Chris.ac

Sweet, my CC is waiting to order, haha.

my MOT is October

Yes, there are several 'types' listed - they do appear to mirror the standard toyota model dimensions, for me type 1 is needed, but I know some of the 2008-2010 would use type2. The next hurdle will be shipping to UK, a site like Jauce will act as a middleman, as many businesses dont ship outside of Japan directly, when I bought a full set of windows shades (excellent quality and fit for all windows, even the small quarter panels at front) the shipping was more than the item - it may be possible to order more than 1 set at once if we get a few people to join us, and the total shipping will be less, as they charge by total container size etc.

This valenti part, I think, would e compliant, but costs a small fortune - my purchase finger is itchy, I must say. https://www.rhdjapan.com/valenti-led-rear-bumper-reflector-toyota-type-1.html https://valentijapan.com/product/ledrearbumperreflector/rbr_toyota/

I was lucky, one of our local mechanics was able to eyeball the relay image an popped one out of a wrecker car he had on the back of his towtruck, it is a common relay, there should be another identical one fitted near the same position that you should be able to take to a parts shop or breakers yard to get another one

I spent ages lookng for an approved reflector/led, I think I have found 2 solutions: One, is to replace the tow hook plastic covers with either round foglights or reflectors from something like a 2007 Corolla OR, I think the Valenti rear reflector/led lamp is actually 'safety' rated to act as an actual reflector in Japan. Unfortunately, the Valenti LED/Reflector is almost £100, but would comply with MOT requirements - I have also seen 'retrofit' kit that uses the original reflector and adds leds to it, but I imagine some form of disassembly/reassembly is required. The hunt continues!

no internal ultrasonic in standard setup. I know in the 2008 there are two small vents (about the size of a 5pence piece) near cab lights, one is dead end, the other is the microphone, and near drivers knee is another similar small grill which is the temp sensor for the cabin. at some point immobilisers became standard equipment, usually indicated by a flashing red car with key symbol on the dash

I attach the wiring diagrams for the complete rear fog harness - you should be able to trace all the wires in the stalk socket, to the dashboard lights etc. Rear fog wiring.pdf

its annoying, I have seen some other manufacturers have a 50/50 bumper installed reflector/fog. The other option I toyed with, was some kind of frankensteins monster of cutting and glueing together the retroreflector to the new fog lamp, what I need is someone with good 3d printer design skills to make some kind of holder or housing its all so painful - the official toyota rear fog fits into the small 'quarter' panel that clips to the bumper and sits under the rear lights, I suppose I could buy that panel from amayama, but it looks a little naf, unless I buy one for each side. So, options that are non destructive. a) buy 2 quarter panels, and fog lights at probably over £500 - nope b) use dual colour led bulbs in reverse lights, extending cable from existing fog lamp loom - doable, and really easy to replace bulbs/maintenance if need be. c) find an actual reflector with lamp for retrofit in bumper - still looking d) open up and cut glue together the original retroreflective lens to the replacement led lamp - feasible if slightly more cumbersome.

something like this - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32780015356.html

well, there are bulbs that can display both red and white,, so with fog switch on, they are red, and get overridden with white if you put in reverse. Apparently the light o/p is improved over the standard reerse lights too, so a bonus.

I can find stuff like this for a 2008 alphard, on the toyota website - brochure section

Yes, Rojie - im dubious now of the reflector replacements I bought, and may go for a dual white/red led bulb in both reverse lamp holders instead

im at the point of 'do i install these reflector replacement led lenses, or do I go for a switchback red/white led bulbs in the reverse light holders and preserve the standard reflectors.

Merry Christmas - Rear fog wiring.pdfI attach excerpt from the wiring diagramme - full trace of rear fogs - hope it helps, I got the digramme from cardiagn'dot'com.

I think they were expecting a drought when designing the alphard. bottle holders in front doors, bottle holders in sliding doors, 2 holders on middle row armrest, 4!! holders in rear armrest - Oh and not forgetting the 2 holders in centre console! Now I could go the whole hog and buy the cup holders that sit infront of the vents near the windows at the front, but I think my thirst has been quenched!

Part number 84140-42080 - common to several high end toyotas, the standard part is 84140-42070 - the wiring loom is already set up for the rear fog, even the fuse was present - I had to add the relay in the passenger side footwell. I bought part from here: https://www.amayama.com/en/part/toyota/8414042080 next step is to drop bumper and connect the fogs to the existing plug that is attached to the driver side rear sonar sensor

Fitted upgraded light stalk, rear fog is now switched on/off via momentary switch 508490281_VID_20211218_1441141.mp4 Hardest part was freeing the steering wheel, but even with my lack of experience, I was able to remove old and replace with new in less than 45mins. If anyone genuinely interested, I will remove it all again to show steps.

https://puretuning.net/en/chiptuning-files/toyota/alphard/3-0i-v6-220hp They are selling the firmwares - at 85euro for stage 1 - now there are several remappers in the south west, 2 of which I see are in/near exeter, I imagine for stage 1 they just connect up to the ecu with a re-programmer and upload the new ready to roll firmware, stage 2/3 are when you start taking up to 2 days to do roller tests and modify other things like the egr and maf - you can even have it so it makes those boyracer pops and bangs from the exhaust. I image you are looking at a couple hundred, I dont think its worth the hassle.

My vehicle is a 2010 Alphard - same mechanics and tuning - If you really want more oomph (doesnt need it, will do 0-62mph in 7 seconds) you can get it stage 1 unlocked, adds about 15% moar powah

Japanese domestic market cars are speed limited to 112mph (180kph) - it will comfortably get to that speed at about 3500rpm Its maximum HP will be 280 - again, this is based on an agreement between the Japanese car manufacturers 'anti competition'. My 3.5l shows consumption each minute, and averages between 8km/l and 12km/l (22 - 33mpg) occasionally I blip the accelerator when an audi or bmw is trying to attach itself to my rear, and consumption drops to around 5km/l (14mpg!) So, I would honestly say, as long as you drive it sensibly, (my driving is a mix of city and rural), you should get at least 28-30mpg

this is from the 2008 manual, so its a feature that may have been available as an option in the earlier alphards

the older keys (pre2008) have a small transponder chip near the base of the key, its in the actual metal itself, its only function is to 'activate' in the ignition key and disable the immobiliser

its pretty useless, but also a legal requirement for vehicles over a certain size in Japan - they probably fitted the smallest permissable in order to not have some audacious monstrosity hanging from the fender

This makes logical sense - the VSC computer actively monitors the rotational speed of each wheel and measures this against the steering angle/camber and the reported speed from the engine - if there is a large enough difference/delta measured at the wheels, it will cause the car to detect this as a fault with the system. I wish they had fitted a proper TPMS as standard - I think it is probably a wise investment if it prevents these types of problem happening. Now I know you can buy tyre valve TMPS systems relatively cheaply, but not sure if they are any good vs the more expensive ones that are fitted inside the tyre.