Low cost service manual + pdf of owners manual, Hmmmmm

[Ciscokidz]

Found a service manual CD on Ebay here http://www.ebay.com/itm/270848880633...84.m1497.l2649

Seemed a bit odd, but for less than $20 bucks delivered I took a shot. It turns out to be a rather complete service manual, plus some other nice trinkets like the pdf owners manual I've looked for (can't get why Audi doesn't post that!). I'm kinda just looking through this,, here's some examples:





Here's how it came, in a wrapper from the UK saying they were an authorized distributor:



I've bought the Bentley, and was just thinking this was some sort of 3rd party basic manual, but it looks a lot deeper. Might be pirated, which I don't like and would have to toss, but at least the electronic owner manual is worth it to me, and I figure I own a legit copy of that, so this is just saving me the laborious process of digitizing the manual for my own use....!

[NWS4Guy]

Wow that is a steal for what you get!

[kausbose]

Found a service manual CD on Ebay here http://www.ebay.com/itm/270848880633...84.m1497.l2649

Seemed a bit odd, but for less than $20 bucks delivered I took a shot. It turns out to be a rather complete service manual, plus some other nice trinkets like the pdf owners manual I've looked for (can't get why Audi doesn't post that!). I'm kinda just looking through this,, here's some examples:





Here's how it came, in a wrapper from the UK saying they were an authorized distributor:



I've bought the Bentley, and was just thinking this was some sort of 3rd party basic manual, but it looks a lot deeper. Might be pirated, which I don't like and would have to toss, but at least the electronic owner manual is worth it to me, and I figure I own a legit copy of that, so this is just saving me the laborious process of digitizing the manual for my own use....!

Say what, I Paypal you $10 and you upload a copy of the disc?

[Ciscokidz]

Yes covers almost everything in good detail, comparing to the Bentley and this is comparable, though it assumes some base Audi knowledge....Gotta spend some more time with it....

[Ciscokidz]

Say what, I Paypal you $10 and you upload a copy of the disc?

Homey don't play that......posted the Ebay link from the seller but whatever this is I don't want to violate copyright......

[caitovS4]

Wow, with shipping it was still less than $15.
Thanks for the link.

[gringoloco2000]

Ordered one. Thanks for the tip. It can't be fake, it is not from China. lol

[mdma2004]

Is there info about S4 such as engine, trans, diff? Or is this strictly for A4? Thanks!

[Ciscokidz]

Is there info about S4 such as engine, trans, diff? Or is this strictly for A4? Thanks!

All the S4 stuff is there, 3.0 TFSI, coolant differences, both trans, etc.

[netwrkr]

This looks to be the same stuff available on Erwin?

[NWS4Guy]

Is there info about S4 such as engine, trans, diff? Or is this strictly for A4? Thanks!

For engine related, here is the B8 S4 study guide online - http://forums.quattroworld.com/s4b8/msgs/15100.phtml

[mdma2004]

I've seen this a long time ago, thanks for the link, maybe its my ipad but i can't see any pics in there when i open that pdf

For engine related, here is the B8 S4 study guide online - http://forums.quattroworld.com/s4b8/msgs/15100.phtml

Ciscokidz - thats good info, ordered!

[jimf15e]

Ordered mine today, great find! $15 delivered.

[geektoad]

Ordered one last night, thanks for the heads up!

[NWS4Guy]

I've seen this a long time ago, thanks for the link, maybe its my ipad but i can't see any pics in there when i open that pdf



Ciscokidz - thats good info, ordered!

It's a large file, might take some time to load all the data and images - don't forget the iPad is an ARM (a smartphone type) processor, and doesn't have a ton of power.

[Ciscokidz]

Well good news bad news. The good news is this is a very detailed manual of our cars and covers all components, from engine to trans to electric to interior! The bad news? It's almost certainly a pirated Audi service manual of some sort, complete with copyright watermarks, etc. The disk itself has Audi logo, but lacks copyright stampings so it was just printed on, and the "Authorized Distributor" sleeve doesn't say Audi authorized, and upon a closer inspection it looks like it was just printed on a laser printer. In my professional life, I spend a great deal of time fighting (mostly Chinese and Russian) counterfeit parts, particularly electronic components and aviation parts, which can literally have life or death consequences and are flooding the civilian and military markets, so I can't stomach this (Did you know a counterfeit and inaccurate key avionics part made it through the supply chain and was nearly installed on Marine One? Caught at the last minute by a very observant technician!). I'm going to send a note to AoA just pointing out the source, they will likely shut him down in due time (though it is always shocking to me how long companies take to act on this stuff), everyone else judge for yourself what you do, no one actually goes after the buyers (well, except RIAA and they've stopped) so no legal worries here, just a sense of right and wrong. I personally don't do bootleg movies or MP3's and I don't want to rip off intellectual property, even from a big overly-profitable carmaker, as they need that money to over design my next gen "S".......

Sorry to have brought this up, I'll give it a week so others who receive it can chime in, someone else post up if you look at the manual and think I'm wrong, I truly want to be.... :(

[NWS4Guy]

I support this stance Cisco - I wondered why so cheap when it was apparently very detailed and very Audi Tech looking.

[gringoloco2000]

Good points Cisco. I already ordered this so I guess I will have to live with the guilt. I also avoid pirated stuff. Unfortunately, you can easily purchase the fake stuff unintentionally. An alternative to this CD manual would be what I did a few weeks ago. I signed up for ERWIN for a day ($35) and downloaded every PDF I could get my hands for my S4 and Q7. Unfortunately they had some PDFs locked where you had to pay more money to access them on a document by document basis. I used to buy the Bentley manual CDs/DVDs for my VWs, but I guess ERWIN is the only way you can get this info now. I think I got 98% of the manuals as PDF legally off ERWIN for what that is worth. What I liked about the old Bentley Manuals and how this works is the easy search features. I think the $35 for 24 hours is worth it on ERWIN since you can get almost all PDFs and you can print out all of the TSBs.

[Ciscokidz]

Good points Cisco. I already ordered this so I guess I will have to live with the guilt. I also avoid pirated stuff. Unfortunately, you can easily purchase the fake stuff unintentionally. An alternative to this CD manual would be what I did a few weeks ago. I signed up for ERWIN for a day ($35) and downloaded every PDF I could get my hands for my S4 and Q7. Unfortunately they had some PDFs locked where you had to pay more money to access them on a document by document basis. I used to buy the Bentley manual CDs/DVDs for my VWs, but I guess ERWIN is the only way you can get this info now. I think I got 98% of the manuals as PDF legally off ERWIN for what that is worth. What I liked about the old Bentley Manuals and how this works is the easy search features. I think the $35 for 24 hours is worth it on ERWIN since you can get almost all PDFs and you can print out all of the TSBs.

Great tip! I'll do this as I always find different sources will have some additional info, and I tend to tinker and explore so gotta have manuals. I blew a fuse doing something a couple of months ago and it took hours to figure out which one as even that basic info is in the manual but not labeled well by function. Bought the Bentley manual the next day, but wish it came in hardcopy + CD.....

[gringoloco2000]

For those not familiar with ERWIN, here is the URL. The site is sort of strange sort of illogical, but you can get a lot of manuals and info for $35. https://erwin.audiusa.com

[FourRingRider]

Any chance u could upload the pdf version of the owners manual - I am certain it would benefit many of us on here...

[Stubek]

Any chance u could upload the pdf version of the owners manual - I am certain it would benefit many of us on here...

Read post number 5
Read post 17
Rethink your question.

[kausbose]

Read post number 5
Read post 17
Rethink your question.

I was the first person to have asked the question. I think it was a valid question to begin with. Because unlike some people who were believing that they were getting the "real thing" for $15 and buying it by the dozen, I was sure it was pirated. Everyone that ordered here supported the piracy. All we asked was to pass it forward, since the pirated version is out there.

Now if you indeed want to clamp it down. We should destroy all copies bought and put and end to this thread. But wait how will you know that all copies were indeed destroyed. So I think we are in the gray area here and it's not unethical to ask for a copy.

That again is the way I see it. And yes I pay for my audio and my video (the legal way). Plagiarism/Piracy cannot be stopped by clamping it down. You need to give it away to stop it.

[FourRingRider]

I just asked for the owners manual - NOT the entire CD. I figured it would be good to have a copy floating around the forum for people to reference. It is for the greater cause... Why play hero?

[kausbose]

I just asked for the owners manual - NOT the entire CD. I figured it would be good to have a copy floating around the forum for people to reference. It is for the greater cause... Why play hero?

And I think we paid for the user manual when we paid the the $60k something for the cars we drive around.

[FourRingRider]

And I think we paid for the user manual when we paid the the $60k something for the cars we drive around.

+1

[IvanS4]

Am I the only one that doesn't care if Audi makes enough money from its service manual sales? Realistically, unless you run a repair shop then there's no justification for spending several hundred dollars on a repair manual, so none (or few) of us would have purchased it anyway. It's the equivalent of pirating AutoCAD ($4000) to design your own garage - if you had to get something legitimate then you'd use another less expensive tool.

I'm not trying to convince anyone that they shouldn't be legit when it comes to software/books/etc, but I just want to point out that Audi isn't going to lose anything substantial as the vast majority of Audi owners aren't going to shell out lots of money for service manuals.

[sworksone]

Am I the only one that doesn't care if Audi makes enough money from its service manual sales? Realistically, unless you run a repair shop then there's no justification for spending several hundred dollars on a repair manual, so none (or few) of us would have purchased it anyway. It's the equivalent of pirating AutoCAD ($4000) to design your own garage - if you had to get something legitimate then you'd use another less expensive tool.

I'm not trying to convince anyone that they shouldn't be legit when it comes to software/books/etc, but I just want to point out that Audi isn't going to lose anything substantial as the vast majority of Audi owners aren't going to shell out lots of money for service manuals.

Exactly how I feel. I'm more than happy to pay my 99-cents on iTunes, but who is losing out with me ordering this? I did completely guilt free.

[Ciscokidz]

Well was going to just walk away from this thread, but want to at least add my $.02 on the owners manual: look I ordered this thinking it was probably a 3rd party low level "Chiltons light" type manual, did NOT at all think I was getting something pirated, so I have zero guilt about my order. Moreover, I actually agree with the posts saying we should freely have and share the owners manual: Audi is just bizarre and pretty much alone in not making these types of documents easily available and free, I can download the manual for any household appliance, electronics, and pretty much every other car I own, so I'm kinda hoping they see these threads and can see that nearly all of us want that. It's kinda like owning a CD, and ripping it down for personal use, or simply scanning the manual and PDF'ing for our own use: We "own" a physical copy, so there's pretty good case law and common acceptance that we can digitize, back up, or otherwise change the consumption form for that information.

That said, sharing for me is just not right, at least in my book. So no matter what an above poster believes, I'm done, shredded the disk and will sleep well with no temptations. Just me, if you want a $15 pdf owners manual I feel you, you know how to get it, destroy the rest and be happy if that's your desire, unfortunately I can't share it anymore even if I wanted to. Not judgemental if someone else chooses to share , shoulda kept that part of the disk in retrospect, but just reacted and got rid of the whole thing, so now I'm just back to complaining about a lack of a legit online copy (year specific Audi if you are listening!) which I will put in my note to AoA....

Audi, where the (expletive deleted) are our online manuals?

Cheers!

[Ciscokidz]

Well for what it's worth I sent an inquiry to the Ebay seller asking him where these came from and how he was allowed to sell them, here's his answer:

"Hi there,

It is not a pirated CD, these are manuals which are in the public domain here in the UK and so long as the manuals in themselves remain full and untouched they can be passed on with only a small charge for time/handling/packaging purposes. If you go to car shows or computer fairs here you will find these manuals are readily available in both electronic and print format. Also there are many other sellers on Ebay selling the same manuals with varying menu formats. The same is true not only for Audi but for many car companies here in the UK, a good look through ebay and you will see many of these.
Car companies including Audi UK are aware of these CDs and happy with their existence so long as there are no changes to the actual manuals themselves.
Maybe things are different in the US and maybe the CDs should not be shipped there? I don't know.
Regards,


- surplussid"

Sounds dubious, but I'll contact some colleagues in the UK on Monday and see if I can verify this, now I'm sort of wanting to get to the bottom of this!

[Stubek]

I got mine in the mail this morning and noticed it does not have the 8speed transmission in it...seems like it has must everything else.