Video: Workshop and service manuals for 1975-1998 rear wheel drive Volvos
IPD's Cameron go through a variety of service manuals and explains which one is best for you.
Video transcript
Hi, guys Cameron from ipd here to talk to you about a very important tool whenever you're working on your Volvo and it's not a wrench, it's not a socket, and it's not a hammer it's a service manual service. The service manual is extremely important when you're working on your car because it's going to give you several pieces of information that are crucial. Things like tightening torques things like specifications on clearances for valves everything you're going to need is going to be in there dependent upon the job that you're doing. No toolbox is complete without a service manual for the car you're working on. So today we're going to talk about a few of the manuals that we offer here that will cover your car.
First let's talk about some more general manuals we've got chilled manuals here and here that cover the rear wheel drive models now these ones are very good if you just want some general overview bases or if you own multiple models this one here is our part number 102696 and it covers all US and Canadian models of any of them 240s 140s all the way back there all the way up to 760s and 780s from 1972 1989 you know again this is pretty general has a lot of stuff in it but it's covering a lot of models so very good if you need some basic overview of several models.
The next one is going to be for the newer versions of the models but also same thing this is from 1990- 1998 so it's going to cover several models very good for general information or if you have multiple models and need to have them get information for all those in one manual now getting more specific we've got.
Haynes manuals for a number of these Volvos. Haynes has this one which is for 740 and 760 it only goes up through 1991 and it's a British version of the manual. So some things are a little funny right-hand-drive boot bonnet instead of hood and trunk stuff like that but very good information the reason we carry a lot of these UK versions of the manuals is because Haynes never printed an American version so we figure it was much better to have this one with some things being a little bit different than to have nothing at all. So Haynes manuals are also very good at having you with a little more specific information on the model because it only covers one or two models as opposed to cover ii in several different chassis.
Now within the Haynes line, we also carry this one which is an American version of it so everything's going to be cool as far as the lingo goes and what you know and it covers Volvo 747, 760 but only through 1988 so if you have a later model the UK versions your best bet.
But beyond this one, they also have Haynes manual that is specific to the 200 series 1976 - 1993 lots of good information. In here additionally, they have a 941 that covers most of your 279 series stuff in a Haynes manual
Now beyond that let's talk about better manuals and what else is available now luckily for us to Volvo 240 owners unluckily for 79 series owners the Bentley it was published and this manual as you can see is about twice as thick as any of the Haynes manuals and it only covers 240's now if you have an early Volvo 240 non-turbo up through about 1982 that uses the k-jet system that's not going to be covered in depth in here all the suspension stuff the break stuff everything else is going to be the same so it's still a very useful manual for those early to 240 owners. It also covers every 240 turbo model and every non-turbo model from 1983 up all the la's jet tronic fuel injection models and this manual is the best manual you're ever going to find for a 240 every one of our customer service reps has a very well worn version of this at their desk these on a daily basis it covers everything lots of great Volvo diagrams that are straight from Volvo tightening torques procedures how you can use special tools. If you have available to you or how you can get around it if you don't have that special tool 240 owner the first thing you should ever buy for your toolbox your 240 is this you're not going to find anything better than this for a 240.
The last one I want to talk about here is for the more advanced users and that is our botched fuel injection and engine management system book and this one is not really for the do-it-yourselfer who's a beginner it's more for the do-it-yourselfer who's a much more advanced user this covers a lot more of the things that are the the theory behind k jet tronic continuous injection system and LH techtronic how it works why it works it shows different offsets of resistance values for sensors all kinds of cool stuff like that so if you are really nerdy about that stuff like me and you like those details this manual is fantastic if you're still kind of learning how to do tune-ups on the car it's a cool manual to have but you're not going to use it that much so this is one of those ones that's more specialized but still very useful when you start getting into the more advanced jobs or you're just curious.
So as I had mentioned before we have a whole variety of different service manuals here a whole stack of them which one is right for you is going to depend on what your level of work is what kind of work you like to do what kind of car you have all that information but rest assured that all the information you're going to need is almost always going to be found in a good service manual
On a final note on service manuals I want to talk to you real quick about Volvo green manuals and you've probably seen them they look like this is a binder full of the parts diagram service manuals these are the benchmark these are awesome if you can find him, fortunately, Volvo doesn't print these anymore but they're still around you can find some of them in PDF form online if you look and you can find them on eBay a lot of times as well and these can become extremely valuable. They're just awesome service manuals you can find individual pieces on how to do seat repairs on how to do the full electrical circuit testing on cars all that so think about green manuals if you can find them because they really are going to be the best of the best if you can get them out there.
So in closing thinking about which manual is right for you is going to depend on what car you're working on what your skill level is what you're comfortable doing and also what kind of cars you on what range if you just have one if you have a few and what kind of work you're going to be doing if you have questions on any of that stuff feel free to call us in any of our customer service reps will be happy to help recommend a book for you based on your needs.
