The Saga Continues

[RogerP]

There was a bit of Déjà vu last Wednesday 30-4-08 after reading the report of my failed Roadworthy, the rear Flexible coupling failed - was seen to be cracked. (more on this below)

Also, remember how my mechanic had put in the clutch that the previous owner bought and gave to me as part of the sale, and that it was the wrong one, so my mechanic had to pull the box out a second time.

Well it would seem that the gearbox mount is now cracked and it's going to cost me around $140 to replace that part.

I bought the car home after the roadworthy, the estimate at the time was around $940 more to fix it all at that Garage.

The rear headrests were on the list - but we new we might fail with them.

Qld Transport wanted me to fit a compliance Plate if I removed the rear seats.

The mechanic and I construed that if we fold the back seats down/ up they may be overlooked. I didn't check the vehicle when we dropped it off. Folded down it was very noticeable that headrests needed to be fitted - like in your face.

I took one of the headrests from the middle row down to my nearest wrecker and 30 minutes later and $40 I had a set for the rear seat. They're Grey, not an exact fabric match, but they fit - what more can they ask of me.

Because the rear seats was folded down they seemed loose, so that was another failure point.

Also on the list were the Sway Bar Link Rods - their boots had perished.

I bought the car home after the roadworthy and started doing some of the dismantling to try and save costs.

In the future when I save more money I pay for a paint job, as the car suffers badly from clear coat cancer.

I've spread soft wax over the paint cancer - where the clear coat has peeled and it looks 100% over what was - the colour near match's the paint that still has clear coat on it.

Some of the black has faded so using a black kill-Rust I've "tidied up" where it needs it.

I borrowed some spanners and managed to get the Sway Bar Link Rods off.

The car has the Engine repair book, so I was following the instructions for removing the utilities drive shaft, but was finding the removal of the four bolts (stage 4) from the belt housing - which is in front of the shaft, extremely hard.

I found this all rather strange as I would have thought that all of the bolts would needed to have come out when the mechanic fixed the bearing in the shaft. I wondered how he could have done the job without removing the shaft, I wonder if in fixing the bearing the rear flexi-joint broke?

My mechanic arrived to get more money from me to buy parts today, and told me that to replace the flexi joint we only need take the 3 bolts that goes through the joint and with the shaft still attached at the front we can repair the rear joint.

But he found it hard to get the shaft in a position to work on no matter how much twisting and levering was done.

So he turned to detach the front joint and found that it too was cracked.

Both joints were all but destroyed in getting the shaft out.

So now I have to buy two flexi-joints, his quoted price is $180 each.

There goes my thought that I might have the car registered by the Friday the 9th May

His price for new Sway Bar Link Rods is $140 for the pair

The total spend is $620 in parts before the next Roadworthy it would seem

In my mind it should have only been the Sway Bar Link Rods and headrests etc - around $200 worth of repairs.

Questions arising: a 1993 Manual Tarago/ Previa

*can the rubbers be removed and replaced in the flexi-joint?

*How much would/ should this cost?

*Where do I get the parts for this? (does previa.com do international?)

*Does all of the equipment housing stuff need to be dismantled to get the shaft in and out etc?

Other suggestions

[qkslvr]

By "flexi-joint" do you mean the CV-joint on the front drive shafts? if so then i think you are talking about the CV boot that covers them.

The CV boots can be replaced but if the CV joint is worn then replacing the boot won't fix them. In that case, you'll need to replace the entire joint.

[RogerP]

By "flexi-joint" do you mean the CV-joint on the front drive shafts? if so then i think you are talking about the CV boot that covers them.

The CV boots can be replaced but if the CV joint is worn then replacing the boot won't fix them. In that case, you'll need to replace the entire joint.

No, I mean

Drive Shaft Prop Coupling Bush Kit Toyota 04374-28010 AUX SHAFT COUPLINGS SET

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...cTODAY.m238.lVI

[RogerP]

the estimate at the time was around $940 more to fix it all at that Garage.

I took one of the headrests from the middle row down to my nearest wrecker and 30 minutes later and $40 I had a set for the rear seat.

Also on the list were the Sway Bar Link Rods - their boots had perished.

I borrowed some spanners and managed to get the Sway Bar Link Rods off.

His price for new Sway Bar Link Rods is $140 for the pair

So now I have to buy two flexi-joints, his quoted price is $180 each.

... and told me that to replace the flexi joint we only need take the 3 bolts that goes through the joint and with the shaft still attached at the front we can repair the rear joint.

So now that I've ordered the Sway Bar Link Rods (front) from Fulcrums for $38. each, I'm now wondering how much of what I've already paid for has had inflated prices!

$900 for parts and $300 for labour, if parts were doubled, thats $750 in labour/ cream

I've been across to "http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/previa/files/" and read that the aux shaft is worked on while still on the vehicle, but a bit different to how we/ he did it. I sent the document over to him.

I am buying the Ebay bushes kit for $85.90 AUD including postage

In buying my own parts I've managed to save alot, prices quoted by mechanic were $140 for the Rods, and 2 times $180 for the bushes kit [loose rubber, me needing to press the old out and the new in] = $460, my prices = $161 - a $300 saving

[RogerP]

Under the bonnet there was a wire running directly from the battery to the AC compressor, the now sacked mechanic asked how cold was the A/C - to which I had no real answer as I had not run it much.

Last weekend I decided to take a look at the condenser - the A/C radiator in the fire wall - where the cold air is created.

There was about only a third of open radiator showing, the rest was packed full of a dirt oil and lint mixture.

I took the instructions from the very helpful previa group at yahoo, a place where Tarago/ Previa owners help each other ( not like here where a few corolla owners try to answer the questions.) I diverge

I'm just waiting on the flexi-joints (nothing to do with CV's for those non Tarago/ Previa owners).

The gearbox-mount damage was just under the top plate and has no dirt in it - confirming my suspicion that the sacked mechanic did it when he fixed the clutch. The silly thing is that the crack in normal operation had compression against it from the weight of the box/ engine.