convey information to technicians faced with the diagnosis and repair of increasingly complex vehicles.
To be properly descriptive, each type of automotive nomenclature requires a consistent methodology. This document is concerned with a methodology for naming objects and systems and with the set of words from which names are built


The methodology allows objects and systems to be completely described without ambiguity. It also is able to generate names which distinguish among similar objects or systems without confusion but with brevity. Using terms which are well-defined within the context of the automotive service industry, the methodology allows already existing imprecise names to be suitably changed and future names to be assigned in a predictable way which will reliably convey meaning to the technician


The structure of this SAE document is open-ended by design. As the need arises, additional entries can be added. Because of this flexibility, particular attention should be paid to the month and year publishing code contained in the full "J" number designation

."

 

I hope you understand I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing with you. We've all been there!

 

hehehe...like most guys, directions are an afterthought.

 

I wouldn't waste my time looking in the Glossary for those terms. Just post up the ones you're having trouble with and we'll tell you what they REALLY mean.

 

technically most "acronyms" are really "initializations". an acronym spells a pronouncable word. ECM is not a word. acronym has become the common term though. similar to the use of "rim" to mean "wheel". a "rim" is the part of a "wheel" where the tire bead seats. Boo on rap and hip hop!!!