seeking free or cheap on-line repair manuals

Did you try Auto Zone?

You have to input the specific vehicle but they have some detailed repair info similar to a manual. They don't have complete info for everything but they seem to be adding to it. Other than that I bought a couple of repair manuals on CD for not very much $$ on eBay.

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So, I went to AZ and wheedled my way in.... I checked out my truck (the 02 SuperCrew) a little.... found several TSBs that have nothing to do with my vehicle line but they missed the cruise control switch recall and the customer satifaction program about extended coverage on my DPFE.....

Box score.... 2 out of ten possible....

There's an old saying.... "If you can't blind them with brilliance.... baffle them with bullshit.".

As for "cheap" service literature.. at the dealership level, subscription fees for documentation run into thousands per year.... while this may be a cash cow that they are milking hard, it is, never-the-less, copyright material. All the manuals the original poster desires are there to be had... all he has to do is take his checkbook with him.

FWIW... notice that "single user" fees are much less than "commercial user" fees in most cases. This is another one of those hidden costs that civilians don't realize garagemen need to pay...

I looked at service manuals on ebay, but they were going for about $120. I didn't really want to spend that much. So I bought one of the CD's for $10 including shipping.

It took me a while to get the hang of finding the info I needed in there, but it does seem to be there. Maybe the CD's for newer Explorers are improved, but for my '94 the interface is antiquated. For example you ought to be able to search the entire manual, but you can only search the page you are on.

But I was able to find the wiring diagrams and harness locations to find my way around my Explorer's wiring. I put in a switch so I could leave my rear hatch open without having the interior lights on.

-Paul

I did that and lost my radio memory every time I flipped the switch. Now I just push the driver's side latch (the one nearer the bottom) and try to remember to unlatch it before I close it. Unfortunately this does not work with my '97 so I may have to go back to the switch method.

Um, make that the one at the top. I must have been upsidedown when I wrote that.

Yes- I started at the fuse, and found that pulling fuse #1 turned off the lights, but also caused my radio to lose it's memory. So putting the switch there wasn't going to work.

Yes again- I used my CD to trace out the path, and found that the switch was built into the driver's side latch on the rear hatch. I also squeezed it closed to shut off the light. I put the switch there- pulled the trim part way off so I could get at the wires going to the latch, cut the ground side and spliced in a switch with some extra wire. Insulated the soldered joints, stuffed the wires back in, and mounted the switch on the trim, then reinstalled it.

If you have the CD for a 97, look for the location of the switch in the wiring diagrams. There are many ways to skin that cat. The switch has gotta be back there somewhere.

-Paul