On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 21:22:04 -0500, Bill Putney > wrote:

||
||Except, after I had learned my lesson years earlier on aftermarket
||manuals, a few months after I bought my daughter a used car, the very
||first opportunity that came up for diagnosis and repair of an electrical
||problem, in a weak moment, I went down the street and sprung for a whole
||$13 for a Haynes manual. Due to a visibly hidden fuse that was not
||shown in the "TYPICAL" schematics of the Haynes, I ended up replacing a
||perfectly good factory alternator when all that was wrong was that the
||in-line fuse that the manual did not show had mechanically fractured.

With all due respect, that's just not good basic diagnostics. Every parts store
worth giving your business to has an alternator tester. A quick check would have
told you the problem was elsewhere. That's not excusing the omission, but there
is some shared responsibility here.
Haynes is advertised as a "Tuneup and repair *guide*". They do not pretend
to be a substitute for the FSM, but for the money they are a good alternative,
and the only company currently providing one. And yes, some Haynes books are
better than others.
Texas Parts Guy