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Renewed with Adrian Flux a couple of weeks ago. £40 less than my first year (last year) That was a surprise! Graham

Just a thought, but have you tried cleaning up the inside of the battery terminal clamps, and wherever the battery negative lead connects to the body? They could be oxidized and causing a volt drop when trying to provide cranking current. Putting the starter pack on could bypass where the problem connection is, and hence why you get an instant start.

I have just had my first service at my local garage. We have been with them for several decades and I was interested to hear their opinion on our campervan conversion. I was pleasantly surprised to get the positive reactions I did. The headlamp discolouring is being dealt with with advice from yourselves on this forum and also local advice. I am now aware why the service (oil change in particular} 6k-7k intervals is important. Quote "the sump is small for the engine size Graham, only 4 litres of oil. Change it and the filter every 6k or so" unquote. Thanks for your help here everyone. Kind regards Graham

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you mate! Yes I'm with you both, no logic to my reason just old fashioned gut feeling. Turn it over with the crank pully nut a couple of times, maybe spark plugs out if its too tough. Then start it up and get it up to full temperature, with the heater on full heat, whilst checking on coolant levels and for any little weeps. Then drop out that oil into a clean pan so you can check it!

I was getting P0171 "system too lean (bank 1)" also and cleaning the MAF didn't help - the error would come back. What fixed it for me was changing the front Lambda sensor which, on mine, was a struggle as the previous mechanic had forced the sensor into place and had damaged the thread. An M18 x 1.5 tap and die cleaned up both the thread on the exhaust and the new sensor which I purchased - I would warn to be on the lookout for ones with the correct plug on the end as the cheap ones come with bare wires that need to be housed in the original socket (as the supplied ones don't stand a chance of fitting) and are bound to cause issues. I ended up getting this one: https://www.autojapspares.co.uk/toyota-alphard-anh10-anh15-24-front-fuel-ratio-sensor-34437-p.asp Which is rather expensive but arrived quickly and was a straight plug in. I also changed the fuel filter (see below) and the air filter - which may have helped but less so that the sensor I would say. Suffice to say that the emissions that it failed its MoT test on it now passes. Out of interest what are you using to grab your figures as per your screenshot?

>change at 5 min or 1 month? I am not an expert but personally I would: 1) Start by turning the engine over a few times, on a manual you could have it in gear, jack up a wheel and turn it but not sure how to approach that on an automatic. 2) As long as it turns freely start the engine and leave it to run for at least 10 mins until the oil is warm. 3) drain the oil and change the filter at that point - my guess is that whatever is likely to have been caught would have been caught by then. 4) obviously secure sump plug and refill with the proper oil 5) should be good to go - check for leaks would be the only advice, but I'm sure you would be doing that.

My reading of it says Yes - 360 UKP. Its classified as 'PLG (Private/Light Goods)' rather than Light Goods, no sign of Euro there either so those tables can be ruled out, as can motorcycles and tricycles, and I suspect that arguing that it's a car won't go very far so the only table that fits is the one you have there for the next tax year. What makes me chuckle a little is that our other car, a Hyundai Kona Electric, is currently at 0 UKP (for one more day - so I have just renewed that) but next year will be 10 UKP - though it will be increasing after that. I believe I am bringing some balance to the universe by being at opposite ends of the road tax spectrum (I can't afford a Veyron etc. so I am being realistic about the width of the spectrum). 2025-v149-rates-of-vehicle-tax.pdf 2024-v149-rates-of-vehicle-tax.pdf

Funny enough I was talking to a Mazda MX5 owner earlier today and told him about amayama.com and he was rather shocked that a part he had been looking for was around a third of the price on amayama. A good source it must be said.

Yey - the emissions test passed! It's booked in for the full test on Tuesday. I have changed both the offside tyres which were showing signs of wear on the inside. The new tyres are on the front and the front nearside is now on the O/S rear. The tyre people did an alignment check and found everything was within spec, though both the offsides were right at the limit of the manufacturers spec. I am rather pleased that the emissions look to be so clear cut - I don't know what the 'before' figures were but a CO and HC of 0 must be good. I'm not sure what Lambda is measuring but that is within spec also. Oh we also found that one side light (far offside) doesn't work, and one brake light (nearside tailgate) doesn't work - both are dual filament bulbs, or at least they are different brightnesses for side and braking. I have put in some LED brake light 'bulbs' which do the same job, but are quite a bit brighter. It will be interesting to see whether the MoT tester says anything - or is it just LED headlight bulbs that are an issue? Roll on Tuesday.

Paul fingers crossed for pass on emissions

Great song, but I digress already! Had the new to me experience yesterday of bringing up the low fuel light. I blame the incident on me not having had a decent drive in the old bus due to other issues. Off I went with my £20 voucher for butcher meat from a known good butcher in the wilds of West Stirlingshire. After a few miles I realised tank was rather low but I knew where the only station for miles was so pressed on. Imagine my delight to find it closed for major refurb. I'm 13 miles from my nearest station so a very light footed journey commenced. 10 miles later low fuel light comes on, totally new experience for me in van. So, I make it to station & she takes 61 ltrs, another 1st, but having now found out tank capacity is 70 ltrs I am brimming with knowledge. Not that I’m going to make it a habit but I reckon a 2.4 petrol should give you 40-50 miles after low fuel lamp comes on.

I had a motorway drive this week for first time since fitting it, and it was only after I got home that I realised I have become so used to having a three lane flash over the years that I was using it and not even mentally acknowledging that it was doing it 😆.

Greetings, I’m a semi local to the area mentioned & I went to Drymen at the east side of Loch Lomond today failing to check my tank before setting out 🙄 Be warned, fuel stations are few and far between, nearest would be Dumbarton or Balloch if you come up the A82, if coming from the east Stirling would do although the village of Buchlyvie has a small garage. Aberfoyle has a community station. I got the low fuel light on and after a sweat got filled up near home, 61ltrs 😳 weat

Please update us all when you are satisfied it all goes together well and works flawlessly.

I agree with Myron. Should be nothing to worry about unless the engine is caused to rev too high. According to the JPNZ Owners Manual, this is a feature , known as ECT, of the 3 litre V6 1MZ-FE engine and gearbox. It is also a feature of the 2AZ-FE.

I think this is a feature of many automatic boxes for many years. I think it is actually sensing that you are braking on a hill and changes down to give you some engine braking. When you accelerate it changes up again. I've had this feature on autos before and our 2008 Aplhard does it.

So during the week I got around to fitting the cigarette socket. I bought a cigarette socket extension and cut the plug off, wired into the unused heated seats fuse with a 15a fuse tap then ran the cable under the carpet after removing the plastic kick guards from both left hand side doors. I then used strong double sided tape to secure it next to the cubby hole at the left rear hidden under the rear seat. Works a treat, I may look into a more permanent fitting later on if I want to try routing the cable over the inside of the wheelarch. I also connected the USB thingy taking a fused feed from the factory cigarette socket and running the cable under the carpet, sticking the module to the front of the centre console at floor level. This meant no drilling of holes anywhere to feel cables through. Pics to follow if anyone is interested.

You might do already chap, but if not definitely give 99ron a go. Found my 2.4 drives quite a bit better on it, top end performance when revved is definitely improved too. Probably all the better on yours now!! 👍

Yeah quite a few places offer maps for them, even the 1st gen. I can only assume the factory mapping is quite tame, and being a relatively large capacity 4 cylinder there's a bit of room for improvement. I wouldn't be surprised if it involves increasing the factory 6250rpm rev limit and tuning it to make a few more ponies at the top end. This one reckons c. 179hp can be made.....given the engine is probably the same as the 2nd gen bar software it wouldn't surprise me TBH. https://puretuning.net/en/chiptuning-files/toyota/alphard/2-4i-160hp I think the 2.4 gets a bit of flack for being underpowered, but honestly even stock I'm rather impressed with how well it hauls a vehicle the size of an Alphard around. It's also noticeably more perky when run on high octane fuel. Certainly it's not as effortless or relaxed as the V6 (nor sounds as good) but if you rev it out and are prepared to use the manual gears (will let you hit the rev limit then) for a minivan they tear along quite nicely I think 👍 In the US there is a bit of a following for turbocharging these motors in Camry's, where they then easily make late 200 bhps on very modest boost. I did watch a video of some guys in Australia that also eBay turbo'd a cheap Camry they bought and with next to no playing around (I think it may have had a standalone ECU being the only thing....£££££) it made about 260 brake. I'll be honest, if someone in the UK put together a decent, reliable kit for it and I had the funds, I would probably consider it for a laugh!

I would, without actually weighing them, think that the camper conversion alone would weigh less than the original seats, if they have been taken out.

Hi, have you considered these vehicles were made to carry up to 8 people (8 x 180 = 1440lbs) plus luggage as well as the seating which is very heavy. Personally I don't think you'll need uprated springs.