In my quest to get the perfect manual for my 1987 Ford Aerostar, I've learned a couple things.

-The big names are Haynes and Chilton and I'm intrigued by ALLDATAdiy.com even though it's subscription-based.

-Apparently with older cars, it can be a toss-up between which manual actually has accurate pictures and descriptions of parts. I've read some people's reviews claiming that Haynes was dead on one year and way off the next model and vice versa.

The bottom line is that I won't be doing any big repair jobs, I just need a manual that will get me accurately acquainted with my vehicle and hopefully allow me to do easy jobs and routine maintenance without having to take him in. I'm not worried about the price, as I'm sure any of them would pay for themselves, I just don't want to get the wrong one and end up buying all 3!

Anyone have some insight on early model Aerostar manuals?!?!

If so, which one do you use/prefer???

Thanks,

Willie B.

 

I have both Haynes and Chilton, mainly because the Haynes did not cover the E4WD version of the van. Neither are complete, so you will end up doing some exploration on your own when you're actually working on a problem.

A lot of folks here have the Ford service CD, which may be the most complete source of information.. But I'm not sure where to get that now.

 

You can purchase an original used Ford Service Manual on eBay for a ridiculously low price.

 

The factory manual is the best hands down, mostly because it isn't filled with bogus information.

 

Chilton's is a distillation of information taken directly from Ford Manuals that cover a range of model years, engine displacement and optional features. This can be both helpful and misleading. For example they may discuss removal/repair of an exhaust gas recirculation valve and show an illustration. What they fail to mention is some models and years did not have an EGR valve and you are looking all over the place trying to locate yours which may not exist. Or, your part may not match the illustration and you are left wondering how it is removed.

Haynes, while a little more basic yet, shines in the area of improvising tools to use in place of those special Ford tool sets. They actually write the procedure from doing actual shop tear downs and sometimes offer more realistic approaches than Ford/Chilton manuals tend to do.Written more for the average DIY home garage guy. Their data specification pages are not as extensive as Chilton but then again, you can find really basic information such firing order, vacuum line routing, plug wire routing, etc that are difficult to impossible to find in Chilton.

If you get involved in doing your own work, you will eventually need all three manuals. CD's are nice but a workshop manual is still a very handy reference tool. Get on Ebay and round up used copies of all three. You will always be glad you have them. Don't worry about buying a grease stained copy, your's will be that way shortly.