Dave

Yes - I discovered the window issue yesterday and found a helpful video:

Thank you very much for your replies. I've just put the original battery back in having been charging it - it was whilst charging it that I thought I'd killed the car with a different, incorrectly connected battery - and was about to lock up and leave it, probably for a long time, I imagined. Of course, I had one more go first, and on turning the key all the usual lights lit up and it started. I've no idea what's going on. It was completey dead on a good battery earlier. Anyway, I'm just glad it's alive again and will not be so careless again. Thanks again.

When trying to start the car from another battery having managed to drain the car's battery, I managed to connected the 'donor battery' backwards (yes, I know. Long story). Result - completely dead car. I fear the worst and that this may be terminal or will have caused extensive /expensive damage. Will this be the case or is there anything I can look at initially?

Agreed - for the price it'd be worth doing although I don't feel so inclined from the point of view of removing the drive shaft and the disassembling that in order to slide the new piece on. It'd be nice if it had been designed with a slit so that it could simply be opened up and put round the shaft and clamped. Now I know what it is (i.e. not something joining two sections of shaft) I'm no longer concerned about it per se. It should be providing essentially the right mass in the right position. I'm more concerned about the possibility of serious shaft corrosion inside the damper. I've seen some terrifying images of this on the internet; not on an Alphard but the principle will be the same. Anyway, I need to stick to the job in hand for now and get back to caliper cleaning...

That looks (actual pic of service kit above) like my service kit (from ebay) I was thinking to myself, but for the pin collars. It'd be a shame to have to buy all that just to get one collar... Then I thought I should take a closer look at my kit, as yet unopened, and sure enough, two pin collars! So - thanks for all your help which led me to discovering that I already have a new pair of collars. In my quest for said collars I've also discovered stuff about the pins that I wouldn't otherwise have been aware of so it's been a valuable exercise (for me at least) all round.

Hello! I moved to Inverness with my Alphard a couple of years ago. If you even find yourself struggling to find anyone prepared to work on your Alphard (I did) then IT Garage Services (in Inverness) is the place to go. They've done a couple of jobs for me that didn't lend themselves to lying underneath it on my driveway. Everyone else refused to touch it.

Attached is a picture of my front caliper pins as they came out of the calipers. I hadn't realised before that the two pins of one caliper are not the same. One of the pins, R2 in pic, has a rubber collar round it near the tip and this is missing on L2. It will have been like that for at least the last 7 years (the time I've had the car). Why are the pins different? They appear to be identical but for the groove and collar and the parts of the caliper that they slide into look the same, as far as I can see. I've seen some sets purporting to be for the Alphard which appear to have two identical (collar-less) pins. I want to finish the caliper service and get them back on the car asap and am wondering how to proceed: 1. Use my existing pins as they are 2. Get a new set with collars 3. Get a set without collars if there's a shorter wait. Any thoughts, particularly on the purpose of the rubber collar pin and the wisdom of using such a pin without the collar would be much appreciated. Many thanks, Dave

Many thanks for your help.

The Blueprint shims and original shims are significantly different. Is this an issue?

It's near-side. Yes, it does appear to be joining two pieces of drive shaft. I'm wondering what it's called in case I need to get one. It doesn't appear to be in the greatest of condition to me but it must have been like that for some time and the car has just got through its mot with no issues. I'm hoping someone will tell me that it's fine!

Can someone tell me a) what this part is,and b) how concerned I should be about its condition Many thanks, Dave

Many thanks for the replies - which I've only just seen. Am I supposed to get email notifications of replies? I believe I have this set on. Incidentally, adt343164 seems to be a part number for discs.

Yes, the alternator is fine. Everything is fine. I just stupidly drained the battery.

Thanks for your replies. In the end I remembered that I had a motorcycle battery in a cupboard... I charged that and then jumped the Alphard from that. Moral of the story: don't use a car-powered tyre pump without the engine running.

I last changed my brake pads in 2021 (car: 2006, 2.4) and I noticed that the front pads had what I believe are called shims. They weren't in the best of condition at that point but I already had the new pads (with no shims) so went ahead and reused the old shims. I'm planning to change the pads again soon so the shim issue has arisen. I can't find anywhere selling either the shims or pads with shims. Are they actually necessary? If they are, does anyone know where I can get them? Many thanks, Dave

Is it ok to charge the battery while it is still connected to the car? I want to avoid having to reset this and that after disconnecting and reconnecting. The car is 2.4, non-hybrid, 2006 and my charger is 1984 vintage, if that makes any difference. Many thanks, Dave

Any clues about what you did? I've just had an LEZ ticket from Edinburgh. I appealed on the basis that my Alphard is Dec 2006 and passed on the tfl checker... but they want evidence eg a CoC.

I've just received a PCN from Edinburgh council for unwittingly driving in their LEZ. I thought that a December 2006 2.4 petrol Alphard would be compliant (even if their database doesn't know this). Can anyone tell me if this vehicle is compliant, or how I can find out, prove it etc? Or should I just pay up. Many thanks, Dave

I've been meaning to post this update for the last year having finally got to the bottom of what the dipstick was telling me: This is how to interpret/take the transmission dipstick readings (2 dipstick marks, 3 scenarios): 1. Engine running but not warmed up: dipstick should read cold 2. Engine running and warm: dipstick should read warm 3. Engine cold and not running: dipstick should read above the warm mark Confusion arose from my initial belief that the cold mark on the dipstick meant scenario 3, above. (Leaving aside other oddities caused by the leak and low levels). I couldn't understand why a cold, non-running engine was giving a reading of hotter than warm.

It had a leak from the cooler pipes which is why I thought the level might be low. I've found the dipstick to be hard to interpret as it has always shown the same level whether the engine is hot or cold. This makes no sense to me but I've been unable to get to the bottom of it. The whole thing is very frustrating. All I want to do is to put the right amount of fluid in and naturally I'm worried about overfilling due to what I've read in other conversations here.

Alphard G - 2006, 2.4, front wheel drive I've just drained my transmission fluid through the sump plug (I've had a suspicion that there might not be enough in there and was curious to see what came out). Just under 2 litres has come out. From other discussions here I gather that there might be 4L remaining in the torque converter (but how would anyone know? Perhaps this is low, too). I'm proposing to add 4L but as above, this might not be enough. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks Dave

** it is 10mm after all. I would delete this post if I could ** I was all set to drain my transmission fluid this morning but can't shift the plug. (Alphard G 2006, 2.4 front wheel drive) It looks like an Allen key is needed; my 8mm is too small and my 10mm seems just too big. I'm guessing that 9mm is required which I don't have - but I'm keen not to damage it so if anyone could confirm if I'm on the right lines here, or let me know what I actually need, I'd be grateful. Many thanks, Dave

Windows 10, 64 bit

Hi, I've just bought this and am attempting to install the software. Unfortunately my laptop is claiming to detect ransomware in the software. As the whole thing has a bit of a pirate feel about anyway it I'm wary of continuing. Did you, or has any one else, come across this? Thanks Dave