Vibe repair manual on DVD. Any good?

[Chiadog]

Vibe repair manual on DVD. Any good?
I see them on Ebay for about $16.00.
Are the Haynes/Chilton paperbacks better or worse?
I'm no fan of Haynes, but I need torque specs. etc.
chiadog

[Chiadog]

Received the GM 1998 - 2009 service repair manual on DVD today. I didn't attempt to load it yet. I'll post a quick review in a week or so, after I've had a chance to check it out.
chiadog

[zyzyix]

Vibe repair manual on DVD. Any good?
I see them on Ebay for about $16.00.
Are the Haynes/Chilton paperbacks better or worse?
I'm no fan of Haynes, but I need torque specs. etc.
chiadog

What year Vibe? There are factory manuals available, though they may be hard to find.

[Chiadog]

Vibe is an 05. I see the factory paper manuals on Ebay for like 150.00 - too rich for me.
chiadog

[Pops]

if you do your own repairs Factory Service Manuals are a good investment. I bought my '09' in June. First thing I bought for it was the Helm Factory Service manuals. It's a three volume set with everything you could ever want to know about the car. Before this I had a '03' GMC Envoy and had the Helm manuals. In the eight years I owned it I saved a ton of money by being able to stay away from the Stealership.

[tpollauf]

if you do your own repairs Factory Service Manuals are a good investment. I bought my '09' in June. First thing I bought for it was the Helm Factory Service manuals. It's a three volume set with everything you could ever want to know about the car. Before this I had a '03' GMC Envoy and had the Helm manuals. In the eight years I owned it I saved a ton of money by being able to stay away from the Stealership.

I totally agree with Pops In your case you're lucky you have one of the first generation Vibes. Like Pops, I too have the 09 model year and I too purchased the 3-book set from Helm. Although extremely helpful when needing the info, I found several errors in this newer three set volume. What little work I've done so far, the books were not very helpful. Some information was merely recopied into the 09-10 models when in fact it was from the 08 & older models. Hopefully it is only applicable to a few items and that the majority of the information is correct. Also, in my case, I own my cars for a VERY long time (10 - 20 years) and do not put a lot of mileage on them,so having these manuals really pay for themselves. Good luck

[djkeev]

I purchased the "factory DVD" for my 08. Loaded it, looked at I and in general it was poor, very poor. Next day ordered the Helm Manals, never a moment of regret!

Dave

[zyzyix]

Vibe is an 05. I see the factory paper manuals on Ebay for like 150.00 - too rich for me.
chiadog

That's a shame. Have you checked to see if your local library has the factory manuals? Mine does (03, 04) along with the Navigation manual. I did an Interloan and located one library has all circulating factory manuals for 03-09.

[Chiadog]

Thanks for all the input on the repair manuals!
Great idea on the library, ZYZY, I'll give that a shot. It will let me know if I want to dig that deep into my pocket for the "real McCoy".
Good points on the Helm manuals! I tend to forget how much money I am saving by DIY.
For now, I have ordred the craptacular Haynes manual. better than Nothing!!!
chiadog

[Chiadog]

Quick review of: 1998 -2006 GM service repair manual from ebay, cost $13.00
1. clunky menu system - not intuitive or easy for me to use. I found very little of what I looked for - frustrating. maybe its me.
2. No electrical anything that i could find. Different dvd?
3. Lots of GM to dealer directives explaining how to code repairs, etc.
4. I am unable to print from the DVD - probably just me.
Whats good;
1. Drawings can be blown up.
2. contains good detail on some tasks subjects - I didn't look too far. I found how to remove the inner door panels!
3. Covers all GM vehicles plus Saturn 1998-2006! For me it covers 3 cars that I own.
4. Contains numerous TSB's technical service bulletins.

Overall, a good value for info not found elsewhere. However this is not a standalone manual. It may take me longer to find something here than to do the repair!
chiadog

[zyzyix]

Thanks for all the input on the repair manuals!
Great idea on the library, ZYZY, I'll give that a shot. It will let me know if I want to dig that deep into my pocket for the "real McCoy".
Good points on the Helm manuals! I tend to forget how much money I am saving by DIY.
For now, I have ordred the craptacular Haynes manual. better than Nothing!!!
chiadog

You're welcome. Good Luck. I can tell you the Factory manuals are 2 volumes and are thick. Vol 1 would be the thicker of the 2 manuals and it would cover General Info (maintenance, oil capacity, etc) Engine, HVAC, Steering, Suspension, Driveline/Axle and Brakes Vol 2 is Body, Transmission, Restraints Vehicle Control systems, Accessories. This is taken from the 2004 Factory Manuals. The later years are probably similar.

[vowner]

Has anyone found any repair manuals for the 2010 pontiac vibe?

[zyzyix]

Has anyone found any repair manuals for the 2010 pontiac vibe?

Yes. Oak Lawn Public Library in IL has just received the 3 volume edition. It is at the bindery

[zyzyix]

Has anyone found any repair manuals for the 2010 pontiac vibe?

Yes. Oak Lawn Public Library in IL has just received the 3 volume edition. It is at the bindery

They also have the 3 volume 2009 edition circulating.