smurf

Those conditions read to me that they only apply when they are stated in your insurance schedule. If they aren't in the schedule, then they don't apply. I'd double check with the insurer.

The factory fitted immobiliser won't be Thatcham approved. I'm insured with Caravan Guard. They take a lot of details, but it means nothing is left to chance. The only downside with them is that it does have to a professional conversion and they do ask who did it. If it isn't on their list they won't offer cover. I can't remember the cost off the top of my head, but it was very reasonable.

You'll need to use Toyota Techstream to do it yourself.

The springs and shock absorbers aren't arranged in a strut, they are separately mounted and changing one doesn't involve the other, but obviously it will do no harm to change them.

The lack of gas does need resolving. Knowing what pre-charge pressure it should be set to will be a challenge as it doesn't appear to be published anywhere. Contacting Tein ú in in Japan might the best way to find out. From the photos I've seen there appears to be no pressure sensors fitted to the gas side of the suspension, so the controller wouldn't have a clue what the pressure is. I would expect low tank pressure to be related to the hydraulic pump. It doesn't look like the system holds much of a reservoir of oil, so if the bladders are empty of gas then that is more volume to be filled with oil before it can begin to build pressure, and if there isn't much spare oil in the system it just isn't going to work. Look for hydraulic maintenance specialists near you. The chances are that they will have the gear to recharge accumilators and it should be easy for them to charge up your suspension, so long as they know what pressure they are aiming for.

Accumulators normally have a gas bag filled with nitrogen to provide an energy store within the nitrogen that is compressed by the hydraulic side of the system. Definitely don't recharge it with hydraulic oil. Where is the hydraulic pump located and is it working? Lack of hydraulic pressure is more likely to be a cause of not lifting rather than low nitrogen pressure.

I wouldn't bother with buying and changing the shock absorbers unless you feel the need to as they have no affect on the ride height. You could remove them totally and the car will sit at the same height.

Nationwide Flex plus+ current account. £18 a month and it gives personal AA European breakdown cover with no age limit on the vehicle, and Alphards are well inside the AAs size limits. It also has travel insurance and gadget insurance. I simply opened the account and pay the monthly fee. No need to actually use the account or transfer your existing current account to get the benefits.

I bought one of these last year. Used it for about a week touring in the van and I was more than happy with it. Easy to put on and take off, a perfect fit, and it is made of sturdy material so I'd expect to get many years use out it. It was perfect for privacy at night, and it did keep the temperature down during the day. https://amzn.eu/d/eIun2ym

Both those faults should be easy to do some checks on. Battery voltage is easy enough to check. If it is low, it is possibly a fault with the dc-dc converter. You might not be aware, but the hybrid doesn't have an alternator in the conventional sense, the power for the 12V system ultimately comes from hybrid battery and is lowered to 13.9V to charge/power the 12V systems. I would expect there to be other tell take signs of low voltage such as locks not working, stereo not working, lights not working, etc. The open circuit in the stop light switch could be a red herring due to low voltage, but the switch is easily checked. If you have Toyota techstream it will give access to far more information. It might be something as simple as a duff 12V battery, of course, or a loose battery terminal. Hopefully it is something simple.

It is difficult to make out, but you might actually have a hybrid system fault. You need to get the codes read to find out what the issue is.

Could be worth getting a new radiator cap. The coolant is released into the expansion tank as the engine warms up, and is drawn back in when it cools. However, if the cap is not sealing properly when the engine is not fully up to temperature it will spit hot water out until the cap seals.

Not exactly on your doorstep, but if you can get the car to Wigan this guy knows what he is doing with Alphard Hybrids, and he has the spares to fix them https://www.aikotech.co.uk

They haven't changed your dials. They have installed a canbus chip and stuck a bit of black insulating tape over the K. Your odometer is now recording miles.

I'm confused. Where is the K that has been blacked out? If it has new dials there is no need to black a K out, but with a blacked out K it sounds like they have left the original dials and fitted a chip to change both the speed and odometer to miles.

Do you know if they fitted a chip rather than just change the dials? If they have installed a chip on the canbus it will measure everything in miles now, including the odometer, which does mean the odometer is a mixture of KM and miles.

Coming back to this old post after a year, as I have finally managed to get the fob programmed. Tried techstream last year but there is nothing in it that I could find for programming up this type of fob. Tried the door and key hokey cokey and never managed to get it to work. I gave up, and forgot about it. Last night I was delving around in the original Japanese Toyota workshop manual for the gen 1, for no particular reason, and I came across the instructions. This is specific to the pre-facelift gen 1 and it is as simple as following the "Remote Program" instructions attached to the opening post but in step 10 where it tells you press lock and unlock together replace step 10 in its entirety with "press the R button for 1 second and release, and within 3 seconds press the R button again for 1 second and release". If it has worked the door locks will cycle locked and unlocked once. If they cycle twice it hasn't worked.

It is possible to add a gas strut, like you find on boot doors, to assist with lifting the bed back into place. I don't think there is any kind of off the shelf kit, it would have to be bought to suit. There are also electric rock and roll beds that have a motor to drive the bed up and down. I find the best method of getting the bed back up is to pull on the cord (assuming you have a cord attached to the bed?) and then give the front edge of the bed a good shove with my legs. Trying to get the bed to lift upwards by pulling a cord at an angle is never going to be easy to do, but this combination gets the initial movement it needs and then allows it to go back into the upright position easily.

That is a fair point, but for another £5 there are UK sellers getting it to you in 2-3 days. I think over a 100% markup over other sellers retail price is more than just making money, but people have choices so it is up to them is they think the convenience is worth another £55 on top.

There is one hell of a markup on that kit. The sensor can be bought for £15 on eBay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235988688897?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=tclmdbq3tpq&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=ql8_keC9RJe&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY And I found drop links for less than £20 on eBay as well. You just need to check and buy the correct length. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255693411917?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=fE0Y93HTQce&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=ql8_keC9RJe&var=555630171446&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

The three options are when it was built but in the odd order of year month i.e. 0205-0401 is actually May 2002 - January 2004. A facelift 2006 should be the last option. With every ECU showing as yellow it doesn't look like it is communicating correctly with the car.

On a gen 1 the fuel tank is 70 litres. I think I read recently that when the low fuel light comes on there is 11 litres left. If you are finding a significant difference to these figures it is worth getting under the car and looking at the tank. It isn't unheard for cars to be lifted with a fork truck in the docks and this can dent the fuel tank.

Open a Nationwide flex plus account. £18 a month fee and you get personal European AA breakdown cover. You don't need to swap banks, just open the account. It also includes travel insurance and gadget insurance.

Are you sure genuine ones are £180+VAT each? Amayama are selling OEM for about £45 each delivered from Japan.

I had a motorway drive this week for first time since fitting it, and it was only after I got home that I realised I have become so used to having a three lane flash over the years that I was using it and not even mentally acknowledging that it was doing it 😆.