Rivian, offer Service Manuals to consumers!

[Riviot]

I literally searched "ford f150 lightning service manual" and found plenty of ways to buy it.

https://www.factory-manuals.com/shop/2023-ford-f150-repair-manual/

https://www.motorcraftservice.com/

Hell, it's talked about as easy to find on the F-150 Lightning sister forum: https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/threads/f-150-lightning-service-manual.16514/

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[DD4ST]

In the old days, like the 80’s & 90’s, third party service manuals, like Chiltons, were sold in auto parts stores. Got one for a Toyota Previa cheap. But also obtained the official Service Manual thrown in as part of the Previa buy. Then in 2006, I did the same thing with a GMC Envoy (thrown in on the deal). At the time GM was charging a few hundred dollars retail. In 2014, when we bought a Kia, I found the Service Manual online and completely free. And nowadays, there is so much on the internet it is easy to find repair info on most vehicles, and there are paid sites with repair info - if they have enough volume. Unfortunately, Rivian isn’t in that category. This is going to affect resale and ultimately depreciation for used Rivians where most buyers are more cost conscious and also DIYers.

 

[CrazyOne]

Let me change the damn 12v battery. It's not that hard and I don't want to pay $700 to $800 for them. Especially because they last only 3 years.

It's also surprising that they did not offer me brake fluid change on recent visit. It's been 3 years and I do it every three years for other vehicles.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

The fact I could order parts from a BMW dealer for a 10 year old vehicle, ask the service desk a simple question about it, and they go above and beyond to show me under the hood and give me pointers... says a lot about Rivian not even letting you buy a battery.

Not the same, but I remember taking my 1972 Buick Electra to a Buick dealership around 2003, asking if they still had any parts available for it. They were excited to see the car, but also looked at me like I was crazy.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

IDK about the early days, but my first car was a 1969 Buick Riviera, and I had a Chilton manual for it. Most cars had one available during those times, and repair information was readily available. This isn't a "because they are a new manufacturer thing".

I still have a repair manual for that car. Y'know, if you ever need any info.

 

[Riviot]

My Rivian, my choice!

 

[Kaiju]

I'll second being puzzled about the refusal to help people do simple things. I don't really intend to drop the drive unit or flush the battery coolant myself, but changing out brakes or suspension and other wear parts isn't hard to do in a basic garage. For all the pandering they do to the offroad crowd you would've figured they'd understand that someone who will fix a busted tie rod on a trail is not the same person who will drive 200 miles to make someone else deal with a battery or an oil change.

I know people who do this with Land Rovers because of a similar service area shadow and they universally get rid of the vehicles rather than deal with that long term.

It seems we all agree Rivian's service footprint can't handle the load and unless they only ever plan to sell to people who live within 60 miles of a service center they're going to need to do something to make it easier to deal with the simple stuff. The value of older Rivians will crater if even basic out of warranty service still has to be done at a service center 3 hours away that charges a $220/hr rate when even a dealer only charges $150 and is basically everywhere.

 

[Ceejay]

Just emailed them. I agree: we should all request and flood them with requests

I just got the response to set up an account and the option to purchase just online training $500 or training plus catalogs, etc. for more $$.
I responded with a polite expression of frustration of lack of owner access to reasonably priced service manual information.

 

[kallisti5]

I just got the response to set up an account and the option to purchase just online training $500 or training plus catalogs, etc. for more $$.
I responded with a polite expression of frustration of lack of owner access to reasonably priced service manual information.

Thank you! Honestly, Squeaky wheel is the only way we're ever going to get progress here.

I've picked back up work on my Rivian Service Guide now that I have around ~60 miles left of warranty coverage. If Rivian won't do it then i'll do it dag nabbit.

https://github.com/kallisti5/rivian-service-guide

patches welcome if you want to contribute a good technical guide with some pictures

 

[HotPocket]

Everyone on this thread has articulated this problem perfectly. Offering one more "me too".

There are a so few how-to videos online at this moment but I'm really hoping that will change as more people go out of warranty. For all my typical vehicles I've ditched the manuals for vids. I should have been taking videos as I restored my salvage R1S but spending even more time would have earned me a swift divorce .

I want Rivian to succeed and I support them being a little aggressive to be solvent, but I agree that their peculiar combination of adventure vibes with strictly white-glove service might be limiting their reach. Maybe they don't have the cash runway to pursue that profit-deffered adoption curve like big tech? Who knows.

I will say this: everyone on this forum has proven so helpful, resourceful, and incredibly generous with their time that it's almost restored my faith in (one small corner of) the internet. You all are amazing!

Side note: the extremely busy service center near me, in NY, that originally shoo'd me away 6 months ago, now took me in within a week of my request and did incredible work, even putting in time over the weekend to find something quite elusive. I do think the service centers are improving, slowly but surely.

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