paw140

Does anyone else thing the factory service manual is crap? I think it's THE most user unfriendly repair manual I've ever owned. I've owned several Haynes manuals, they're pretty good, but don't contain the details. I have an FSM for a Honda motorcycle, and it kicks ***. Its the best manual, by far, that I've ever seen.

My RX7 manual is frustrating the hell out of me. There seems to be no easy way to find a specific procedure... in my opinion, section F is a big clusterf*ck. AND THEY DON'T HAVE PROCEDURES FOR MOST REPAIRS! For example, I'm in the process of removing my oil metering pump. The FSM is completely useless; there is no procedure for doing this. I have no idea what I need to remove; I'm just taking stuff off as I need to. If I'm missing something, someone please tell me. Another example: according to the FSM, you can remove the lower intake without removing the turbos. This is NOT possible. Thats a horrible oversight, and makes the job three times as hard. I also can't find any mention of 'limp' mode in the manual. But since there's no index where I can check, it might be in there somewhere.

Sorry about the rant. I'm just a little pissed off at this $100 manual that is worse than a $10 Haynes.

rotary-tt

The Service Highlights manual is a better value and might have more of what you want. Shorter and gives you an overview of each system. I do agree that the Shop Manual does suck in some areas.

johnchabin

iTrader: (2)

Need one of these for the FD. I did EVERYTHING with this book when I had a bug.

TYSON

The service manual is likely why dealerships can't repair your car properly. You have to read over everything about 4 times before it makes sense. What mechanic is going take the time to do that? Especially section F. BTW, mine was free, and definately worth the price!

Dan

where can I get my hands on a good manual?

Crash

I think it's fairly decent. Especial compared to the sevice manual for 3000gt vr4 they give these little hand drawn pics that are rough outlines of the snesor,relay, or other thing buried way up the dash and think your a physic so you know what they mean. If thats what they go on to build they're cars no wonder thye are no more relible than an FD.

rx7speed811

i think haynes or chilton can make some good money if they were to publish an updated and clarified version of our factory service manual. nobody makes one for the fd as far as i know, and i have searched pretty hard for one. i totally agree with you about its lack of procedure for many projects.

JONSKI

I wouldn't call it complete crap, but it sure could use about 200% more "how-to" content.

paw140

I guess 'complete crap' was kinda strong. I just hate how they don't have procedures. There seems to be better info on the net than anywhere else. I'm also comparing it to my Honda FSM, which has detailed procedures for EVERYTHING.

There is definitely a lot of good info in it, like wiring circuits, troubleshooting charts, exploded views of assembly, torque specs, etc. It has all of the gritty details. But no procedures.

FDokinawa

iTrader: (5)

It would probably be a hasel .. but someone on here should get copies of any of the sevice manuals that are out there, and any info he/she can get off the forum and make there own manual. If a bad one is selling for $100 imagine how much a good one would go for?

anyone willing to try?

BicuspiD

Do you think the manual may be some of the reason the car got a bad rep for reliability in the early years? Not to mention how EVERYONE I know who has taken their car to a dealer has been pretty much disgusted with the lack of knowledge of the platform. Maybe training for them is leaving the current shop manual in the restroom.
And didn't it used to be large formatted, no? a full 8x11 instead of this Harlequin romance sized novel?

Shawntx76

I know this is a rather old posting but, if someone will mail their repair manuals to me i'll scan the hail out of them and put them online

ArchangelX

My 87 Nissan Stanza and 95 Corolla Service Manuals kick the RX-7's manuals in da azz.

Three lines per repair is not what I call a competent service manual.

JONSKI

A couple people have already done it. Most notably http://www.iluvmyrx7.com.

If you plan on using the manual to work on your car or read to help you get to sleep, then I suggest simply buying one.

ArchangelX

Or just print the manual out, doublesided, and throw it into a binder, like I did.

mjw

iTrader: (1)

I have to agree with you paw, I think the Mazda manuals are terrible. I had a first gen 7 about ten years but never did any work on it myself, in the ten years in between that I had a couple of Toyota's and have to say that Toyota does an excellent job on their manuals. Now I am back to another 7 and find the Mazda FSM seriously lacking in many places.

97GST

Wow, thanks for the info, I was wondering what to use when I do get my 7.

For every other car I have owned the FSM was the end all for manuals. It was THE most recommended manual you could get and listed EVERYTHING in complete detail, it was the Haynes/Chiltons that were crap.

How much is an RX7 FSM? IIRC for other cars it was like $120+, and for the Supra they have 5 manuals. Electrical, engine, body, etc. each very good and very expensive.

R Xplicit

i think that it is useful too, but damn, this thread was brought from the wood works....

paul, if you are there, howz the car?

rx7speed811

Damn this thread is so old!

I believe ours costs a little more than that, and it consists of about 22 manuals, if you count the electrical wiring diagrams. The FD manual basically sucks ***, unless you already know exactly what you're doing and are just referring to the manual for a quick reference.

I think a lot of people find this out when they go to it for help when changing all their vacuum hoses and testing their solenoids and actuators. When I was doing my hose job and had questions, I would post them online, and get so many rude responses that basically said "CHECK YOUR SERVICE MANUAL YOU IDIOT!" I did check the FSM, and I felt like I was still in the same place.

One of you rotary gurus out there should make a better more understandable manual that outlines each procedure more clearly. You would be helping a lot of us small backyard mechanics, and you would make a couple bucks in the process too! I would do it, but I am far short of a lot of you guys when it comes to rotary specific knowledge.

Wargasm

I have owned a couple of Honda/Acura service manuals and they are really really good... Both of my RX-7 manuals (87 and 93) are not nearly as good.

I think one of the MAJOR oversights is that they need to put in a "how the heck does this thing work" description for some of the more complicated systems.

All the info you NEED is in there if you take the time to puzzle it out but it's sure not apparent on first examination how half the stuff in the car works. Perfect example is the twin turbo section. What a half *** job it does of that!