Service Manuals
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Member
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 27
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From: Vassalboro, ME
Service Manuals
After reading a number of threads related to Service Manuals for our trucks, I kept seeing ebay to be the recommended source, and wanted to collect some further opinion or clarification.
What manual is really being recommended?
Are you talking about the printed/bound TRUE 2 volume Ford Service Manual, generally over $100 plus shipping?
Or are you talking about the $25-40 non-ford DVD service Manuals, that is "is much better than the Ford factory published manuals!" or "the BEST SERVICE REPAIR & PART MANUAL you will find!"
american_workshop and ultratoolz are current high volume sellers of these
Or are you talking about a (about) $35 "Genuine Ford 2003 / 2004 Service Manuals on DVD" that require you to reset the date of your PC back to the production date of the DVD, because the DVD was date sensitive?
You better not be talking about the $7 download pdf version that I just bought. The one I got was a scan of a printed document, of a 2000 manual, not covering the first topic I went to look up, and being having blue underlined words that were hyperlinks on the screen when it was printed out, but obviously don't work now in pdf, once it was scanned.
I knew "you get what you pay for" but I didn't even get what I paid for, for $7. Hell, it was listed as over 7000 pages, but only had about 5500 according to adobe thing at the bottom. (No response from seller in 2 days) I think I just wanted to see what a $7 download got you, knowing I'd want something more.
Any input would greatly be appreciated... I'm thinking that I really want to buy the $100+ printed manual, but if someone is having great success with one of the other options, I'd love to know. I have no desire to spend extra money for a printed copy, if one of the DVDs can be highly recommended.
I'm not putting links in this thread because they eventually expire. I personally hate trying to read a thread that uses dead links, that you need in order to follow the conversation.
holy !@$%, I just wrote a ton
What manual is really being recommended?
Are you talking about the printed/bound TRUE 2 volume Ford Service Manual, generally over $100 plus shipping?
Or are you talking about the $25-40 non-ford DVD service Manuals, that is "is much better than the Ford factory published manuals!" or "the BEST SERVICE REPAIR & PART MANUAL you will find!"
american_workshop and ultratoolz are current high volume sellers of these
Or are you talking about a (about) $35 "Genuine Ford 2003 / 2004 Service Manuals on DVD" that require you to reset the date of your PC back to the production date of the DVD, because the DVD was date sensitive?
You better not be talking about the $7 download pdf version that I just bought. The one I got was a scan of a printed document, of a 2000 manual, not covering the first topic I went to look up, and being having blue underlined words that were hyperlinks on the screen when it was printed out, but obviously don't work now in pdf, once it was scanned.
I knew "you get what you pay for" but I didn't even get what I paid for, for $7. Hell, it was listed as over 7000 pages, but only had about 5500 according to adobe thing at the bottom. (No response from seller in 2 days) I think I just wanted to see what a $7 download got you, knowing I'd want something more.
Any input would greatly be appreciated... I'm thinking that I really want to buy the $100+ printed manual, but if someone is having great success with one of the other options, I'd love to know. I have no desire to spend extra money for a printed copy, if one of the DVDs can be highly recommended.
I'm not putting links in this thread because they eventually expire. I personally hate trying to read a thread that uses dead links, that you need in order to follow the conversation.
holy !@$%, I just wrote a ton
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 477
Likes: 0
From: earth
My first e-copy was for a official ford through helm 2001 stang manual I bought about a year and a 1/2 ago. Not very impressed with it. Not comfortable carrying a computer down to the garage, so I end up printing pages anyway, and I haven't even got to any of the greasy bits.
I personally think I'll throw down for the paper copies, although for my year (02), it looks like they have a "revised edition" so I'm wondering what that's all about.
The one thing I think the e-copies should get you is COLOR, especially in the wiring manual. I'd swear my 80 cutlass manual was.
I personally think I'll throw down for the paper copies, although for my year (02), it looks like they have a "revised edition" so I'm wondering what that's all about.
The one thing I think the e-copies should get you is COLOR, especially in the wiring manual. I'd swear my 80 cutlass manual was.
Technical Article Contributor
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 25,641
Likes: 19
From: MI
One mine is a service DVD from Ford thru ebay. I paid $9 for that one. The other two I have for later models including the 2003 came from a tech on this site and their the same thing, except they were free 
All DVD's have more than enough info for me and work well when needed.
Yea, no color diagrams tho.
Hope that helps.
All DVD's have more than enough info for me and work well when needed.
Yea, no color diagrams tho.
Hope that helps.