SHIFTER ILLUMINATION

[dave murrell]

Does anyone know if the gear shift gate is supposed to be illuminated or the letters back lit when side lights are on because in the dead of night its a sort of "its round here somewhere" sort of guess work. 

[pipsyp]

Hi Dave, yes it is.  Probably a blown bulb

[dave murrell]

Thanks for paul, will pull it apart when the wife pulls herself away from it 😁

[big_boz]

I thought it was unlit, mine is dark, will have a look and see if I can see a blub that's blown 

[dave murrell]

Wife took it to work again lol, says a lot when her car is a 2008 Mercedes S class 3lt V6.

Probably have to look at it the weekend but it does seem odd that apparently you can buy an illuminated transparent gadget to put under the shifter to light up the gateway but I am unable to find anyone in the UK that sells them. 

[big_boz]

6 minutes ago, dave murrell said:

Wife took it to work again lol, says a lot when her car is a 2008 Mercedes S class 3lt V6.

Probably have to look at it the weekend but it does seem odd that apparently you can buy an illuminated transparent gadget to put under the shifter to light up the gateway but I am unable to find anyone in the UK that sells them. 

That looks like and AliExpress Chineseium special. Unlikely you will get anything like that in the uk

[big_boz]

Just found this amazing item on AliExpress. Check it out! ￡48.22 | For ALPHARD VELLFIRE 20 Series Gear Shift Gate Decorative LED Light Trim
https://a.aliexpress.com/_msOhBbw

 

Seems expensive for about 20p of led strip

[dave murrell]

It is expensive for about 6 led and a piece of acrylic, would it take much to make one I wonder...

But now another mysterious object looms behind the rear view mirror and I dont know if this can be removed or best left in, anyway it looks like this inside, just laft of the square sticker.

[dave murrell]

...And this is what it looks like outside just to the right of the white sticker.

[pipsyp]

Sorry Dave, I've realised you have an AH20 (Mk2), mine is an earlier AH10 (Mk1).

 

The AH10 definitely has illumination in the auto shifter, not sure about the AH20.  I should think that it ought to, unless Toyota removed it for cost cutting!

 

As to your other question, that's the factory light and rain sensor.  Definitely don't remove that!  The other little square one with etc written on it is part of the Japanese automated road toll system, that can be removed/hidden behind the roof lining.  You might find some stick on antennas on either side of the front and rear screens.  These are etc antennas and can also be hidden/removed.

[dave murrell]

Thanks again paul.

Just realised that there is an airbag inside the A pillar that has to come off for the stick-on aerial...

[Chris.ac]

The numbers/letters on the shifter should be illuminated.

The bezel around the shifter is not, that's an AliExpress/Amazon.jp mod.

 

The device nearest rear view mirror is for auto windscreen wipers, it's a rain detector.

 

ETC, useless in this country, can be removed, would be interested to see if they connected it to anything up top or if it has it's own wire run to fuse box.

Furthest unit is dash cam, obviously.

Edited November 30, 2023 by Chris.ac

[Chris.ac]

[big_boz]

Meant to say, I took the centre console out there is a plug that connects under the pocket with the flap that's next to the shifter, mine was disconnected, plugged it in and the lights come on

[dave murrell]

Thank you Chris,

The car has only been in the country a few weeks and the head unit was replaced for an android unit, could be that the plug you mention was left unplugged by accident hence no illumination, will take the centre panel off the weekend and take some pics as well.

As for that dashcam unfortunately it does not come on unless there is some magic swear word I need to utter 🤔

 

[Chris.ac]

On 12/1/2023 at 11:04 AM, dave murrell said:

Thank you Chris,

The car has only been in the country a few weeks and the head unit was replaced for an android unit, could be that the plug you mention was left unplugged by accident hence no illumination, will take the centre panel off the weekend and take some pics as well.

As for that dashcam unfortunately it does not come on unless there is some magic swear word I need to utter 🤔

 

There is a manual available, it's in Japanese.

There also always to be software you can install on pc to manage the files it records.

[dave murrell]

Is there a digital version of the manual?