Alphard Club

The reason the car is not exceeding 40kms is because it is in limp home mode. The check engine light (CEL) would make that happen. By utting on a new battery probably reset the CEL. 

The battery may of been the issue in this case. To preserve the connections on the battery, add a dab of Vaseline on the connections. 

@Sorin I would be interested to know the answer to this problem as well. did you sort it? I know a year has gone by

LPG always kills old lamda sensors, get them swapped, 20 min job for a mechanic to get his hand in the engine bay and change.

Had the same issue with the bank sensors and know of others.. usually just the one. But both can go.

If you look at a live OBD reader you can check the live readings and compare with each other, will will see one will be out compared to the other.

new sensors should be fine after that

They are great cars indeed. Perfectly practical, powerful, gracious and expensive on fuel lol. 

But a 1st class ride was never the cheapest.

@andyc Do you roughly know what gear the car is in at the time it judders? ie. count the gear changes? i am wondering if the car is in it's overdrive gear and it changed down to it's driving gear, these can be clunky.

Also, you have tried this in to gear 2 as well?

i used to get it when the car was rolling doing 30, come off the gas and then get a jolt while it changed in to an overdrive gear. this was some time ago so trying to remember the sensation, but never felt good. 

5 hours ago, andyc said:

I've just had it changed at Toyota this week. I thought the same it might be related to old oil. Unfortunately it's made no difference at all. 

Sorry Andy my reply was for the original poster as his shakes and not judders. Lack of Transmission oil will make the car shake

I did respond to your thread earlier. 

have you checked the transmission oil? it may be low and not enough getting round the torque converter when hot. This will cause it to shake going up hill.

 

Hi Andy, see you are local to me.

I cannot see why driveshafts or CV's would make the judder

I have owned a 10 series and used to get juddering from the transmission and particular times which was weird, never did work it out but never affected the vehicle as such, and yes that had all new transmission fluid and filter.

I always used to wonder if the speedo conversion affected the way the transmission worked but never got to the bottom of it. I also think it is a common thing with 10 series as have seen complaints similar, but never many failures.

Welcome mat

I remember when i took my 20 series through germany and a few people were looking at the Alphard wondering what it was.

@BoomBox welcome to the club Nic. 

Enjoy your new ride. Any questions, please feel free to pop on the club. Happy to help

also, have you matched your doc with the cars actual VIN on the car?

on the document do you have any other types of codes?

As mine was GGH, it was only the luxury spec (one with airline style middle seats)

Anyone think the chinese got their inspiration from the Alphard for the Maxus Mifa9?

 Even the door beep is the same.

What do you think?

i do remember when i was going it i did it wrong and somehow i did it correctly after a few goes. but looking at yours it looks right format

mine was GGH20-801****

mine was a Luxury model

On 9/15/2024 at 9:30 PM, kully said:

I had the transmission oil "service" a few months ago. It was £500.

 

I picked up the car and they'd done a drain and fill, but hadn't dropped the pan and changed the filter. I should have asked exactly what they'd quoted for, but I'd assumed "service" and £500 meant the full thing.

 

I'm now looking for a specialist garage that isn't the Toyota garage in Basingstoke 🙂

ouch that is expensive as its less than an hour, in fact 30 min job if only draining fluids.

Tranmission specialists will do it for 250 mark.

We did it ourselves as Just needed the OBD reader, Fluids and filters. Follow the guidelines (these are important as requires right temperature)

good fair price that. car looks clean too.

8 hours ago, harleyak said:

i've just purchased a sticker, how long for delivery?....

This should be sent out at the weekend.

I know this is for landcruiser but same principle for all automatics.

The heat in the transmission comes from driving in the overdrive gears where the torque converter is not locked in. 

When towing with an automatic you need to select something like 4th gear or S and do not let the vehicle go in to 5th or higher. avoid the top cruising gears, these are weak gears and do not use the torque converter to assist. some autos have 6 or even 8 gears and need to find the non-overdrive gears  and stick to it which helps fuel economy (believe it or not)  and prevent heat in the transmission where it cooks the oil. You will be suprised how quickly it will heat up on fats roads going uphill when using the wrong gear.

on my last alphard i purchased a CarVX report and was surprised with the information given. Also past auction reports with pics.

1 hour ago, pfeds said:

According to the invoice they're all genuine Toyota parts, which would be another reason for high cost. I didn't think to ask for pattern parts, so lesson learned this time. And probably a different mechanic next time.

I changed mine because they were clunking, even though the were shot to pieces (UK roads destroy rubbers on jap imports) i was hoping it would of be totally quiet, but still got the odd knock on particular bumps. that could of been strut mount bushes too. However, cornering was much better. A lot tighter and did not feel such a large barge in the end.

so anything like strut mounts (not worth doing, take a look where they are positioned)
slight play in ball joints perhaps.
 

Problem is the car is so quiet is that you can hear all the knocks

did you use aftermarket droplinks?

I did and they do clunk a little. I think i paid £19 per link and took 2 hours to fit from start to finish, that includes no ramp, on the roadside. 

also ARB's are hard to get to from what i could see. maybe the actual reason for the high costs i guess.

On 11/1/2024 at 2:23 AM, Mist7887 said:

Hi, I was hoping to import a 20 series hybrid, but insurance is either non existent or stupid prices.

Has anybody had any luck with hybrid quotes?

My best quote is £950, which is £400 more than the best I got for a plain 2.4l petrol, or even a 2.4l 2016 hybrid. I can stomach around £550, but anything near £1000 is crazy. 

Have you tried Mark Richards (Jap Cover) ?

It will be a case of shopping around.

Also, add a second driver like a spouse or sibling who has full licence and access to another car. I have seen massive drops in price by adding another driver.



 

Alphard  / Vellfire 20 Series Mat set made from quality wilton carpet

Will fit both 8 or 7 seater petrol model only (does not fit Hybrid)

Set comprises of

3x front mats (drivers mat has heel pad and floor clips)
4 x door step mats (with stitched velcro)
Centre row cover mat (With Velcro fixing points)

£139 + £10 Delivery.

Note centre row mat is a cover mat so will partly sit over tracks, also protects them too.

I have only got one set of these,

3 hours ago, Noni2022 said:

Just had a renewal quote from Safeguard which is nearly double last year with no changes/ claims - £601! Are others finding similar?

 

Sixty three years, no medical issues and live Essex /London borders inc. 9 years NCD and 90 days EU travel. Bonkers!

I had the same issue.

I shopped around and managed to get it lower but nothing like year before.

Things to help

• Add a partner to the policy as a "Named driver", even if they dont drive it
• If you have 2 cars in the house then add yourself as a Named Driver to the other car if you have already not.
• Some co's sell Excess Cover, it's usually cheap, so volunteer a higher excess and then insure the excess, So if in total the excess is 500 then insure the whole amount.. This worked for me, I paid £40 for £500 cover but saved £90 in policy cover)
• If you do less miles then what you are insuring then lower the amount on the policy.
• Only insure it for the trade value, not what you bought it for. You will only get book value, never what you want. (consult with ins co. first)