Big T

EXTRA Prior to my last post which I said was my final update a couple of other things gave occurred and I will mention them here in case anyone has come across them or to be aware of for the future. The first thing I noticed after a few days was that I could no longer control the other windows from the drivers door controls. After some on line digging I found that this is normal for most Toyotas ( not just the Alphard) and is fixed by going round each window in turn to reprogram. A bit of a nuisance if you are using a kill switch as an additional anti theft device but I'll live with that. The second issue I noticed this evening, days after fixing the kill switch issue. When I switched on the ignition the radio ( pioneer system - not original) had lost all its programming again. I had reprogrammed all the stations after fixing the kill switch problem so it perturbs me that it has happened again, making me think that I haven't solved the original problem after all Any thoughts anyone? Cheers Trevor

FINAL UPDATE The kill switch was, indeed, the source of my "Dead" Alphard. I unscrewed the green thumb wheel that creates the path to the negative terminal of the battery. There was a fine ring of corrosion around both the brass face of the contact and the shoulder of the green thumbwheel. A bit of emery sorted that. Screwed it back on , tightly, and all systems go. Problem sorted. It never ceases to amaze me that when a problem with a motor vehicle arises that you always seem to think that it's going to be a complicated solution involving a lot of money when, in reality, it usually proves to be a much simpler solution. After solving this I remembered that I have had two similar incidents before with two volvos !! The incidents were years apart but when it happened the second time it was solved very quickly. In both instances the main earth strap from the engine block to the body shell broke through metal fatigue. The in-line engine constantly twisting on its mountings eventually broke the strap resulting in no lights on the dashboard. Glad to get this sorted. Case closed

UPDATE After setting radio back up again the same fault re-occurred. I checked the battery compartment and gave all the terminals a check. Mine had a green knob fitted on the negative wire just beside the terminal. Apparently this is a kill switch that was fitted by the previous owner. It was not fully tight so a gave it a twist. Engine was able to restart. It would appear my initial thoughts about the immobiliser were going down the wrong path. I'll give it a check tomorrow to prove my new theory. Trevor

I have just had a similar experience and it caused me a panic. I bought this 2005 alphard motorhome ( imported to UK/ converted in 2022) It has been perfect until today. I went out to move it. Got into vehicle with auto unlocking ie hand in through door handle while key in my pocket. I put the key into ignition and turned it. Dash cam started up ( aftermarket plugged into cigarette lighter) and dash board light came on as normal. As I turned the key to start the engine (I think my finger may have pressed the lock button but not 100% sure) Everything went dead, all lights on dash extinguished and radio went off. I turned the key again - nothing. Tried switching on inside lights, again nothing Got out of vehicle and tried pressing alarm button on key fob nothing. I let things sit for a few minutes and tried interior lights again. They came on. Great. I put keys in and tried to start again. Dash lit up but then everything went dead again. Panic setting in. I saw something on line about main fuses and green /red indicator on battery. Checked that , everything seemed in order. By this time I'm thinking if ringing my mechanic. Got back into vehicle and tried the interior light again. It came on. Put keys ignition and tried again. Radio came on but all station memory was wiped and date / time reset. The internal clock on the dash was reset also. Turned the key further round and vehicle started this time ( Thank God). I let it run until the engined warmed up a bit. Everything seemed fine but I'm nervous about what went wrong here. I have no clue. Absolutely no indication of anything like this happening up to now. Note This is a motor home ( daily driver) and I did check that the monitor of the leisure electrics showed 70% and did not switch off at anytime during this incident. Has anybody any idea if what happened here and is there anything I need to do? Spent 10 minutes reprogramming the radio stations and the clocks Trevor

Hi Kim, I have just bought an Alphard (fixed Hi-top) and yhe seller gave me a new rear-door mounted bike rack with the vehicle. I just had a brief look at it and it appears to be a universal fitting that can be mounted on a variety of vehicles. There is a diagram showing how to mount it on the rear door and the guy selling the van knew what he was about , so I have no doubt it will fit but to be honest its bound to affect the balance of the door when open ( fit stronger gas struts , I suppose) and you will habe to remove bikes for access. I dont think the tow bar is any better as it sticks out a lot and, again, bikes need removed for access plus the expense if fitting a towbar. I think ,I'll just do without the bikes. I will probably put the rack up for sale on ebay.