Haynes Repair Manual v.s. CD Service Manual

Hi all,
I have a 98 Windstar and want to buy a Haynes repair manual or a CD service manual (from Ebay). Any idea of which is better choice? Greatly appreciate to you all.

If it is OEM service CD, go for that one. That CD will give you all the information you want, and a lot you probably will never want. But you can share the knowledge you gain from it with the Windstar owners here if you wish.

Thanks a lot. I will check if it is a OEM CD. Of course, I do not mind to share. If copying it is not illegal, I will copy it out for anyone who needs it.

I got an ebay one for a 93 escort for ~$7. It has...

Ford logo
FORD CUSTOMER SERVICE DIVISION FORD MOTOR COMPANY
1993 -1994 Workshop Information Car

I find it difficult...it's an old DOS program and difficult to navigate...I couldn't even find power window info.

I find the Haynes much more useful, esp the photos and esp when I'm attempting a procedure I've never done before.

Now, the 98 and newer CDs may be better.

I have both for my Windstar 99. I think they both have their merits and if you do a lot of home repair (with a Windstar you most likely do) you might want to consider both.

I purchased the CD from someone on EBay. I was somewhat dissapointed because I was expecting a page-by-page electronic version of a regular service manual. Instead it is a program that you navigate through. It is still handy, but I also went ahead and purchased a Haynes manual.

Thank you very much to you all. It is very lucky to have you all here.

This thread may be as old as the hills, but even so, I would like to add my two-cents worth as both a Windstar owner and die-hard computer Geek.


When I first got my Windstar (used, from a private party that performed only the maintenace on it that was mandatory), I purchased both the Haynes AND the Chilton's manuals. While both satisfactory, I found them both to be sadly lacking in information particular to the Windstar. At this point, I came across an OEM service and repair manual on a CD from an E-Bay seller. I paid my money and when it arrived (quite quickly), I was dee-lighted to find it chock full of step be step 'How-Tos' as well as detailed troubleshooting procedures. I couldn't have been happier!


Fast forward a couple of years - I had transitioned completely away from the Windows operating system in favor of Linux (the Ubuntu and Mint distros to be exact). I was somewhat dubious at first, but the further I became involved with Linux and the FOSS (Free Open Source Software) movement, the more I found there was nothing I was not able to accomplish with Windows that I could not accomplish with Linux.



With one painful exception - for the life of me, I have been unable to get the OEM manual (built specifically for Windows) to work!


I'm going to spare everyone my usual and customary diatribe about the short-sightedness of software developers that cater to only one or two operating systems simply because it requires a little more effort to develop truly cross-platform compatible software. However, if there is anyone out there that comes across my 'message-in-a-bottle' AND have sucessfully overcome the technical challenges of getting the Ford authorized software to work under Ubuntu and/or Mint, I am just dying to learn how. PLEASE!!!

With one painful exception - for the life of me, I have been unable to get the OEM manual (built specifically for Windows) to work!




There's a config file somewhere (can't remember exactly where/what but I found it a while ago) that references the database on a nonexistent CD-ROM drive. Use the 'subst' command to alias a path to it. (Or so I heard :wink: )

There's a config file somewhere (can't remember exactly where/what but I found it a while ago) that references the database on a nonexistent CD-ROM drive. Use the 'subst' command to alias a path to it. (Or so I heard :wink: )


Flat out AWESOME! Thanks SO much scubacat (why do I keep seeing this image of a feline in SCUBA gear?). :biggrin:



Sounds like you're a convert too. That's even MORE awesome!:cool:


Frankly, I don't like to be proselytized about ANYTHING, so I refrain from doing it to others. If it weren't for that commitment to non-hypocracy, I'd be singing the praises of FOSS to everyone, everday, everywhere!:biggrin:



I'm going to follow the advice you've shared with me. As I have questions, I'll post to this thread, but in the event that I need a spot of 'gray' advice on getting this to work, would you prefer that I post my question here, or should I address it to you in a PM? Entirely your choice, because, frankly I no longer give a damn! 'THEY' may be able to kill me, but THEY can't EAT me! :gives:


Best regards,


Frank

I found that the alldatadiy site provided AWESOME information. It is a subscription based system, but it paid for it's self may times over. You get constantly updated information, like recalls and Technical Service Bulletins (TSBs). This is basically the OEM information. OEM (factory) information seems to be the best.

I'll roast in hell first!

Flat out AWESOME! Thanks SO much scubacat (why do I keep seeing this image of a feline in SCUBA gear?). :biggrin:



Sounds like you're a convert too. That's even MORE awesome!:cool:


Frankly, I don't like to be proselytized about ANYTHING, so I refrain from doing it to others. If it weren't for that commitment to non-hypocracy, I'd be singing the praises of FOSS to everyone, everday, everywhere!:biggrin:



I'm going to follow the advice you've shared with me. As I have questions, I'll post to this thread, but in the event that I need a spot of 'gray' advice on getting this to work, would you prefer that I post my question here, or should I address it to you in a PM? Entirely your choice, because, frankly I no longer give a damn! 'THEY' may be able to kill me, but THEY can't EAT me! :gives:


Best regards,


Frank


I doubt it's an issue given how old these are. But I can remove this if necessary.

Did you extract the files to a folder? I dumped mine in C:\TSO, then I moved the files for each service manual under "Manuals". (I downloaded two, but just focus on what you downloaded.) This gives me:

C:\TSO\Manuals\96_99
C:\TSO\Manuals\00_04

Then edit tsobrowser.ini near the top. Obviously you'll probably only have one entry but I have both so I can select from a menu when I first open the application. I then created a shortcut to C:\TSO\tsobrowser.exe, and I can run it any time.

[The "subst" command was just a test, but it's better to just edit the ini and file structure so you can just click the icon to fire it up.]



ORIGINAL:

00_04=01~3~C:~stock\home.htm~2000-2004 Service Information~February 2003


MODIFIED:

00_04=01~3~C:\TSO\Manuals\00_04~stock\home.htm~200 0-2004 Service Information~February 2003

In the interest of expediency, and also because a couple of other devices that I own suffer from the same short-sightedness the FoMoCo suffers from, I ended up installing windows 7 ultimate on a Optiplex GX 620 that I have. At the same time, I most definitely appreciate your insights into adapting the servicxe manual software to operate under linux and as I have an abudance of spacxe available on another internal harddrive and two external hard drives it shouldn't be too great a challenge to unpack the DVD's files to one of the drives an then point the browser at those files. In fact, I may very well start in on that project next weekend.

I'm running it on a Windows XP virtual machine, myself. (Should be fine on any windows OS, really; that's just where I have it currently.) It is a proprietary-looking browser system, although I really haven't looked much farther into it other than editing the INI to get it running.

Good luck!