Alphard Club

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.

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.

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.

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,

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)

@David Howard a few photos may help your sale. good luck

Welcome to the club Ben

could be a anti collision sensor, my wifes yaris has it by the mirror.

@Picasso

i am wondering if its actually a camera. Could be one of a few things ( dont know the official names for these) Lane assist Automatic Dipped beam / or high beam pedestrian alert Autowipe You have to check these options as well as Alphards had many options available. Never heard of camera being fitted, Only tesla and very new stuff have video recording. Do you have any strange buttons by your knee?

never seen one of these before. does it look oem like factory fitted?