Service manual...yes..no..maybe so?

The one on the site is the same manual. Just converted to a site.

I wish the internal links worked in either of them, but I get why they don't. Huge effort just to get that far.

 

Turns out I can see them if I go landscape. If I'm in portrait, I can not. I use portrait 99.9999% of the time.

 

Wild. Same here. I save landscape for pron.

 

No. Just the Chrome browser in thankful dark mode.

 

For 2nd gen, there is a 4-volume factory set (red) that I believe includes wiring diagram, per model year

which is misleading. Some "volumes" are a plastic-wrapped package of 2 thick books.
So you order think you're getting 4-5 books. When really, it may be 8 books, stacked higher than your knee.

This is good.
Doesn't need internet connection. Doesn't need bringing computer to your garage burning eyeballs out.
And repair manuals are rarely needed if you know how to work on a car.
Don't need one to change oil.

It can be kept with the truck, even sold separate or sold with it later if needed.

It is there for big jobs. Like if you plan to rebuild a manual transmission; it's worth having the FSM there to reference

manufacturers tend to switch to electronic. 3rd gen may be so.
Why?
1. charge more. Make dealers pay for their technician to have access. That's right. You have to pay them, for the privilege, of being able to work on their shitbox for a low amount of money and hours, usually
2. Speed, and workstation. Techs have workstations with a computer; it's faster to navigate that than ruining a book with oily fingers.
3. cheaper production, ability to edit and revise FSM if it's online
4. sales. Sell temporary access to consumers like you
5. Cost. Costs money to give 20 techs book sets. Profitable to charge them online
6. Room. Ain't nobody got room/storage space for book sets on each car and year
7. VIN-specific. Computer FSM's let you type in VIN's for info (including bulletins) and service history specifically to that vehicle

sometimes you can find downloadable FSM's that are not current year, which is fine. If you have a '17, you don't need a '23 FSM.

that's just one of the aspects of having a new vehicle; if it's new enough, they probably never even made a paperback to begin with
and any time you have an aftermarket book (usually thin) they are way less info than the factory manual, because they probably buy temporary access to the FSM, scan and print a fraction of what's in there, to sell you
I had an aftermarket manual once. It was vague as hell.
For every repair procedure that an FSM would have 5 parts of info, the aftermarket would have only one, a crappy picture, basically saying "figure it out"

Liability is another reason FSM's tend to be good. There is the idea, that the tech is supposed to follow the procedure to a tee, to make the car work. Which the mfg spends money on to do, under warranty.
So the onus is really on the manufacturer to make their prescribed repair info as accurate and in depth as possible, so the job is done right when the tech does what it said to do
now obviously, if you've done a job enough, you have it in memory, not wasting time reading FSM.
But they can still catch you on that because if you don't check, you won't notice they just released a revision last week.

 

I've used this site which has the full service manual accessible online and broken down by various sections. Bit of a pain on the phone screen.

https://cardiagn.com/toyota-tacoma-2015-2018-service-repair-manual/

I also have @tonered pdf and torque spec post earmarked on here for a quick reference https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-torque-spec-guide.318116/#post-8281783

 

A couple things about the electronic version, it allows you to navigate easier and an excuse to get a big ass TV and a computer for garage/shop!

 

When I got my 2nd gen a few years back, I got that Haynes service manual out of old/skool habit.
Haven't used it at all - I opened it a few times to try and sort something out and wound up back on TW instead to find the answer.

I keep it in the truck just in case I am totally SOL in a place with no interwebs but I really don't use it/don't need it..

 

And bring back the paper JC Whitney catalogue too!!!!

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