Bay Window Repair Manuals by Richard Atwell (c) Copyright 2003-2011

There are several repair manuals written for the 68-79 bus but the most important ones are the official service manuals from VW. They have the most detail, the clearest pictures, the most complete tables but sometimes they tend to lack in fine details of procedure sometimes. Even so, they are indispensable books for keeping your bus in top condition.

• Manual Covers
• Notes
• Versions
• Other Colors
• Fuel Injection Manuals

You need to be aware that there are two books: one is commonly referred to as "the Bentley" because it's published by Robert Bentley Publishers. It's the green book that everyone has. The other book, the so-called yellow/orange book, is somewhat rarer: the workshop VW Repair Manual that some of the Bentley is culled from. It only covers select years but there is valuable information not contained in Bentley covering gas heater repair, Campmobiles, all the transmissions and more. You need the green book first and then you should supplement it with the yellow/orange or online resources.

Manual Covers:

Versions:

Only the latest version of the Bentley is available from RB. If you are shopping on eBay, be aware that many versions exists so check the cover and ask the seller for details. If you are looking for color wiring diagrams then you have to refine you search even more.

All ISBNs were verified at the Library of Congress. Unfortunately their search engine uses cookies which makes it difficult to link to from this page.

Notes:

• (1) - the full title of the blue manual is "Volkswagen service manual. Hints on the repair and maintenance of the 1968-1970 model Volkswagen; station wagon, delivery van, pick up, double cab". [Wolfsburg, Ger., 1970] x, 332 p. illus. 28 cm.

• That $12.95 price on the first green manual: what a deal.

• At one time the VW Repair Manuals were available from the dealer but I do not know when the last time someone tried to order one.

• There is an early print run of 79 Bentleys with color wiring diagrams. eBay is the only source for these and you can sometimes identify one usually by the lower than normal sticker price in the bottom corner but please confirm this with the seller before bidding. Manuals appear on eBay all the time. They are often of the new or really dirty and worn varieties.

• Note: The first edition yellow/orange manual while it contains color wiring diagrams it has no section on the BA6 gas heater or campmobile.

• The yellow/orange manual is a printed version of the "Volkswagen Type 2: 1975-1979 Official Factory Microfiche Archived on CD-ROM" that Bentley sells. It's interesting to note they have a "W42 028 120 CD" part number associated with it (matches the book number). The CDs include info up to 1979 where as the yellow/orange book was last published in 6/78 and only contains information until 1978 models. Bentley sells that CD, VFT2 for $99.95. They also sell VFAC, which is two CDs and contains both the VTF2 CD and a Type 1,3,4,181 CD for the same price, go figure. I talked with Bentley about this and they were going to eliminate the Type 2 only CD because there was no value in it compared to buying the set.

• The CD contains scans of the workshop manuals. Microfiche is very misleading because there are no parts fiches on the CD. I suspect the name came about because this material was stored in fiche form at one time. Because the pages are scanned, you cannot search for text. Worse, it the information is protected by the Ebahn software you have to install. Even though the information is stored in PDF format you must use the eBahn software to view it. I recommend buying the printed workshop manuals instead of the CD.

• Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft is more commonly referred to as VWAG. AG is German for corporation and prior to July 1960 VW was a limited company (GmbH).

Other Colors:

VW colored coded their workshop manuals. Here are some example of other versions. Red is the Rabbit Pickup, green the Rabbit and Scirocco and blue Dasher.

Fuel Injection :

As far as fuel injection manuals go there is the wordy Bentley and the Yellow/orange workshop manual which reiterates the same information (Bentley is based on it actually). There is also "Bosch Fuel Injection & Engine Management" by Charles Probst which covers all types of Bosch FI.

Everyone knows about these but the best kept secret is the ProTraining manual that VW produced to train their own mechanics. If only the grease monkeys that service most FI buses these days had this manual I'm sure there would be a lot less FI buses running carbs now.

Unfortunately the manual is no longer produced by VW. I recently called VW/Audi Publications (1-800-544-8021) to verify this. When it was available it was $30 or so. eBay is your best bet at finding one and the prices seem to range from $21 and up ($I saw 76 bid once). The manual isn't that rare that you need to panic at the end of the auction. Plenty of mechanics were issued manuals and they are put up for sale quite often.

ProTraining Manual Vanagon / Type 2 Fuel Systems Part Number WSP 521 148 00

This manual has been scanned by the excellent Greg Potts.

If you can't locate the Pro Training manual, there is a similar manual produced back during baywindow production that is also appropriate. It's called AFC FI Troubleshooting.

AFC (Air Flow Controlled) Fuel Injection TroubleShooting Type 2 Model 1976 Part Number US 42-00-5955-1 Printed in Germany 12/75

This 76 manual covers both 76 FI models so it's ideal for all models except it lacks information about the O2 sensor on 79 CA models (Bentley covers it anyway).

VW produced several manuals in this series for diagnosing the air/fuel induction systems of their other models, including carburetors and CIS FI.

Bus Depot used to sell the blue manual for bus and beetle as well as the orange 010 transmission manual.

There are few other manuals out there but I prefer the ones I've already mentioned. Here's a 74 Type 4 manual from Nov. 73 and a Service Training manual for AFC:

References:

• Color wiring diagams are available at VintageBus.com. Thom has made available this extensive collection. The JPEGs are too low resolution if you would like to make your own poster size wiring diagram. It is better to take a new scan from a color wiring diagram at a higher resolution and save as TIFF to preserve the original content.

History:

03/29/03 - Created
03/30/03 - Updated with 68-70 manual; removed broken links to LOC.
04/01/03 - Added image of first ed. repair manual and note about 79 Bentley
04/08/03 - Added note about CD-ROM
10/03/03 - Confirmed existence of early color edition of 79 Bentley
10/18/03 - Added ProTraining Manual
01/23/04 - Added other colored manuals
03/01/04 - Added dealer AFC troubleshooting manual
05/16/05 - Added link to Pro Training scans
06/10/07 - Added EFI/AFC Service manual photo from Art
09/06/11 - Fixed broken photos, added translate button, updated footer
07/15/19 - Google update: new adsense code, removed defunt translate button