Haynes Repair Manual Offers Help for Newest Tacoma and RAV4

Previous Toyota Tacoma manual has been updated to include up to 2018 while the RAV4 manual is new.

The odds are good that if you do much of your own work on your Toyota truck or any other vehicle in your garage, you have a Haynes Repair Manual. These books are packed full of every bit of information that you would need to fix literally anything in the vehicle, right down to bolt sizes, torque specifications and tips on both repair and maintenance.

Really, a Haynes manual is a must-have even for the most experienced mechanic, but for the past few years, the newest Toyota Tacoma and RAV4 were not included in the company’s library of technical help books. Fortunately, that changed earlier this month, with Haynes launching an all-new RAV4 book that includes the 2013 through 2018 model years and the previous Tacoma book, which had previously only covered up to the 2015 model year, has been updated to include the 2016 through 2018 model years.

Owner’s Essentials

If you own a current variation of the Toyota Tacoma or RAV4 and you plan to do any of your own work beyond oil changes and tire rotations, the Haynes Repair Manual is a must-have item. No matter what you are trying to fix or replace, these manuals offer detail on how to access and remove the item in question.

Haynes makes the manuals by literally tearing down each component of the vehicle, so the people who wrote the explanation on how to remove a given item did so after actually working on that component. As a result, these books take most of the guesswork out of major automotive repairs, so you wont need to figure out what kind of tool removes a certain part or whether you tightened a bolt enough. The manual explains it all, from the simplest tasks to things that only professional mechanics are likely to tackle.

Best of all, the updated Tacoma book that now covers 2005 through 2018 and the new RAV4 book that covers 2013 through 2018 are on sale right now for just $24.99 each on the Haynes website. That price is discounted from $29.99, so if you have been waiting for a manual for your newer Toyota Tacoma or RAV4, snap one up now while they are on sale.

Online Subscription

While having an actual book that you can flip through when fixing your Toyota Tacoma or RAV4 at home is nice, having stacks of various books can prove to be a headache for a shop or professional mechanic. That is where Haynes’ online copies come into play, as the alternative to buying the printed book is to buy a 1-year subscription to online access to the manual that can be accessed from any device. This allows mechanics to bring up the information on a phone, tablet or laptop in the shop while saving the space of all of the various manuals.

In addition to taking up less space in the shop, the subscription access costs a bit less right now, with the 1-year fee being $19.99 through the Haynes website rather than the normal price of $29.99.

Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

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