threepot

On the Rav4 what often happens is the wiring corrodes right where it plugs into the diff.

Its just a solenoid, so you can use a bulb to test it if works, and you can check the resistance of the solenoid in the diff with a multimeter, I'd guess it'd be about 1 to 5 ohms.

Wow, so they half admit there is a problem but for only 3 years or 36000 miles!

Yes, certainly if you put any good tape on my van and pulled it off you would certainly see primer 😂

9 hours ago, Honza said:

Ooks great. Mine started to peal too. At the moment only anout 35mm round spot right in the middle of bonnet. Sealed it with touch up paint and thinking of applying some decal strips to the middle of bonnet.

I am only worried that it may,start bubbling under the wrap or another spots.

Keep and eye on and touching up the chips I guess.

I tried to hide mine with stickers for a year but when you look closely you find there is more delaminating paint than you expect, then when I removed the stickers all the paint came off with them. Really I was just after a cheap and quick fix as the van was looking scruffy and I was scared to jet wash it as more paint always came off. The white carbon effect wrap does blend in with the paint work once there is a layer of dirt all over the van. My Alphard/Vellfire is a work horse, always towing stuff, filling up the back with stuff for tip runs - used it earlier to push an empty skip into a better location!

7 hours ago, Chris.ac said:

Yeah, i need to do mine, plus the paint between windscreen and sunroof. 

I did find colour matched wrap, bit not used this, not sure if it's as they state. 

https://www.colorxlabs.com/products/color-match-wrap-vehicle-wrap-that-matches-oem-paint-color

I wouldn't be scared of having a go at DIY wrapping simple panels, its really pretty easy to be fair. Just need a clean environment so you don't get any debris under it and the static when you peel the back off sure does attract everything.

Thought I would post this here as I can't be the only one with this problem.

The paint has been peeling on my bonnet since I imported the Vellfire a few years back, it started from the stone chips and water got under the paint and lifted more.

It was starting to get ugly, I put some small stickers over it to try and stop it, but the peeling grew and grew.

Went to see a couple of different bodyshops where I know the guys, they warned me that because of the white pearl paint it is nearly impossible to match and blending in over panels stands out really badly, it would never be a case of just painting the bonnet 😭

So one night a few weeks ago I just peeled all the flaking paint off the whole bonnet and ended up like this:-

Sanded the edges of the paint back to make it as smooth as possible then had a few experiments with some white carbon vinyl car wrap, came to the conclusion the hardest bits on the bonnet is where the 3 crease lines meet so tried those bit a couple of times with some off cuts:-

Then went for! Got everything clean and layed that puppy down with the help of a mate as a second pair of hands, and seeing as neither of us have ever tried to wrap anything before  it went surprisingly well on the first shot 🥳 no defects, bubbles, creases or anything at all!

Anyway, hope that gives you a bit of confidence if you are thinking of doing something similar, it wasn't that hard at all, and it looks much tidier now for a rough daily work truck.

I've just booked yesterday to do Anglesey again on Monday 6th May, fingers crossed we get some fair weather. The view and outlook makes it a really nice day I think, and the layout is mega with those high speed rights and the tight stuff up top.

Totally standard gearbox, and these ones with the later 6 speed automatic transmission seem like the better gearbox, but time will tell.

I had to make a towbar as buying one was proving difficult, but I posted all about it here:-
 

My 2010 Vellfire 3.5 tows my track car on the trailer fantastic, I barely know its there. Done loads of track days with it over the last couple of years and its been great. Pulls like a train, those big hill on the A55 into North Wales are nothing to it.

Super comfy, cruise control, automatic etc. Just what I want to drive half way across the country after a track day. Loads of tyres and tools etc go in the back no problem, and if it rains my van ends up being the hospitality suite for a bit.

Keep in mind the Alphard/Vellfire doesn't have a chassis plate with any defined axle weights or towing capacity. It is not a type approved vehicle thus it never had those type approval features. Quite what VOSA would do if they ever pulled me over will be interesting as I don't think there is any guidance or ruling on it.

45 minutes ago, TeddyBear said:

Thank you. I can confirm your information helped and my registration have been approved. THANK YOU AGAIN

Excellent  and great success!

Its quite magic getting the V5c though the post - mission accomplished 🥳

3 hours ago, Sorin said:

Hi, can you please share with us what is the polarity of the wires?

Hope this hits the spot!

1 hour ago, TeddyBear said:

Hello Guys,

 

I trust you are well. I am trying to register new import Toyota Vellfire for our business and the NOVA online system is rejecting the Japanese VIN number format - ANH20-8XXXXX. saying "The Vehicle Identification Number you have entered is not in the correct format. Please amend your entry."

 

Do anyone have a way around this please? As its not letting me progress until i enter the correct format VIN.  Thank you 

You have to look at the original import documentation, use that format, I can't remember now but maybe "-" hyphen can't be used.

Also it needs to be on the Customs Declaration Service (CDS) system which your shipping agent will have access too. Once its on the CDS then it can be NOVA'd

8 hours ago, Rojie said:

 

The Auction Sheet will declare the Grading.

A VAT registered dealer will have to levy VAT on their sales price.

Which obviously inflates the price by 20 percent.

 

We all have to pay VAT on import.

A vat registered car dealer claims it back, then adds it back onto the retail price.

Thus you are paying the 20% of the resale price from a vat registered car dealer.

While when you import it you only pay the 20% VAT based on the japanese auction price + shipping + fees.

As for the auction sheet.....  I found a few of the resellers were presenting "modified" grading sheets, they had doctored the grading and the KM's of the vehicle.... one of them got very aggressive when I emailed him over the original sheet 🤣

On 1/15/2024 at 2:51 PM, Garryt007 said:

I am new to this forum, and now in the market of considering buying a Toyota Alphard 3.5 V6 L or a Vellfire 350 G with business seating (captains chairs middle row). I been to 3 dealerships so far and I have been rather disappointed with there experience of the cars they are selling. I have read the guidance note on the forum page and must commend you for providing this to members as it has lots of good advice.

 

I thought I had found the perfect car at one of the dealers, the right colour, the right spec, condition. I had inspected it and it drove nicely, and the price was fair. All appeared good until I ran a Auto Check on the car and found the auction sheet provided within the advert had been doctored. The dealer was surprised to learn this and went away and immediately confirmed the sheet had been changed, he acted immediately to change the advert but now the relationship is somewhat tainted. The original sheet was found in the car documents and I am sure he will look into how the sheet was amended. Oh dear, someone is not going to be happy!

 

The point is it remains a risky business if the dealership's themselves do not do their homework and check the documentation.

 

I really like to hear from those members that have had similar experiences and a short list of importers/dealers that one can have confidence in, I yet to find one, still searching!.

 

  

Yes, I tried to buy one from a few of the import dealer specialist guys.

Not all are entirely honest, some pretend it was a Grade 4 or whatever, but it wasn't, they don't want to pay the Japanese hammer price for the really really nice ones!

They were asking about £15k for one like mine back then.... I got mine direct from japan for about £10k

I just resorted to bidding on one in japan myself using japancardirect.com
I put down my bidders deposit, we bid on a few that we didn't win.

Then I won my white 2010 Vellfire 3.5 4x4 for a reasonable price.

The full spare set of alloy wheels in the boot and the gear knob were stolen during transport, but this is mega common...

Its called the "Japanese knob robber".... that's why there are so many gearknobs for sale on yahoo auctions JP 🤣

8 weeks later I picked up my van from Bristol docs!

No middle man, no dealers profit margin, no badly bodged fog light wiring etc.

I'd totally recommend buying one direct if you dare 😉

Are you going to share what you did? And what sort of sounds system is in your van?

On 1/15/2024 at 5:41 PM, TeddyBear said:

Hello All,

 

Do anyone have a template or copy of the DVLA V55/4 Frist Vehicle Tax & Registration form. I am Newbie and just imported my first 2010 Vellfire.

 

While some of the questions are pretty straightforward.

 

I am not sure the answer around

• HC (g/km or g/kWh)
• Euro Status
• RDE

 

Basically question 21 to 47 that has to do with emission.

 

Any help appreciated.

You don't have to answer those. There is no EU compliant emissions testing, these are not Type approved vehicles.

I just gave them supporting documentation for proof of age, being the export Japanese export certificate, and an MOT certificate which was done under the chassis number.

Included a cheque for the registration fee and 12 months tax.

And 2 weeks later a V5C came though the post! It was amazingly easy to be fair!

This is how I filled out my form....

And I sent it with all these docs....

And I got a V5C back like this!

17 hours ago, Chris.ac said:

Here's an interesting article, using the original microphone instead of the crappy ones that come with aftermarket headunit

 

https://austinnam.blogspot.com/2020/11/toyota-oem-microphone-adapter-for.html?m=1

Yes I've been messing with this, I've also removed the factory android microphone from the front of the head unit.

I've belled out the wires to the Toyota microphone, colours and pins are all correct.... I put a post on here too...

Currently my Dad is in hospital so all car tinkering has ground to a halt, but I think using the Toyota factory microphone is the future.

I would agree with chris....

Take the head unit out and look at the little brown box... or it might be a metal box.

It'll just be loose behind the head unit.

I'd be tempted to plug the original Toyota head unit back in to make sure it all works on that.

As I said previously, the moment you unplug the original roof monitor the amp under the passenger seat stops working.

In that video they still have the original roof monitor in place above the after market one.

Yes but it might be in Malaysia or something, on a vehicle that either has no amp or has had an aftermarket amp wired in.

1 hour ago, Cavegod said:

I connected the obvious wires as detailed above maybe it need Wui connecting to wuo

Yes, I'd guess....

WakeUpIn to WakeUpOut

MI+ to MO+

MI- to MO-

SLDO to SLDI

That should complete the MOST loop. And be careful of the pin numbers as there are some variation on the pinning due to vehicle spec. Notice the *'s on the side of the wiring diagram!

I also had a weird situation where the amp went into some sort of silent mode when I was messing about... and I had to plug the original Toyota head unit back in to get the amp back into normal sound output mode. Its worked fine ever since.

There is some complex communication going on between the head unit, the TV tuner, the amp and the roof monitor. Far more than just an audio signal as I found there is some packet data broad cast which makes the monitor pop out, and you can drive the whole navigation and G-book stuff via the infra red remote that is only received by the monitors IR sensors.

And yes your suggestion on splicing into the camera feeds might be an idea, it depends if the park assist unit keeps them powered up full time. Its a total pig to mess with the park assist module in situ without removing the passenger seat! It can be done with the rear under cover off and the seat slid forwards but its less than ideal. I'm yet to unplug the park assist module and see if I get warning lights etc, just waiting on the adapter lead from my Chinese Aliexpress friends.

I just want all the original stuff to work with the android head unit I've just fitted. Most of the Alphard and Vellfire 20 series have the camera in the front grill and the left mirror camera already as its part of the Auto self parking system, but I've never seen any one on the internet or in person with an android head unit that the extra parking assist cameras work, or the roof screen. And it is just a few wires really to get them working from what I've found so far.

Also if you unplug the factory roof monitor, the whole audio output system stops working for the front head unit etc. You would have to make a few bypass wires to reform the MOST connections that go though the factory roof monitor. Because the signals from the front head unit loop though the roof monitor before getting to the amplifier unit. It is all solvable though with half a clue of the factory wiring.

13 minutes ago, big_boz said:

 

I'm more inclined to pull my currently redundant OEM rear screen and install a bigger android 17 inch wide screen xtrons roof monitor, the kids can then watch what they want with BT headphones. All that needs is a 12v to the roof and hotspot WiFi connection. Simples 

I've had the trim off round the roof monitor, there is a connector plug in there with 2 x 12v permanent lives (blue wires), 2 x permanent ground (white with black stripe) and the is a red wire that with the ignition on give 5v feed (red wire) and goes off with the ignition off. So you could easily use the existing wiring to feed an android pop out monitor thing.

27 minutes ago, dave murrell said:

Does the roof unit work independent of the android head unit and vice versa.

With the USB to Video output adaptor plugged into the Android head unit, it just creates a cloned output of the front monitor. So whatever is on the front screen is cloned to the rear monitor. Thus you cannot have a video on the back one, while you do other things on the front one. They are simply a clone of each other. Quite what the android head unit really can do is a bit of a mystery to me at the moment as I've not had it a week. Maybe with time we will find ways to do more things with it, they are all much of muchness so maybe we can make a firmware flavour that is really cool on Alphard/Vellfire! Build into the Android OS is something called "multi display", and it can either be in clone mode, or extended desktop mode. Some research and testing into this should permit different apps to be on the different monitors I'd imagine.

As for the camera in the passenger mirror, and the front grill camera, they both are wired into the parking assist controller which is underneath the front passenger seat and look like this....

All we have to do is unplug the white and black connectors and connect to some pins in there, plus use a 6v adaptor..... then run 2 RCA Video cables to the back of the android head unit to connect to the Android head units video camera input connector. I have drawn up this "proposed" connection plan....

Then we can just plug in the Front and Side video signals to the android head unit panoramic camera connectors, along with the rear camera one that is already connected with the supplied android Alphard adaptor box...

1 hour ago, Rojie said:

 

I think it has been a fairly common practice to 'black out' the k in the km/h legend.

I was more referring to if they are using the original outer ring of numbers then its on a pulse converter,  it was the only picture I could easily find.

And yes, most people who fit a pulse converter just put a little square of black tape over the "K".

There is a lot of confusion with the dash display in this post.

If your cluster has a speed fascia like mine like this one below... then your fuel computer still works in KM/L, along with the odometer. Nothing has been modified other than a new scale is printed on the fascia.

But if you have an original fascia like this one below, then you have an inline KM's to Miles converter wired into the harness to the cluster, so all the values displayed are really miles, including the fuel computer, the odometer etc etc. The display still has the units as KM/L and KM's, as the display is original but the display is really showing miles as the converter box is manipulating the speed values sent from the ABS module which measures the wheel speeds/rotations.

So make sure you are doing your calculations appropriately to the odometer conversion that has been carried out. Many of you are really getting a reading of miles per litre.

So I have my roof monitor install properly working and tidy installed. I just cut one of the yellow plugs of the USB adaptor lead and soldered two pins to the wires, then heat shrinked it all up. This then just slips into the Toyota factory plug as per the attached pictures.

You can just steal some pins from the other unused connectors like the RCA outs etc. But I ordered one of these here just to cover all bases.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005980041812.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.1.427310d0AhZ4gt&algo_pvid=c4c509e7-1307-4917-b7a8-4699a7690c50&algo_exp_id=c4c509e7-1307-4917-b7a8-4699a7690c50-0&pdp_npi=4%40dis!GBP!5.00!3.5!!!6.15!!%40211b61a417033710448111053e34a1!12000036145331587!sea!GB!118814954!&curPageLogUid=1CUrZKcf1IDJ

And to create the 6 volt power feed for the cameras you can get these little boxed regulators on amazon for £8

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Converter-Module-Voltage-Regulator-Waterproof-2PCS/dp/B08DTQJ18D/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2KMNMEBOKFZ1L&keywords=12V%2Bto%2B6V%2BCar%2BPower%2BVoltage%2BConverter%2BDC%2B9V-22V&qid=1703374110&s=industrial&sprefix=12v%2Bto%2B6v%2Bcar%2Bpower%2Bvoltage%2Bconverter%2Bdc%2B9v-22v%2Cindustrial%2C86&sr=1-1&th=1