starider

Hi, have tried to contact JPNZ by email but so far have had no reply. I've friends in New Zealand and have asked them to see if they get any response. Will pass on any info if I have any luck.

Hi, fitted a new front wheel stud in just over 35 mins. If it's of interest I will describe the method and tools needed. It can be carried out by anyone who has a reasonable understanding of tools and working carefully . Possibly the only piece of specialist equipment needed is a good quality Torque Wrench. Around £20 from fleabay and always useful for many tightenig jobs. Another "Beware" topic arose when I checked the fluids in the engine compartment. I topped up the screen washer bottle and right infront of me was the air filter,and noticing the filter housing was only retained by 2 lever catches, carefully swung the front section towards me to expose the filter element and what a state it was in,I hadn't seen one so filthy for years. So straight onto my motor factor who amazingly had on one the shelf, which was delivered within the hour and well under a tenner. So if you are unhappy with your fuel consumption check your airfilter element. The part number is for my 2.4 petrol. and the make of the filter HERTH+BUSS [JAKOPARTS] PtNo. J1322078. If you can't get this brand , any good motor factor should be able to cross reference from these numbers.

Third jab this coming Monday. So much for the announcement that we should not have to travel more than 10miles, we have to go to Westward Ho!, a 40mile round trip! and my wife couldn't get hers until the following Monday so that's 80miles in total!! To use public transport would be virtually impossible. 3 buses a week. One to Barnstaple,one to Holsworthy and one to Tavistock, Hmm,it may be an idea to put something on film, but my wife and I have nothing to do with any social media, having seen the effect it has on many people's lives. we both have mobiles, but they are rarely used and mostly as cameras. If the studs arrive, we'll use the Alphard for the 2 trips and possibly return home down the Atlantic Highway to Bude for fish and chips.It's little point having vehicles which are not used and the Alphard is of a size that it can be used for general use as well as camping. We have several vehicles to use, my wife has a Ford Connect Van for carrying"stuff", there is also a Dacia Duster, so they are also used in rotation. I have a1973 DAF 33 Van and a 1968 Morris Minor Van which are nearing full restoration and they will also be used. I won't go on about the other vehicle we have, but there are more! KEEP JABBING!!

Hi Rojie, don't forget I'm very ancient, that's the reason for the lift, several years ago I was finding it more and more difficult to get under vehicles on the floor and even more difficult to get up so the 4 posterwas purchased. Since I had Covid and finished up in Intensive Care last November, it's more difficult now, although I have almost totally recovered. I know it's not Alphard related,but make sure you get your Covid Jabs. I wouldn't wish a serious dose of Covid on my worst enemy!!

Hi wjvh, no worries, I have tended not to "let on" about my time in the motor trade, but there are times when I have to. When I was Manager of a large Dealership we sold two makes of car, Alfa Romeo and DAF. It was when Volvo bought out DAF, that I did 3 years teacher training and then taught Technology[including Motor Vehicle Studies] to 11 to 18 year olds for 26 years at various schools].I also used to teach evening classes to adults for general car maintenance. I hope to help Alphard Owners if I can, via these pages once I get to know more about these vehicles. If they are anything like the 2 Toyota Hilux's I've owned in the past,the Alphard should give years of service.

Just had a thought, does anyone know the best place to purchase a set of 4 locking wheel nuts and the key socket.Had a look on fleabay, but it's difficult to find sets for alloy wheels with the washers, rather than the taper. If I punch in the Alphard model details most say "not suitable for this model"! Found the wheel studs on Ebay. Went for the expensive ones.

My impact wrench would not shift the nuts, which shows how tight they had been. The rear nuts were fine,unfortunately the only way to shift the fronts was to increase the length of leverage. Not boasting, but I have been in and involved with the motor trade for over 50 years and still have most of the kit,including a 4 post lift in one of our barns. As I have said it's important when you have tyres fitted make sure you see the fitter use a torque wrench for the final tightening.

When I purcased my Alphard the Dealer had to have it MOT Tested and two new tyres were fitted[plus some disc pads and rear fog light]. Yesterday I decided to fit the mud flaps I had purchased to the rear and front. The rears fitted quite easily, when I went to fit the front set, removing the wheels became a problem as I had to put a 3 foot long tube on the wheel brace to get enough leverage to undo the nuts on both sides. This was obviously a severe case of over tightening when new tyres were fitted and an ratchet air tool used to refit the wheel nuts and not a torque wrench set at the correct torque. Once I had fitted the mud flaps I put the wheels back on and tightened the nuts enough so that I could lower the Alphard down ready to use a torque wrench set at the recommended torque of 105N.m.[as stated in the Owners Handbook], The correct way to do this is to gradually tighten the nuts diagonally opposite a small amount at a time until the torque wrench"clicks".All was going well until on one nut, long before I reached the correct setting, went slack and I realised the wheel stud had sheared.There is another which feels as though it will shear! I have seen this happen before on wheel nuts that have been severely over tightened using an air gun. So be warned if you you have wheels removed for any reason,make sure they are tightened using a good quality torque wrench. Luckily wheel studs and nuts are readily available and are on the way, but it does mean I have to strip off a front brake calliper and disc and hope I can change the broken stud without having to remove the hub.

My 2007 Alphard was fitted on import[for MOT Test purposes] with an after market rear fog light.An illuminated switch has been fitted in an easy to see position on the dash board behind the light switch. The actual lamp was just bolted on the bottom of the rear skirt and looked horrible. I purchased a couple of flush mounted rear fogs off fleabay and as there is not enough room to fit these behind the rear skirt I made a couple of panel brackets and mounted these[one each side] on the bottom edge of the skirt.They look quite good and much better than the "add on".

Hi Rojie, I think the ones you have seen are the same as the ones for Land Rovers and are 1p less than £14. A question ,is there any way of adding pictures onto a post? It may help others when they are considering "additions".

The single rear fog light fitted by the importer to my Alphard is poorly fitted and points upwards, I calculate it would shine in a following vehicle's driver's eyes. It is reflective but looks awful. The reflectors are as fitted from new, and therefore legal. Please ,everyone check you have two reflectors,it is highly likely they could have been missed during an MOT Test, but you never know you could be followed by a bored police patrol!! The rear fog is so bad I have ordered a pair of flush fitting fogs and as there is not enough space behind the bumper,I have made and painted, to match the paintwork, two neat brackets to fit under the bumper each side. I have to fit front and rear mud flaps and will attach oblong reflectors on each of the rear set. If anyone is interested the mudflaps are advertised on "fleabay", just punch in mudflaps for Land Rover Defender 144138766365 and at just under £14 for the 4,good value. I haven't fitted them yet, but have offered them up and all looks good. They are plastic, but can be easily cut if necessary and mould to shape easily.

Thought I had replied to this topic, but it seems to have disappeared,so I repeat: Having looked at these fog lights which replace the reflectors, I am a little concerned that it removes a legal requirement i.e. that all vehicles must have at least 2 rear red reflectors incase of rear light failure/or parked without parking lights. Last night I illuminated the rear of the Alphard and appart from the reflectors none of the other lamps when switched off. had any reflective properties. This means that if these replacements are fitted, reflectors will need to be added.

Many thanks Rojie, will find the post.

Hi, just collected the wife's Ford Connect van from our MOT Garage and mentioned we had just purchased an Alphard and that I was a little concerned about the amount of Camber on the rear wheels, it appears they had been looking after an Alphard for several years. The manager said it was possible the camber angle could be adjusted, so I have arranged to drop in for them to have a "look". Will post their findings when I know. It may be revolent if anyone wants to tow a caravan.

Have recently fitted the towbar purchased from PCT. Having fitted towbars to many models of vehicles over many years this towbar is quite easy to fit, but requires some drilling of the chassis. The kit included 50mm tow ball,nuts,bolts and washers. 7pin socket, bracket and wiring with additional bracket for socket mounting other than behind the towball. The instructions are clear to follow. The only problem I had was one of the silencer mountings touched the tow bar on acceleration. The instructions said it may be neccessary to bend the bracket, but these mountings are so hefty I used an angle grinder to cut 1/2" off the end of the offending part of the mounting[where the rubber hanger slides over], then put a flat washer on the shaft with a good clip to hold it in place. I used the spare bracket to mount an extended mains socket. The fitter of the new conversion had fitted it under the body behind the rear wheel and had not considered trying to crawl under at night on a wet/muddy surface!!

Hi, sorry, we live a long way from you in West Devon, but will keep folks informed as to progress.

Hi, we have found a fairly local company who has fitted a radio to an Alphard. They are on holiday at present,but as soon as they return we will be in contact. As soon as I have something to report I will share the info.

Hi, Looks like the FRO 396 has exactly the same page numbers missing. I noticed this when the manual arrived, but as it is the section on "Emergences" it would not have been the same emergency requiements in the Japanese version.

Hi,at least my post has highlighted a small problem which I hope will enable others to order the correct handbook for their model. I repeat,well worth the cost! As a check, the FRO 396 Owners Manual covers:- Type MNH 10W--ENGINE 1MZ-FE with DRIVE MODE-FF and Type ANH 10W--ENGINE 2AZ-FE with DRIVE MODE-FF. :- Type MNH 15W--ENGINE 1MZ-FE with DRIVE MODE-4WD and Type ANH-15W--ENGINE 2AZ-FE with DRIVE MODE-4WD.

Hi,not sure if there is a problem with part numbers on these manuals,the one I received Thursday is from the same company JPNZ and is FRO 396, [ 2002 - 2008]. I agree well worth every penny!

Hi, I have been posting on these pages for some weeks now and if folks are interested, a little more about myself. I'm quite ancient, but have been in or around the motor trade for over 50 years[ 30 of which were teaching 11 to 18 year olds]. Until we decided to try camping in an Alphard, my expertise is restoring Morris Minor Vans and DAF Cars/Vans[if interested have a look at some of my 1000+ posts on the DAF Owners Pro Boards web site]. I hope to be able to use some of my knowledge to help you all once I get to know the Alphard better.

Hi, I'm sure ,like myself, you new owners received with your Alphard, an impressive quantity of booklets and service documents,which of course are totally useless as they are witten in Japanese. I did try translating some of the wording using on-line translating but found this was not at all easy. I took to looking back through many Topics until I found where I could get a translated copy of the drivers hand book. These are well worth the cost and obtained from:- www.autobooksdirect.com these are from translations carried out in New Zealand, so are in effect an accurate copy, with a little "jiggling" to make the book more usable for us in the UK. The Part Number is FRO 396.

Hi, thanks for the help, will check tomorrow.

Have eventually found that the VIN Number is printed on the V5C[V5C's now have a new format], but the engine number given is only 3 digits so obviously incorrect. I have ordered an English copy of the drivers handbook which will hopefully show where the engine number is located.

I would lke to know the rear Camber Angle please. Many thanks in anticipation.