Service Repair Manuals on eBay Gen III

Helm recently started selling the factory manuals for less than 1/2 the old Toyota price. My guess is that they have become the US publisher for Toyota manuals.

http://www.helminc.com/helm/result.asp?Style=helm

I recently bought the fleabay CD you got for $39.99 and it is good enough for me, it's obviously the real thing. Indexing and cross linking could be better but it's fully usable. The CD has well over 9,000 pages! It doesn't have a real index but the table of contents is detailed and you can always search the .pdf. It's good enough that I'm not going to pay Helm $340 for the 4 manuals plus electricl schematics or am I going to buy a cheezy Haynes manual.

 

Well, we will see how good this is!! I just ordered the 08 manual, We will revisit this post when it arrives!

Well it's here... It's a copy of a disk, fine, does it have info, well YES!!!
The disk consists of lot of COLOR .Pdf files some of which I have already downloaded fom TIS, but there are others that I never saw on TIS....so I am still exploring the disk. I think that the disk is worth the 10 bucks I paid for it!!!

 

Thanks for post this. I just ordered the $9.95 version. You saved me a lot of money and I will have this info when I need it.

 

It seems as tho, my Bentley Manual plus the vast and detailed information on Priuschat have plenty of help with any repair. Not only that, much more practical advice and suggestions are on Priuschat than any electronic repair manual site.I certainly do not need 9000 pages! Unless you are a collector of Auto Repair Manuals.

 

Thanks. I just ordered mine, too.

The $39.99 version was no longer available but the $9.95 was.

 

I ordered one today. The price went up a buck. Thanks for the info, Larry

 

The "me too" does not help the general community... But I must guess anything on Ebay is also available elsewhere....

 

I just ordered the $9.95 manual. Thanks for the information.

 

Just ordered the $9.95 version, thanks for the info.

 

Just ordered the $9.95 version, thanks for the information!

 

The Seller stated 5 day max shipping time for the $9.95 version. It's now 11 days and I've yet to see it....

 

Similar: mine says shipped on Dec 22, nothing yet. This might become my second burn; I'm still semi-optimistic though.

Rant: Best deal I've seen for the 4 volume paper version is $280US, through Helm Inc. They are dependable, but, Toyota is not DIY friendly: no info in Owners Manual, for oil change for example, and extremely pricey Service Manuals...

 

9 days snail mail over the xmas season is bit long but believable. How is their customer satisfaction rating on fleaBay?

 

They're in high 90's. Will wait in see, hopefully next week. If they fall through, I'll likely pack it in and go through Helm Inc. I got my last Civic Hybrid manual through them, worked out fine.

I'm getting a little tired of contributing to the welfare of fleebay denizens though

 

I ordered one the week before Christmas and it was in my mailbox when I returned after Christmas.

I cannot remember exactly but I would guess about 7-8 business days. I did not think that was bad considering the holidays.

 

With other people getting there's I'm putting it down to extra hassle shipping to Canada, and keeping fingers crossed

 

To everyone who's purchased one, I'm very curious -- exactly how do you expect this service manual to help you? Are you going to be doing repairs yourself (I assume most of the repairs in the book still require tools, manual dexterity, and a degree of mechanical aptitude)? Or is the book to officiously crosscheck the work of mechanics at the dealership?

Please explain how this would be worth the money. Thanks!

 

If something breaks I plan on using the manual to help me trouble shoot the issue and determine what is involved in the repair. I strongly feel with a little time I can fix anything that can go wrong. I have a boat load of tools and if something requires a specialty tool I will check on the price and compare it with the cost of having the dealer making the repair.

I do think people over rate how complex the car is. Anything super hi-tech gets replaced as a module. You disconnect a few connectors and replace the module.

The first week I owned the vehicle I removed the dash and installed auto head lights. I also ran dedicated wires to charge my netbook and cell phone.

Also this is a Toyota, the most reliable cars in the world. It is not going to break. My Gen III has close to 48,000 miles now. Zero repairs.

 

Just seemed like everyone's buying it. Ok, so the guy who generally doesn't do any repairs himself should pass on this book? Would this book be totally above his head?