arthurj

Sounds expensive Any way check them myself? I'm not a mechanic and do intend to take it to the garage, but I like to know exactly what's up so I don't get ripped off.

If you sign up to one of those Japanese car auction sites, often there’s a place where you can enter the frame number and it gives you the auction history, which can include the trim level.

When I took my Vellfire to get serviced about 8 weeks ago the Toyota garage replaced both drop links, due to worn covers. Since then I’ve noticed a knocking sound from drivers side front when going over bumps, which I thought I was imagining at first but is now definitely there. I’ve also started to notice a bit of play when turning the wheel left & right when stationary. I had a look at the drop links and there’s no sign of them being loose at either end, but I don’t really know what I’m looking for. Question is: is it likely to be something to do with the job the garage did? If so I’ll take it back to the Toyota garage and moan at them until they fix it for free. Otherwise I’ll take it somewhere that will be cheaper.

Hope it's ok to start a megathread here. I'm finding it hard to get someone to inspect my 20-series hybrid battery. My local Toyota garage would service the mechanical parts but couldn't/wouldn't touch the hybrid system. I thought it might be useful to have a single thread that listed places that will do it. If anyone has had this done, could you please reply to this thread with - NAME OF GARAGE: LOCATION: TYPE OF SERVICE (diagnostic/refurbish/replacement etc.): ROUGH COST: WOULD YOU RECOMMEND?: Thanks!

As I'm generally quite happy with the OEM head unit I've decided to try a band expander so I can pick up stations other than Radio 2. The one I received has two bare power wires - no plug, clamp or anything else. The wires are very short, but I guess I could extend them and use yet another fuse tap, but I would prefer to piggybank on to the head unit power somehow. Anyone got any experience with this?

Mine is the lowest mpg data I’ve seen for an Alphard/Vellfire hybrid, series 10 or 20. I do think the battery’s on the way out but I can’t find anyone to diagnose it. That said, it’s lovely to drive. Even in the best case though it’s not going to be cheap to run. It’s huge - I parked next to an Estima yesterday and there’s quite a size difference, the Voxy’s even smaller. So I’d pick what size you need and go with that.

Only the ones sold for export (Malaysia etc.) as far as I can tell, the JDM ones are still Japanese only. You can sometimes find firmware upgrades for non-HDD models that have English language. It looks like switching to English may have become a feature only after 2014 or thereabouts.

BTW this is an option that you can easily change with a OBD2 reader and the CarScanner app on your phone (there are a few threads on here about it), at least for the 20-series and possibly the later 10-series too.

Found it, the back of the console just pops off 🤦‍♂️ It is an air intake but there’s no paper or cloth filter, just a metal plate with holes in it. It was crazy dusty though.

Thanks. It looks like those fans have ducts out to the vents under the seats. I still don't know where the air's being pulled into the unit, if not through the vent in the centre console which is just called a 'shield'. It doesn't look like it has a filter you can change.

It was hiding in the paperwork. Wonder if I can use it to get OpenStreetMap data onto the head unit?

The intake is definitely in the centre console for the Gen 2, but I can’t find a way of taking off the cover without dismantling the entire console. Not sure if the vents under the driver and passenger seats are air coming from the battery or from climate control, but they seem to blow air out.

I can’t seem to find an easy way to open the intake fan cover on the centre console, as that’s the thing everyone says you need to clean as part of regular maintenance. Looks like you have dismantle the whole thing, which involves taking the seats out!

So I had a go at applying Lanoguard today. Jacked up the front on to a pair of axle stands - bricks under the wheels as backup - and I just had enough room underneath to slide around on a piece of cardboard. It was easier than I thought. Spent about 45 minutes applying the grease to bolts, weld seams, and especially the box ends, which were starting to corrode but not flaking yet. Then another 30 minutes spraying the underside, and finally another 20 minutes using the long nozzle to get in all the holes. Hopefully this stuff is as good as the hype. The kit I bought was about £90 and I used just over half. You’re supposed to apply it every year or so. Waxoyl works out cheaper if you do it yourself but this wasn’t very messy, and it’s much cheaper than any quotes I had to have undersealing done for me. I do smell like a sheep now though

I have a 2012 hybrid and the back of my unit looks like this, apparently - no green port. I think the hybrid info displayed just comes from the canbus, it’s not that detailed.

Not the same radio but the connectors may be the same.

There’s a plate in the door frame of the passenger-side door. It’s quite easy to see with the door open. The number will probably begin ANH20- or ATH20-

That’s interesting. I get nowhere near that with mine (see the MPG Megathread), more like 9km/l local and 13km/l motorway, but I do suspect I have some battery cells that need replacing. The Gen2 Hybrid has an EV mode but it’s only designed to get you out of the drive and part way along the road without waking the neighbours. The engine always kicks in above 20mph and even then the battery only lasts for 100m or so down the road (again, possible battery issues).

Can't edit the original post, here's a follow-up: They took the car in for a service no problem, did a full mechanical check. Very polite and friendly. Interested in the car! Couldn't connect to the hybrid system so were unable to give it a health check. Won't be able to service it either. Couldn't work out how to use the OEM radio Gave the car a thorough clean inside and out as part of the service and it's immaculate. Came back with a detailed service report and did identify several things that definitely needed fixing, which my guy at the port doing the MOT missed (thought as much - that's why I put it in for a service in the first place). However: they are quite expensive and reported minor faults as urgent. Have 4mm of tread on the rear tyres, was reported as urgent replacement (minimum is 1.6mm). Brake disks were reported as worn, actually just needed a clean. Was told that the rear arms were corroded and needed replacing urgently... there's a tiny bit of rust at the ends where stones have hit it, it's not even flaking. To their credit, the engineer actually did even less work than what I approved because he said it wasn't needed.

Local Toyota garage have told me that they can’t do a hybrid health check or work on the hybrid system due to it being an import and their computer not connecting. They’re fine with the mechanical aspects. Does anyone know anyone in the North-East who will work on the hybrid system on an import? Also, in the spirit of DIY, is a battery health check something I could do with a ODB2 reader or Techstream, and how would I go about it?

This is brilliant, thanks Chris.

From chatting to some other people I’ve found out that Toyota improved their galvanising process sometime before 2010, so it’s not as bad as it was, however they still don’t protect from corrosion in the same way that, say, Volkswagen do. Anyone have any thoughts on Lanoguard? That looks like the level I can handle doing myself, even if I have to do it once or twice a year. I’ve heard everything from “I’m a farmer and it’s the only thing I trust” right down to “snake oil, absolute con”.

Does this help?

Possibly, although it won’t use the car’s sound system. The screen itself will just take a standard analogue video in They both have tablets and headphones anyway, but they do love having a movie theatre in the back. I also have one of those mini SNES games consoles. It fits inside the centre console, has HDMI out (which goes to aux/VTR on the head unit) and runs off USB power.

From what I can tell, it’s quite easy to find a replacement head unit that *mirrors* to the rear screen. That is, what’s shown on the head unit also gets displayed on the rear monitor. That’s not what I’m looking for - I want maps shown on the front screen and movies for the kids in the back. I believe the CarPlay retrofit option that gets mentioned here a lot can’t support maps in the front and different video in the back. If I find anything I’ll post it here.