-
Latest Postings
-
0
Brake Fluid Blues
Hi all. In the past, brake fluid came either as straw-coloured or blue. I preferred the blue colour because it could be easily seen through the translucent plastic of the fluid reservoir, thus making it easy to check the fluid level. That has all changed .... Apparently, the government has banned the import of blue brake fluid just because somebody, somewhere, got brake fluid and washer fluid (also blue) mixed up. 🙄- 1
-
-
16
Brake issues
Some years ago I used to own a Commodore VSII, and for the heck of it I tried DBA slotted rotors. They worked fine, but whenever doing heavy braking, they would go "GRRRRR". I could hear and feel the slots as they passed under the pads. @Larry200. Curious to know if your slotted rotors also growled ?? Anyway, I surmised that slotted rotors were more for rally/race, or people that were more tolerant of noise, so I ended up going back to plain rotors. Combining plain rotors with Bendix Ultimate pads gave me good "bite" from cold all the way up to 350 Celsius. That is about the equivalent of 2 emergency stops from 100 km/h, in quick succession. Beyond that temperature, the "bite" falls off, but it's still useful, and the spec sheet says that you can get the pads up to 550 Celsius without damaging them i.e. they'll come good upon cooling off again. At one time, going down a long steep mountain descent, I decided to see how far I could "push the envelope". When I got to the bottom, the brakes were fair stinking, and the rotors had turned blue, yet the pads recovered perfectly when they cooled off. The only drawback with Bendix Ultimate was that they dusted like crazy, and rotor wear was significant, but bearable. At any rate, the rotor wear was so even that I never needed to get them machined when fitting new pads, so that compensated partially for the high wear rate. But that all happened over 10 years ago ......... -
0
Front Wheel Hub Bearings...
Hi Gents, My wife recently reported a noise coming from the "tyres" as she put it. Typical me, I said I'd look at it later. Later became a few days, then a week. When I finally got around to it, I just checked the tyre pressure and topped off as required. I didn't road test it at this stage as I believed the problem would alleviate itself thinking it was only a tyre related issue. How wrong I was..... Well the next day, she told me that the noise is still there, so I took it for a drive and to my astonishment, there was a subtle groaning sound coming from the front end. I'm thinking WTF is that ??? I kept driving around the area for a bit, not able to put my finger on it. I'm thinking, could it be CV related or front hub related ? The noise didn't change all that much during cornering so it had me baffled. At this stage being unsure, the common theme that goes with this type of noise is usually front hub bearings. So as soon as I pulled into the driveway, it was jacked up and front wheels off looking for anything obvious. I spun the wheels and I couldn't hear anything, How could you anyway right ? While I was in there I took the opportunity to check the brakes. Perhaps one caliper got stuck and a pad was touching metal to metal ? NOPE.. I pulled the pads out and gave the calipers a clean and re grease. Pads are still quite thick, probably 70%, so not a brake issue for sure. So with this I jumped onto YouTube and started my YouTube University course. I have a strong suspicion that one of the front bearings is starting to go out. Not having armed myself with the proper diagnostic methods during the time I had the wheels off, I didn't know how I was going to get to the bottom of it until I saw The Car Care Nut's method. It was to spin the wheel with one hand on the spring. If the bearing is bad, it will resonate the roughness through the spring, which I didn't do. So I am aiming to have another go at it this Saturday and will see if the noise has gotten any worse. Anyone else here had to deal with a front hub bearings or any other front end noises akin to a bearing failure ? The Car now has 170K on the ODO and from what I've read, front wheel bearings typically have a lifespan of around 100,000 miles or so (160K) I have even read of some vehicles with premature front hub bearing failure and due to my OCD, I am opting to only use original Toyota parts here. The OEM bearing is NSK but Koyo brand bearings are also acceptable. Koyo are widely used in the motorcycle industry, so they must be high quality. You can buy NSK bearings on Ebay for literally the same as what Toyota would supply, so you're better off just paying a few more dollars and getting Genuine parts. I am in the meantime, tooling up and ordering brand new Genuine Toyota replacement parts through Amayama. I have an order pending approval and hopefully be on its way soon. I have ordered a Toledo FWD hub bearing service kit. It's the version that you can use and not have to disassemble the whole knuckle from the car and have to get a wheel alignment after. The bearing can be pressed in and out in situ. You only have to pop the driveshaft out, which I can do with my rotary hammer drill utilizing the pointed chisel tip to replicate a shop hammer. Just have to use jack hammer mode and happy days ! Don't think I'll need anything else. The parts are as follows Toyota 43246-73010 - DEFLECTOR, FRONT WHEEL BEARING DUST, NO.1 2 off R + L Toyota 90520-77001 - RING, SNAP 2 off R + L Toyota 90369-T0007 - BEARING 2 off R + L Toyota 90942-02082 - BOLT, HUB 10 off Toyota 90177-22001 - NUT 4 off ( Only 2 required, but keeping 2 for spare)- 1
-
-
16
Brake issues
Update. Looks like I may have got to the bottom of this issue. Purchased ceramic blend pads from Repco to fit with the DBA slotted rotors. After another dismantling of the front brakes found the pads were shedding chunks. It seems that this in turn caused DTV (Disk Thickness Variation) as these were 'depositing' pad material. Repco did give me a refund on the pads but also admitted that those pads were not suitable for slotted rotor application. Fitted different pads, new rotors and so far so good. -
0
Intermittent power loss with 2013 Hilux turbo diesel
Hi all, I drive a 2013 Hilux with the 3.0 litre turbo diesel, with about 113K kilometres on the odometer. The vehicle is well maintained. Recently it has been having an intermittent problem with momentary power loss. The vehicle will be coasting along just fine, when suddenly it is as if the motor has conked out (which it probably has). No coughing, no rough running... just total and immediate loss of power. No warning lights come on when this happens. Then, as suddenly as the power went, the motor picks up again 5 or so seconds later, and we continue on our merry way. It seems to happen 5-10 minutes after starting the vehicle, and once it's happened it doesn't happen again until the next time the vehicle is started -- usually. So I'm thinking it has to be some sort of fuelling problem. 1. I have checked the fuel filter in the engine bay for water, but it is as clean as a whistle -- and besides, the warning light for the filter doesn't come on. 2. Is it a problem with the injectors? To my knowledge they have never been changed. I ran some injector cleaner stuff through the tank but this has not helped with the problem. 3. Could it be a fuel pump problem? Again, there are no warning lights, but who knows... 4. Could it be that the fuel system is sucking air in from somewhere, and it is the air pocket going through the injectors which causes the momentary power loss? I cannot find any evidence of diesel leaks, and there is no smell of diesel anywhere in the engine bay. So I'm stumped. I could take it to a mechanic BUT I am here in Peru, S.America and (i) there is the language barrier, and (ii) mechanics around here are pretty hit and miss (probably more miss than hit). So I would rather try and sort this out myself. All suggestions welcome! Thanks, Mike F. -
62
Cleaning Engine Bay - Hints, Tips, Products?
For years I used to degrease my engine bay with petrol, and before starting up, would wait for it all to totally evaporate (or else one stray spark ... WHOOM 🔥). I also tried kerosene, but the normal stuff made the car smell like a tractor for a week, but nowadays low odour kerosene is available. I also tried water soluble engine degreaser that is sold in a pressure can. Initially convenient and not such a bad odour, but subsequently I found out that it will get under the paint of a cast-iron block and cause rusting. (See Photo). So, I checked the fine print on the can, and lo and behold, it does say, "Use caution when applying near painted surfaces". 😖 Presumably it is only good for concrete slabs, or aluminium engine blocks. So, I am back to petrol and low odour kerosene. -
0
Rav4 2016 Missing Panel Replacements
Hey Everyone, Looking to replace these missing panels and locked for the boot of my RAV4 2016. Recently bought it second hand and didn't notice these were missing until I got it home. I'm even happy if someone has 3D Printer files on these. Thanks. -
1
Ae112r 1998 keyless entry wiring help
I know this is an old thread but I found it when searching for details of wires to hook into and found no answer here. So for anyone else looking for at least part of the answer, I can tell you about the following wires. I just bought a generic Aliexpress module that has LB-405 on it, Lanbo ?? was about $15. Central locking wires The Toyota factory system works by grounding the wires. Pop out the panel that has the central locking button on the right hand side of the steering wheel. On this plug for the button you'll find a [blue with white stripe] which is the lock wire, and then a [blue with yellow stripe] which is the unlock wire. Each time you ground these the system activates accordingly. So on my Aliexpress module, just had to connect the normally open (NO) wires to these two. The white wire on the module went to the lock wire (blue/white) on the car and the white with black stripe wire on the module went to the blue/yellow wire on the car. You then need to ground both the yellow and yellow/black stripe wires from the module. For indicator flash - pull out the panel that has the hazard light switch. There are two wires in that switch plug which operate each side of the indicators that are green with yellow stripe and green with black stripe. My module just had two brown wires to connect to the indicators so connect a brown wire to each of the indicator wires behind the hazard switch. I didn't connect the horn sound (pink) or any of the other optional wires (trunk, window rising, etc). Then you just need constant power and a ground.- installation
- 211hv
- (and 6 more)
-
0
78 Series. Unable to get rear axle back in
Hi All I have a 78 series Troopy. I have just replaced the rear bearings, hence have had both axles out. On the drivers side I am unable to slide axle back in due to a shim that has fallen down blocking about a 1/4 of the axle housing. I had this happen many years ago and phoned a guy I knew, ex mechanic. He's no longer with us. Anyway, my memory was that I just had to slide something in (broom or similar) and push the shim/washer up and back in position, I then slide the axle in. Not moving this time though. I have had the axles out a couple of times since then without any problem. Unsure if I've had both axles out at the same time as I have now though. I initially thought it didn't want to budge due to the twisting of the car due to being jacked up. Since then I have tried a variety of different wheels jacked up, on the ground etc. No luck. Vehicle has factory lockers and the locker is on the side of the diff in question. Thanks for your help. Shim is just before the diff spline. -
1
1997 Rav4 - Think I need a new engine
Hi Helen, It could well be just a head gasket. Still it would need the head to be pulled off and maybe some machine work. I believe that there are /were places that sell second hand, low mileage, jap motors. They come from Japan, as they must replace their motors every 3 years. The only problem, using them here, is that they are not totally compatible, so parts may be difficult to find. Herb
-
Recommended Posts