The Haynes Owner's Workshop Manuals (commonly known as simply Haynes Manuals) are a series of practical manuals from the Haynes Publishing Group (LSE: HYNS) aimed at both DIY enthusiasts and professional garage mechanics. The series primarily focuses upon the maintenance and repair of automotive vehicles, covering a wide range of makes and models (300 models of car and 130 models of motorcycle), but it also includes manuals in the same style for domestic appliances and personal computers, digital photography and model railways, men[1] and babies,[2] sex,[3] and women.[4] The last four were made slightly tongue in cheek, but have proved very popular.
Additionally they have released manuals based on popular fictional series including Star Trek[5] and Thomas and Friends.[6]
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The Haynes manuals are named after John Haynes, OBE. In 1956, when he was at school, he wrote and published a book on building a 'special' based on the Austin 7, and wrote two further books while performing national service in the Royal Air Force.[7] Haynes Publishing was founded in 1960 and the first manual actually entitled "Haynes Owners Workshop Manual", for the Austin-Healey Sprite, was published in 1965.
Many Haynes Manuals bear a cover illustration of a cutaway view technical drawing of the vehicle, hand-drawn by Terry Davey, and they bear his signature.
The automotive vehicle manuals are based upon taking apart and putting together a vehicle. The cover of each manual states: "based on a complete stripdown and rebuild". Each section has step-by-step instructions with diagrams and photographs of an actual stripdown or rebuild.
Manuals for garage professionals include books such as the Automotive Diesel Engine Service Guide, the Automotive Air Conditioning TechBook, Citroën and Peugeot Engine Management Systems, and two Engine Management and Fuel Injection Systems Pin Tables and Wiring Diagrams TechBook volumes.
Haynes manuals are published in 15 languages: English (including British, American and Australian variants), French, Swedish, Chinese, Japanese, German, Czech, Finnish, Polish, Bulgarian, Hebrew, Greek, Danish, Spanish (including American Spanish versions), and Russian.
The company is based in Sparkford, a village near Yeovil in Somerset, England. The Haynes International Motor Museum, the largest motor museum in the UK, is also in Yeovil, and it is home to a large collection of both classic and modern cars, and many rarities.
Haynes manuals are written by a pair of authors, and take between 20 and 30 man-weeks.[8] A car or motorcycle is bought at the beginning of the project and sold at the end.[9] Although the workshop phase of the project usually lasts for roughly four weeks,[8] the vehicle is usually retained for a couple of months to ensure it is functioning correctly.[9]
Sometimes special tools are needed to make repairs. Haynes manuals generally suggest an alternative that will work as a one-off job rather than buying or making a special tool. The tooling often is only available to authorised dealers; indeed this is part of the reason people go to them. Haynes manuals never recommend percussive maintenance.
Haynes generally has the co-operation of the manufacturers to provide technical information such as mechanical tolerances and wiring diagrams. This may seem against their own interests since servicing can cost 40% of the cost of the vehicle over its lifetime, but manufacturers get loyalty by providing customers with information that lets them fix their vehicle, to their ability, or at least diagnose the fault before taking it to a garage.[10] Over the lifetime of a vehicle, the aftermarket is worth perhaps as much as the new cost price of the vehicle, so the manufacturer still gets a significant revenue from the spare parts, and the longer a vehicle lasts, the more so.