Long hard road…

[Sebastian Woodhouse]

Spot what’s changed?

yep… nice black window tint.

[KAA]

Ahhhh thats what it was, I assumed Sebastian had a suntan LOL looks really good mate and Sebastian is shiny shiny

KAA

[Tony Prodigy]

Nice one Aaron. I've  been procrastinating to the wife that I'd get the windows tinted for years. I think it's about time I got around to doing it lol..

[Sebastian Woodhouse]

With a quick wash to get the residue from the tint guy off the exterior

Not bad for a hair under 195K and 7.5 years old.

[KAA]

Yes Aaron Sebastian is looking stunning, shows what TLC and attention can do, looks great mate

KAA

[Sebastian Woodhouse]

Wow it’s been a while hasn’t it?

For a start I can say I’m incredibly happy with the window tint.  In the closing months of summer it made a massive difference. 
 

However let’s roll back over some of the little things that have been afoot.

When we did the ACT rego stuff back in August (literally days before the last ACT lockdown) we popped the extra dollarydoos to have the number plates done in plastic so my OCD wouldn't have to deal with the White/Blue combo on a black car.

As much as I wanted YUB33R that was going to cost about 10% of the purchase price so nope. Regular sequence plates for us.

Anyway over 4 months of waiting later instead of the usual couple of weeks I got the letter saying come to Collect them.



Except I had to get them from here. Which sounds easy but since Omicron, nope.

Each day the ACT Gov decides which Access Canberra is going to open based on available staff. This one is where my number plates were physically so it had to actually be open.

Then you need to front up and join the queue electronically, during normal business hours, so if you have a job you're ******.

It's been up to 5 hours for that first queue. I waited 90 minutes thankfully. Then, that queue lets you queue inside the office where a bunch of staff from all the offices are trying to do their best. I got the one who didn't know where number plates were kept. Or the number plate filing system. I got there before 2pm.

I was home plates in hand and eyeing off a celebratory beer a hair after 5pm.



I no longer twitch when looking at it.

[Sebastian Woodhouse]

At the end of February..

Sebastian went to the local dealership for his 195000km schedule service (to continue the service history).

Somehow Toyota mechanics found some $2000 worth of repairs that would need to be done.

I'm not calling BS on that, but I am quite amused that two roadworthy inspections, a check by a local suspension shop and also the local tyre guy doing the alignment in the past 3000km all failed to find $2000 of things to do.

The list:
- Front and Rear wiper blades (car doesn't have a rear wiper)
- Radiator Cap failed pressure test (First time in my life I've ever had someone say they tested the cap when there's no cooling system fault being chased)
- Both front ARB link rods
- Both Driveshafts “have play”
- Sump leak

Impressive.

Now I haven't jiggled stuff in the front end hard, and yes the entire back half of the engine is coated in oil spilled over the years from filling at each service. But it doesn't leave drops on the ground either.

I'll have to make some time to actually check things myself and clean down the engine properly to be sure there's a real leak and not just mess.

I think it's a combination of maybe someone being extra proactive looking for wear and also “while we are fixing one side we will change the other because that's not dumb”.

Pricing to fix seems pretty sharp given the parts cost (I put the quoted part numbers in Amayama to check) so I can’t even call it out as a rip off.

[Sebastian Woodhouse]

[QUOTE=Aaron;n7341686]

The list:
- Front and Rear wiper blades (car doesn't have a rear wiper)
- Radiator Cap failed pressure test (First time in my life I've ever had someone say they tested the cap when there's no cooling system fault being chased)
- Both front ARB link rods
- Both Driveshafts “have play”
- Sump leak
[/QUOTE]

So the sun is shining and I crawled under the Camry for a looksie.

Let's ignore the Rad Cap and Wiper blades for now.

ARB link rods.
They are smooth in their movement, I can grab and shake the entire car to the point it rocks on the stands and not feel any play. The boots are tired and I think the lower end on the drivers side has cracked the boot. Maybe. It was just greasier.

Sump Leak.
Yeah Nah. The lower tin pan was dry and clean all the way around except where some stuff has run down from higher. The upper cast alloy portion of the sump which is more like a block Girdle (but doesn't retain the crank) also is dry around the seam, except where some stuff has run down.

The spill overs from filling the motor would run (as one path) down that side of the block and that's the kind of dirty muck that I degreased off mostly months ago. The back side of the block was still clean so I just degreased (and did a bit more of a scrub so as far as I'm concerned No sump leak, maybe some seam weep as per a 200,000km engine if I'm being generous.

Drive Shafts:
This has some merit. The left definitely has a bit more play and when the wheel is jiggled in that play It does rattle a bit. It's also the short shaft so would cop a flogging moreso than the right side. No grease fling from damaged boots, no weep from the axle seal in the trans.

Right (drivers) side. Less play. But there is grease sling from the inner joint. It looks like at some point someone's been there before as the inner boot appears to have a zip-tie holding it on the big end. The grease sling also goes up the same dirty area of the sump and back of block.

I have cleaned it all up, and basically will continue to do so until I can be bothered feeling up the boot better and determining if it's ****** or just slinging grease out the end because zip-tie.

Either way, very likely I won't go back to that dealership for the next book service, as there's probably $500-700 of work that is completely unnecessary at this point in time.

[Sebastian Woodhouse]

Shock!

Horror!

Disaster!

The Camry broke down.

Is that enough click bait? Good because like most things a Camry does it did it in a leisurely manner to cause the least inconvenience.

See the weather down here in Canberra has been sub-par with a howling wind for the past few days and a “feels like” temperature of single digit. Last night was probably the coldest it's been in 2022.

So naturally this morning we get into Sebastian, tap the start button and dutifully the motor spins slightly. And stops. Starter solenoid clicks a few times, then (Push button start systems generally restart/retry a few times) after a couple of goes kicks over and away we go.

At this point I though maybe the local criminals had left an interior light on or something whilst rifling the 80's/90's mix-tape CDs in the centre console, but no.

Drive to our destination and park. Need to head off 5 minutes later and same again. It's either a starter problem or a battery problem.

Go home, swap cars and do the rest of our errand running in the luxury of the XR4.

Get home and decide to troubleshoot, in the rain…


Step one, deactivate the RedBack security system. For some reason both cars have colonies of them living under, and around them. I'm almost tempted to put on in the gloveboxes for the next time my taste in music gets critiqued by 12 year old career criminals.


Step Two: Look at the battery I kept from my Megane, whilst dirty it was 2 months old when the car got written off and is a pretty decent Stop-Start one. Shove it in the hole. Press Start button.

The 2GRFE quietly comes to life with more enthusiasm than ever. So, definitely the battery. Unfortunately while it fits in the hole the clamp doesn't fit on it, and the terminals are too small for the Toyota leads, neither problem is in surmountable, but I also don't want to be chasing my tail in 6 months time when my “make it fit” leads to “it won't go”.

Now I've lived in Canberra for 29 years, and in that time I have pretty much always gone to “The Battery Factory” and bought whatever the guys there have advised. I've never gone back for a warranty replacement (and the eldest battery I bought from them was 10 years old when I got rid of it in the Megane) and while I may have paid a little more it's just one of those things, they have the right battery, it works, and my problems are resolved.

But they close at 3pm on a Saturday and I figured it was time to do a quick Google and check on the Supercharge website for the “make my Camry work” part number. The premium capacity option being this:



Google also revealed Autobarn are doing 25% off batteries.

Jump on their website and yep, in stock at my local (3km away) and a mere $168.

It's at this point I should point out that the last commodity battery size I had was in my BA XR8, with both the Megane and XR4 batteries being “no stock” from any of the SuperAutoRep stores (thus reinforcing my continued use of The Battery Factory).

Anyway went and picked up the battery, stuck it in the Camry and it starts with great fervour and it only took 15 minutes to vaguely get the stereo setup again.

I look forward to needing to do this again in 41 months because it's a 40 month warranty.

[ZZT86]

Dude, I would seriously consider getting your cars & home exterminated for pests if you have redbacks crawling about.

And I know it might have been more dosh but you should have bought a Century battery = Made  in Australia ;)

[Sebastian Woodhouse]

It’s Australia, if there’s nothing trying to kill you are really alive 🙂  It’s a fair point though and all the cars do get an annual treatment of the residual/surface treatment on the underbody and engine bay.  Except Sebastian turned up a month or two after I did it…. 
 

I’m not far enough over my last Century battery experience to go back yet 🙂

[Tony Prodigy]

You always manage to crack me up Aaron. 

My apologies for my absence of late as I have been extremely busy and exhaustion keeps me from checking in.

I have to say first up, that service dept looks like it's doing its bit in price gouging of the "unsuspecting" customer routine...
Unfortunately for them, you aren't one of the wood ducks who would succumb to the scare mongering tactics of some of these unscrupulous vendors. I feel sorry for those who haven't a clue about anything mechanical and just cave and cough up. Sheesh, what a world we live in hey ?

If it wasn't for me having a company car, i would never do business with a dealership, or as we like to call them the "Stealership"..

Lets talk batteries now. I have to say that I've never had an issue with Century. Perhaps your negative experience was just of those rare occurrences ?
 

I installed one 5 years ago, replacing the original battery and it's still going strong.

Thread Here.

My car lives outside too and have had no issues to date. I also sprayed the terminals with some terminal protection to keep any corrosion out. Perhaps this has helped with its longevity, who knows.

On another note, I have found those batteries with Calcium technology tend to last longer than the traditional lead acid type, so good choice with the "Gold Plus" option.

I've had the same battery( not Supercharge) in my M3 for over 10 years now, believe it or not, and despite it cranking a little slower these days, it still starts the engine. It's an Exide brand. I think it's called Endurance plus, can't recall at this stage.
That car gets little usage admittedly, and is on a C-Tek MXS 5.0 charger, which does keep it in good health when the car isn't been driven. So I can say with certainty that the Calcium Technology isn't just a gimmick, they are that good. 

I love to see how long yours will last too. 

[Sebastian Woodhouse]

What a week in the land of Toyota Ownership.  I freely admit I’ve not done much with cars for a few months.  Life has a way of working itself in ebbs and flows of good and bad.  Sadly in our household we’re in the bad swing with no one’s friend Cancer turning up for a visit, a need to find another place to live in a torrid rental market etc.  

Anyhow, important Toyota business.  You all know I’ve been sceptical of the “diagnosis” Toyota made during the scheduled service. I mean a blind Freddy knows trying to claim the rear wiper blades need replacement shoes a complete disregard for the customers intelligence.

So I finally sent Sebastian for a visit with a local workshop, one linked with a large motoring body, and coincidently where a mate works as a Service Adviser.  The brief was simple.  Check the stuff Toyota claimed, and if there was any merit in it, do the work.  While you’re there do the full transmission service anyway.

Within 2 hours of drop-off I had the call “mate there’s nothing wrong with it, can’t fault it”.

So with a bit of self satisfaction I gave the nod for the gearbox service and picked him up the next day (my choice).

In full disclosure, something wasn’t quite right, so I popped back in today just before closing to make arrangements to have him checked next week.  Nope, straight into the workshop, checked, my “not quite right” confirmed as being a legitimate feeling.  40 minutes after they were supposed to close I was driving away and it was right.

The problem?  Maybe 250ml of transmission fluid short of the “correct” level as determined with all the Toyota warm it, poke it til it goes sploosh method.  How this happened? Maybe some trapped air, maybe someone just misjudged the sploosh.  Whatever.

Fixed now and smooth quiet shifting once more.

[Tony Prodigy]

10 hours ago, Sebastian Woodhouse said:

The problem?  Maybe 250ml of transmission fluid short of the “correct” level as determined with all the Toyota warm it, poke it til it goes sploosh method.  How this happened? Maybe some trapped air, maybe someone just misjudged the sploosh.  Whatever.

That's the part that can derail any tranny service. On the U660E you need to be pretty precise otherwise you'll have shift issues for sure. It is a fussy transmission.