Haynes Manuals - good in parts, a true example of the curate's egg. (General Car Care & Repair)

Member Name: sidneygee

Product:	General Car Care & Repair
Date:	01/01/01 (9853 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 'Owner's Workshop Manual' excellent detail and value

Disadvantages: 'Service and Repair' Manual much less useful. 'TechBooks' series also disappointing. Haynes tends to be overly optimistic.

When you buy a new car (or a used car for that matter), you should get an ‘owner’s handbook’ or something similar which provides you with only the very basic information on the specification of the car, how to check the oil level, fill the windscreen washer bottle, and so on.

The overall message given by these handbooks is that any significant maintenance should be left to your dealer. However, in common with a number of other car owners, I want to know more about the maintenance and repair of my car. If you go into any motor accessory shop (including Halfords), you will find a rack filled with Haynes Manuals, one of which, hopefully will deal with your specific model of car. The price varies, depending on special offers, but I have seen them on sale for as much as £17.99 and for as little as £9.99 over the past year.

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In my 35 years of driving, I have carried out a number of car repairs of ‘moderate’ difficulty, such as:
replacing clutches on Minis, a Morris 1000, a Triumph Herald and an Alfa Romeo 2000 Spider;
rebuilding a Mini 1275 GT engine and an Austin A40 Sport gearbox;
decoking cars as diverse as a Rover 75 (1950 model), an Austin Devon, a Mini, an Austin Healey Sprite and an MGA;
overhauling carburettors on an Austin Healey Sprite and a Nova;
replacing and overhauling brakes cylinders on Austin Healey Sprite and a Mini;
replacing shock absorbers and springs on Alfa Romeo Spider and Mercedes Benz 190;
and carrying out a number of general maintenance jobs such as replacing exhaust systems, disc pads, brake shoes and brake discs.

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For these jobs a manufacturer’s Workshop Manual is the best instruction book to have, and I even remember ‘investing’ in a Workshop Manual for my Rover 75 in 1966 fo
r one pound ten shillings (£1.50). This was comparatively ‘expensive’, when you consider that the car (then in good condition) cost me £40 (and a pint of beer cost 10p !). I also bought Manuals published by Autopress, in the 1970's, which were of limited use, tending to cover too many models in each issue, and they often had insufficient detail.


I cannot recall the first time that I bought a Haynes Manual, but checking my bookshelf I still have one for an Austin Maxi that I bought in 1980 and, certainly, from then on, I was quite impressed.

Whenever I bought a car I would try to buy a Haynes Manual so that I could have some understanding about how things worked and how they could be put right if they went wrong. The Haynes Manual was thus a reasonable alternative to the manufacturer’s Workshop Manual.

The Haynes Publishing Company would buy a car, take it apart, and put it back together again, taking many photographs and, with the aid of these photographs and well-drawn diagrams, give an excellent guide to carrying out fairly major repairs and overhauls.

Indeed, many groups of car enthusiasts (such as Vauxhall Nova owners) refer to their Haynes Manual as the ‘Bible’ and very useful it has proved to be to several generations of drivers.....

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When I bought a Fiat Croma in 1987, I was disappointed because a Haynes Manual was not produced for this car, and Fiat would not sell me a copy of the ‘Works Manual’. However, I bought a Haynes Manual for the wife’s Mercedes 190 and carried out most of the periodic maintenance, and have overhauled the front suspension with its help (but see below).

In 1993, I bought a Renault Espace and in 1995, I was delighted to be able to buy a Haynes Manual for this model. However, I was slightly perturbed to find that it lacked the detail of the p
revious issues that I had bought, but, (I thought) “Hey, cars are becoming much more complex”, so wasn’t it natural for details such as fixing the wiper parking mechanism to be missing ? But it wasn’t just that and, in fact, almost every time I had a query, the Haynes Manual for the Espace was of very limited use.

Then in December 1999, my son bought an eleven year-old Vauxhall Nova, so one of the first things I bought him was a Haynes Manual. This car required quite a lot of work, and the Manual (a 1998 edition) was very useful, but I couldn’t help feeling that it was not as good as the older editions that I had bought for cars of that period and earlier (such as the Maxi and Mini).

Then, in November 2000, I bought another Nova for my younger daughter and, with the documents provided by the seller, was a Haynes Manual for the Nova dating from 1988.

This copy had probably been a Christmas or birthday present for the original owner, and looked as if it had never been opened.

I immediately filed this in the book case in my son's flat to save it from the oily fingerprints that the first copy had already experienced in our garage.

It was only when I spoke to my son on the telephone, regarding the possibility of replacing the oil seals in a replacement gearbox he wanted to fit in his car over the Xmas period (??!!??) that I realised this earlier edition of the Manual was far superior to the newer edition in my possession.

On comparing the two editions, the first thing that I noticed was that the older edition is called “Owner’s Workshop Manual”, but the later is called “Haynes Service and Repair Manual” (as is my Renault Espace issue).

I also noticed the next day, when going into the local Vauxhall dealer, that they were selling both the “Owner’s Workshop Manual” and the “Haynes Service and Repair Manual” (pub
lished later) for the Vauxhall Corsa, and both at the same price (£14).

Believe me, the “Owner’s Workshop Manual” is far superior in every respect. Apart from giving the full details for dismantling the gearbox (which is completely expurgated from the later edition with the recommendation that “the best course of action is to h0ave the unit overhauled by a specialist repairer ...”), the instructions and photographs are far superior in the earlier edition.

My son has now (over Xmas/Hogmanay) removed
the gearbox from his Nova and replaced the oil seals in a replacement gearbox that we fitted with reasonable ease. However, without the Workshop Manual (to describe the adjustment of the bearings and replacement of the speedo drive), there is no way that we could have tackled the job at all.

Furthermore, the details given in the earlier edition (for example) for overhauling the 1.3 SR carburettor provides 13 clear photographs each measuring 90mm by 70mm and 6 detailed diagrams. The later edition has the same 13 photographs, but they are only 58mm by 38mm (and not so clear), and there are no diagrams !!.

The text has also been shortened, so that I would have felt much less confident using the latest edition when tackling the (successful) replacement (and subsequent adjustment) of the 'choke pull-down' unit on 2nd January.

The location of the 'slow-running' cam in the carburettor is just not visible in the smaller photograph in the latest edition, but appears 'crystal clear' in the same, larger photograph in the earlier edition. Indeed, it is only with the earlier edition that the principle of the 'pull-down' unit is fully described, allowing you judge if the unit needs replacement (which it did).

I am certain that there are many more examples where the earlier edition will give the detail required to carry out a job successfully, but the later one
won’t.

My recent visit to Halfords showed that this same (let's call it) 'deterioration' or 'dumbing down' has occurred with the Manuals for a number of cars. Even the much–maligned Austin Montego has both an “Owner’s Workshop Manual” and a “Service and Repair” Manual on the rack (at the same price). Also the current Manual for the Mercedes 190 is a much shorter “Service and Repair Manual” than the "Owners Workshop Manual" that I bought 8 years' ago. I cannot think of any plausible explanation for this state of affairs, unless it is the policy of Haynes to limit the information in their Manuals, perhaps to persuade us to buy their series of Automotive TechBooks (on Gearbox Overhaul, Carburettors, Brakes, etc) ?

Although these TechBooks are quite useful, they still do not seem to provide as much detail as before, and often do not cover the specific component of the specific vehicle you want to repair. Furthermore, they suffer from the same problem with the smaller sizes of the photographs that the "Service and Repair" Manuals suffer from - they are often too small to show the fine detail well.

The 'ship' is thus 'spoiled for a 'haporth of tar'.

Come on Haynes Publishing, if you are serious about your Car Manuals, produce them like you used to, with larger photographs, extra diagrams and clearly written text. If it adds another 40 pages to the length of the Manual, by all means charge a little extra, but please don't continue to disappoint !

I have written to Haynes Publishing asking why this change of policy occurred but I have not received a reply.

And if you do see a proper Haynes “Owner’s Workshop Manual” (in a church book sale, for example) for any car that you own or are likely to buy, then I recommend you to buy it immediately. Even if you don’t use it, the pe
rson who buys the car from you may find it useful.

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Update (1)

We have bought a new car - a Honda Accord Type R. The latest model Honda Accord has been on the market for almost 3 years, so I assumed that there would be a Haynes 'Service & Repair' Manual available. Hope springs eternal - nothing on Accords made after 1984 !!!

So how many years does a car need to be in production, Haynes ? Or how many have to be sold, before you produce a Manual ?

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Update (2)

Together with my son, we completed an over-haul of the front suspension of the family Mercedes 190. This proved a most frustrating experience because of the age of the car (1989 - and with similar experiences from my son’s Nova a year older). Corrosion of components makes the work far more difficult than Haynes makes it appear, since they use new or almost new cars.

Oh how easy the Haynes Manual makes it seem ! We amused ourselves afterwards by reviewing the reality of carrying out an apparently straight-forward instruction from the manual.

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The best (worst) example is the statement:

“.... withdraw the disc from the locating dowels...”

Translation : Buy hub-puller and fail miserably to shift either front brake disc.
Heat to dull red heat with a propane burner; beat hard in all directions with ball-pein hammer and swear loudly and spray with WD40. Repeat daily until successful (after 6 consecutive attempts). Repeat for the other side.

Similar ‘translations’ are as follows:

Haynes: “.... rotate anticlockwise.”
Translation: Place in the Vice, or find another way of locking the component, then beat repeatedly with la
rge hammer, first anticlockwise, then clockwise (to break the 'seal'), then anticlockwise again.

Haynes: “This is a snug fit.....”
Translation: You will take the skin from your knuckles if you try to remove or replace 'this'!

Haynes: “This is a tight fit....”
Translation: Not a glimmer of a hope in hell of shifting 'this', Pal !

Haynes: “...as described in Chapter 7.”
Translation: Right ! That should teach you to read right through before you start a jobbie.

Now you are looking at real scarey photos of the inside of YOUR gearbox that require Special Tools to continue the job.

Haynes: “Pry apart ......”
Translation: Hammer a screwdriver into...

Haynes: “Undo...”
Translation: Make sure you have two tins of WD40 (largest size) avaliable.

<br>Haynes: “Retain tiny spring...”
Translation: Either :"Ouch ! what was that, it nearly had my eye out!”; or
“What tiny spring ?”

Haynes: “Press and rotate to remove bulb...”
Translation: OK – that’s the glass bit off, now go out and buy some good quality long-nose pliers to dig out the bayonet part.

Haynes: “Lightly......”
Translation: Start off lightly and build up till the veins on your forehead are throbbing them re-check the Manual because this cannot be 'lightly' what you are doing now.

Haynes: “Compress...
Translation: Squeeze with all your might, jump up and down on, swear at, throw at the garage wall, then search in the dark corner of the garage for whilst muttering :

"buggerbuggerbuggerbugger"

repeatedly under your breath.

Haynes: “Inspect.....”
Translation: Squint at really hard and pretend you really know all about what you are looking at, then declare in a loud knowl
egable voice to your mother/father/wife/mates :-

"Yeah !, It's as I thought/said, it's going to need a new one!"

Haynes: “Carefully...”
Translation: You are about to lacerate yourself .... badly.... !

Haynes: “...retaining nut...”
Translation: Yes, that's it, that big spherical blob of rust.

Haynes: “Get an assistant to ....”
Translation: Prepare to humiliate yourself in front of someone you know.

Haynes: “Turning the engine will be easier with the spark plugs removed ...”
Translation: However, starting the engine afterwards will be much harder. Once that sinking pit of your stomach feeling has subsided, you can start to feel deeply ashamed as you gingerly refit the spark plugs before putting the battery on charge.....

Haynes: “Refitting is the reverse sequence to removal ...”
Translation: But you are able to swear in different places.

Haynes: “Prise away plastic locating pegs...”
Translation: Snap off the plastic locating pegs which are now no longer available....

Haynes: “Using a suitable drift......”
Translation: No, I am sorry, the biggest nail in your tool box isn't a suitable drift!

Haynes: “...everyday toolkit....”
Translation: Ensure you have RAC Homestart, Mobile Phone & a Big Hammer

Haynes: “Apply moderate heat...”
Translation: Placing a match near it and huffing isn't 'moderate heat'. A Heavy Duty propane gas burner with big Daddy-size burner head MAY suffice.

Haynes: “Weekly checks:-....”
Translation: If it isn't broken don't fix it!

Haynes: “Routine maintenance :-.....”
Translation: If it isn't broken... it's about to be!

Haynes Manuals are characterised by their rating of the difficulty of a job by spanner ra
tings (one to five spanners ranging from simple tasks up to those that require specialised equipment and experience/training

This is 'our' translation of the ratings:

Haynes: One spanner rating.
Translation: Your Mum could do this... so how did you manage to botch it up?

Haynes: Two spanner rating.
Translation: Now you may think that you can do this because two is a low, tiny, 'ikkle number... but you also thought the wiring diagram was a map of the Tokyo underground (in fact that would have been more use to you).

Haynes: Three spanner rating.
Translation: But Nova's are easy to maintain right... right? So you think three Nova spanners has got to be like a 'regular car' two spanner job? Isn’t it ?

Haynes: Four spanner rating.
Translation: What a noodle ! You are seriously considering this are you, you bitter twisted idiot? Shall we order the tow truck now or at the weekend ?

Haynes: Five spanner rating.
Translation: OK - Shall I order the skip now or next week ?

Haynes: “If not, you can fabricate a special tool with these dimensions......”
Translation: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!! - in your dreams (unless you have a fully-equipped workshop and your grandad is a blacksmith)


Haynes: "Index"
Translation:
List of all the things at the back of the book bar the thing you want to do!


Now look at the lovely colour section on body repairs - as you look at
these two pages say to yourself over and over until it sinks in :

"mine never did look like this ..... and will never look like that..."


Overall Conclusions : Haynes Manuals are copyright of a very disturbed sadist :)

Update

Still no formal reply from Haynes to my enquiry/complaint, but they have sent me a catalogue of their publications which shows that I can buy the Americ
an version of their Honda Accord Service & Repair Manual ... tempting, even at £18.

© Sidneygee 2001

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