Why is Haynes so slow to put out new manuals?
It seems like every time I buy a new vehicle, I have to wait another year or two before Haynes has the maintenance manual available for that vehicle. We currently have a '98 Dodge Intrepid which we leased new. Since '98 was the first year of the current genereation of Intrepids, I had to wait until 2000 before Haynes had a manual available for this car. Now that we're getting ready to purchase a Mazda MPV, I checked the manual availability and sure enough, Haynes doesn't have a manual for the 2000 and newer MPV's. Being in the fourth model year of the current model, you'd think by now they'd have a manual available for this van. Why are they so stinkin' slow about making these manuals available? Are there any good alternatives? I hate Chilton's manuals because their books don't cover just one model, they cover several so they end up being not specific enough. The factory manuals are way too expensive. I'm not paying $90-$100 for a manual. Any suggestions?
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To kind of explain how it works, publishing companies make contracts with the manufacturers, how much they spend and what the contract states, determines when they get the information to compile into a manual.
Companies like Alldata and Mitchell pay to have the information first.
Helm and Bentley have contracts with the manufacturers to print the information for the factory manuals.
So, if you look at who will have the info first, it would go something like this.
First, Helm and Bentley.
Next, Alldata, Mitchell and Motor.
Next, would be Chilton and following up would be Haynes.
That being said, AlldataDIY subscriptions are available for your vehicle in one year subscriptions. It covers all information for one vehicle, for one year.
there was a manual not long after I bought my 2000 explorer, which is fundamentally identical to the 1999 except for a fender wrinkle here and there, so I benefited from everybody else's year of waiting while the editorial work proceeded. the bumper-to-bumper warranty on the car means that frankly, I didn't need the furshlugginer manual except for reading on those nights I had trouble getting to sleep.
Those days of purchasing a manual of any kind for $20 and having it have any kind of information, is just about over.
Honda, BMW, Acura and a slough of other manufacturers are now not allowing comapnies to print information to the DIYer.
ASA (an automotive association) is currently battling with the govt to force the manufacturers to provide the information in a bill that is called "Right to repair". While they have made little progress, there has been steps to open the information to the independant shops.
Trying to put this without sounding like a grumpy, but unless the DIYer supports the companies that are interested in supplying quality factory equivelant information, then you are on your own when the cutrate companies can't supply information until 5 years after the vehicle is out.
Now, my personal preferance [This is MY personal preferacne and should in now way reflect endorsing or condemning any one company]
in manuals go like this.
OEM (some are Helm, some Bentley, some their own)
Alldata [no surprise there]
Helm
Mitchell
Bentley
Motor
Chilton
And whatever is left.
although it probably won't hurt them any. after all, nobody can build a Heathkit any more, either. that comes from nobody building them when they were last availiable at the end of the 80s.
/ mumble and grumble on / ...
Nobody I've contacted makes a manual for the newer MPV's. One place I haven't checked with yet is Mazda parts. I'll check with them tomorrow to see if I can order a factory manual. I'd rather just have a manual and be done with it. The only thing with the factory manuals is every one I've ever checked on before has been pricey.
What manual do you get updates every year??
Sounds pretty cool, but having to pay $24.95 every year would get a bit pricy.
Well, let's look at it this way......
A factory manual runs in the neighborhood of $100+, then you pay for annual updates for TSB and recall information. So, it is a wash.
No matter what you buy, if you want the full deal, you pay annually.
These folks who think they are getting any kind of information from a $20 paper manual are fooling themsleves.
A case in point, there are several TSBs and "special pollicies" on Chevrolet diesels. None of the paper manuals cover the TSBs and recalls. So folks with the paper manuals may go thru the diagnostics several times and still have the problems, when if they had the full deal with TSB and speical policy information, they would save alot of steps and headaches.
I just found out from Alldata their system runs about 1 to 1 1/2 years behind any particular model year. Their service manual for the 2003 MPV won't be posted on their site until next year. I guess the only option is to buy a factory manual unless I want to wait. It doesn't look like a $20 manual will ever be available for the MPV.
if you fix stuff for a living, TSBs make it more reliable a living with less negative referrals.
That's what I paid to add my 2000MY MPV to my existing account.
TB
In this day and age, there really isn't much "basic" stuff left.
Look at the cheaper manual's wiring diagrams sometime.
Look for test procedures and see what you get.
There are very few publishers that print or provide factory information in a package that the DIYer can afford.
Helm and Bentley and other factory information is updated quarterly.
AlldataPro and Mitchell1 are updated continually.
AlldataDIY is updated quarterly.
One thing to consider, if you buy a manual, in a year, tehre will may be 100 pages that have been updated to different procedures.
I never lose the manual, and I can print the pages and then throw them away after my greasy little hands have perused the pages.
Hope this helps.
TB