Yeah the owners and service manuals are two very very different things. You won't be performing much maintenance with the owners manual besides the absolute basics, like checking your oil.

The cheap OBD2 readers lack the vast majority of data and tools you would want to use for service as well.

There are aftermarket options but most manufacturers want you to subscribe to their service tools - often charged per monthly plus an additional a fee per VIN it touches. These cost in the hundreds to thousands. It can be pretty frustrating as a shadetree mechanic.

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lazide 41 minutes ago | parent [-]

Notably, some vehicles like the Toyota Highlander you can’t even figure out when you need to change the spark plugs, let alone what kind of spark plugs you need from the owners manual.

Theoretically, they are to be replaced at 120k miles (!!) but they won’t even tell you that in the owners manual.

Insane.

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somehnguy 26 minutes ago | parent [-]

It is, yeah. The owners manual for my current vehicle seems to mostly contain walkthroughs about the infotainment and other tech features. The section related to maintenance is tiny in comparison.

You're probably aware of this already but luckily a lot of service manuals can be found online in PDF form.

Somewhat related but I was going through an older relatives belongings not too long ago to help cleanup and found a bunch of old manuals for various household things. The detail included in them was beautiful to see - full wiring diagrams, mechanical diagrams, etc.

	▲	skeeter2020 2 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		>> You're probably aware of this already but luckily a lot of service manuals can be found online in PDF form. Not official ones for John Deere tractors unless they were leaked from authorized service agents!