Kenshin X

The factory temp gauge is rubbish, to get the needle to move above the half way mark it needs to be about 100ºC; given that it will sit on the same mark at about 80ºC it is quiet vague. ahh, sorry my bad it DOES reach a little above half-way on warm engine lol... :)

so the polariser would be exactly the same as any other lcd screen, only that its angled differently? my confusion isn't actually on the angle itself, (although it wil be a pain in the a$$ to allign the paper) but on the fact that the lcd clock/climate control didn't completely black out. so thats why i was wondering if its a different type of polariser... My guess is that the clear plastic cover outside the clock/climate control is curved and not straight like a laptops, hence bending the light differently as it comes out of the lcd... Hilift - please search the forums... =_=;; or read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_crystal_display to understand more about lcds :)

prolly posting in the wrong area but anyways... hey guys just wondering for the lcd screen, i just finished modding the center console to be blue instead of the yucky green colour. the next step is to reverse the lights so that the text appears blue and have a black background. i already got the polariser (had to look so hard for it) one problem though: when i angled my glasses (which are polarised over my laptop screen), on a 45 degree angle, it completely blacks out, however when i try it on the lcd clock in the sportivo, it only goes darker and then brightens up. and this doesnt even happen on the 45 degree angle. it happens when the glasses are straight! im confused whether its the polariser that is used on the lcd screen is different to the other polarisers that are used for other lcd screens (ie laptops or comptuer screens). then i would have wasted my money on the polarisers. grrr any ideas peoples?

Thanks for reminding me. I forgot to mention in my last post that checking your coolant reservoir is not an indication of your coolant level unless your radiator is full. If your radiator is running lower on coolant, the reservoir can still have a level between empty and full. It isn't always like this, but be aware that there are situation when that can happen. So I'd also check your radiator coolant levels (when the engine is cool obviously). duuude, i'm not THAT noob to look at the washer fluid LOL DJKOR - Ummm, come to think of it, the coolant level is a little more than half full when the engine is cold, however, when warmed up, the levels are just over full... Could this mean that its lack of water? to be honest i haven't even touched or opened the cap to refill water since the last service 3 months ago... i even made it from melbourne to sydney in 3 to 4 hour blocks and the temp gauge didn't go past that half way mark, even when temp outside was around 45 degrees... Should i fill it up when its cold to the top. Or will doing that just over flow the reservior when its warm?

They have REALLY got this the wrong way around. For all Toyota's (except the newer ones... will bring this up after) the red Long Life Coolant (LLC) is a good coolant that will not damage any part of your Toyota genuine cooling system on it's own. For the newer Toyota's, these use the pink Super Long Life Coolant (SLLC). This stuff is even better and there have been people who have done a drain and fill at the recommended 160,000km service interval and have noticed the coolant was still clean and the radiator core was in excellent condition. Using the green coolant where the Toyota Long or Super Long Life Coolant was specified will not be a good idea. nice, so i can go tell my mechanic that he is bull****ting lol my friend has a 01 celica and he changed his to the green coolant, i never knew why though...

And I guess you learnt wrong by making assumptions: So to not make a fool of yourself, don't keep trying to convince yourself that the console was the cause. If you really wanted to be sure, I'd be checking that your thermostat is in good working order and if you want to be really sure, flush your cooling system (specifically your radiator) to ensure that there is nothing that could block the flow. umm u guys are right... maybe i shouldnt jump to conclusions too quickly. I told the toyota guy and that it maybe a stupid question, but i asked it anyways :P i'll get it checked on the next service and heopfully everything would be running OK. btw, while on the coolant topic, the fluid that toyota uses for its radiator cooling... I was told that the red inhibitor isn't good for the piping in the long run and that the green coolant is the better choice. I was told at my last service that changing to green coolant isn't possible because its always better to use what toyota used from when the engine was delivered... i was also told that the red inhibitor eats through seals and the meachanic showed me the water pump seal that was beginning to leak... he also showed me part of the host that the red inhibitor was flaking from the end of the hose. "its a common problem with toyota water pumps because of the inhibitor" he said... "u may have to change the water pump when u reach 100,000km" your opinions and input are greatly appreciated so far guys, cheers

really? i guess itwould becuz its blowing on the water pipe going thru the heater ducts but it wouldn't be as quick as leaving the engine running by itself isnt it? Edit: Sorry my bad, I meant engine fan running with engine OFF

What you are saying there sounds all wrong. Water pump is always turning as it is connected to the acc belt. Thermostat regulates flow to radiator. So when the engine temps get high, the thermostat opens up. Like I said before it's probably just coincidence that your temps went up with it off. Did you check that there wasn't something blocking your radiator like a plastic bag or something? Also did you end up checking your coolant levels? Yes I drove on the freeway for about 25-30 mins each day for a few days. yeah first thing i did was pop the bonnet and checked the water and oil levels, everything seemed fine and nothing was blocking the radiator... maybe i should write this as a one off happening cuz i got NFI how it happened...

awesome i want this sound to be louder when i accelerate! B) jk cheers guys

morning guys, on some mornings, cold starting my car, the engine gives a fairly audible hissing sound when i cold start it. doesn't happen on warm starts. fuel injectors spraying in more fuel to start perhaps? unfortunately it doesn't happen all the time, so i don't have a video posted up, but if one day it happens when i record it, i'll postit up to make it more clear to you guys cheers all Happy lifting :P

yes cuz as far as i know for any car, water temp is controlled by the water pump + thermostat... i rang toyota, they couldn't give me a direct answer. said I should drive it with centre console off again for the same distance and see whether it happens again or not. then drive it again with it on and check it... "possible with faulty temp gauge" he said. another mechanic told me that the center console also controls the heater core and with this off, it cant regulate it and hence water does not flow. if this is the case, the heater is controlled by the flow of water that also goes through the engine as well... and it will not blow hot air unless the water is warm/hot. this heater core will not let the water flow so hence water isn't curculating through the engine even if the thermostat and the water pump are working... don't bet on it but its the best explaination i can give atm... i'll try taking it off and drive it for the same distance like before and see how i go... btw and1, did u drive it for long distances with it off? becuz i had it off for a few days, but that was travelling short distances so i didn't see anything unusual

Yeah u guys are prolly right... But what's the sound in the dash when u leave the keys on the ON position? It's like flaps opening/closing kind of noise. In any case it gave me a panic attack maybe should check it out with a mechanic. I'll ask Toyota tomr if the center console has anything to do with temp cooling... Lucky I have a habit of looking atthe dash every 5 mins!

Omg, I almost had a disaster today. I was driving my misses to an interview travelling on the freeway for 15 mins and through the city, when i finally made it to the building and dropped her off, i quickly looked at the dash board and found the needle a little more than 3/4 from "H"! In a panic I pulled over and expecting the worst from the engine. There wasn't any smoke or unusual sound thank god. I left the key in the ON position and let the fan run to cool the engine down and restarted the car again. I believe that it was because i was driving with the center console detached from the car and this somehow regulates the water passing through the engine cooling system. I attached it on again and drove the car with it connected in and it ran normal temperature again. Lucky there wasn't any ticking/pinging or unusual engine noise/black smoke coming from the exhaust... The only thing that i found "unusual" was the very hot air blowing on my feet as a was driving... I wondered if any damage was done to the ducts... as they are plastic and is there anyway to find out? Everything else seems OK... So guys, almost having a terrible disaster, I learnt one thing and to share with you guys if you didn't already know... DON'T DRIVE WITHOUT YOUR CENTER CONSOLE DETACHED FROM THE CAR!

yeah that and if you're really keen open up the center console and see if the bulbs are actually blown...

sorry for being such a noob but when u mean looking at the alloy whether its dirty or not or looking at the oil thats sitting on top of it Becuz the alloy is very clean, but the oil (i have travelled 2500km since last change) is a brownish colour... i tried to shine my torch further down but i couldnt properly see the oil inside the engine... i checked with my oil checker and the oil is more or less the same with little black deposits... or were they bubbles? :P I thought the thicker oil wouldnt matter for these hydrolic lifters esp on new cars becuz they adjust on thier own. I rememebered manually doing my dad's carby cuz the lifters were hydrolics...

yeah, i'm not sure how the previous 2 owners looked after it... but the oil change me and my uncle did last time, it was almost black. He said that if you do it properly, it should be gold coloured... Both his hondas were bought brand new and hes been servicing it ever since and showed me the used oil in there... :o The only reason why i kept using the same oil was that I thought just changing the oil would get rid of the noise, but it hasnt so i'm planning to go with penrite next time... i think with the australian climate it can get pretty hot so i plan to use 10W40 or 10W50. Only thing is i was told that i shouldnt go from semi syn to syn because engine ran on semi syn already from new....

umm, what was ur viscosity of your oil angel and wombat? im currenty using 10W40 mobil super 3000 semi syn... my is car getting abit old... going 7 yrs and on 85,000kms. should i go full syn or just stick to the semi syn? if i do change the viscosity, shoud i give the engine an engine oil flush? cheers

yeah it sucks though with the chain timing belt... but at least it prevents engine damage if the belt snaps... i remembered my old car's timing belt snapped but lucky i was parked in the car park and not going 100km/hr! damn, i think this is beyond a DIY job... as it can be a lot of possiblities... thanks anyways!

my sportivo had a TRD SS inside it already wheni bought it... drives much differently to the stock ones of course, but i never tried the TWM ones? and i never knew about the resting ur hand on the gear shifter is bad lol anyways looks in ebay, they have some that u may be interested in... saw one going for a few hundred a while back...

yes the 2zz has a timing chain... ok here is both youtube videos one of mine and one from a celicas from SD's link... i think the celica one is louder dont u think? maybe its becuz the cover is off... << my sportivo << the other bloke's celicaBTW, i thought the engine flush cleans out the OSVs as well thats why people do it...

i dont think so... here is another video... im applied a little acceleration plus little constant towards the end... hope this helps... and i read about that VVL stuff u gave me... the only reason why he did it was becuz he wasn't getting Lift right? cheers

hey guys, reviving yet another post haha... anyways, i've pulled apart my radio expecting the blubs to be like easy to take out... omfg they are TINY little buggers! how can i even get those bulbs out without burning the actual bulb itself??? the soldering iron pic u posted up the tip is too fat to melt these buggers onthe plate itself... wondering how u did it Just?

Hey SD, got the link up... how can i explain it... tick tick tick with chug chug chug? hope this helps, cheers

a few weeks ago, i looked at my friends aurion sportivo, and the nice bluey LEDs that where on the dash... I thought maybe i could change to blue. it would also suit the headunit i got as well... and the green on the centre console just looks yuck, full stop. its either red or blue, everyone chooses red just wanna be more unique :P

a few weeks ago, i looked at my friends aurion sportivo, and the nice bluey LEDs that where on the dash... I thought maybe i could change to blue. it would also suit the headunit i got as well...