which is the best repair manual on the Windstar?
Chilton, Hayes, CD-Roms or any other?
Your comments will be welcomed aswell, thank you

Ford manual for the win! The Ford manuals take you way beyond what any other manuasl can do.

If your going deep into the car, stay away from the haynes for sure and Ford is #1...

I haven't really used Chilton or Haynes for my Windstar - but I've used them in the past for other cars. The Ford CD is not without fault. It can be hard to navigate until you get the hang of it. It isn't easy to print out all of the items you might need for a particular job, since they might be scattered in different sections on the CD.

That said, it's hard to beat the CD for completeness.

Gotta agree with Ford here. The others amy be good if you want to replace the plugs, but for in depth diagnosis, the DVD's are the only way on Fords.

Is there a way to get the Ford manuals online or do you have to get them directley from Ford?

Spend some time learning about download formats - and you can get them for free!

http://www.fordcds.com/

It does depend on what sort of repair/maintenance level you plan to go to. I think the Haynes is great for common items and basics and is worth the $20 as a reference. Has a lot of torque specs and capacities but for some reason I never trust them.

Thanks, Phil, for the link. Getting them now! :)

Any one know the cheapest place to buy a ford manual?
I use haynes now got off the internet for 12.00 bucks shipping included.
For the money and if you have some knowlege of the autos haynes seems the better deal. But my wife Loves the Windstar so much I guess i will get her one with lower miles. I like working on them so i may take the other one. Only drive 16 miles both ways to work so it should last forever. Plus I can find a lot of Windstars with low miles 2003 -2002 year models for under 12,000 bucks and look good too. I like not having a car payment. :)

just downloaded fords CD....i can't seem to find a maintainence schedule on it though?? this is for windstar 2002..is it on there somewhere?

i can see one in my ranger manual that i downloaded aswell but that is for a the year 94...

You can download the owner's manual - and schedule maintenance guide - here:

https://www.fleet.ford.com/maintenance/owners_manuals/default.asp

You can download the owner's manual - and schedule maintenance guide - here:

https://www.fleet.ford.com/maintenance/owners_manuals/default.asp

thank you!

I have the Ford service Manaul Ebay $9.00 The vacume daignostic manual that goes along with the service manual. $7.00 Ebay. The Ford Cds. (hard to navigate not all the information of the service manual either) and Haynes. I also have the Alldata subscription. For the money for most people the Alldata subscription is probabley the best especially if you have more then 1 vehicle. The Haynes gives you more diagnostics easier to understand but not as detailed as the Ford manual or Alldata.

Being that this thread is just a few weeks short of it's one year aniversary, I want to thank all of you that contributed for your suggestions and opinions... LOL! :)



Better late than never...!

Well I feel stupid. I just saw it on the first page and replied never checked the date.:screwy:

I haven't really used Chilton or Haynes for my Windstar - but I've used them in the past for other cars. The Ford CD is not without fault. It can be hard to navigate until you get the hang of it. It isn't easy to print out all of the items you might need for a particular job, since they might be scattered in different sections on the CD.

That said, it's hard to beat the CD for completeness.
As someone who WROTE repair manuals for a living, I can tell you that (for legal reasons) you won't find anything more in a Haynes or Chilton manual than you will in the Ford manual. If you have the ability to do substantial work on the car, use the Ford manual. If you're just a weekend warrior and you want to do the basics, get the less expensive Haynes or Chilton books.

If you're just a weekend warrior and you want to do the basics, get the less expensive Haynes or Chilton books.
I have the same impression - the Haynes is not very detailed in some places but that might be a good thing for me - if it's not even in the Haynes, it's probably waaaaaaaaay beyond my technical ability and I shouldn't even be thinking about it!

I perfer the Ford factory paper manual (helminc.com), it is pricier but well worth the money if you plan on doing most all repairs yourself. I wouldn't give a nickel for either the chiltons or the haynes, I have found more times than not they lead you down the wrong path.

Being that this thread is just a few weeks short of it's one year aniversary, I want to thank all of you that contributed for your suggestions and opinions... LOL! :)



Better late than never...!

the link is dea for the free downloads...are they still available? tHanks...

Being that this thread is just a few weeks short of it's one year aniversary, I want to thank all of you that contributed for your suggestions and opinions... LOL! :)
Better late than never...!
And it hasn't seen a reply in a 10 month span makes it a candidate for closure. Polls are effective when limited to a certain timeframe such as 30 , 60, or 90 (max) days. Keeping an open ended poll only leads to occasional resurrecting and cluttering up of the message board.