Original repair manual vs. Haynes repair manual

YES! I still regret the money wasted on the Haynes manual. I found the Haynes manual was more of a 'here is how you rebuild the engine' with little to no understanding about our car.

In contrast, the shop manual covers everything, a real guide for how to keep our cars running:

1. Volume 1 - all of the diagnostic codes and extensive lists of likely failure modes. One code may have multiple causes and this manual covers each. It also describes how to use the built-in, 'flash' mechanism used to pull codes from some of the more obscure controllers. It is nearly two inches thick, oversized pages. BTW, I have had both the 2001 and 2003 shop manuals side-by-side and there is very little difference. My 2003 manual bought new came with insert sheets that did not substantially change the core information so don't be put off by a used manual.
2. Volume 2 - detailed step-by-step instructions on how to disassemble and reassemble the car as well as maintenance processes. The same size as volume 1, it goes into excellent detail.
3. Wiring Diagram - about 3/4 inch thick, color coded with every connector, pins, and signal identifier. For a hybrid electric car, the full nervous system.

If cost is an issue, I'd recommend:

1. Prius-aware scanner + Volume 1 as this lets you know what is broke or at least gives a map to the problem(s).
2. Volume 2 + Wiring the 'how to' that gets you into the repair including torque values for the nuts, bolts, and screws.

You might contact the seller and ask if they have a scanner for their Prius. Asking is always OK and you never know what might show up.

Bob Wilson

 

I agree with Bob, there's no comparison. I worked from third-party repair books until 1988, the first year I ever picked out and bought a new car, and for that one I had the dealer include the manuals in the price, and once I saw the difference between the manufacturer manuals and the third-party books, on every vehicle since then I've just considered buying the service manuals to be part of buying the car. The Toyota manuals are excellent.

That eBay asking price is higher than the actual prices at helminc.com ($70 each for v.1 and v.2, $60 for the wiring manual). But Helm is out of stock on v.1 and v.2 right now (wiring is in stock), so that might not give you much negotiating leverage.

There are a couple of other manuals that are inexpensive and worth having: the body repair manual goes quite into depth about how all the sheet metal goes together, very useful if you've got the skills for that (I haven't) and still pretty interesting if you haven't. And very useful is the New Car Features Manual, which gives a lot of the how and the why behind the what that the v.1 and v.2 give you. For both of those manuals you have to search on the year 2001 because that's when the model was born. Neither one is expensive; I paid $15 and $20 respectively, back when you'd buy them straight from Toyota. Helm has jacked the body manual price up to $30 and for some reason the features manual isn't coming up in my search today (and Helm says the body book is out of stock).

You can probably find copies of those for sale online too.

Another option you definitely have is to subscribe to techinfo.toyota.com and view the manuals online or download them--section by section, there's no easy one-step download of everything, but the subscription isn't expensive and of course the books don't go out of stock.

-Chap

 

i've got a haynes myself. they're decent quality.

does anyone know anything about the ones from TIS?

 

What do you want to know?

1. The site is online, techinfo.toyota.com for North American customers
2. There is a moderate subscription fee
3. The repair manual amounts to more than 4,000 pages for G2 Prius. You can also access the New Car Features Manual and the Electrical Wiring Diagram Manual, both are updated for each model year

 

I would add that the $75 for one month is a better buy than then $25 for two days. The longer time period means you can take a nap or do other things while 'printing to PDF' or downloading. One challenge is making an index at the same time so your local copy becomes a reference and not one massive, unsearchable file.

If you do go for one month, you might consider sharing with someone in a different timezone and coordinating access. TIS does detect concurrent access so it needs to be someone who is responsible and technically skilled.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

 

What do you think, one more decade and they'll cave and supply owners with a decent pdf upon request, maybe for a small, reasonable charge?

 

Here here!

 

Not likely - that is why the techinfo site evolved to one where only a page or two is accessible at a time, vs. the prior arrangement where entire sections were available.

Toyota also wants to achieve a revenue stream for its service documents from independent shops that are making $$$ out of servicing Toyota vehicles, and that conflicts with the concept of a "reasonable" charge for vehicle owners.

 

Maybe some compromise could be made: a reasonable cost pdf, or hard copy: of the basic DIY topics.

I always bought Helm Inc Honda Service Manuals, for about $100 per. Very thorough, well organized single volumes, typically about 1.5" thick.

OTOH, I guess with the ever increasing computerizing it's getting more difficult to maintain that format.