Mercedes Microfiche

There are three main ways of getting Mercedes-Benz workshop manuals.   The most common these days is via CD-ROM.  However the quality of the scans are woeful, and the pictures are generally next to useless (the diagrams are ok if not too detailed).    You can also find the old printed manuals on Ebay.   Many sellers want silly money for the manuals, but they are available if you persevere, especially on USA Ebay.     I’ve slowly built up a collection of the printed manuals, although not a complete set.

The other way is via Microfiche.   These manuals were typically available to workshops, but exist in private hands now as many workshops no longer need manuals for cars that were last produced 40 years ago.     For younger readers who never used Microfiche in the local library to look up old newspapers, it is essentially a card made out film material with negative images at 1/25th the size, that can be blown up to readable size by using the reader.

I was able to pick up a set of Microfiche from a workshop that no longer services Mercedes from that era.   The set is not complete (about 50% of the Microfiche is still there). It covers models from the 60s-80s which is perfect for me.

I was also able to get the reader, which allows the Microfiche to be read.   As it had not been used for many years, it was very dirty but once cleaned worked correctly.     The other nice thing about the Microfilm is that it means you don’t get greasy hands on the pages of the printed workshop manual.