Haynes BOL Alternative

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CitroJim
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Haynes BOL Alternative

Post by CitroJim »

I'm sure this has been suggested many times in the past so feel free to tut tut but I'm new here....
The Haynes Jokebook is just that for the Xant (or a work of pure fiction based on speculation). The section on the hydraulics, which are unique to Citroen and totally unfamiliar to most is covered so poorly it is worse than a joke. If anything I would have thought Haynes would have gone overboard in this area but 5 pages is derisory.
Now I've done my own manual, majoring on the hydraulics, by printing all the useful posts from here and the citreonz forum and filing them in a divided A4 rig binder.
I've also downloaded and printed the hydraulicnotes PDF and put that in the binder too.
Interestingly I have two Haynes BOLs for the 205, the old "orange" one which is really quite good and detailed and the much newer "red" one with those silly spanner ratings which is rubbish...
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Post by 406 V6 »

I was going to say, when i read the post title, that the best susbitute for the BOL was this forum...
Can i have a bit of the fruit of your labour and tell me what posts did you find more relevant? I'm lazy[:D]
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Post by VisaGTi16v »

Ive got a 205 BOL on my desk at work where im an IT engineer for some reason lol! I dont even own a 205
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Post by CitroJim »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by VisaGTi16v</i>

Ive got a 205 BOL on my desk at work where im an IT engineer for some reason lol! I dont even own a 205
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
If its an "orange" one then a 205 GTi owner will give you a very nice collection of beer tokens for it!
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Post by CitroJim »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by 406 V6</i>

I was going to say, when i read the post title, that the best susbitute for the BOL was this forum...
Can i have a bit of the fruit of your labour and tell me what posts did you find more relevant? I'm lazy[:D]
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
This forum is the best substitute bar none. One of the most mature, technically excellent and friendly forums on the 'net this one. Most of the material has come from here and having it printed saves covering your keyboard in oily fingerprints!
Only too happy to share what I've done. When I get home I'll list the Posts I have printed. If there is any interest I'll see if I can put it all into one document...
Any suggestions for additional pages will be most welcome too...
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Post by ralph »

I bought the orange 205 Haynes back in 1996, when I knew nowt about cars, and I was totally bewildered by it.
I got the green Xsara book (spanner-ratings type) three years ago when I started getting the spanners out, and it made a lot more sense.
Now I know a bit, I can appreciate the orange 205 book, but the dumbed-down Xsara book helped get me started. I think the spanners are a good idea for newbies, because you really don't have a clue how big a job is going to be when starting out. It's just a shame the advice isn't always great (like suggesting you take the dash out to replace a clutch cable. And this is after saying the clutch cable is a two-spanner job!!)
Nowardays, my personal favourite Haynes is the blue 'Peugeot XUD diesel' book. A classic!
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Post by VisaGTi16v »

Well its kinda orange, published 1993 apparently, certaintly has no spanners in it :) I think I got it from someone when i got an old 1.9 8v engine for parts for my old Visa. Will hang onto it as may replace the supra with a 205 mi16 in a few months
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Post by CitroJim »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by VisaGTi16v</i>

Well its kinda orange, published 1993 apparently, certaintly has no spanners in it :) I think I got it from someone when i got an old 1.9 8v engine for parts for my old Visa. Will hang onto it as may replace the supra with a 205 mi16 in a few months
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Good stuff! Do you frequent the 205 GTi Drivers forum at all (forum.205gtidrivers.com)? Great bunch, very friendly (like this forum)and an absolute mine of info and help on all things Mi16. They do like destroying perfectly good BX GTi's for their donor engines though...
Keep hold of the orange BOL. They're really not that easy to come by these days.
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Post by VisaGTi16v »

Not really I should do. Note my signature, Visa GTi mi16 :) The Visa GTi was basically a 205 gti parts bin job, front end is identical to the 1.6 205, subframe, suspension the lot, rear was the earlier samba/104 setup and yes I have showhorned a tuned mi16 lump into the front heh. Probably only 2-3 in existence. Its totally stripped out, panels cut down etc, roll cage, 1 seat and so forth and used for sprints/hillclimbs. Got it running again a few weeks ago after being in the garage for 2.5 years! and managed 2nd in class at 2 events the first weekend out in it woo :D
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Post by dnsey »

What happened to Autobooks?
I used to have their DS manual, and it covered everything, including rebuilding the hydraulic pump, suspension units etc.
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Post by VisaGTi16v »

For my Supra I found a adobe pdf document on the internet which looked like a manually scanned in thing of some workshop manaul, maybe Toyotas internal one. 1300+ pages! talk about detail!
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Post by Kowalski »

My Dad has an A4 lever arch file which is absolutely full of a photocopy of Lancia's workshop manual for the Thema...
Looking at the section that describes work on the engine, it really is how to strip and rebuild a Lancia engine for dummies. Very detailed, lots of steps so even the numpties down at the local dealership could understand it all. I'm sure there are Citroen books just the same, but we customers will never get to see them.
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Post by Oscar Too »

Russek manuals are curious, sometimes have their own internal logic and don't cover everything that the Haynes says it covers, but what they do, they do well, imho.
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Post by Forth »

With the Russek manuals --- have a magnifying glass handy, and get ready to catch pages that fall out.
Someone mentioned Autobooks.... what did happen to them? Used to like their manuals from the 70s/80s, much better than Haynes.
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Post by fastandfurryous »

The only Russek manual I have is an utter disaster. Loads and loads of errors, and some information that is plain wrong. I will never use another one again. To be honest all I ever use manuals for these days is for specifications and exploded diagrams. The instructions are a waste of time.
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