2005 Estima V6 4x4 questions and revelations

[DAY50K]

Two weeks ago this machine joined our family. It's a 2005 Estima 3.0 litre V6 4x4. I've had an Aussie Tarago for close to 4 years and decided to upgrate to a far superior Estima. Initially I was wary of the four wheel drive option as it's not really necesssary on a road car in Australia but this one was so nice that I decided to go with it. Also I was not sure about the 3 litre V6 but reading up about it made me decide it was the best way to go.

I'm pretty much faced with the same issues as any owner has with a Japanese import Estima so I have already read up about some of the problems and found answers. My intention is to address some new ones and maybe touch upon some that have already been discussed.

Edited November 9, 2015 by DAY50K

[DAY50K]

The dealer who I bought the car from was nice enough not just to get me some white plates ( I was dreading to get the standard yellow ones) but he also had a surprise in the form of pretty cool combination. Incidentally the combo matches my logon name here... fancy that!

The slight problem (at least in my eyes) was thet the thin front plate doesn't quite fit at the front where a larger and more square Japanese plate should sit leaving unsightly holes in the bumper.

Some scrap stainless steel in the form of a BBQ cabinet door found at the last council cleanup came to rescue. A quick cut and grind and viola! Looks better already. Cost - $0, time spent about 45 minutes.

[DAY50K]

My car had the Japanese ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) gadget in one of the numerous storage compartments. Pretty useless here, besides every time I sarted the car up, a lovely Japanese lady was reminding that the card is missing from the ETC device. Actually it was a guess as I don't understand Japanese and the only thing I could decipher from what was said was "ETC Carto" :)

The decision was made to amputate this gadget. The compatment just disconects from its hinges by pulling on it and then a bit if jiggle later it comes out. Three screws undone and the unit is off. Just unplug the power supply and the antenna cable and no more greeting upon every startup.

I heven't yet followed the cable through but my guess is the antenna on the dash is for the ETC. If that's right I'll remove this as well.

Edited November 9, 2015 by DAY50K

[DAY50K]

Now a question. The car comes with a CD/DVD/GPS/Radio/TV head unit which only has low number FM stations, Japanese maps in the GPS, no TV signal and plays a select few DVDs (it acually does!). I know the best way forward is to just exchange it for a a local one and this will be a task for the future as I still have to recover from the finacial outlay of actually getting this car :)

There is an aditional screen for the rear passengers which for the life of me I cannot get to work. Even when a DVD is playing on the in-dash screen, the rear one is lifeless. Any trick to this?

I have a remore control of some sorts but even with a fresh battery it operates nothing. Any clues???

[trentmeyer23]

Faulty screen?

[DAY50K]

I was lucky to get a goodie bag full of paperwork for pretty much everything that's been installed on this car.

Everything is in Japanese of course but at least I have a fighting chance of figuring something out by looking at the pictures and googling model mumbers/names.

According to the literature I'm supposed to have a digital TV/DVD installed under the passenger front seat. I have the installation and user's manuals plus a remote that matches what's in the paperwork. Also there are the antennas installed on the windscreen (as per the manual).

However the box under the seat is not this - very similar but not it. I read elsewhere on this forum that this is the computer for the Sat Nav in the dash. Can anyone confirm? I wonder wat's happened in the past. Evidently the TV tuner/DVD must have been installed at some point but have been removed.

This is what I have now. There is also a smaller box under the top one but was not able to photograph.

[DAY50K]

Faulty screen?

Perhaps? Should it work with the dash mounted "entertainment unit"?

[DAY50K]

This is the other remote I have. Fresh battery installed but does nothing :)

Edited November 10, 2015 by DAY50K

[DAY50K]

I got an owner's manual with it. Very nice if one can read Japanese :)

My son managed to get an automatic translator app on his phone that would translate after taking a picture of the page. After rolling on the ground laughing for a while at the jiberish that we got we were none the wiser...

At least the pictures sometimes speak for themselves!

What are the options of me getting an English version of this? There was a link posted elsewhere on this forum for a place in NZ but after bookmarking that page my computer security says it's an "attack site" and not safe to open. Any other options?

[DAY50K]

What's the best way of testing to see if the screen is faulty?

[Speedz]

Pretty rare to see a 4x4 Estima, by the way do you have a front left and right door lights?

The 2004 Estima 2WD my old man picked up only have the red reflectors but no door lights.

[DAY50K]

There seem to be quite a few AWD Estimas around in Sydney.

There are only reflectors in the door panels. Looking at them from the inside it looks like it should not be a problem making them light up. Maybe there was a factory option for this???

[laurieslorry@gmail.com]

Hello, been trying to find information on estima 4wd system, can anyone tell me what it is based on ? also how smart it is,? will be picking up a 2004 estima t 4wd shortly and curious about the 4wd set up .