Working for a number of industries that manufacture large, expensive products that make an LS seem economical, I've seen a change coming for nearly ten years now - one that is being reflected in automotive manuals as well. We are seeing the end of an era as service manuals, even owner's manuals are migrating to CD or online services. These electronic manuals offer a number of advantages over conventional paper manuals and will eventually replace them for several reasons:

1. Size and cost - As cars become more complex, their associated documentation is growing exponentially. I still have a shop manual for my first Suburban and it is about the size and weight of a telephone directory for a major city. I'm currently putting service manuals for my clients on disc, tucking them away in leftover space on their product video DVDs. One small client as almost stopped issuing manuals altogether because while his electronic manual is literally "free" (costs no more to add to his video disc), his service manuals cost anywhere from $14 to $18 EACH, depending on size and volume produced. We have now produced a first-line maintenance miniDVD that includes an instructional video for all inspection and routine maintenance, plus a 42 page service manual. Cost? about $3 in modest quantities.
   
   
2. Convenience - Electronic files, .PDF's, are searchable by topic. Even if you have an excellent TOC, backed up by specific sections for installation, routine maintenance, operation, and overhaul, some users may be looking for a specific instruction and, particularly on large, complex machines, have difficulty finding that one single point. Have you ever searched for the type bulb in your interior lights? In a phone-book sized owner's manual, you may have to do a little page turning.
   
   
3. Durability - One problem I've had is using a shop manual in the shop. My old Suburban manual is not allowed in the house because it is a greasy mess. When you need to see the next step in a procedure, do you go wash up, or simply turn the page with greasy hands? I vote for the latter. I've had clients who face the same problem. One published a comprehensive manual on a series of oilfield tools that work together on the rig floor to suspend and rotate the drillpipe. Many years ago I, working with their engineers and service techs, reduced this knowledge to a 140-page manual, and it is still available from them, finding a place on practically every drilling rig in the world.
   
   The problem is that the manual costs $22 to print - even in lots of 10,000. Whenever a roughneck needs to perform weekly maintenance on one of the tools, he takes the rig's manual up to the floor and in the course of his task, smears it with grease and the ever-present tool-joint compound. Nobody wants that filthy manual back in their file so they throw it away and ask for another. $22 for one use is a little steep, no matter what business you are in, and this company is not alone when they howl loud and long every year at product review time. They are spending a fortune on a "disposable" manual that is critical but costing them a fortune to provide. It wasn't unusual for me to hand out a case of these manuals every month or two during my rig calls, and we had several salesmen that did the same.
   
   An electronic manual, either on disc or on the company website will, as it has for other companies, finally provide a reference book that never gets dirty. Got an inspection, test, or lubrication procedure to perform? Print the pages you need, take them up on the floor, and when the work is completed, wipe your hands on them and throw them away. The "master" manual remains clean and ready for the next review or service project.

In the mid-1970's Control Data Corporation, as a demonstration of the use of computer science in industry, produced a piece of software that tested the transmissions in a Caterpillar tractor, allowing a balky transmission to be checked out on the spot. The computer was plugged into an umbilical cable and a series of pressures, flow rates, and temperatures were read from a set of sensors built into the transmission, much like an OBD port works today. The problem with leading edge technology is it is often well in front of its support. The software ran on CDC's mainframe and Cats rarely failed in their computer center - transmissions usually packed up at the bottom of an excavation, often halfway around the world. It would be twenty years before the hardware caught up to the software, but industry learned a valuable lesson - there are far superior substitutes to troubleshooting with an unabridged dictionary.

Computers are common everywhere today, even in remote construction camps, offshore oil platforms, and even on the battlefield. Laptops, even smartphones can recover critical technical information, on disc or online for use practically everywhere on earth. Service manuals and machine drawings are migrating from paper to digital formats, saving time, space, and cost while making information more readily accessible to the end user.

The next time you are looking for a service manual, consider an electronic format. Even simple manuals can be at your fingertips in a dedicated file folder on your computer. I currently have the manuals for everything from my major kitchen appliances to my washer and dryer, car stereos, cameras, and even the toaster in my "Manuals" folder along with dozens of small manuals I just didn't want to lose. I found them online, almost always from the manufacturer's website. Now, rather than filling that kitchen drawer with a couple dozen manuals I'm sure to lose before I actually need them, I keep them in printable form for use as needed on my computer. I can't even misplace critical information because I can go print another page.

 

I so agree with you. In this age of instant everything, why would anyone want to have to search through 700 pages to find the information they need.

 

CDs? they're already obsolete for most.

but point is valid - offer bits, not trees.