Serious question....

Since I have fixed my own cars for so long, maybe > 30 years...
I usually look at forums for DIYs etc.
Forum DIYs are not perfect, they have their own issues but at least it is real-world experience,
rusty bolts, broken this and that, tips/tricks, certain ghetto tools etc., stuff you won't find in the Service Manuals.

So, in the modern world of forums and DIYs, is there any need for Bentley or Haynes or Chilton manuals?

Absolutely. I always use them in conjunction as some DIYs won't provide torque specs or other necessary (in my eyes) information. But, I always take the workshop manual with a grain of salt as well. For example, TIS will ROUTINELY have you do work that is unnecessary or can be worked around fairly easily.

Besides that, many of the "in the weeds" jobs will not have been covered by a DIY because of their difficulty and tool requirements. For example, replacing the transmission in our E70 diesel. I made a walk through for that kind of... but very few are going to be following in my footsteps to do that job. :dunno:

When doing a specific job I find the best course of action to consult DIYs if I can find some, YouTube vids, and TIS to come up with my plan of attack. :thumbup:

Unfortunately, forums are a dying form of information sharing for a multitude of reasons. I have been a member on more than one that has folded due to owners closing shop. And I refuse to have a Facebook, IG, Twitter, etc account. :D

more info=better repairs
 

I'd say YES, because the more you know (learned from everywhere) the better-off you are. I learned to trust print manuals, as gospel, but if another source will show you a better way to do a repair, then why not?

I've been working on my own cars since 1965, long before there were forums or the internet (got my first PC in '88, but didn't find any forums giving worthwhile info about my vehicles at that time...it was only in '94-95 where I found a good forum Chevelles.com, that gave me tips I could use). Since then, I've used dozens of forums as an information storehouse.

Back in the day, I relied on older DIY guys, friends of friends mostly (and one of my grandfathers), and experienced parts-store guys (mom & pop stores) to get me going in the right direction, then just winging it.

It wasn't until I attended a GM Tech school that I discovered the benefits of a "workshop manual" (each of the students was given a '72 Buick Chassis Service Manual (we practically disassembled and rebuilt a '72 Riviera in class). I kept and used that manual to work on dozens of GM cars over the years, though it got inadvertently destroyed in '17, when we demolished and replaced our house. I asked around, and found aftermarket workshop manuals for my other cars (VW's and a Volvo) during the 70's, but in the 80's, I lived in apartments (& had no access to my parent's or grandfathers's garages), so I relied on stealerships, mostly, for major repairs, that I couldn't do out in a parking lot (using Chilton or Haynes manuals).

In the 90's-present, with my own 3-car garage...when it wasn't full of my wife's "collectible" junk (since '17), lawn & garden equipment (since '19), and my home-built trailer (since '12), her old/broken Fiero (from '02-17), my old Chevelle (from '94-'21, during which time I had collected 100 lbs of manuals and other print data for it)...at least I had some room for major projects, and had manuals, tools, and DYI info from the web to help me.

I also had a "master-mechanic/engine builder" friend's home shop (48x60?, with every tool imaginable) to work on my cars, but he was 50+ miles away, and we parted ways in '12, so I was back on my own after that.

But, at first, after acquiring the X5, there was only room in the open to park it/work on it, and no factory (or aftermarket) manuals I could easily access, except for the info sourced from the web, so I have only tried minor repairs on it so far; I use my diagnostic tools to find them, then research forums and my collected databases about the problem(s), gather tools & parts needed to perform the repair, and finally get it done as quickly as I can (if conditions are favorable) in my driveway (a sloping sand, gravel, and leaf-covered excuse for one).

Thanks to this forum (and a few other BMW-specific forums, as well) and its' members, I now can find just about all the info I can use on the X5, but still have to pick my spot & time for working on it, outside, amid all the dust-dirt-sand-leaves-critters that make long project cycles impossible. Still waiting for the wife to move her Lexus out of the single garage bay I could use, but she's been ill, I don't know how long I need to occupy HER SPACE, and I'm in no hurry to take the X5 apart

thanks, this is a high quality scan. i already bought the hard copy book, but I'd rather have it in PDF as a easily searchable reference.

Thank you for your kind assistance. This will be very beneficial when I am covered in diesel and only need to destroy a couple of pages instead of a whole book.
Jeff :thumbup:

Looks like the link expired or was deleted. Would you kindly repost?

Plus one on the link..... Deleted/gone already :(

The actual book is much nicer and I would imagine it shouldn't be that hard to get a used one.

The whole thread is about how hard the book is to obtain though.....

Edit: I've given up and bought one new from Booktopia US $116 brand new

https://www.booktopia.com.au/bmw-x5-...837616438.html

There are lots on Ebay and periodically come up on here too. I think it's more that some people want free.