Here’s my Merry Chrimmas present to anyone with a Ford Truck, and a shoutout to the Ford F150 Forum.  The factory shop manual.

After owning an F150 for since 1998, I finally broke down and got the manual, since now it had 198,000 miles on it and I couldn’t see my way clear to paying the shop to figure out why the EGR system was broken.

The thing of it is…  my truck got totaled a few weeks ago.  Worked out pretty well, actually – nobody got hurt, insurance paid out enough to buy a newer Dodge Neon that gets over 30mpg vs the 12mpg the truck got, and all things considered, it was easier and less painful than replacing the ball joints, the exhaust manifold and figuring out the EGR mystery.

All except for the thing about the car that totaled me out was a Toyota Prius.  (“I can’t believe you killed a Prius” sez my wife.  The truth is, the Prius flung itself to it’s own death into the maw of the oncoming F150, but still.) I’m still trying to figure out the carbon offset.  Is it better to retire a gas hog F150 and pull a Neon into service for many more of the last miles than the Great Spirit of the Detroit Automakers  ever intended it to go, or should I have lined up for a New Car that was electric, or a hybrid?   I tend to think driving some hoopty Neon into the ground is the responsible thing to do…

So, if you need a Ford truck shop manual, click this linky.  It’s about 270mb, so get yourself a nice cuppa coffee.  It cost me $10.  If you want to show some love and chip into my beer fund, then by all means, click here:

And here’s to a great New Year!  Thanks for all the support…

Oh.  And if you’re interested, this is what a Toyota Prius looks like after kissing a Ford F150: