I have quite a few Ford Service DVDs, all of which are red in color.

I've seen on E-Bay and elsewhere Ford DVDs for sale in different colors. I have never been able to find out of why there are different colored discs or a list of what is included (and not included) in each of the variously colored disc series.

I know that the red discs use the "tsobrowser" as the display application and wonder if that is used on the other colored DVDs as well.

Many of the DVDs are advertised with specific Ford models in the description. I know the red DVDs include the full Ford/Lincoln/Mercury lineup and have wondered if the other DVDs include all models or only specific ones (especially since most have no model information on the DVD label).

Any information regarding the differences would be appreciated!

 

Color means nothing actually, it's just what ever Ford's disk maker used at the time. Helminc.com is who makes the disks. I have yellow, red, blue and grey, they all use the tso browser. The yellow and red disks came home with me when I left the Ford dealer, they received updated disks and these would have been scrapped. The other 2 I bought directly from Helminc.

 

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[QUOTE=RLXXI;21168751]Color means nothing actually, it's just what ever Ford's disk maker used at the time. Helminc.com is who makes the disks. I have yellow, red, blue and grey, they all use the tso browser. The yellow and red disks came home with me when I left the Ford dealer, they received updated disks and these would have been scrapped. The other 2 I bought directly from Helminc.

[/QUOTE
This is actually not entirely correct. The colors do have significance. Any red disk (I can't speak to the blues and grays since they were rarities) indicates it's an interim release, subject to change in the data they contain (and in fact they did, several times per year). Once the disk goes yellow, it essentially means Ford will no longer modify the content as it is the "final" release (in terms of technical data integrity). That's why they say "Do Not Discard".

 

Thanks! That's good info.

I know the red ones cover the full FLM lineup and, since the yellow is just a final version of red, can I assume the yellow covers the full lineup as well?

I notice that the blue and gray ones have a specific model shown on the label. Are those discs only for the identified model or do they cover the full lineup?

 

as far as I can tell, the yellows do cover the full model line for the year(s) indicated on the disk. I have several in my possession and that’s true for all of those. I’m thinking the model-specific ones came directly from Helm and were meant for consumer use. You can buy them on their website for around $250. Helm is the publisher for the Ford OEM disk’s, but Ford develops and owns the information.

 

They never explained any of that to us at the dealer level, I was in from 1993-2004. As far as that yellow disk is concerned, it is NOT a final release version as the updated disk we received from Ford to replace that one was identical and yellow as well, I don't know what they changed between the two yellow disks though as I was heading out the door for the last time and never had a chance to look thru it.

The blue and gray disks are single vehicle only, the red disks are all vehicles of a certain year span like the one pictured is 2004-2005 all Fords.

 

I don’t know what to tell you, bud. This information came directly from the Ford PTS website, and I was in a dealership from 2002-2008 as the diesel/gas driveability specialist and heavy line where I used the heck out these disks since our internet was always down. I didn’t say they never sent follow-on yellow disks, but the information would be the exact same that was on the previously issued yellow disk for that year. As I mentioned, it’s why it’s stamped on there DO NOT DISCARD. The red disks didn’t say that because they were meant to be replaced with yellow ones for that year, whenever they came out. It makes sense that the blue and grey were single model since you said you got them directly from Helm. Anyway, any of them are worth using over just about any other manual. I’m actually surprised they’re even still making DVD’s and not only hosting them online through paid subscriptions. I’m thankful though.

 

They may have changed something after I left PTS is all I can tell you chief. I was the PSD tech at my dealer as well and doesn't have a thing to do with this subject, not sure why you brought it up but ok, we're in the same group on that. The 7.3DIT was my specialty not to mention everything drivability wise, if it had a warning light with diagnostics attached to it's system, it found it's way into my stall.

When I wasn't doing HVAC and/or alignments that is and hey stopped making DVD's, it all goes on a thumb drive now.

 

Ok, so it’s obvious you’re not really reading what I put down thoroughly. I said it in my reply why I brought up my specialty, it was to support why I learned as much about the disks as I did. No, I’m sure they didn’t change anything in the PTS since you left. Tell you what, I’ll just unsubscribe from this ridiculous line of communication so you can go back to telling people the disk colors don’t matter. Thumb drives, huh? That should tell people everything they need to know.

 

Establishing experience is fine, I can say for certain there's one thing that didn't matter to me or any of the other techs at my dealer and it's the color of the disk.

99.8% of them are red, when we went looking for info we didn't look for a colored disk, we looked for the year and model on the disk.
You're making a mountain out of a mole hill for nothing. Does the color matter to those who made the disks? Could be, I can't say for sure.

As for everyone else, no it doesn't make one bit of difference what color it is.

Yep, they put the disk info on a thumb drive now. Everyone knows what a thumb drive is.

Have a good one.