Haynes vs. Chilton, Round 1

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I was installing an alarm/keyless entry/power locks in the girlfriend's '93 MX-6 this week and had a Chilton manual for the car to use for wiring diagrams. They had no diagrams for the power lock system or interior lighting and the ones for the exterior lights had the wrong colors. So I picked up a Haynes manual and all was good. Haynes takes this round!
 
either will lose out to a real shop manual. yes, they cost a lot more, but they're easy to find on EBay. Even at retail price they are worth it if you do your own maintenance.

I bought Chilton's and Haynes for one of my cars and found way too much info lacking. I lurked on Ebay and picked up a real shop manual later.

I'll never make the Haynes or Chilton mistake again.
 
Of the two, I prefer Chiltons, but they are both lacking. I have both for the BMW and Chiltons has far more complete wiring diagrams, including US and Canada differences. The Haynes manual shows a UK car and there are a lot of differences compared to the North American models beyond which side the steering wheel is on.
 
Chiltons manual gives to many extra Instructions.. or some of them are wrong. so 100% of the repairs i did , i got them at the Hyundai website
 
I have a 93 mx6 2.0L, but haven't needed to delve into the electrical diagrams. Luckily for me the Chilton's book uses my engine model for the majority of the pictorial walk-throughs - this helps a bunch and would probably make it better than the Haynes in my application.

Factory manual was too much for me to spend on this car, but for my g/f's civic I was able to find one on ebay for $25 and basically unused.
 
I've liked the online stuff at alldatadiy.com

You pay so much each year for each vehicle and you never lose the manual, get oil and grease on it.

Just print the pages you need. The info is updated.

It's pretty good stuff.

T
 
Both are lacking but of the two I prefer Chilton's. Hayne's flat out sucks.
 
The Prince William County Public Library System has Chilton's available online from wherever I have internet access (I have to enter my library card number). They also have Mitchell's On Demand online but it's only available at the library branches "due to licensing restrictions".
 
I have a haynes manual for my 92 mitsu mirage. It covers four models, the cordia, mirage, and galant, and tredia for years 1983-1993. it sucks. I was going to replace the fuel filter for my car, the directions say "disconnect fuel pump connector to depressurize fuel system" it shows a pic of a galant fuel pump electrical connector and it says "others mitsu are similar" I looked for it, according to the pic it's on the side of the fuel tank. I look everywhere and find out the fuel pump is on top of the gas tank. I would have had to drop the fuel tank to depressurize the fuel system to replace the fuel filter under the hood. no thanks.
 
I agree, kenw. When I bought my Mazda3 last year, I ordered a factory service manual before I left the lot. But I needed the diagrams for a car that wasn't mine and I couldn't find anything on the web. The $20 for the Haynes was well worth it in this case!

My own service manual has only basic wiring diagrams though, so I'm thinking of shelling out another $125 for the wiring diagram manual too now. I'm sure I'll need it at some point. It would have come in handy a few times already for electrical mods I've done.
 
quote:

both = crap

Indeed. I have a Haynes for my sister's 97 Protege. The book is for 90-97 Proteges. They have four different engines, and two different bodies during that time, yet they used the same diagram for many things. I was doing some work on the EGR valve, let's just say that if you follow the diagram in the book you will be taking off something else.
 
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