Hi John, Ah that's a good thing hey, yes it got very hot, but not disastrously so. That low oil won't have helped a lot. My apologies for covering basic stuff, I acknowledge you've been working on cars all your life, like me! But sometimes I get too focused in one direction. The oil level will rise when hot, if it's anywhere between min and max when cold, that's sound. Checking it after a drive should be left long enough for the oil to drop back into the sump. Opinions differ, mine is roughly 5 to 10 minutes. Quite a major question here now - is the air con on, or the airflow/temp set to Auto? As of course that will bring the fan on. Now it's been turning over in the back of my mind, as Chris raised, if the stat is stuck partially open, it would lead to a longer warm up, but depending on the length of that, could possibly also restrict flow enough when it's hot. But I would have reckoned not so much at a stop / go situation. Unless of course the fan was on from the moving, and only became audible when you stopped. As the other guys have said, have you managed to check if the coolant expansion reservoir has coolant in it? And a nice pink colour? And do your best to see what condition the front of the radiator is in, with a torch from the front of the car. Of course the Air Con condenser coil is in the way..... If it's got muck blocking the airflow through both coils (far less likely with your mileage, and in general the condition cars seem to be from Japan), or the coils are in a poor state, then that will be a factor. I don't know if there are 1 or 2 fans on yours, if it's 2, are they both working? If the rad check out OK, (if it doesn't they seem to be easily available), then a new stat, with a coolant change (check on this but Toyota Pink Long Life Coolant!) and oil / filter change, by one of those mobile mechanics, and you can chat to him about the car while he does it - I would !! I'm a tradesman, gas & heating, and like it when people are interested in what I'm doing for them. I'm a bit odd, I don't bother one bit if they watch what I do! Because I talk too much, I just carry on chatting while I work. I even have "Nev The GAS man" on my van number plates..... Like you, heavy work for a lot of years, now getting worn out, great hey! Cheers, Nev

Hi Nev, I think it was due to not much oil being in there as well, the guy must have ramped it up from wales when delivering,It didn't go all the way up but 3/4 of the way up the gauge with the fan on, but slow to warm in winter and with the latest hot weather when I stopped and started again the fan came on, I just need to be sure it's ok, It could be an age thing as it's 2007 , also difficult to get under as it has the skirts on it and was supplied by a specialist dealer in japan hence the Alphard(v). I was thinking of getting the parts and getting a mobile mechanic to do it as there are a couple locally, also do the oil at the same time, sorry to hear about your arthritis, It's terrible rheumatoid last 3 years and osteo from an accident in 1974, (RTA) and have done heavy work all my life, thank you for your reply and wish you well, yours john.

Hi John! If the engine was slow to warm up, the thermostat would be open, or partly, as it isn't shut to stop the flow from the engine until it is warm. That would NOT lead to an overheat situation. When you say overheat, do you mean the temperature gauge goes right up to the top? As an aside, I don't think - my opinion - it was a taxi, as I reckon it would be MUCH higher mileage if it was. I'm sadly with you on the arthritis condition, genetics from my dad, still mostly able to do stuff, but starting to be a bit restricted. And yeah, too many garages don't really know their posterior from their elbow, but will happily take your money for a "diagnostic" visit, which usually tells you sod all. Because physical faults aren't detectable by digital communications. I don't think an overdrive is a possibility, that's an extra function of a gearbox, major mods to something that was never supposed to have the extra drive ratio. Cheers, Nev

Cracking!! Got a result, marvellous! And yeah very fancy upgrade! I hope you also managed to get the part numbers for the discs for the future! The front discs are vented on the standard ones, but that caliper, from what little I could see of it, is definitely not!! I guess it's a multi piston solid caliper, am I right?

Thank you steve, Yes I was thinking of changing the thermostat, can't do a lot these days I'm 68 and have joint problems, It's only done 27 ,000 miles and I think it was a taxi, but I think it was possibly run on 0-20 sae oil for mpg, It did run low after it was delivered and I suspect it was driven hard on a hot day, was much better when I filled up with 10-30 sae,I have a new oil filter and was going to try and change my selfe, I don't think the stat was opening properly as in the winter it was taking a while to warm up, as I want to use it to go round europe I need to make sure it's ok, since my normal mechanic closed 5+ years ago it's been hard to find a good one, I am a member of the AA and maybe should ask them? Having worked on vehicles since I was 15 It's difficult to let someone else do things as they just want to get the money, I was thinking of getting owners manuals in english as it may help, I was also wondering if the radio system/sat nav can be reprogrammed? Looking at getting an overdrive fitted to make it easier on the engine, I did a check from the auction house that it came through in japan and nothing came up there, thanks for your correspondence steve, your john.