I was wondering what you guys think of this service.Is it worth the money?Is it a maintenance manual or just service bulletons?If you buy it is it only for one type and year car or can I use it for all types?
I Have a 2000 Toyota Corolla and a 2004 Tacoma The Tacoma is still under warranty but I like to read all about what makes it tick will Alldata do that like a factory service manual?

 

alldata is a professional information system and contains mostly step by step repair and diagnostic procedures you would probably find pretty dull. also, i don't think you can buy just the info for your cars, you have to pay for the whole system, and it's not cheap. if you want some occassional information a lot of what is in alldata is available on autozone's website in the repair info section - autozone owns alldata.

 

What wil_e says is mostly true; however, you CAN buy a DIY-ers annual subscription for a specific vehicle on the AllData website. What you might do is buy a subscription for the older vehicle (which is the one you would be more likely to need repair info on) and see how you like it. I have no idea what the garages pay for the AllData setup, but theirs contains factory repair info on just about every make & model. It would be serious overkill for the home DIY-er.

As an alternative, you could buy mid-level repair manuals by Haynes or Chiltons. Browse one at your local bookstore or auto parts place to see if they might fit your needs.

 

Ok thanks guys that is what I wanted to know.

 

You may also want to consider buying the factory service manual for your cars. They are more expensive than Hayes/Chilton but I find they have more detailed info on service procedures and at least for my car have a description on how things work in each of the sections. For older cars I found the haynes worked fine but with the newer ones they don't seem to have as much info as the factory service manual. For the transmission you will probably need to get a seperate book as many of the car books don't cover operation, troubleshooting and rebuild. Even if you don't DIY understanding what is going on is important I think.

If you plan to keep these vehicles for a while I think it is worth spending the money.

 

If your looking for info on how the various systems work in Toyota Factory manuals look elsewhere.

I have used a lot of OEM manuals and Toyota’s are among the worse. A good example was I had the opportunity to use a GM Prizm manual (same as our Corolla), it blows away our manual in every detail.

 

My manual is a GM manual and I've found it very good. Never seen a Toyota manual but I assumed all OEM manuals would be very good and informative - suprised to hear this is not always the case.

 

Perfect example: Another poster in another thread asked for information as where the paint code is on the id label. Toyota manual only shows that tag is located in door and no other info. Whould expect break down explaining codes.....no info at all.

 

I have had both factory manuals one was a 89 Chevy pickup and it had like 3 books with it very good and it had good troubleshooting procedures.Then I also had a 1997 Toyota service manuals but I did not have that car long as my wife took it in the divorce so I did not really have much time to check it out.(sold it on EBay).I wonder if anyone has the manuals on disk.
As far as Hayes goes I am not to fond of them they are to general for me.I really liked the GM because it had everything including pictures of special tools in it.

 

Out of curiosity - for those of you who fix cars for a living - do major manufacturers like Toyota and GM have training courses/workshops on fixing their line of cars. Also if you are stuck can you call a helpline. I was wondering what happened if the book was not very helpful or if you got stuck on a problem.

 

Depending where you live, some local public libraries have Alldata available on their inhouse computers. The public library in St. Louis for example have Alldata available for free. The only difficulty is you have to go there to use it. It is not available through their web site. This version allows you to input your particular make, year and model of vehicle. This might at least let you try it before you buy it for use on your home computer.

 

I have quite a few subscriptions at www.alldatadiy.com and for the later model vehicles they are real good. Wiring, vacuumn diagrams, step by step diagnostics, recalls and service bulletins and so on. The only problem I see with some of the info, is that it may have tests in it based on the use of factory specified tools. It's still worth the money. $25 for the 1st vehicle and $15 for every vehicle after that.

 

I guess for 25 bucks (cheaper then a tank of gas) it could be worth it.I will get it as soon as I am out of warranty still have a long time since I only have 7 thousand miles on my Tacoma now.Any problems and it goes in I promise you that.