peterg Posted July 24, 2007 Posted July 24, 2007 Even worse is that manufacturers invariably strip engines down on cradles rather than in a car so inevitably the dismantling time is much less than is realistic for an actual customers car Quote
neilwillis Posted September 1, 2007 Posted September 1, 2007 Great exercise in Customer services - wind up the complainant before you have even tried to answer his queries! Another company ultimately destined for consignment to the history books? I've always found manuals like that are gifted with the ability to make impossible jobs seem easy. Phrases like remove the suspension bushes - hide so many hours of perspiration swearing and sheer brute forcewith a club hammer, and not forgetting skinned knuckles! Destroy it yourself has always been fraught with those sort of frustrations. Isn't that half the fun? Quote
samcooke Posted September 1, 2007 Posted September 1, 2007 Another company ultimately destined for consignment to the history books?/QUOTE] Unlikely. The Haynes boys have a fair bit of money to fall back on, even if Martin stops buying their books. Quote
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted September 1, 2007 Posted September 1, 2007 Another company ultimately destined for consignment to the history books? Maybe not the company, but ultimately the writing is probably on the wall for the manuals in the form we're used to at least. A combination of electronics, environmental and health and safety "issues" will probably reduce the number of jobs an owner can do so drastically, workshop manuals become a bit pointless. Quote
jeff oakley Posted September 1, 2007 Posted September 1, 2007 The amount of jobs that you can do now on the cars we are driving are getting less and will get worse if the car manufacturers get there way. They were forced to accept independant garages could do service work without invalidating warranties on new cars a couple of years ago under what is known as block exemption. They have hit back with "can bus" technology. What this is is a computer that takes all the info from every other one on the car and stops it working. In the extreme example that has casued concern a BMW went and had four tyres fitted at Kwik Fit and then would not start. It had to be taken to a BMW garage on a truck to have the Can bus recoded. The tyre sensors being disturbed menat the can bus shut down the engine as it assumed a flat. A campaign is running to get the manufacturers to release the code which they are refusing to do. The implications are home repairs will become a thing of the past in Europe, which is why Haynes own Chiltern Manuals in the states and have pure publishing arms as well. The states does not allow the situation that exsisits in europe where the Manufacturers dictate what they wil allow. From my past dealings with Haynes they are a responsible company but the letter back was crass probably written by some PA. Quote
steve_m Posted September 1, 2007 Posted September 1, 2007 I found the early Haynes manuals OK but in the last 10 years they are not worth buying, especially with the Internet providing so many official manufacturers manuals pretty much free or for a couple of quid. Quote
pistonbroke Posted September 1, 2007 Posted September 1, 2007 I've always found there manuals indespensible for wiping greasy hands on Quote
Gromit Posted September 1, 2007 Posted September 1, 2007 I found a wopper mistake in my Transit manual, were it clearly states the to remove & replace the camshaft, the engine has to be removed. What a load of cr*p, a few blobs of grease and the cam can go in and out no problem. A few blobs of LM is a bit easier than pulling the whole engine (all 300Kg of it) out. Good luck with the letter but dont hold yer breath I suppose. Quote
Mike H Posted September 2, 2007 Posted September 2, 2007 Are you still going on about this? Just so I understand, you're an 'experienced' mechanical engineer, built your own car and yet you needed a Haynes manual to change a set of pads !? Mike Quote
V8grunt Posted September 2, 2007 Posted September 2, 2007 Are you still going on about this? Just so I understand, you're an 'experienced' mechanical engineer, built your own car and yet you needed a Haynes manual to change a set of pads !? Mike We ALL need a bit of help sometimes. Martin with his car... Me with mi spelin! Regarding the Transit problem mentioned by Gromit,The Ford Engine problem was for (if my old brain cell is still funcioning at 10% ) the Cortina MK 4/5's etc, etc, where you had to take the head off to change the camshaft! Are the brakes any better now? Quote
Gromit Posted September 2, 2007 Posted September 2, 2007 QUOTE Regarding the Transit problem mentioned by Gromit,The Ford Engine problem was for (if my old brain cell is still funcioning at 10% ) the Cortina MK 4/5's etc, etc, where you had to take the head off to change the camshaft! Problem relates to the pushrod followers which can drop out when you pull the cam out and also get in the way when your trying to stick it back in (ooer missus). When you putting the cam back in a big blob of LM grease behind the head of the follower will hold the follower in place long enough for you to slide the cam back in. Granted its a bit fiddley but certainly quicker than pulling the engine. Right i`ll shut up about Transits now and get back to wishing I still had me Westy. Quote
Martin Keene Posted September 2, 2007 Author Posted September 2, 2007 Are you still going on about this?Just so I understand, you're an 'experienced' mechanical engineer, built your own car and yet you needed a Haynes manual to change a set of pads !? Mike P**s off... ETA: Actually, I was going to amend that comment, but I'm going to leave it. I'm sure I would be quite capable of changing them without the help of the manual, but until this manual I have always prefered to have one 'to hand' just in case and, particulary when it comes things like brakes, like to make sure things are re-built to the correct torques etc. Although one wonders if Haynes torque figures should be trusted. Quote
Martin Keene Posted September 2, 2007 Author Posted September 2, 2007 Are the brakes any better now? Great, thanks mate. As an aside, I went for an MOT recently. No car I have ever had MOT'd has gone much beyhond 1/2 way round the load meter. These b*******s went 3/4 of the way round... Quote
iiyama Posted September 3, 2007 Posted September 3, 2007 Never affected me but I read on bike forum about Haynes having the wrong torque value for engine bolts on the Yamaha Thundercat. Two peeps stripped threads in the engine casing trying to reach the specified torque. Quote
Mike H Posted September 3, 2007 Posted September 3, 2007 Are you still going on about this? Just so I understand, you're an 'experienced' mechanical engineer, built your own car and yet you needed a Haynes manual to change a set of pads !? Mike <!--emo& P**s off... ETA: Actually, I was going to amend that comment, but I'm going to leave it. I'm sure I would be quite capable of changing them without the help of the manual, but until this manual I have always prefered to have one 'to hand' just in case and, particulary when it comes things like brakes, like to make sure things are re-built to the correct torques etc. Although one wonders if Haynes torque figures should be trusted. Is that a joke or are you just a generally abusive person? Judging by the rest of this thread I guess maybe you are. Mike Quote
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