Service Manual vs. Haynes Manual

[dwendt1978]

Never seen a service manual before, but have seen plenty of haynes manuals. Is the extra price for the service manual worth it? And I have a 93 XFI and one of the service manuals I can get for cheap is one for a 92. Will this 1 year make a difference? I would imagine not.

[Twidget]

In almost every case, yes, the FSM is worth the money.
Certain sections of Aftermarket Manuals will be generalized rather than model specific.
A friend of mine made Instructions for using a haynes manual.
http://u225.torque.net/haynes_instructions.html

Twidget

[hot_sd]

A friend of mine made Instructions for using a haynes manual.
http://u225.torque.net/haynes_instructions.html

I don't have a Haynes but I have a Chiltons. I would say it would apply to the Chilton's also.

I would definitely spend the money on the FSM - it is much better especially with diagnosing ECM related problems. However, even the FSM does have errors and is not 100% accurate.

For example how to remove the driveshaft in the Chiltons may have the following as the instruction - "Remove Driveshaft". In actual fact it is not that bad but along these lines. In my opinion it is a waste of money.

[way]

Ha Ha Ha. I agree with the above.

I'd say offhand a good forum search equals the Haynes and Chilton's combined. You might even find useful pictures along with the instructions in the forum. If you need to look at something in print I'd definitely prefer a FSM.


Not sure about the 92 vs the 93 though. If the FSM is really cheap, you can just go for it and then when you have a question, take a picture and post it with your question in the forum. That's better than a Haynes or Chilton's any day.

[Woodie83]

Oh what a great "how-to", I love it.

92 - 94 should be the same, if there's any difference, it's very slight.