Malcolm G

Yam6 in Southampton, tel 01489 574089 - Speak to Jason, excellent chap, very helpful and knowledgeable. Brilliant service, quick delivery and good prices for 100% genuine Toyota parts. I learnt about them from speaking to independent Toyota / Lexus specialists who use them for parts supply. I have absolutely no connection with them other than being a happy customer. Hope this helps

Update - I managed to get some Toyota schematics, those connector blocks are integral with the wiring harness and do not come off - So if I am right about the fault being in there, then it will mean the headlining will need to be removed. Let's hope I am wrong and the fault is elsewhere.

Have not posted anything since my first attempt to understand how to stop the door mirrors automatically folding away when locking the car and now I could do with a bit more advice so here's a general update on my 2010 V6 Alphard. Soon after getting the car in September 2025 I drove it to Germany and back without any issue and it ran well - It proved itself to be a comfortable and practical vehicle over long distances while carrying wife plus two dogs and all luggage for a long stay. Over Christmas / New Year 2025/26 – I removed the old original JDM head unit and replaced with Pioneer AVL – Z5200DAB head unit which I chose after soliciting advice from as many people as I could find to ask. Much more work and much more challenging than I thought it would be, but I am very happy with the end results. Now it can receive UK radio and DAB. The car had several aftermarket accessories fitted in Japan, including a TV tuner (Japan only) and a separate DVD player (fitted in the glove compartment) which both fed the Alpine rear screen. With all of the wiring adaptors it had fitted it took me the best part of a week to figure out what was original and what was not so I could carefully remove all of the Japanese aftermarket items. Purchased all of the necessary adaptors and fittings from Dynamic Sounds who were brilliant with excellent and patient advice. With their help retained steering wheel control functions. Rear drop down TV screen now works from the DVD player in the new Pioneer head unit. The original reverse camera was 6 volt and powered by a special feed from the old head unit so this had to be changed to 12volt. I purchased and fitted a Pioneer reverse camera compatible with the new head unit and I think that it is actually a better camera than the original. At the beginning of March this year I changed front suspension strut rubber gaiters. The parts were supplied FOC by the importer after I complained that the perished condition of these gaiters should have been an advisory at the MOT which was done before I collected the car. The condition of the front struts and upper strut bearing plastic discs in particular makes me believe the low mileage is genuine, it was 61,329 kilometres (38,108 miles) when I first picked it up. At the same time, I tried to deal with a small dent in the front wing behind the front left hand side wheel. The auction inspection in Japan stated the body work was perfect, so I assume that this happened in transit from Japan. I was able to access the panel from behind and managed to push most of it out. Now it is hardly noticeable. A few days ago at a mileage 65,745 kilometres (40,852 miles) I changed the oil. The importer did change the oil before delivery but I suspect it would not have been synthetic or particularly high quality and also I want to ensure it does not have 0W – 20 oil which is one of the grades specified for the Japanese market and elsewhere. The oil that came out was very clean and evidently quite new but also very thin so I suspect it was 0W – 20. Filled with Mobil 1 Full Synthetic ESP 5W – 30, I think that this grade of oil is much more suited to operation in warm weather and will consequently help preserve the engine. May even switch to Mobil 1 0W – 40 in the future as this is the oil I use in my old Lexus GS300. Had to buy the service tool for this type of oil filter housing as none of my existing tools fitted, works very well. Now to the part where I need advice from the forum - If you see the two attached pictures you will see the back of the interior light over the rear right hand side passenger door. In these views my grubby finger is on top of the connector block which contains the switch mechanism and the bulb holder – This connector block clicks into the main light/air vent assembly which locates in the headlining. I think that the connector block/switch and bulb holder is defective and the reason the light does not work but I cannot manage to remove it from the wiring harness. I have poked, pulled and prodded for hours on end and short of destroying it I just cannot see how it is supposed to come off. I wonder if it is integral with the wiring harness that routes behind the headlining. If this connector block is available I would buy one anyway just to see how it is supposed to fit. I have tried to find schematics on line but can’t find anything of value and it is driving me up the wall. If anyone has managed to remove one of these please share your wisdom, I would greatly appreciate any help. By the way I did finally get hold of a former Japanese colleague to ask for his help with the folding door mirror saga and if he does come up with anything I will post it on the forum. All the best Malcolm

Hello Chris Thanks very much for taking the time to provide this information; I know that you are right about the 6v reverse camera. What I have decided to do is to take out the OE reverse camera and replace it with a Pioneer camera that I hope will be an upgrade in terms of quality and is also adjustable, which the OE one is not. So I will route a new cable through the car to the back. I think I have managed to track down all of the connectors to connect up the new unit and bypass the amp under the passenger seat. The worst part of this job has been removing all of the aftermarket accessories which have been installed in Japan such as TV tuner, various aerials, remote control receptors and a separate DVD Player located in the glove box for the rear screen - This was not done very professionally, which surprises me given my own experience of Japanese people who normally do excellent work whatever they do. To answer your question by the way, the car is 2010 and it is a 22 pin connector. Best Malcolm

Hello - Need help and guidance Please see attached photos of the back of the OEM head unit on my Alphard - I want to replace it with a Pioneer AVH - Z5200DAB. Can anyone help me identify which socket on the original unit is for the reverse camera connection? I seem to be able to locate the adaptors for everything else but not the reverse camera. Thanks Malcolm

Hello again As requested, the pictures are attached below, the toggle switch below the start button is the rear fog light installed by the importer. As regards the tilting mirrors - On my car, only the left hand side passenger side mirror tilts downwards when reverse is selected and it does this regardless of which position the L-R mirror adjustment switch is in. The little button in the door mounted controls that shows the mirrors folding will only fold the mirrors in when the ignition is on - It does not affect them folding in automatically when locking the car, which is what I was trying to prevent. Thanks again for the help.

Thank you very much to everyone for taking the time to respond. There is no button on my car that I can find that stops the mirrors folding in - I bought the car from an importer who has quite a few of these vehicles in stock and they did identify this button on other models in different dashboard locations, including one exactly where Neville said it would be, but on my car there is no such button or at least I can't find it and neither can the importer. I know that on some other Toyota models there is a function whereby you press and hold down the mirror fold button while pressing one of the arrows on the mirror position control button and this disables the automatic fold but I have tried this and it does not work. I do know a couple of Japanese people who I see occasionally and my current plan is to take the original Japanese owner's handbook when I next see them and pester them to figure it out. I am sure that getting an OBD reader is a good idea (thank you Craig) - I normally work on much older cars where they are not required, but I think on this vehicle it would be very wise to have one, I will look into the JPNZ manuals.

Hello - New member having just bought a newly imported 2010 350 - Apologies if this is an existing thread, but can anyone tell me how to stop the mirrors folding every time I lock the vehicle? Have looked online but to no avail.