Best Source for Factory Service Manuals?

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Wow, these go into some detail it seems! I can see parts of them which people have posted online.

What is my best source for a set?

Do I want a hard copy or is there a good source for a CD? FWIW, I like being able to search PDF's and copy parts of them to forums.

Also, why doesn't Ford make these public at least on older cars? I understand a bit of time and money is invested in making them. At even $10 a piece electronically they'd sell quite a few.

 

[mag]

Ebay

 

[Lvnmarks]

EBay is the best source or your local library/community college has Alldata, to which you can print off of.

 

[beerdog]

To buy a full set (paper or electronic) when they were new was very expensive and beyond the typical owner. There was a service CD you could purchase for like $30 but it will not work with a newer PC. Ebay is the place to go for paper versions. You can get them pretty much any day. Or subscribe to the Alldata which gives you access to everything plus other information such as TSB's. It is well worth the price.

 

[driller]

You can't beat the OEM manuals by Helm Inc. for the hard copy. Yes, you can usually find them any day of the week on Ebay.

You hardly see the CD/DVD manuals anymore. I miss mine. But they were not very friendly for cut and paste operations (at least for me).

AllDataDIY, while helpful, lacks a lot of R&R detail and diagnosis. But it does give a good relative indicator of labor which is extremely helpful for fact checking your local mechanic or getting an idea how much you're getting into before you start.

 

[Bangster]

Easier to copy and paste from Service CD than from paper manual!
I like the CD/DVDs, and am equipped to run them. I use virtual machines of XP with various dates so the newer DVDs work. All it takes is a 32 bit OS, they will work in Win7 at least if it is 32 bit.
I post lots of screen grabs from the CD, refer to them a lot in the car using a netbook (yes, I own a netbook).

 

[steve]

I have a DVD service manual laying around, the DVD includes all fords and Lincolns over a few years. I think I brought it to Carlisle a year or two ago to sell it and no takers. You also have to install the SVG viewer, i think it comes on the DVD.

 

[Lvnmarks]

I have a DVD service manual laying around, the DVD includes all fords and Lincolns over a few years. I think I brought it to Carlisle a year or two ago to sell it and no takers. You also have to install the SVG viewer, i think it comes on the DVD.

Anyway to get that to Google drive?

 

[steve]

Anyway to get that to Google drive?

Doubt it, it was some duel layer proprietary DVD, so could not even copy it with DVD burner.

 

[Meister]

I had to basically give away my like-new '95 Helms manual in the for sale section here not too long ago. You can still buy them new from Helms.