Goz

Badum tish ... petrol stations always quote it in pennies or cents ...

I twice ran it for 50 miles or so past the 0km left on a rnu down and back up through France in the past week.  Both times refilled to 58L and no signs it wsa dangerously low on fuel ... Not sure I want to push it any further mind 😄  Slightly annoying only managed to get 55L in while I was in Andorra ... Only paid €124.2 per litre as well!

On 4/7/2025 at 5:59 PM, Goz said:

I've taken mine down to 57L a few times ... generally shows empty at 52L ... Have driven it from Sevenoaks to High Wycombe with the fuel guage on empty  😄

Filled up 58L today ... saved 5p a litre carrying on to the sainsburys near home! 🤣

I've taken mine down to 57L a few times ... generally shows empty at 52L ... Have driven it from Sevenoaks to High Wycombe with the fuel guage on empty  😄

I don't have any other good pics handy will have to try and remember to get you some over the weekend. The straps over the spoiler may well push the spoiler down a little but its not noticeable.  I've had a good 40kg of bikes hanging off them as well.

I've got a thule 973-24 I picked up for £40.  I've modified it with some straps on the sides and across the top of the spoiler and it works beautifully.   Really wish I could get a 4th bike adapter for it ... but its so old you can't get them anymore

On 2/23/2025 at 12:36 PM, Rojie said:

 

Four sub-woofers or bass units ?

That many sub-woofers could make your passengers feel ill with the low frequency vibrations moving their diaphragm.

I dunno ... that sounds awesome

https://youtu.be/UgiR7YrXIaM

Its definitely a JDM.  Basically it looks like my radio canbus reader was crashing the ecu so it wasn't starting up (and hence i couldn't get the car to start or any info out of it!).  I'm thinking it starts in english and then the ECU updates it to japanese ... 

It did allow me to find that there is a menu where you can turn the EV indicator on and off (was nice when you read it in plain english!). I guess if you could somehow scroll through other settings then language might be an option.  But I can't figure out how to do that.  All I can do is turn the EV indicator on or off

Does anyone know how to do this?

With my recent issues, when the ECU was failing ... the whole thing started reading English. In the attached screenshot you can see it says "Outside" in English. (Its a shame I didn't get a better picture before fixing the problem where there was a bit more written in English mind).  

So there must be a way to change it.  Anyone know how to?

Thanks!

I was recommndd that I speak to Dave over at Worcester's Mobile Mechanic and he was convinced it was the aftermarket radio.  He was surprised itd been in the car for 18 months said usually they go wrong in a few weeks.  Suggested i put the original back in.  However, I did suddenly think I had added a canbus interepreter to the car 6 weeks back.  I pulled that off the radio and then suddenly the car jumped into action!  Code reader is now working prefectly and I was able to clear the remaining codes and it was all working as expected.  Will definitely keep an eye on it but this has filled me with hope!

On 2/13/2025 at 4:15 PM, Picasso said:

Hello may depending on the year the original battery has a heat sensor built in so you can not really put a normal battery in as the sensor is connected to the hybrid system the original battery's from Toyota are Panasonic and still are even if you by from Toyota pm me your reg no. or vin no. and i can confirm for you which is correct battery for you .   

As an aside with my mk2 I removed the paper (genuine panasonic battery too) and this "built in" thermometer was just hot glued to the top of the case under the label I really doubt it does as much as many people suggest 🤣

Someone here may be able to help.  Currently awaiting a rescue from the RAC.  My 2012 hybrid alphard has thrown a bit of a hissy fit.   Ever since my 12V battery went dead (I left an internal light on) I've had a host of issues with it.

This culminated in some cut outs.  The system would say that the hybrid system has an error.  I would then need to stop the car, clear the codes and the car would continue to run without issues.  I noted that the errors codes were U0100 (lost communication with ECM), U0129 Lost communication with brake control module and U0164 (lost communication with HVAC module).  Initially I thoughxzt it was a poor connection on the 12V battery but yesterday I had a new failure.  When i turned the car back on I was unable to get the code reader to connect to the ECU (it connected to the dongle fine though).  It also reported that there was zero power in the HV battery.   A couple of panicked turns off and on again and I was able to connect to the ECU and clear the codes and I was on my way again.

However, today it has got worse.  I am completely unable to get the dongle to connect to the ECU.  I see the engine warning light, the traction control and the ABS,  I also see the airbag steering and a general caution light.  Furthermore it reports E celsius as the outside temperature.  

I have tried many things from restarting to disconnecting the battery and so on and so forth.  Occasionally it kinda jumps into life for a short bit (still won't move and the engine won't start) and reports a hybrid system failure and 4WD drive failure.  Still can't get the code reader to access it and clear the codes or anything.  

Through all of this ... really bizarrely it seems to have switched over to English.  So now tell me all the warnings etc in English as well as all the other info. (No idea how this is happening but would really be happy to keep it!)

Interestingly I pulled the hybrid battery isolator out and tried to star the car and see IDENTICAL symptoms to when I try and start it with the isolator plugged in.  Another interesting thing I noted a few days ago was that one of the bits of information the elm32 was repotring was that the HV battery condition was at 3.69% ... As such I'm beginning to think that something has gone wrong with one of the hybrid battery cells.

Does anyone know of any tips and tricks for solving a hybrid battery issue like this?  Am I just gonna have to open up the battery and find out if I have a dodgy cell or 2?  Is this even likely to be the cause of my issues?

Anyone in the Oxford area gone into an alphard hybrid battery before?

After much faffing around I have sorted my fog lights out.  Thanks for all the help.  Will get a photo once the sun sets.

Way easier just to completely remove the whole bumper and do it elsewhere.

After installation, I was just testing them out and the car started throwing hybrid system errors.   Which was a bit of a problem.  Finally managed to get my OBD2 reader to work to discover that my 12V battery was pretty much dead ... Connected up a backup battery I have, cleared the code and its working perfectly ... *phew*

So is there a point on the HV inverter you could connect a DC power supply to to charge the HV battery.  So you could run the aircon all night without firing the engine over? 

On 11/20/2024 at 3:09 PM, Goz said:

 

Cool.  Will let you all know how it goes!

Well I've got the LED strip now.  I bought a set of super bright 5050 LEDs ... I can get 12 in the space.  Should be able to get another  3 in ... but alas you can't cut the strip just anywhere.  I'm pretty sure 12 will be bright enough though ... am still seeing the colours in my vision from when I connected it to my battery 🤣

There is only one issue though.  The LEDs are too big to sit under the reflector.  I guess I could just now worry about it and get on with it ... but I'm thinking I could carve into th eplastic slightly.  Now just have to figure out how to do that ....  Any suggestions appreciated

1 hour ago, Chris.ac said:

I remember this from a few years ago.

It should work. I have some reflectors for the door using this method.

Cool.  Will let you all know how it goes!

I came across this suggestion on facebook

https://www.facebook.com/winchestercarimports/posts/toyota-1-fog-lightreflector-trick-using-oem-reflectoras-you-know-your-fresh-impo/3603107103080426/

I bought a set f reflector to experiment with (rather than potentially breaking my actual ones) and they pop apart really easily.  I can also confirm that they are still retroreflective without the plastic backing on.   Now looking for some ultrabright LED strips ...

Has anyone else tried it?

ok interesting ... you can't get E85 in the UK at all ... but I keep seeing the price when im driving through France ... might not be worth it if I can't just refill with E85 when i land

Will have a chat with my mechanic though ... car is off for the annual service in a couple of weeks

Quote

Last but not least, I run it full E85, and my highest consumption is 14L/100km, which means ~10€/100km, which is still "cheap" for this kind of vehicule !

What did you need to do to convert your alphard to run on E85? ... I spend a lot of time driving through France ... would love to get the modification done!

Mine is a 2012 hybrid ... usually fills up round 51/52 when showing empty ... i was getting aroudn 37.5 mpg on that drive so thats holds pretty well.

But yeah ... i definitely have a tank that is close to that 65L size ...

I've driven from Sevenoaks to High Wycombe with my range on 0 ... still only got 59 litres into it

I'll take them if theyre still available?

Did a weekend trip from Oxford down to Dover (stopping to pick up a friend and my sister) along the way.  Then spent the weekend pootling round the french countryside before heading back home.  Averaged 13.4km/l for the whole trip.

I leave eco mode on and set my cruise control to 60mph and just leave it as much as possible ... seems to work out pretty well

Am doing a trip to the pyrenees for christmas.  Will be interesting to see what sort of mileage i get on such a long drive.

On 10/20/2023 at 10:49 AM, Mike Owen said:

Hi Daphne,  Yes I had success - Used them a couple of weeks ago to carry our Thule roofbox to Scotland for a week!

 

I wouldn't say it was easy, but not too bad, and I am pretty confident it's very solid, which is the main thing.  Just needed to source a rubber block and 4 off 6mm screws (to fix into the existing roof bar holes in the Alphard), which again was pretty easy once I had worked out what was required.

 

Let me know if you want some more detail of the parts / method / photos etc. and I will post them on here.

 

Cheers, Mike. 

This is for a mk1 alphard ... right?  Not a mk2?  Shame if so .. I'm after a solution for a mk2