Haynes versus Chiltons

One of each. I have Haynes in paperback, and Chilton's on CD. Between both of them, I can -usually- figure out what is going on, but not always. Chilton's is good for the photos.

As everyone will agree, if you can get the shop manual, that's the best solution. If you're living on fumes, get one of each of the above.

Lg

It depends on the car. In my experience, haynes usually goes to more trouble to get the year/model in question and photo it being worked on. There are exceptions where haynes gets lazy and has obviously never had their hands on the particular year/model.

Chilton's biggest problem is when they have titles like "American cars

1900-2006" (only a slight exageration). They're so vague as to be nearly completely worthless. I'll never forget reading a chilton's manual for a '70's VW bug that suggested checking the water pump if the car was overheating. Cut'n'pasted from a chevy manual no doubt.

If you're going to do any work on your car, the more the merrier. Get the factory shop manual. Get clymers, haynes, chiltons. The factory manual will cost more than the other three combined and be worth every cent. It'll pay for itself by the second time you do any work on the car. However, it's still a good idea to check it out before laying out the big bucks. I recall one example of a shop manual that was absolute rubbish ('85 nissen sentra)

I can't do a direct comparison, as I have a Chilton "American Cars

1900-2006" for my '87 Blazer and a Haynes "'78-'84 VW Diesel Rabbit" for my Bunny. The Haynes is far better, hands down. The Chilton just has text instructions on how to remove the motor, no pictures. It also doesn't cover much on the body and interior like the Haynes does. The Haynes also has more, and more useful, pictures.

My favorite book is the Robert Bentley. I still have the Haynes because the Bentley will say to use special tool #87569 whereas the Haynes will say to use a wooden dowel cut to length. ;) I don't know if Bentley writes books for cars other than VWs, but if they do (or you have a VW!), you won't regret getting one for your car.

Factory service manual is the best. But the All data DIY online repair info sub is good pro info to.

24.95$ for a year and 10 minutes online and you are setup with it. If you are a tsb hound it has them all and keeps you updated for a year. Link to it below

Neither. They're both crap. A total waste of money to buy. Get the FACTORY manual or spend $24 on a year's subscription to

.

It appears that Autozone bought out Alldata and now has at least some of the data available for free on their site in the Repair Info section. The sections I looked at matched well with what's in the factory service manual I have for my truck. It's of course not the full contents of the manual, but might be enough for a lot of work vs. buying the $100+ manual or the $24 subscription.

Example:

Pete C.

I like the Haynes manuals more than the Chilton's manuals. It goes through reasonable steps of doing a job and shows you what problems you might encounter.

For diagnostic purposes, either is useless, really. Neither one of them have enough detail on any particular vehicle, because they all have to cover a wide variety of years. For things like wiring diagrams and vacuum diagrams, they are both pretty doubtful.

I wish I could say the shop manual was a whole lot more useful, but I have owned some cars where it wasn't. For cars where there are significant changes within a model year, the official shop manual can sometimes be just plain wrong. I spent a lot of time on a fuel injection system problem with my Chrysler Laser, because the wiring info in the manual was not correct. (On top of this, of course, the manual shows no waveforms and only shows a few static voltages).

These days, my daily driver is a BMW for which there is no available shop manual. The dealer says that all the paper manuals have been discontinued, but the CD-ROM versions for the older vehicles aren't yet available. I keep searching Ebay for the things but keep finding them one year before or after mine. (I did manage to get the electrical manual for the thing, though, which has been a huge help.)

I urge everyone to buy the Haynes manual, and also to spend the big money on the manufacturer's manual too. But be careful about putting too much faith in either.

--scott

Well, they both make a good way to start a fire. As shop manuals, they suck. Get a real one -> EBAY.... or helminc.com for GM's.

Here's why: My 1970 Buick Haynes manual was about 200 pages and covered 1970-1990 Fullsize Buick, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Pontiac.

My 2001 Trans Am Shop Manuals are about 1500 pages and cover 2001 Pontiac Firebirds.

Once you've used a real shop manual, you won't go back.

Ray

Chevy vs Ford...etc, etc.

They can be good for some repairs, but I've found they almost always do not have the details specific to a model year defined very well.

A shade tree mechanic is going to find it harder to do many repairs to engine, transmission and anything electronic related these days.

If you are going to do your own repairs and have the equipment then a good set of factory manuals are always going to have more detail and ultimately be easier to use.

I never liked Chiltons, but last time I used them was about 1988.

Is it better than the AllData that some libraries have? I tried that and hated it. Mitchell was a lot better, especially the paper version (computers are slow, paper is fast).

I tried Haynes and Chilton's for my Nissan. Lots of fuzzy pictures, misprints, and omissions (one edition of Haynes had no torque specs for the brake calipers), especially the latter, and for wiring diagrams and interior hardware they often provided no information or only general information. I bit the bullet and shelled out $140 for a factory manual and haven't regretted it one bit. It's amazing how much clearer the instructions are and how so much more detail is provided.

I have the Haynes, Chilton, and genuine factory manual for my Chevy truck, and I must say I agree with you. However, for us DIY-ers, the Haynes and Chilton books often offer an added value: where the "real" manual says to "remove the widget using special tool #41243113", the aftermarket books may say "ease the widget out using a smallish flat screwdriver, as shown in photo 4a, but be careful - it's easy to slip and scratch the mating surfaces".

I always study the factory manual, but I read the other books, too, to make sure I understand what I'm doing, and to pick up any little hints like that *before* I start working.

-tih

That's like asking if you'd rather step in horse crap or cow crap. Either way, you're talking about crap. :-)

A factory service manual is far superior to either one.

I've found the Haynes manual for my 1989 Ford Festiva to be perfectly good for the stuff I do, ie nothing more complicated than replacing the timing belt, adjusting the valves, and replacing the thermostat. Maybe the quality of the publications have deteriorated in the interim?

Neither the Haynes or Chilton manuals seem to be very good at computer electronics or emissions systems. The circuit diagrams in my Haynes manual are very good. Haynes puts out a separate emissions control manual which I've consulted at the public library. I also have some auto mechanics and self help books I've collected from used book sales. I fidn tehse older books match my older vehicle quite well. As a non-mechanic I find the troubleshooting guides particulalrly helpful.

Aye, but gimme the horse crap - Horse crap takes an impression and "lets go" of your shoe. Cow crap tries to swallow your entire leg, and usually insists on keeping the shoe as a souvenir! :)

AMEN!

OK, so the horse crap is the Haynes and the cow crap is the Chilton's.... :-p

The best books I've seen for beginners are from John Muir Publishing:

How to Keep Your Volkswagon Alive (air-cooled Beetles) Poor Richard's Rabbit Book (Golfs/Rabbits) How to Keep Your Toyota Truck Alive How to Keep Your Honda Alive How to Keep Your Subaru Alive

It's too bad they didn't publish many more because these books are great for both experienced DIYers and absolute beginners (they even describe how to use a wrench, jack, and multimeter), and unlike most books they don't assume that everything goes exactly to plan.

it really depends on the car. Did the festiva span 20 years and 10 engines? Some cars did, and the haynes manuals try to cover it.

servicing ABS systems in Haynes manuals tends to be "dealer" whereas the shop manual walks you through it.