John_B

We just traded my wife's 36K mile 2001 ES300 for a 2008 ES350 (see avatar). I normally purchase service (repair) manuals when I get a new car. I have been doing some searching and the best price I can find is about $650 (shipped) for the ES350.

I think I paid about $300-$400 for the 3 volume ES300 set (2 repair & 1 electrical) from the local dealer back in 2001.

Is $650 the going price or should I be able to do better?

I have learned about TIS (techinfo.toyota.com) but I don't think this is the answer for me since I would only ever use it for this one vehicle. My other vehicles are GM (2008 Silverado LTZ and 2007 Corvette Z51).

Hopefully I will never need the repair manuals, but I did need the ES300 manuals on a couple of occasions. I do all of my own maintenance except for warranty issues.

John

SmokeyES35

the toyota tech info is a really nice site, and has the entire manual in pdf form. And you can pretty much pick and choose what you want and download it and save it, then print it. Considering its only 10 bucks a day to use it.. and consider how many times you will use the book, you would have to use it at least 60 times to justify purchasing the entire 3 book repair manual. But I do remember it being really expensive..

yeah you were right... i was looking into buying 2 of the books, and it was around 130-140 or something.

John_B

There are 5 manuals in the ES350 set. 4 repair manuals @ $130 and 1 electrical at $110.

I was not aware you could download as a PDF. If that is the case then the Toyota Tech Info site is the answer. I really like PDF's as they are searchable which compensates for incomplete indexes. I will probably subscribe for a day just to see what it is like.

Are all of the Electical manuals (including schematics) available from TIS?

Thanks for taking time to reply,

John

SmokeyES35

I know I got an electrical schematic for the sound system. And it had many different electrical drawings there. It does take a little getting used to navigating the site. I remember a lot of sections will have references to other sections, but they are all clickable, so you download one, click on the referenced section, and download that one. I used it to get all the door panel drawings and sound system schematics, I want to change out the sound system. I would suggest just dropping 10 dollars and checking it out, navigate it for a while, and maybe download somethings that you think you might need in the fufure, (maintenance things, spark plug wiring, various filter replacements, just so you dont completely waste 10 bucks if you dont like it.

jkayca

Are the actual manuals copyrighted? If not, maybe someone could setup a torrent.

John_B

Yes, they are copyrighted. There are a lot of warnings on TIS about what can be done with any downloads.

I don't what the manuals for free, but over $600 seems excessive.

The manuals I just received for my 08 Silverado LTZ consist of 4 volumes that make a stack over 9" high and the price was around $130 which is a lot more reasonable, especially since I found my 2001 ES300 manuals (that I still have) are no where near as detailed as my previous 2000 Silverado LT manuals that were around $115.

John

jk08

just saw this thread. I usually did the same thing when I buy a new car I also ask for the service manual.
I did ask for the manual for es350 when I was negotiating the purchase price, at first the sales agreed with it include into the sale price but later when he found out the price for the books he back out the deal. I end up buying the car without the manual since it is around $600 and I probably have to keep for years before I need it.
I later saw ebay are selling electronic version(CD) of the manual and on the CD it is said made by toyota . It only cost $35 so I ordered one and it looks pretty good for me at least. But I i don't it is includes everything that in the bookset, but it seems included everything, so maybe you guys can go take a look.

John_B

I paid $50 for a one month subscription to Toyota Technical Information Services. All of the Repair manuals, Owners manuals and TSB's are on line for all Toyota products. I downloaded the parts of the Repair manuals that I though I might need. If I missed anything, a 1 day subscription is $10. A lot better than the close to $700 quotes I was getting for the manuals with shipping. The other good part is that they are PDF files that are searchable.

I just did an Ebay search and I think I found the product you ordered. I just ordered one for $33.90 (including shipping) and I will see how it compares to the information I found on TIS. Thanks for posting the info.

John

jk08

It is also searchable PDF file and it use a browser to open it.

jk08

It is also searchable PDF file and it use a browser to open it.

John_B

TIS also uses a browser (Internet Explorer required for proper display of graphics). The display data can be printed to a PDF file provided you have a PDF writer. To view the recent years Electrical diagrams, SVGView.exe from Adobe is also required.

John

unknown2

The whole manual in PDF format:
http://dl5.filesend.net/dl.php?cd6fd...31e5c726edc582

jkayca

Link doesn't work.

unknown2

Try this:
http://www.filesend.net/download.php...31e5c726edc582

Robert_J

It took 3 tries but I finally got the zip file. There's a ton of stuff in there. All I needed was the stereo information and it is covered in more detail than I ever imagined. Thanks.

-Robert