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Voodoo101

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Voodoo101 last won the day on March 4 2023

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  • Name: Craig
  • Alphard / Vellfire Model
    Vellfire 240 (08-15)
  • Alphard / Vellfire Year
    2009
  • Your Location
    Portsmouth

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  1. I have the standard system. It sounds great in the front but the back sounds bad. If you get the standard then i suggest an upgrade in the back
  2. You can disconnect it. Mine was tagged into the wiring behind the head unit
  3. I tried Admiral for mine when I first got it after getting the cheapest price from them on comparison page. They said they would not insure mine as it was a 240z and the only insure 240s and 240x. I told them it was the same thing and just trim difference, infact the according to wiki, the 240s does not even exist. They said a manager would phone me, that was six months ago and still no call. After speaking with them I phoned Adrian Flux and they matched the price after speaking to insurer, they also added free cover for my excess and when my previous insurer made a mistake with my previous claims, Adrian Flux gave me £50 compensation
  4. Well when I bought my Vellfire, it had a Sony double din unit installed that that was able to use Android Auto and Apple Carplay. The steering controls worked, but the DAB Radio was bad and the reversing camera did not work. I only have the six speakers which all worked from the head unit. I decided to upgrade and bought an Android head unit from Aliexpress, that came with the dash surround to fit, replacing the one installed. They do not come with the gear chrome surround or the little storage unit, so this had to be changed, the trouble was that it was a slightly different colour and looked stupid. Also the top was not the matt black of the original and with the sun tended not to work well with the heat, add to this that it did not fit right. Then after a few months the touch screen stopped working, so I had to send it back to China to get a refund, losing out on postage cost. When I took the Sony unit out I had found out why the DAB radio was bad, the person had not earthed the antenna, Unfortionaly when I came to reinstall it again I found I had binned the old one and the new one for the Android did not fit. I also found out why the reversing camera did not work as who ever had fitted it in the first place had tried to hook the rear screen as the reverser, so a simple adaptor off ebay fixed that. As I said, I dsn't have the 18 speakers so don't know about that, maybe somebody else on here will know, but for everything else, you could just get one off the shelf from Halfords or the like and it will do the rest. I am now looking for a replacement Android unit and have found three that I may be interested in from named companies. First one is more powerful. Second one is not as powerful but gives me the option to play CD's. Third one looks good but is from AliExpress which worries me. universal Double Din Head Unit (joyingauto.eu) Universal 10.1" Double Din Android 11 Car DVD Player GPS Navigation System (TQS113) | Xtrons Idoing13.3"car Radio Android Stereo Player For Special Car And Universal Car Gps Navigation Intelligent Head Unit Plug And Play - Car Multimedia Player - AliExpress Hope this helps
  5. If you want the best system for options then go for an Android Head unit (try to avoid units from AliExpress this includes places that fit them and may get them from AliExpress). These give you all the options of a tablet such as Google Maps, Dab Radio (you have to buy extra decoder), Reversing camera, 18 speakers (with extra adaptor), Spotify, Netflix, Disney +, Google and much more. These also work with the steering wheel controls. If you are looking more to have something a but more basic and are willing to connect your phone for maps and other music features, then there are a lot of makes on the market, but you would have to check that it would work with the standard amplifier
  6. Normally the rear dashcam takes power from the front camera which also does all the recording. By your description, you have two separate dashcams. If that is the case then I would probably just take a power and earth from something in the tailgate. You will have to make sure that the power comes from something that only comes on with the ignition, otherwise it will just drain you battery. Just make sure you run an inline fuse.
  7. Extension lead for 12v chargers. NDDI 120W Car Charger, Cigarette Lighter Splitter USB Car Adapter with QC 3.0 Quick Charge and Three 5V/MAX 5.5A USB Ports, 3 Cigarette Sockets with 4 On Off Switch, Car Voltage Display: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo
  8. I got my 2009 Vellfire earlier this year and had a nightmare. Some places would not quote because it was an import. Tried comparison sites but they only had they only listed 240X and 240S, but mine is a 240Z, so a few would not insure (if they put it down wrong, your insurance is invalid and the will not pay out). Phone Admiral who said they could sort out a price and would phone me back. That was 4 months ago and still no phone call. Ended up with Adrian Flux. My last insurance was a group policy with a company car, so they arranged for the claims free years to count as no claims bonus, then negotiated with the brokers to get a price cheaper then Admiral. They then covered my excess free of charge, so in the event of an accident, my excess is covered. Then there was a problem on the paperwork from my old insurance company that said that I had a claim but was not a claim. This cause confusion with Adrian Flux when they received it think I had not told them of a claim. When it was sorted they gave me compensation for the error and it was not even their fault.
  9. The fuse box is accessable without removing the glove box, infact the glove box will not make any difference unless you need access to thread cables from the door. To remove it, open it up, on the left side you will see a plastic rod from the dash to the glove box, just pull it free as it comes off easy, then squeeze the sides of the glove box as you pull it open (make sure it is empty as it will just hinge on the bottom) then pop it off the hinges. Be careful when you put it back to make sure the hinges are correctly lined up when you put it back, otherwise it gets jammed and is a pain to get back out to align. Then push it back in place, hooking up the pole. The easy way to wire up a dashcam is to use a piggy back fuse. Saves any major wiring, the only problem is the fuse box lid does not fit after. If you remove the kick panel on the left of the footwell (there is a little plastic nut at the back and it just pops off), there is a bolt that is a good earth.
  10. Yes, but you have to get a powered adaptor for the arial.
  11. Wasn't arguing, just pointing out the otherside of the discussion so people can make a choice instead of just hearing scaremonger tactics of how bad it is. There are also people saying that it is not bad. People can decide on what they want to do once they get the full information. Without proper evidence, it is all just hearsay either way.
  12. Well like everything. For every person who thinks you get more mpg, you will find somebody who thinks you don't. Maybe you did not give your ECU chance to make adjustments. Maybe you had a bad tank of fuel. Maybe it's was the placebo effect. I found this though from Australia. E10 vs 98 Ultra-Premium There is a popular myth that higher octane fuel like 98 UPULP will give ordinary cars more performance and better economy. Unless your car has been specifically tuned to run solely on 98RON UPULP this is simply not true, and any gains in efficiency would come from the improved cleaning ability of 98 removing built-up gunk inside your engine that was already hurting your fuel economy. Or this from the UK It should be perfectly fine to use a higher-octane fuel than the manufacturer recommends for your car – though it’s unlikely to offer any discernible benefit. Or this 6. Using premium unnecessarily If you use high octane fuel in an engine designed for low octane fuel, the engine will adapt up, slightly. The knock sensor will allow a small increase in ignition advance and there will be a slight increase in power. Slight. Certainly this adaptation will not produce as much additional economy/power as there would be if they increased the compression ratio and optimised for premium.
  13. I already have, but threads like this won't show the difference. There are lot of factors that come into play about fuel usage. Driving styles, road condition, temperature, road layout, traffic, engine condition, tyre pressures, wheel size, additives used, windows or air conditioning, weight, body style. The only way this debate would be settled is if there was independent test done with the same vehicle on rolling road with proper scientific tests.
  14. This theory does not seem to stand up in real life use. I have been looking for any scientific proof and could not find any, so did my own test, but had no difference. I fear that it is like the old standard v premium fuel adverts, that motoring shows tested on rolling roads and found no difference.
  15. Hi Dave I have a 2009 Vellfire, so some of this might not be true for you. I was told when I bought mine to use E5 only, so I did some research. This is what I found. I am no expert so this if for information only, make your own decision. E10 has more ethanol so it can cause problems in older cars, by older the research I have found states cars pre 2000. The problems it can cause is rotting of rubber fuel hoses and welds in carburettors. As Alphards / Vellfires are fuel injected this last one does not matter. There is also reports that because it ethanol does not burn, there is lower MPG, however I never found any actual scientific figures for this at all, only conjecture. Toyota UK will not state whether imported cars from Japan are safe to use E10. They do state that European cars produced since January 1998 are compatible with the exception of the Toyota Avensis 2.0 litre with the 1AZ-FSE engine and the 2.4 litre with the 2AZ-FSE up to 2008. I have no idea of the engine that is in your car is one of these. I assume that Toyota design engines and fit them in different cars. My last car was a Mercedes with a Renault engine, so for cost cutting this may be the case. On the flip side, I found an article saying the Japanese government has been looking into adding extra ethanol in fuel over there since 2000, even stating that they want to get to far more then 10%, and the logic in me is saying that companies like Toyota, who build cars to last, would build cars with this in mind. There is also a video on Youtube of somebody with an Alphard running on E10. They show that the car can be jerky when you first change, however the ECU learns and settles to smooth driving. I just changed a battery and had the same problem for a while, so this seems to make sense. Now my own experience, like I said I have a 2009 Vellfire which came to the UK in 2019, however I only purchased it a month ago. I ran it on E5 at first and it seemed a but jumpy at the start then smoothed out. I have no idea what the previous owner ran it on. I was low on fuel and the only garage close had E10, no E5 so had no choice. The car was jerky for a while then ran smooth. I have seen no difference in fuel consumption, if anything it runs better of E10, maybe the ethanol is cleaning the injectors. With the cost of living and the limit of getting E5, I have decided to run E10. Only time will tell if there is a major problem, however many drivers run on E10 now and I have seen no horror stories of people having problems. With regards to an additive, there is one available, as to where you get it, what it's called and if it is any good I cant tell you. Unfortionaly nobody can make the decision for you. It is your car and you have to make the choice. There will be people on here that will say only use E5. There was somebody on a Facebook page blaming E10 for stopping the gears changing, and said running E5 will fix the gearbox.
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