Helm Inc. Workshop Manual

[DarkHorsedF100]

Buyer Beware!
In March '26 I purchased a workshop Manual for our '25 DH. You all know it is a USB now - no more paper. When received we found (in the workshop portion) it had multiple areas where the program would boot you completely out of the system and other areas where the system would freeze. Contacted Helm Inc. and they eventually sent me, what they called a fix from Ford, generic instructions for the fix, most of which had nothing to do with anything on the USB. After re-contact they sent me another one which had the same problems. This time we sent them the exact location of the problem (thanks to my comp geek son);

Faulting application name: service_information.exe, version: 1.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x6751d792
Faulting module name: ucrtbase.dll, version: 10.0.26100.7623, time stamp: 0x53a0792e
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x00000000000a4ace
Faulting process id: 0x434
Faulting application start time: 0x1DCE17E18133E86
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\TSOnew\service_information.exe
Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\ucrtbase.dll
Report Id: 9520fdd9-7c47-4b7d-949a-4229f4673089
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

To this date they still say they're waiting for a response from the program coordinator. They also say they'll refund our money - I think we'll take them up on that.

Sponsored

 

[Sofa King]

Have you found another source for the manual?

Worse yet, the usb drives they use are not the best quality... had mine die, they did replace it, but copy protection prevents backing it up without jumping through hoops... so hope it holds up a while this time.

 

[Snakebyte]

I miss the old paper Helms Inc manuals. Much more information back then, and they were great at talking you through NEARLY ALL repairs, step by step. I got the Helms CD for my S550 and it is woefully lacking compared the paper Helm's manuals I used for decades. And, you pay a LOT for what you get on the CD. But then, as woefully lacking as it is, some repairs it has helped me work through did pay for the cost of the manuals, and then some.

 

[Alan Applegate]

This is so similar to repair manuals for electronics. They exist, but the cost is high and trying to figure out which parts and schematics apply to your specific model is impossible. Worse, they send you the manual on a USB so flimsy, it soon breaks. And this is progress?

 

[Sofa King]

I worry that the usb drive will fail during a repair that needs info in the service manual... the paper service manual for an old car of mine has a ripped cover and some dirty pages... but so far no data loss in decades! Progress?!

 

[DarkHorsePremium]

From the manufacturers standpoint, I understand the premise behind this. Electronic manuals are better overall... because they can be updated and searched for key words/terms, or as features or fixes are added through OTA updates TSB's, etc. However, I agree, they are not best for car manuals since most of theses things don't change.

I was surprised I even got a user guide with my car. It was already out of date by the time I got it. It's still sealed. . The online version is way more useful to me.

I had electronic shop manuals for all of the Subarus I owned. Very handy. They didn't have copy protection, so easy to archive and back up. The guys putting out these manuals are buying 10,000 pieces for $0.02 ea. No wonder they fail 🫤

Having a shop manual for torque specs alone is worth its weight in gold. Unfortunately most everything is based on subscription models now. You can't just buy something and own it now. The manufacturer wants recurring revenue.

 

[Sofa King]

From the manufacturers standpoint, I understand the premise behind this. Electronic manuals are better overall... because they can be updated and searched for key words/terms, or as features or fixes are added through OTA updates TSB's, etc. However, I agree, they are not best for car manuals since most of theses things don't change.

I was surprised I even got a user guide with my car. It was already out of date by the time I got it. It's still sealed. . The online version is way more useful to me.

I had electronic shop manuals for all of the Subarus I owned. Very handy. They didn't have copy protection, so easy to archive and back up. The guys putting out these manuals are buying 10,000 pieces for $0.02 ea. No wonder they fail 🫤

Having a shop manual for torque specs alone is worth its weight in gold. Unfortunately most everything is based on subscription models now. You can't just buy something and own it now. The manufacturer wants recurring revenue.

Lol, yes I recognized the cheap usb drive upon delivery... I use the same ones at work as give aways for customers that want electronic manuals (we still print 2 paper copies with new industrial equipment).

 

[DarkHorsedF100]

Have you found another source for the manual?

Worse yet, the usb drives they use are not the best quality... had mine die, they did replace it, but copy protection prevents backing it up without jumping through hoops... so hope it holds up a while this time.

I've looked at a few other sites for the manuals and have test run both "motorcraftservice.com" and "alldata.com". I'm leaning towards alldata.com at this point. Do you have any suggestions?

 

[Sofa King]

I've looked at a few other sites for the manuals and have test run both "motorcraftservice.com" and "alldata.com". I'm leaning towards alldata.com at this point. Do you have any suggestions?

No, that's why I asked. I had purchased the manual for my S550 a while back in pdf format for much less than helm. I checked them but nothing for S650.

 

[Terminus]

My USB & installed program have been working good on my garage PC from the get go. At least you're getting support. I'm a retired IT guy (a geek wanna b dwebe). They have a challenge supporting software on our home computers i.e. different brands, OS versions, patches, God knows what else has been installed etc. It's tough even in a controlled corporate environment with standard build images & users not having admin privileges. Maybe a new low-end HP laptop from Wal-Mart with a clean install of Windows 11 for less than the USB (< $200)!? I hope you get it working correctly. Good luck!

 

[Sofa King]

I would prefer it installed on the computer... keeping the USB as a backup... as it is now, the USB is required to run it (which wears it out). Their previous versions had a procedure for doing a backup, but the new ones use different copy protection, so it doesn't work. I asked about backing it up but received no response.

 

[DarkHorsedF100]

My USB & installed program have been working good on my garage PC from the get go. At least you're getting support. I'm a retired IT guy (a geek wanna b dwebe). They have a challenge supporting software on our home computers i.e. different brands, OS versions, patches, God knows what else has been installed etc. It's tough even in a controlled corporate environment with standard build images & users not having admin privileges. Maybe a new low-end HP laptop from Wal-Mart with a clean install of Windows 11 for less than the USB (< $200)!? I hope you get it working correctly. Good luck!

I have an older Lenovo P51 laptop Intel Core i7-7820HQ CPU@290GHz, 32GB RAM, 477GB Storage and Nvidia Quadro M1200 HD Graphics, Windows 11pro. At 73 all I know about what I just wrote is where to find it. That being said the following is one of the paths that boots me out and shuts itself down;
From the workshop manual side click on 4 - electrical/19 - electronic feature group/419-10 multifunction electronic modules/description and operation/module control function-system operation and component description - BCM - click on module programming ---- and we're booted out
As I was writing this I was also tracing it step by step. This time it it froze @ module control function-system operation and component description
For $330.95 my feeling is it should be better and am wondering if Ford even knows.

 

[Terminus]

I have an older Lenovo P51 laptop Intel Core i7-7820HQ CPU@290GHz, 32GB RAM, 477GB Storage and Nvidia Quadro M1200 HD Graphics, Windows 11pro. At 73 all I know about what I just wrote is where to find it. That being said the following is one of the paths that boots me out and shuts itself down;
From the workshop manual side click on 4 - electrical/19 - electronic feature group/419-10 multifunction electronic modules/description and operation/module control function-system operation and component description - BCM - click on module programming ---- and we're booted out
As I was writing this I was also tracing it step by step. This time it it froze @ module control function-system operation and component description
For $330.95 my feeling is it should be better and am wondering if Ford even knows.

You got me curious. I also got booted out of the program following your path thru. OK, forget the cheap clean laptop idea.

Sponsored