mayhewga

Mannaklug, your blood's worth bottling. Thankyou. After reading your post this morning I immediately knew you were right, as I had previously dismantled everything except the motor and could find nothing wrong, so just gave up. So I spent the morning dismantling the panels, removing the mechanism and pulled out the motor. It was caked with black junk all over the brushes and commutators, just as you described, which I cleaned off, reassembled and hey presto, the rear door raised and lowered. I also discovered that annoying beeper is part of the circuit board controlling the motor, and that Toyota had tried to reduce the sound with a little patch of polyester wadding on the panel. I added some more wadding and now the beeps are much quieter. The job took about 4 hours, involving the removal of the 3 storage compartments, the rear and left side scuff plates, then all the left side panels. Hint, the two cargo hooks have screws beneath the central strip of plastic which flips up. Then I was able to remove the whole mechanism then pull out the motor, which needed a little prising with a small screwdriver after removing it's two bolts. (The black junk really stuck everything together). By ensuring the the motor bushes were freely sliding in their mounts, the bearing and commutators easily slid past during reassembly. Putting everything back together after that was a breeze. My tools were a plastic panel tool, 10 mm socket and spanner, Phillips head no 2 screwdriver, a toothbrush and metho.

My 2013 Grande tailgate stopped working recently when I too parked on a sideways slope and it wouldn't close. I have had to resort to manual operation. I tried many ideas suggested on various web sites and the problem became worse until it wouldn't open or close electrically. Today I tried "assisting" the motor by pressing the button and manually lifting and closing the tailgate a few times, in an attempt to reset the mechanism which has sort of worked. The tailgate will now at least open electrically as per normal, but when closing, it just starts to close then reverses as if it has detected an obstacle or thinks it has hit a limit switch. It will only close with my helping the motor by pushing on the door, but won't close on its own. I disconnected the lifting arm from the tailgate and the motor drives the arm up and down with no problem, so the motor and gears work, and the tailgate weight seems nicely counterbalanced by the gas struts. So in short: 1.The motor and gears work in both directions with no door connected, 2. the motor and gear mechanism happily lift the door when it is re-connected, 3. the motor and mechanism stall when trying to close the door. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks for that Amit, Yes there appears to be 4 fuses that only come on with the key, On my engine fuse box they are marked EFI 2 and 3 and Injector 1 and 2, so I will try one of those. The current drawn by the DRLs is around half an amp (600ma) when lit so I dont think it will cause too much extra drain in a circuit with a 15amp fuse.

I also presently installing combined DRLs and Fog lights into my 2011 KXR. The physical removal of the old black covers and installation of the fog lamps and covers with their inbuilt DRL is very easy, and I too am at the stage of hooking them up. For the DRLs I am going to tap the "trigger wire" into the nearest parking light wire using a "scotch joiner" a clip with little blades that allow me to piggy back two wires together, to trigger the relay that came with the DRLs which will reduce the DRL light by half once the parking lights come on. I figure the current drawn by the relay trigger will be inconsequential. However, the the main power source for the DRLs that is only alive when the key is turned has me stumped, There are 4 fuses in the engine bay fuse box that do this but I dont know if their slots could handle the extra load of the DRLs as well as their intended devices, as obviously they derive their power through another relay whose load rating I will never know. I cant find any other ACC points in the engine bay, so if anyone knows where I can find that please let me know.

My '07 KXR 2wd bought new, had 150k on the clock when I traded it and still on the original pads about half worn. Note that 90% of my driving was long distance with very little stop/go motoring, and I drive to get economy, so I go easy on the brakes. My replacement, a 2012 KXR AWD, was a Hertz car for its first 2 years and 60k, so I dont know how long these brakes will last, and looking at the past fuel consumption figures the renters were lead-footed, so the brakes would have taken a hiding too. My Update: Well I have now got 140,000km on the 2012 KXR and just replaced the brakes and rotors, (along with the steering arm bushes), so I am happy with that

I may have been a little hasty in my criticism of the Michelin latitudes. I have just had them removed from my old '07 KXR 2wd and refitted onto the rims of my '12 KXR awd and now they are performing as I would have expected; they are now almost silent and appear to be returning better consumption, (I am getting the same consumption now with awd, when I was expecting higher consumption coming from 2wd. I wonder if these tyres which I believe only came out a couple of years ago are "tuned" to suit the later model and awd configuration. By the way, whilst they were still on the older 2wd, I went for a run out to Boulia and they performed very nicely on the dirt out there, including a rough climb through some old mining sites, so I will be interested to see how they perform on awd next time.

Having just upgraded from an 2007 KXR 7 seat 2wd to a 2012 KXR 7 seat AWD, I was expecting a rise in my consumption going to AWD. However so far I am not noticing any difference on a 50/50 mix of hwy and suburban returning 9.8. I will shoot down to Sydney in the next week or so and see if my usual 8.4 for that trip in the old car is replicated (Pacific Hwy), and so have a better idea of any differences. I transferred my near new tyres over to the new car so we are comparing apples with apples in that regard. Can I assume that the electric steering and RCC battery charging system on this '12 model is making up for the extra drag from the AWD? Interestingly, this new car is an ex Hertz rental with 50,000km and in great nick, but for the first 200 km the economy numbers on the green worm display screen would not drop below 30 until I filled up.(I guess due to some pretty spirited driving by the last renters still being expected by the computer). The distance remaining screen after my first refill started at 320km, and now after 4 refills it is up to 450km, a long way short of the 690km that was always shown after refills on the old car. This may be due to my topping up every few days whilst I take advantage of E10 at $1.32 at the moment at my local BP.

Bill, you have probably already worked it out by now; in the setup there is an opportunity to set the volume when using Bluetooth and handsfree.

After 7 years and 150,000km, I have just traded my 2007 KXR 2wd 7 seater in pearl white on a 2012 KXR awd 7 seater in pearl white. Yes, even the neighbours won't notice I've upgraded unless they pick the chrome trims and different headlights. The original ran faultlessly, was still on its original battery and wipers, in fact the only things that wore out were two sets of tyres which did 60,000km per set and a windscreen. Most of my driving was very long distance trips and around a quarter of that was on unsealed roads in far western QLD and N.T. where we do a lot of camping. The most challenging and testing was negotiating the sand hills into Haddens Corner which for a 2wd car I thought was remarkable especially on the original Dunlop tyres. We went for another KXR as it is the only model which has lay flat seats to enable us to turn the seats into beds whilst keeping our camping gear in the rear and we went for awd this time as we wanted a little more security so we can drive into some out of the way places that we have been reluctant to tackle in 2wd. The Kluger has to be the most comfortable to drive "campervan" available. The new car is an ex Hertz rental with 50,000km and 6 months factory warranty in pristine condition and feels even better and quieter than my original. With better headlights, the newer radio with voice commands, USB and bluetooth, I have everything I need for more exploring.

My impressions of the new Kluger. Firstly we have had our KXR 7 seat 2wd for almost 7 years, have driven 140,000 mainly on outback trips, so my wife and I are looking for a similar comfortable ride, with plenty of storage for our camping gear and front seats that lay down flat for that sleep when its too late or too awkward to set up the tent. We never carry either of the middle seat consoles in order to reduce weight and to increase storage. We have been hanging out with much anticipation for the new model to arrive ever since reading the US reviews last year, with the promise of various seating arrangements better fuel economy etc. So we went and checked the base model out at our dealer last week and here is what we found, starting with the things we liked: The LED running lights and better headlights. 6 speed auto; ideal for outback driving. The larger camera screen. The USB connector to the sound system and cord hole for the Ipod/phone. The 12v outlets in the centre console and near the rear aircon controls. The split 3rd row seat. The larger boot space. The rear parking sensor The same height, so can still fit under our (very low) garage opening. And what we didn't like: Fog lights instead of decent driving (spot) lights. The shelf running along beneath the dash board cutting down the size of the glove box . The loss of our "boot cupboard" in the centre console between the seats accessible from the second row, replaced instead by a fiddly to open and use centre console that is nowhere as big or useful. The loss of the little nooks either side of the centre console to store tissues, mints etc and the small covered nook behind the gear stick with a handy flat lid (cup holder for some people). The front seats only recline to about 60 degrees, so one could liken them to economy class seats compared to the fully reclining "flat bed" business class seats on the KXR. The 3/2 split of the middle seat is more comfortable but being unable to remove that little centre seat, we lose out on a lot of storage, as well as carrying extra weight. No choice but black interior. The floor space behind the second row has disappeared so nowhere to stow things like tent fly and poles. The loss of the storage box where the jack used to sit so nowhere to put extra tools there, although the long bin is a little better arranged. The reduction in size of the opposite side box so nowhere to stow our emergency startup battery/pump/light unit. The loss of the opening rear window. Now many readers here will say we are being very picky and only looking at quite specific and personal requirements and I have to agree. However the very things that have disappeared or been changed, are what made us go for the Kluger KXR in the first place, and so there is nothing in the 3rd gen model that will make us want to trade up. So, we didn't bother taking it for a drive and have decided to stick with good ol' Klaus until something better arrives.

135,000km in my 07 KXR 2wd. Still original battery and wipers, in fact all still original except the windscreen which succumbed to a brick sized gibber thrown up by a road train in the N.T. The 2 Dunlop tyre sets each did 60K+. I couldn't be happier.

After doing 130,000km in my 07 KXR, I have just bought 4 new tyres. The original Grandtreks did 60,000 and the replacement set also Grandtreks did a little more because I drove on less gravel. I was very happy with the tyres as they were very quiet, worked well on stoney roads and never let me down, but come this time I found I could fit Michelins for the same price and as they promised quieter running, better fuel economy and longer life, I figured I couldn't go wrong. Well it turns out that after just 2000km, it seems I have been hoodwinked by Michelin's advertising. The Latitude Tour HP tyres are dreadfully noisy on all but the smoothest types of bitumen, to the point of giving me a headache, and my fuel usage has increased by 5%. I will have to see whether their 3rd claim of longer life is also a furphy. Has anyone else had experience with these tyres?

My 2007 KX 7 seater 2wd has just hit 100,000km and at each service I reset the fuel consumption screen, so the photo shows 100k, 90k, 80k, 70k and 60k, at which point I fitted new tyres which I run at 38psi. I usually run standard ULP, and only refill when empty (at around 650-700km), and put in a tank of 98 every 5 or 6 fills. I would get better consumption if I didn't have to run the aircon all year round (living on the QLD Sunshine Coast with 80% humidity)which I have proved twice on non-stop runs from Cooma in the NSW southern highlands to Caloundra and used just 2 tank fulls achieving around 8 litre per 100km, in winter without air. (Hume and Pacific highways) Because most of my running is on highways with very little city driving, my consumption is probably better than what would be normally achieved by city drivers (but I bought the Kluger with my usage in mind).

Hi Newbie, I can only help insofar as I watched the mechanic do mine. He removed the passenger side 2nd row seat completely from the car, folded back the carpet and removed a panel in the floor, and there was another panel which I guess was in the top of the tank with some leads coming from it. From there I couldn't see what was happening, but I reckon he then had access to the filter. Hope that helps, but wait until the 100,000 service where the plugs get changed.... I just had that done last week and apparently access to the (very expensive) plugs, necessitates removal of a fair bit of gear to get to them, hence a fairly tricky job. I should be right now as far as services go for a while!

I have 80,000km on my Kluger and nowhere near needing brakes! I too do mainly long distance runs with almost no city driving.

DHOUS, Your mention of your old R16TS, has brought back many fond memories of the best car I ever owned...(Although my Kluger comes in as equally good. Those driving lights, the ear piercing dual horns, the most comfy seats and bright map reading lights etc have never been repeated in modern cars that I have driven. Before I bought the Kluger I went to look at the Renault Scenic thinking it might be a modern day version of the R16TS, but what a disappointment it was. Thanks again for the nostalgia.

Further to the clunking, I asked the service guy at Toyota and he said to release the (hand) brake when I select reverse so that if the gears were not quite lined up, then allowing the car to move a bit will allow the gears to mesh. Sounds feasible, so a combination of letting the revs drop and letting off the park brake will probably do it. Thanks for that thought DJKOR, yes it does rev highly for the first little while after starting so that could be it!

Fantastic DJKOR, thats exactly the advice I was after, thanks. I did some quick sketching up on some paper here (if I can figure out the best way to tabulate it, I'll post it), but I have calculated that if you were to do a 5 tire rotation and you were to get 65,000km out of each tire, you will be getting a full new set of tires at around 80,000km. That was based on the following: You rotate your tires at 10,000km intervals for the first 50,000km. After that, you rotate your tires at a 5,000km intervals after that. Otherwise, if you prefer the 5,000km rotation intervals, you can just stick to that. Now if you were to do either of those, all your 4 main tires would have travelled 65,000km, and your spare would only have done 60,000km. If you want you spare to travel the exact same distance as the others, you would be making things un-necessarily difficult for yourself (ie. you would be rotating tires at ~1,000km intervals for the sake of getting a total of 81,250km of tire life). On a side note, at 75,000km, if you were to rotate at the intervals I mentioned above, all your tires including the spare would have travelled 60,000km.

Thanks for that thought DJKOR, yes it does rev highly for the first little while after starting so that could be it!

A couple of times now I have started up from cold and tried to select reverse, but there is a delay then a loud metalic clang as it finaly falls into reverse. Has anyone else had this happen?

Went to a few tyre dealers last week to get quotes when one of them announced that Dunlop are bringing in the 245/65/17 (as fitted OEM) in mid July. I am happy to stay with the Dunlops as they have given me 65,000km (still haven't hit the wear marks - but close) with no trouble on outback dirt, mud, snow and hwy. I will now rotate all 5 to try to get a longer run, but first a maths question for all you Klever Kluger Klan: I want to get the maximum number of kms from my set of five, so seeing as how a set of 4 provides 65,000, how many kms will 5 provide if all are rotated. And to get that distance, how often should I rotate so that when they all come around to the start again all tyres will be worn out evenly? If you were in Sydney I would consider it. I most likely will go Advan's all round like the XT :)

I wish I had known from the beginning that the original Dunlops weren't being brought into Australia, as I would have included my spare in the mix which I had rotated every service. Now the 4 on car are worn out (60,000km) and I am left with an orphaned brand new tyre when I replace all 5 next month. If anyone wants to buy my 17" Dunlop let me know. (I'm in Caloundra)

Yes Twiggy, On hwy trips I always work on getting 700km between refills, unless there are a lot of hills or strong headwinds. On one trip from Cooma to Sunshine Coast, after filling at Cooma, I next refilled somewhere south of Port Macquarie, and didn't need another refill at all... The readout showed I was getting 7.9 when I pulled into my garage and still had 1/4 tank left on a trip of over 1400km! When the light comes on indicating 40kms of travel remaining I always count on another 100km. If I do refill when the light comes on I can only ever fit around 55-60 litres in. I always sit on the speed limit, and drive very smoothly with no sharp acceleration (except overtaking) or braking. On these trips we are always loaded up with camping gear, food and water for a week, esky, sleeping bags etc so there is a heavy load. I use cruise control except on hills. Put 40psi in the tyres and enjoy your trip!

I've got 60,000km on my KXR2 and its running as sweetly as it did when new, and here's what I did. (This car by the way, is our first ever brand new car, and was our retirement purchase) I picked it up from the dealer in Brisbane with 2km on the clock , drove home to Caloundra 75km away and I was so impressed the next morning I packed up the missus and threw in an overnight bag, and set off immediately to Sydney via the Pacific Hwy, sitting on 100, 110 (and 40 at roadworks), Next morning returned by criss-crossing the great divide via Buckets Way and again at Belligen taking 2 days to try it out on winding hills. Took it back to the dealer for its (by then overdue) 1000km service 4 days after buying it (much to his surprise) and the next day headed off to Charleville and Cunnamulla (3,000km round trip) sitting on 110 most of the time. So within 10 days we did about 5,000km mainly at high speed. And the subsequent 55,000km has been driven much the same way but with about 6,000 on gravel. Now since that first trip I have consistantly got an average of 8.4 - 9.0 economy per tank.... which I put down to almost continuous running at 100kmh and tyres at 40psi. (the tyres are now due for replacement). ( I would imagine that engines these days would be made to very high tolerances and shouldn't need "bedding in" as was required many years ago)

kwach10, The 19" tyres are only 103 according to Toyota, (wonder why the difference between them and the 17")? I think those offroad tyres might be too noisy as 90% of our driving is on bitumen, however I will check them out, thanks for the suggestion (and research).