How to get the best advice possible, Please Read!

I’ve noticed that there are many service and repair questions asked by members who are outside the US, about cars sold outside the US market. Posting questions without properly specifying the vehicle in question can be frustrating enough to offer help to, but this is a whole other side to that limited information that needs to be addressed now that this has grown to be a worldwide forum.

If a 2000 Honda Civic (just an example, this is true of all cars) is sold in 60 different countries, it is a different version of that car in each country. Differences range from a different bumper to a completely different generation of the car. Each country has different emissions laws, crash test standards, fuel quality, road size/configuration/surface quality, and cultural/social customs regarding automobiles.

Myself and many others on this site look in this forum to see if we can help anybody with their car issues, for whatever our reasons may be for wanting to spend our spare time helping you fine strangers. The majority of the helpers in this forums, as with the forum itself, are based in the US and work primarily with US market cars. The issue is that most members outside the US who post car questions do not specify the country/market that the car in question was sold in. In addition, they generally do not choose to specify in their forum profile what country they are in.

The ironic thing is that non-US posters are very good at specifying exactly what year/make/model/engine/options the car in question is, especially compared to American posters. That detailed information makes it easy to tell that it’s a non-US car they are asking about, but from what country? A whatever year Civic is a different car in each of the markets it’s sold in. Even if I’ve never seen your South African, Brazilian, or Philippines market Honda Civic, I can easily find out everything I need to know about your version of the car to help, but I need enough information to do so.

If I’m going to try and answer an non-US question about a car from an unspecified country, the first thing I do is look in the poster’s profile and find all the information left blank. Lets get something straight here: If you actively use a Facebook or YouTube account, the US govt knows all, so no point in trying to be mysterious here. The next thing I do is post in the thread and ask what country the car is from, and wait a day or however long for an answer before I can even research the car properly. I may be eager and ready to help someone today but when you get back to me tomorrow I could be working a 15 hour day, in a rubbish mood, playing a computer game drunk, etc.

Why draw these things out by starving us of information? Even though a lack of information on what the car in question is somewhat normal, it ALWAYS impedes our ability to offer help. Customers who bring their car in do it as well. They’ll keep some critical aspect of their car’s problem a secret until I’ve been diagnosing their car for an hour or maybe half a day, then it comes out that something or someone happened right before/when the problem started.

Anyway for the best help you can get here, please specify the following as a baseline:
-Model Year
-Make/Brand
-Complete Model (include EX, LX, GT, GLS, DX, X-Drive, 4matic, Clubman, Anniversary Edition, etc)
-Engine/Transmission/4WD/2WD
-Country (market) the car was sold in

I understand that you may be asking a question about something that seems simple enough and it why should anyone need to know all this, but I assure you that it matters to any professional that is here to help you out. It’s how things are done in the world of fixing cars properly, and you all could help us bridge the gap by catering a little. That gap after all, is getting advice over the internet for free from professionals that are worth paying for. Sounds like a pretty good deal.

Anyway If you read and heed this, thanks very much for taking the time and consideration to do so. I’m just trying to help.