What is the best or forum-recommended shop/service manual? (1985 Grand Marquis)

[next24]

Hi all,

I only have a small Haynes manual for my 1985 MGM. I want to start fixing more things on my car and I think it's time to get one of the huge shop manuals for it. I noticed that the one they're selling on Rock Auto only covers engine/electrical instead of every system of the car.

Is there a specific brand of shop manual that would be the recommended edition that covers all systems for the 1985 Grand Marquis?

[friskyfrankie]

Hi all,

I only have a small Haynes manual for my 1985 MGM. I want to start fixing more things on my car and I think it's time to get one of the huge shop manuals for it. I noticed that the one they're selling on Rock Auto only covers engine/electrical instead of every system of the car.

Is there a specific brand of shop manual that would be the recommended edition that covers all systems for the 1985 Grand Marquis?

See if you can find the OEM Shop Manual/s, perhaps on EBAY.

[sly]

+1 the original Ford shop manuals are about it for good shop manuals for the boxes. And yeah eBay is about the best place to find them. FB Marketplace might have something, but they may not want to ship.

[kishy]

+1 for the Ford books. The Haynes book is a helpful guide for someone who doesn't dip in too deep and still farms out complex repairs to a shop. Chilton's tends to be a little better in that regard but the Ford books give you the same information the dealer service technicians had access to when these cars were new.

You can also access factory service data online at charm.li and lemon-manuals.la
These websites are built using probably-pirated data from applications like Mitchell and AllData, which themselves sourced the data from the original Ford documentation.

The factory service manuals turn up somewhat regularly on eBay.

• Electrical & Vacuum Troubleshooting Manual. Example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/386792967345
• Body, Chassis, Electrical. Example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/198534916059
• Powertrain, Lubrication, Maintenance. Example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/336111259984
• Engine/Emissions Diagnosis. Example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/142602453626

Sometimes you can find someone selling a set of them. Sometimes it's a better deal than buying them all individually, sometimes it isn't. Example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/358880370489
But note this is missing the Engine/Emissions Diagnosis book which can be useful for navigating the factory EFI stuff sometimes.

Always remember that if you add items to your watch list and wait a couple days, some sellers will send a lower price offer, so if you can wait you might save a few bucks.

[DerekTheGreat]

^^^great information right there. You definitely want to collect the whole set as they tend to cross reference one another.

[next24]

So, I take it there are no current/new production manuals that are as complete as the Ford ones? I was hoping to avoid having to collect old manuals through eBay, but if that's what I need to do, I'll do it. charm.li has some info, but it seems like it's missing most of what I would expect to find in a shop service manual.

The library downtown has access to Mitchell ProDemand, from which I believe I should be able to make printouts. Has anyone used this and does it have good information?

[friskyfrankie]

So, I take it there are no current/new production manuals that are as complete as the Ford ones? I was hoping to avoid having to collect old manuals through eBay, but if that's what I need to do, I'll do it. charm.li has some info, but it seems like it's missing most of what I would expect to find in a shop service manual.

The library downtown has access to Mitchell ProDemand, from which I believe I should be able to make printouts. Has anyone used this and does it have good information?

As previously stated, the OEM manuals would be best if you are serious about repairing your own car or simply wish to be more knowledgeable about it. Shortcuts are sometimes nice but not in this case.

[next24]

As previously stated, the OEM manuals would be best if you are serious about repairing your own car or simply wish to be more knowledgeable about it. Shortcuts are sometimes nice but not in this case.

Just to be clear, are you saying that ProDemand is a shortcut? I was under the impression that they took info from OEM manuals anyway.

[friskyfrankie]

Just to be clear, are you saying that ProDemand is a shortcut? I was under the impression that they took info from OEM manuals anyway.

I have no personal experience with that format so it is up to you to determine if they provide COMPLETE access to the entire information that is in the OEM manuals. Also have no idea of what their pricing is so is it cheaper than just getting the manuals? In addition to the manuals, you can always look up any recall or TSB info.

[kishy]

Mitchell and AllData are both directly sourced from OEM manuals (and that is what charm.li and the other one are - they are direct copies of AllData specifically).
The information is often literally a scan of a page in the OEM manual.

My suggestion is, and always will be, if you love the car and plan to keep it, buy the original books. They aren't perfect but they're as close as is possible.

[gadget73]

Another thing the OE manuals get you that the online doesn't is a generally clearer image. The scans are not super high resolution so you may run into situations where something just isn't legible, or the formatting is dumb because its a multi-page image and its split weirdly. I also just personally find a paper book a whole lot easier to look at when I'm actually working on the car vs trying to read stuff on my phone.

one thing you do get with charm.li are the TSB (technical service bulletins) for your car. A lot of it will be nonsense things like what updated but still long-obsolete carpet shampoo Ford suggests but there are useful things like updated part numbers or modifications to fix some problem. Can be useful if you run into something that doesn't match the book. There are also sometimes corrections to things in the book.

[DerekTheGreat]

I like having the books right in front of me too. Guess I'd rather get those pages greasy than my phone or some laptop and then have to wait for the internet to stabilize only to load the wrong page..

[Pvt.Hudson]

Do wonder how far back the Ford service CD/DVDs go back. I have a Ford Service CD that will only work in Win 98 VM and I think its 93-95. Then I have a few others. The newest one 06-09 I have was time limited so you have to change the date on PC to use it or use Runasdate. Also a lot of them have script errors that you have to fix that if you want the diagrams to display and run a old ass version of adobe.

Thinking Ford probably didn't offer service CDs for anything earlier then 93 but its possible, I know the publisher for the SM's was Helm.

[gadget73]

I don't think they went digital on the service stuff until the early 90s. My 91 Mark VII manuals are all on paper.

thats actually another advantage of paper, it doesn't require old software to view. Its also solar powered and carbon-neutral.

[sly]

I have the 93/94 CD and it runs on a WinXP VM currently. I've not seen anything older than that on disc.