stopgapcat

This might or might not help, but we bought an ANCEL JP700 JOBD OBD2 Japanese Car Scanner from Amazon for £65 when we started getting warning lights on the dash. Probably not as powerful as a pro piece of kit, but it was enough to work out what the issue was in our case.

Howden Insurance gave a competitive quote that was quite a bit lower than Flux last year for our 2006 Alphard camper conversion - might be worth a try.

You would want to double check this, but I'm pretty sure the Nationwide FlexPlus account includes both world wide travel insurance and European breakdown cover (including campervans from what I recall). It's about £18 per month - might be worth considering if you're willing to change bank account.

We're using a Vango Rock & Roll self inflating mattress in ours - specifically designed for campervans - not cheap at around £150, but pretty good. One tip if you do get one is to store it not rolled up for the winter if you have the space - storing it for long periods rolled up means the tightest section won't re-inflate fully.

We've got a Calder Campers conversion. With a bike rack on the back, it will go in our garage which is precisely 2.1m tall. Without the bike rack, we can just squeeze under 2.0m But I'm guessing different conversions will be slightly different heights.

Sorry - that should have read "hob and heater"!

I asked a local guy who does habitation checks on caravans and motorhomes to do one for our van - he charged a reduced fee as all that really needed checking was the gas system for the job and heater

If it's helps, we've got a 2006 plate V6 with a five speed box (two wheel drive) that's been converted professionally to a campervan, We get about 26 or 27 mpg without the bike rack on the back and closer to 25 mpg with. Given the age of the van, we always put in premium E5 petrol, which is a bit more expensive.

Calder Campers supplied us with a modified 2-bike rack based on a Fiamma one for a Mercedes Vito van - it needed just a bit more protection for the paintwork (I used a piece of inner tube from a bicycle tyre). However, I think they charged something like £500, so maybe one of the previous suggestions is better. Happy to add a photo to this post tomorrow if that helps?

I'll add a couple of things... The three spark plugs at the back of the V6 are difficult to get at. When ours was serviced for first time locally, the mechanic found that the front three and rear three were different makes and ages - this suggests that on a recent service in Japan, only the ones at the front were actually changed! Worth knowing, and it's worth fitting long-life plugs if you change them due to the difficulty in getting at the rear ones (Iridium plugs I think he fitted). Ours is a 2006, so we are sticking with E5 petrol - you might like to do the same. Hope you enjoy your new wheels!

We got a competitive quote from Adrian Flux for our 3.0l campervan - they are certainly worth a try

We have a 2006 Alphard - I bought an ANCEL JP700 Automotive JOBD from Amazon for £55 - this is the specific version that includes JDM vehicles - works well

I think there are probably better examples out there if you are prepared to travel a bit to get the right one. And things like the speedo conversion, rear fog light and under body treatment (they don't use salt on the roads in Japan in told) really ought to have been taken care of before you buy.

We had the same symptoms and fault code on our 2006 3.0 litre - the garage cleaned the Mass Air Flow Sensor (for free!) when we took it in for a service, and this fixed the issue. Hope this helps!

Am I correct that you mean cam belt where you refer to drive belt? If so, my local garage says it's the same engine as the Camry. They now have 5 Alphards on their books, so they 'know their stuff'. If you are anywhere near Derby, I would highly recommend them - CK Automotive. Thanks for the info about the badge under the bonnet - will have a look later. Have you tried an online translation tool? As for fuel economy, following a full service, our 3.0 litre managed 30mpg on a long run recently - I suggest that isn't bad for such a big car. And there seems to be no issue with Low Emission Zones (I haven't checked London, but the others are all fine). So I don't feel any need to go back to a 'dirty diesel'!

Just be a bit wary of going for the smaller engine - I was advised by the company we got ours from that the smaller engine has to work harder, so might not be that much more efficient than the (absolutely lovely) 3.0 litre V6 - and for our year (2006), I understand that the 3.0 came with a five speed gearbox, whereas the 2.4 came with a for speed gearbox.

ANCEL JP700 JOBD OBD2 Japanese Car Scanner from Amazon worked on our 3.0l from 2006

Had to glue both of mine back in - the clips at the top and bottom of the reflectors aren't the greatest! I'd suggest going online and seeing if you can find them at Megazip - this is a Japanese supplier of auto spares - they have diagrams of every vehicle so you can work out the part number and order the right thing. They will then ship the part to the UK by your choice from five different couriers, including at least two well known ones (I think I selected DHL). We managed to find a tow hook cover for our 2006 Alphard for about £15 - with shipping it was about £45 and arrived with about a week. Hope the helps! Steve K

It's also worth trying "Megazip" - I managed to find an obscure part for our Alphard (silver towing eye cover), which arrived directly from Japan without any significant issues, and for a sensible cost, including shipping by FEDEX / TNT / DHL

Donnington Park has good access from both the North and South