Repair manual/documentation

Helm, Inc. is the publisher of the *official* shop manual, but for a '98, it's pricy... $110 (!) at

You can also watch eBay for a service CD-ROM, which usually covers all vehicles for that particular model year.

Complete manuals are not cheap to purchase but worth ever dime when you've used them a few times. I wouldn't be without them.

LJH

95GT

I just placed a bid on a service cd.. seems good. $10.. $15 with shipping.

-Mike

About $50 on CD.

It's great, I have one for my 2001 Cobra.

Paul

Without making any mention of my feelings on copyright materials and such, I will point you to

. Check it outand make your own decision.

-- Jim Warman snipped-for-privacy@telusplanet.net

I see one on ebay for $10 that I'm considering buying... I imagine it's just a burned copy. Thanks for the input guys.

-Mike

go to

and buy some of their books for your vehicle.. kinda high, but you get the same books that the dealerships get for their repairs.....

I saw a CD-ROM for $1400. I am NOT spending that much. Thanks though.

-Mike

Yeah, $110 can be a lot if you never have to use it. But, if you ever do, you could save that much on labor alone. Many times over, in fact, if you experience relatively minor problems that you could fix yourself if you had a decent shop manual.

$110 is still a whole hell of a lot less than buying an extended warranty plan, which is usually only good to 100,000 miles. Today, a car that experiences problems before 100,000 miles is much rarer than it once was, but those extended warranties still seem to give a lot of people peace of mind, even though the dealers will probably still try to screw them, original warranty or extended warranty notwithstanding.

$110 is only 30 cents a day if you keep a car for a year; half that for two years, and half again for each year thereafter. Plus, you can always auction the shop manual on eBay for at least half its value if you ever sell the car, maybe even more once the manual is out of print.

Most RAMFM readers wouldn't even blink at a $110 mod, if it could add a few horses. Just don't spend on mods and cheap out on maintenance. That's the rosiest path you can ever go down, and too many owners do that.

Good advice. CD-ROMs take up a whole lot less space than hard-copy and you only have to print out the pages you need when you're wrenching under the hood.

Been a while since I bought a decent shop manual. Are they all available on CD-ROM or do they only sell the paper ones except for the latest models? $110 for a comprehensive CD-ROM seems like a fairly good deal to me. Half that on eBay would almost be great.

Haynes and Chilton are good, but you get about one-tenth the information for about one-fourth the price. In other words, you'd pay Chilton or Haynes about $450 for the same info that Ford provides for $110. Actually, it would be a lot more, if you've ever compared manuals.

It's always the consumer's choice, though. Go for what you think the best value is. But if the dealer cuts you any slack on the sticker, spend some of the money you saved and buy the real shop manual; it's a very wise investment.

Hell, it's even a better investment if you got screwed on the new car deal; do you think he's going to cut you any slack for repairs when something goes wrong with your Mustang?

doc

I didn't know of any other repair manuals when I bought the Haynes & Chiltons manuals. I've got a CD from eBay coming soon. Thanks!

-Mike

Am I the only one that knows about this site ?? ;>) Shhhhhh....................!!

That's pretty cool, but I'd rather have my own CD-ROM... especially since I already paid for it LOL! :)

-Mike