anyway; the tool seems to have worked so far, it grabbed about 350K files from the service manual site before i stopped it (looked to be grabbing some recursive files outside of the crosstrek manual)
its parsing right now to convert to offline viewing but once its done i'll report back if it load correctly while offline.
Before everyone gets too excited, I just want to clarify is it any different than the service manual? In theory, the service manual is what's delivered to the dealer.
FSM is full service manual, that in fully indexed pdf form is the holy grail. All I have found for the newer models is a set of PDFs split into sections.
If anyone does subscribe to the site, check to see if the engine bay fuse box matches the one in your 2018-2019 Crosstrek. The section I bought from factory-manuals.com does not, and they say the got it fro Subaru this week.
....ya' know, some people (like me) think it was reasonable for manufacturers to charge money for their service manuals when they had to go to all the expense of printing and shipping them; but that with PDF manuals, they should give them away at no charge...
....ya' know, some people (like me) think it was reasonable for manufacturers to charge money for their service manuals when they had to go to all the expense of printing and shipping them; but that with PDF manuals, they should give them away at no charge...
Even with PDF manuals, I believe that there should be some level of charge by the manufacturers as they still had to put the manual together and as with any document released to the general public (rather than just internal use), there's some level of additional work that is done so that it's fit for public consumption. That additional effort and cost should be reasonably compensated for.
In addition, I can understand why Subaru (or any OEM for that matter) is concerned about copyright as these documents are their product and other publishers should not benefit from Subaru's efforts nor should bits of the document be taken out of context or potentially altered as it might be a safety concern for the public. Service manuals should be available in it's entirety and unaltered.
Having said the above, if the service manual is available to the public, then Subaru should make it more public friendly with additional sections that cover 'generally accepted' Subaru practices to make it easier for new Subaru owners to understand the 'Subaru way'.
The "Subaru way" is way different than Toyota. Having printed factory manuals (Toyota) vs a cryptic (to me) access for a limited time that offers little in the way of "how to". Not being able to disable systems when needed (ABS for one) without disabling other needed ones. Now granted I'm an old geezer that is definitely not embracing the direction technology is going. Some of it is very good, others not so much...
For those of you who are interested in a "off-line" service manual:
I used an on-line service where they use your VIN number and have some sort of script that will get all the service information specific to your car from the Subaru tech site. I got a single 8000-page pdf, complete with an index. It includes all the manuals as well as all the technical information (aka service manual). Not as clearly presented as printed old-style Honda service manuals, but pretty good and very useful for a DIY like me.
They are legit - at least they provide the product that they advertise.
From their about Website: About Us
Who are we?
We are a multinational company with employees all over the world. our head office is in Dubai, UAE.
What exactly do we offer you?
We offer you the exact repair manual, created for your exact car, and we do that, using your VIN car number.
We respect the copyright of the manufacturer, and we make sure that these pdf files can not be multiplied.
The expression "in stock" is imposed by Google. We do not actually have any manual in stock, but we can create any manual requested by the customer.
It's legit from my experience. I provided them with the VIN number, and they use it to get the service info from the Subaru tech site pertaining to my specific car (based on the VIN). The VIN and my name / email is embedded in the PDF.
Now I have an off-line document where I can search for specific stuff when I am repairing or modifying something
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