I just downloaded a PDF factory shop manual for my gen 3 GC for $4.99. I was a little leary about it because it wasn't described as a factory shop manual and I have had past experience of getting photocopied junk with these cheap downloads. But, I thought for $5 I don't have a lot to lose. This one turned out to be great with an interactive table of contents even. There are manuals for a lot of other vehicles on this page http://motors.shop.ebay.com/dexlab10/m.html

 

thanks for the info.--i have been checking out the haynes manual from local library for the caravan.

if you have a haynes manual, then would you say the pdf you described would be superior. I will wait for your response. thanks lots.

 

When I buy and old vehicle I try to get as many manuals as I can. They all seem to fall short of having "complete" information. Haynes manuals are always a disappointment for me because they are mostly useless information like "how to completely rebuild your generic engine". They have almost no trouble shooting information and their pictures are terrible. I could go on and on and on and...... PDF manuals are a bit of a pain to navigate though and use because it is more difficult to flip through pages than a paper book. If you can live with that, the factory manual is WAY WAY better. $5 well spent for me. I got the 97-2000 Town and Country manual. It covers all the model variations.

When you buy the PDF manual you are almost immediately emailed a link to the download site. The downloaded file is zipped so you will need a zip program to extract it. I use a program called 7-zip. It is a free downloaded program, not a free trial. The extracted file is 232MB and contains subfolders for 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000. Inside of these "year" subfiles are PDF files containing the info on different areas of your vehicle. At the bottom of the list of "chapter" files is is a PDF file called "ETAB". This is the interactive table of contents. Clicking on the chapter in the table of contents will take you to that chapter. Once in the chapter, clicking onthe interactive menu on the left will take you dirrectly to the topic.

Another nice thing about this format is, you can copy the entire book onto a data traveller and give it to a friend without any worry about compromising your friendship. Because you don't have to worry about him damaging or losing it.

 

Dear Blaime, thank you for your thorough explanation of how to get the pdf file in my hand. I plan to do this asap. I don't have paypal account yet. I imagine that I will get someone to buy it for me that has a paypal account and have that person list my email address so that i can download. I will also load pdf on a zip drive as a backup.

thankyou again for your time.

 

I should add that the manual which is best for you depends on what information you require and how comfortable you are working on vehicles. The Haynes manual MAY be ok if all you want to do is change a fuse or spark plugs or replace your front brake pads. Most of the pages in the Haynes are useless for anything other than cleaning your hands if you don't have a shop towel handy. The factory manual is very thorough and quite technical. It may be intimidating if you are a beginner. Although I am not a technician, I have been messing with vehicles for 45 years. A lot of what is in the factory manual is over my head. But I don't mind learning. For me it is not enough just to have a vehicle that is drivable until it breaks down. I like to "know" my vehicle. Sooooo........ What you get should be based on what you want. Do you want a tabloid newspaper or do you want a medical text book.

I hope this helps.

 

Very cool. I may have to do that... i have one for my VW jetta. You can do so much with them, even post them here haha