How good are Toyota repair manuals?

[poundkey]

O.K., I just traded in my '97 4Runner for a 2002 4Runner! Everything is almost the same, but I figured I'd still get a Haynes manual for it.

Unfortunately, Haynes doesn't make a manual for 2002 4Runners!

I was thinking about getting a Toyota repair manual, but I'd have to order it. Can anyone tell me how they compare to the Haynes manuals?

Thanks!

[khaug]

I've owned two Haynes manuals and felt that both were extremely poorly done. Haynes tends to stretch the service life of their manuals by trying to make them applicable to an unreasonably broad range of model years. This didn't work well in the two manuals I owned.

The Toyota manuals are very expensive, but quite well done. Their greatest shortcoming is that they are written for dealer service techs and assume that you have $50K of Toyota diagnostic equipment available.

I've now owned Toyota shop manuals for our '94 Camry and our '98 4Runner. Both vehicles were so relentlessly reliable that I never recovered the cost of the manuals in the 5 years/75-80K miles I drove each car. I bought our current '03 LTD V8 4Runner about 2.5 years ago, never bought a shop manual and haven't needed one so far.

I have to confess that as cars have become more and more complex and dependant on imbedded electronics, I've become less and less interested in attempting major repairs. Routine stuff like brake and suspension repairs can be tackled without a service manual, and that's about as far as I try to go anymore.

-Karl

[ctedja]

I have the Toyota manual for 95 Avalon. Very well written in my opinion. Got it cheap at ebay. I have not use it for serious repair since the car has been trouble free. I do use it for simple stuff like how much torque for a certain bolt etc (I am a novice for car repair). My neighbour borrow it to trouble shoot his corolla since the wiring color code apparently similar to avalon.

Not sure if I would pay >$150 dealer would charge for the manual. Try watching ebay, sometimes you get lucky....

Originally Posted by khaug

The Toyota manuals are very expensive, but quite well done. Their greatest shortcoming is that they are written for dealer service techs and assume that you have $50K of Toyota diagnostic equipment available.

I've now owned Toyota shop manuals for our '94 Camry and our '98 4Runner. Both vehicles were so relentlessly reliable that I never recovered the cost of the manuals in the 5 years/75-80K miles I drove each car. I bought our current '03 LTD V8 4Runner about 2.5 years ago, never bought a shop manual and haven't needed one so far.

-Karl