What did you do to your car today?

[01 VEY]

Got new rims

Pics??

Ya can't just say that and keep us hangin'

[DJKOR]

Once again, not so much what I did with my car today, more-so what I did to it yesterday. Yesterday I modified my intake a little because I wanted to get rid of the rubber flexi hose that was there. At the moment it is just in a testing phase so it is not what the final solution will look like. Close to, but now that I have found that it is performing as expected, I will be cleaning it up in the morning to make it all neater:

With that said, the above photo comes with a story to tell. Yesterday afternoon, the car was driving perfectly fine up until the point where I went to 999 Automotive to pick up the bits and pieces for my intake. When I leave the place, it drives fine for a few hundred metres or so and then when I come to a stop at the lights, I feel the car surging a bit and notice the revs drop to 500RPM (about 200-300 lower than normal). After a few seconds, the revs stabilise and all seems normal again.

The when I accelerate off gently, I notice it has this rather pronounced flat spot between 1000RPM and 1500RPM... after which it drove normally. I definitely knew something was up but I didn't really care too much and just figured that I'll be playing with the intake anyways and can give it an ECU reset and see how that goes. I drive to Autobarn to get some more pieces and stop the engine.

When I go to leave, I noticed it started a little funny and the revs dropped to about 500RPM and the surging happened again. A few seconds later it seemed to work itself out. So I continued on my way. As I was driving out, I was in some start-stop traffic and as I was lightly applying the brakes, the revs spiked all of a sudden and I nearly rear ended the car in front. I was getting annoyed now. I thought it won't be far to get home so I'll just take it easy. As I continue along the way, I get the following:

Didn't really surprise me. All it did was confirm that I wasn't imagining things. Anyways, I decide to read the code and got this. Oh the irony (in that I bought bits for the intake, and got a code related to the air/fuel mix):

I immediately had an idea as to what the problem was, but I just told myself that I will fix it when I get home. I only had to stop by Bunnings on the way so I got that out of the way first. One thing to note that was after the initial flat spot, once the car was moving faster than about 20km/h, it seemed normal... even under heavy acceleration. It didn't go into limp mode or anything.

So anyways, I get home and look straight to the rear of the supercharger. As per my expectation, I observed the following:

I knew to look here because Ash (SecaBoy) reported of the same issue with his some time ago and the fault was something I had kept in my head. Basically it is the vacuum line for the S/C bypass valve actuator. This bit of hose is really loose fitting on the TRD's and in this case it managed to get a fair deal of oil built up on it which led to it sliding off enough to leak the vacuum. When there is no vacuum applied to the valve, the S/C will produce boost as the bypass valve remains closed, and when the engine is idling, this extra boost was upsetting the engine as it was not expecting this.

So anyways, I took the hose off and since I didn't have any other hose to suit, I ran some degreaser through this one to clean it up and thoroughly cleaning the ports that it connects to. Even still, the hose was rather loose fitting, so I took the next step:

That should buy me some time until I can get some tighter fitting hose. I cleared the code and the car runs normal again.

[Silver-Aurion]

Nice one man :D. I love reading your posts about your car. They're always interesting B). Instead of buying a tighter house and getting rid of an original hose, why just buy the things that as you screw get tighter around the hose? No clue what their name is.

[DJKOR]

... why just buy the things that as you screw get tighter around the hose? No clue what their name is.

1c cable tie that I have already vs. $1 hose clamp that I need to go out and buy.

I'm pretty sure the cable tie is working. I will replace the hose eventually though because I probably should. May be experimenting with the operation of that valve anyways.

[Buff Hamster]

Washed both the Rav4 and Aurion.

[DJKOR]

Today I revised my intake. Got a new filter which was shorter in length which enables me to extend the pipe prior to the MAF so that the flow is more even as it reaches the MAF. Removed the bracket for the old air box and cleaned up the area around the filter so that when it moves with the engine movement, it will not make contact with anything around it.

Took her for a test drive and she still feels like she is pulling just as hard, so I'm happy so far. I guess the run at the drags next Wednesday will ensure she hasn't lost any power.

[Hiro]

Gave Lexi a wash and polish, shiny new wheels and plates now matched by shiny car :)

[william777]

Washed with Meguiar's Wash n Wax and applied Ultimate Quick Wax.

[Silver-Aurion]

... why just buy the things that as you screw get tighter around the hose? No clue what their name is.

1c cable tie that I have already vs. $1 hose clamp that I need to go out and buy.

I'm pretty sure the cable tie is working. I will replace the hose eventually though because I probably should. May be experimenting with the operation of that valve anyways.

I have plenty lying around the garage. I'll give you a couple

[MrRob]

Got new rims

Pics??

Ya can't just say that and keep us hangin'

OK IT WENT FROM THIS

TO THIS

[01 VEY]

The new rims look similar to the oldies but have a more meaty appearance.

Black on black always looks the part.

Awesome wheels

[Buff Hamster]

installed 4 SMD LED sun visor lights in the Rav4.

[corza]

Attached my Maroons flag to the antenna :)

[Nellie]

Today... I just drove my car. Nothing special. But Friday I bought it a brand new windscreen & the Thursday before that it got a service.

[Buff Hamster]

Installed the 48 SMD LED cabin light, 4 SMD LED door trim lights and 48 SMD LED boot light. OMG it's so BRIGHT!!!

[Buff Hamster]

Installed the 2 x 12 SMD LED map interior light in the Aurion. Now the i have completed the LED light conversion.

[Lawz]

Shopped on RHDJapan and bought Project Mu lock nuts :D

[Silver-Aurion]

Just gave her a once over with with my megs wash n wax and gave the inside a good vacuum and some tyre shine. She is looking sparkling clean again :D

[EC11WA]

Clay bar and wax. :)

[Hiro]

Was Friday not today, but finally dropped my FXGT front bar off to get painted.....much happiness awaits its return.

[Silver-Aurion]

......

Edited June 1, 2011 by Silver-Aurion

[DJKOR]

^ LOL. It looks wonky.

[Silver-Aurion]

^ LOL. It looks wonky.

Yeah, I removed it today. It looked crap.

[ToyotaFreak]

Was really bored, so I covered the window frame area (Not sure what it is exactly called.) in black PVC tape, the exposed paint area bugged me since day one. Not perfect (Tape wasn't wide enough. Had to do another layer to cover the exposed edge on the other side.), but will redo it with wider tape when I'm back down under.

Edited June 2, 2011 by ToyotaFreak

[Buff Hamster]

Installed 24 SMD LED cabin light and 12 SMD LED rear door light on the Rav4. Now both the Aurion and Rav4 are LED converted.