Don't ever use a Haynes manual for anything other than kindling

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TylerW

TylerW

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Gonna make this a short, embarrassing confession. I wasted several people's time and made a fool of myself looking for a "correct" '68 slant kickdown rod based on believing the Haynes manual rather than the FSM.

Not only was the haynes manual flat out WRONG, but they take pictures from the FSM and edit out crucial parts of them. They are worthless compared to a real Chrysler service manual. Lesson learned.
 
They always leave out the important stuff because they don't understand it.
 
Not even good for repairing a cigarette lighter.
Same with the manuals for my pt cruisers. I bought a fsm online for $65 shipped. I was having transmission trouble, turned out to be a bad control module in left front fender. Clymer had zero info on transmission control module.
 
Haynes suggested I take my Avalon to the dealer to change the headlamp bulbs, claiming damage could be done to the electric system. I guess righty tighty, lefty loosey is out of the realm of the average home repair
 
FSM is not perfect either! I guess when they go to print, there are changes that don't ever get updated.
 
I have a small collection of Motors, if you can get one of the make specific ones they are good. The Chiltons hard covers are fairly decent, to. The way things are now, I don’t like working on anything newer than the early 2000s, the complexity takes the fun out of it.
 
Garrett Ellison said:
I have a small collection of Motors, if you can get one of the make specific ones they are good. The Chiltons hard covers are fairly decent, to. The way things are now, I don’t like working on anything newer than the early 2000s, the complexity takes the fun out of it.
Click to expand...
2000 and up. Thats where i make my living. Wish i could stick to carbureted vehicles.
 
I got a Plymouth Breeze PCM book, its about 400 pages! F that. The trans started to leak and the thought of replacing the main seal told me to scrap it for failed smog value, $800 in CA! I may have gotten that if I fixed it but it still wasn't passing smog for some reason. The Chiltons manual for a 83 B-2000 is a waste too, it covers the entire lineage of B series trucks and has about 3 pages on the 83 as well as a sentence here and there. FSM for sure. The FSM for the 83 Mazda was 60 pages! And it covered just about everything on that simple little truck.
 
I know that's a pisser, but on the bright side looking at the glass half-full you're more experienced now...:thumbsup:
 
I had a Hayne's manual for my 1973 Triumph 750 Bonneville. There were several pictures in it of a motorcycle being worked on that wasn't even a Triumph. Someone gave it to me. After discovering those pictures, it went right in the trash.
 
Ha! There’s a guy local to me trying to sell a bunch of them for $5 each!!
 
I LOVE the ones that have "remove the X assembly, then..."

Gee, removing the "X" assembly is not apparently intuitive, that's why I bought this book.

...and no one involved in the publication noticed.
 
I have a 1974 Motor's that goes back to 69 IIRC ad a 1969 that goes back to 64.
I also have the FSM for 67 and 72 Dodge.
Those cover pretty much anything I need.

I try only to use haynes and chilton if there's nothing else available.

I do have a haynes for Dakota, which is less than stellar.
The giveaway should have been that there's guy on the cover taking notes, and wearing white pants- how realistic is that?
I have better luck on dodgedakota.com
 
I have a few, 66-67 and one other, motors books and a 69 chrysler factory service book. A number of chiltons and some haynes. Some chiltons and haynes are the exact same book. For me the chiltons seemed to vanish. Out of business I thought. And a haynes i had i did not care for. Then I spotted the chilton book for the haynes book i didnt like. Sealed of course. Bought it and later when I opened it,surprise! Exact same book. The book covers 2006 charger.
 
I haven't seen a Haynes book since the Outhouse Blew up. There was only a half of a book left near the end. We never did find any pages afterwards. I told my dad not to put a heater in there. Poor Mom.
 
  1. Post pics so the rest of us know to beware
  2. Insert "Wrong" indicator on said pics so those that find it on Google images know
  3. Taste the food, not the fuel
 
One exception, the only exception, I've come across is the Haynes for full size Jeeps (SJ Wagoneer, Cherokee, J-trucks). Good photos, and nothing terribly wrong. Well I also have 1970 general Chiltons that has some useful stuff in it - mostly in the back sections.
 
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