idisc

I took the car to a mechanic over the weekend. The five minute diagnosis is a failing water pump.... the car has only travelled 50,000km; is this common.to fail so early? The car has been booked in for this week and the initial diagnosis will be confirmed before the pump is replaced.... this is going to be expensive. I took a video of the sound:

It appears the sound is coming from the Crankshaft pulley, or thereabouts... And then I found this: http://www.toyota.com.au/news/toyota-australia-announces-recall-on-previous-generation-avalon-camry-v6-and-kluger-models Has anyone had this rectified in their vehicles, and what were the symptoms? I believe this affected the model previous to mine; I have the GSU45R.

Hello, I have a 2010 GSU45R with 50,000km. I'm not sure if this has always been the case but I recently changed the parking location of my car (next to a wall) and have now noticed there is a loose, metallic rattling type sound coming from the lower driver's side of the engine block when the car is warm. It's quite loud and if you put your head near the drivers side wheel arch you will hear it. It's so loud that if I open the bonnet, I can hear the sound from inside my house. Has anyone else experienced this? I've been servicing the car myself since the fixed price servicing period expired but troubleshooting this is probably beyond me, and as I'm also due for the spark plug change, and haven't changed the fuel filter, was thinking of taking it to a mechanic. I don't want to take the car back to Toyota so am looking for recommendations on the lower north shore of Sydney. Thanks for the help!

I'm not exaclty sure how bad fuel can cause fuel pressure to be higher than normal. Are they saying it could be due to excess gunk in the fuel filter from bad fuel? Have you experienced poorer fuel economy? It's quite easy to check the air filter, spark plugs and fuel filter yourself, but if you are not confident in doing so, you can take it back to Toyota; I'm not sure how happy they would be at taking directions from you (after all, they are supposed to be the ones doing the troubleshooting right?) and they may charge you for it. Perhaps you can say that performance still seems sluggish after running 98 for the last 3 tanks as they suggested. Ask them for more info about what steps they did to troubleshoot the problem last time. Ask them if the throttle body was dirty enough for them to clean it, did they inspect the air filter too? have you driven on some very dusty roads? Ask them if they thought the bad fuel was so bad that would cause a rise in fuel pressure, did they check if the fuel filter was clogged? and whether they checked your spark plugs were fouled. They were probably too lazy to check the fuel filter as I believe it requires removal of the rear passenger seat (haven't actually performed this task myself yet), they will also most likely tell you that the fuel filter doesn't need to be replaced till 80,000km or something like that. In anycase, if they say that the batch of fuel was so bad that it caused a rise in fuel pressure, they should at least inspect the fuel filter. In modern cars, the ECU controls everything, even down to the opening of the throttle (electronic throttle, as opposed to a cable in older cars). When you step on the accelerator, you aren't actually opening the throttle directly, you are triggering a switch that sends signals to activate the throttle electronically. Anyway, as modern engine management systems control everything, a reset of the ECU can at times help with restoring performance: especially in situations where say the breathing of the engine has been improved, or you had an especially bad batch of fuel and the ECU had retarded ignition timing etc. The ECU will usually take time to adjust back to optimal settings; resetting the ECU in this situation will speed up this process.

I think the loss in performance does sound like it is fuel related, but not because you ran e10 in the car. While personally I run 98 in my Kluger (I run 98 in all my cars), there should NEVER be any problems associated with running e10 as a grade of fuel. If the significant and noticeable loss in performance was sudden, it is likely you filled up with a bad tank of fuel (doesn't matter if it was e10, 95, or 98; any fuel can be dirty or contaminated). Dirty throttle bodies can decrease performance and cause sluggishness but not usually as significantly as you described. Service departments I have found are generally average at best in troubleshooting problems. If they found a very dirty throttle body, they should have also inspected the air filter which would have been very dirty too and hence replaced. If they suspected it was a bad batch of fuel, they should have inspected your spark plugs and fuel filter. I would check the following: - air filter, see if it is very dirty - spark plugs, see if they are fouled - fuel filter, see if it is dirty If either the plugs or filters need replacing, change them, and you should see your performance return, providing the bad tank of fuel has already been used. It's up to you what fuel you use but this should not be a reason to not use e10. I believe the Kluger has an electronic throttle so if the problem persists then I would perform an ECU reset. I wouldn't worry about any permanent damage, it is highly unlikely that a bad batch of fuel can actually harm your car in a serious manner.

Accidental double post.

While the Kluger does have traction control, in my case it wouldn't be the cause as it makes the noise without any loss of traction (and hence traction control shouldn't be activating at all).

thanks, I suspected it was a diff. I will report it when the car goes in next just so they have a record of it incase it turns out to be something more sinister.

Hi, I've noticed this in my Kluger for a while now but all along I just thought it was something I had in the boot, now I'm sure it isn't. Anyway, the car is a 2010 AWD and it's done around 5000km. If I wind the windows up and accelerate slightly harder than normal from a stop I can hear a soft thudding sound coming from the rear. It's a muffled sound so it's not actually coming from within the cabin. One good way to make it thud is if I were stopped at a traffic light on an uphill incline. To move off I would have to step on the accelerator slightly more than normal; I can hear a thud on takeoff in these circumstances. It sounds like it could be drivetrain related, or (I'm hoping) maybe the spare wheel is loose. Anyone notice this in their Klugers too? Thanks :)

I had 60km on mine. Wasn't happy about it but not much you can do about it unfortunately.

yep, mine has the same amount of play I raised it as an issue at the 1000km check. Toyota say there's nothing wrong with it.. (to be honest, not that I really expected them to do anything about it)

The PIAA bulbs don't seem to last that long (a year maybe). And they won't actually be significantly brighter than standard. Are you after light output or whiteness? 4000k would be pretty yellow and similar colour to standard. for more light output I would increase the wattage of the bulb slightly (I used to run 80w/80w H4 bulbs in my old car, no problems with the standard wiring. Standard was 55w/60w). I wouldnt increase the wattage much more though as it will relays. A H11 HID kit should be a simple plug and play install. Only thing to think about is, legally, you require headlight washers if you have HIDs, and as far as I know, aftermarket HID kits are not legal at all. But having said that, I know plenty of people who run aftermarket HID and I don't know of anyone being defected for it.

What low beam bulbs does the facelifted Kluger use? Any of the HID kits are just plug and play, but you need to find a place to secure the Ballast unit. Kits normally have strong double sided tape for you to mount the ballast. Looking at the amount of space in the outgoing model Kluger engine bay, I don't think you would need to remove the headlight unit for fitting. Does the new Kluger have projector headlights? I also recommend you only get up to 4500k or 6000k. Don't get the 8000k as they will be slightly purple.

Maybe you can look for Aurion modifications. As its the same engine, I think there may be some overlap of modifications. I haven't looked into it though so I could be wrong.

Thanks for the info, that explains why I couldn't get a nudgebar at the time. Good luck with having your issue resolved though, if it hasn't already.

I feel for you fizzking. What exactly was the problem with the nudgebar by the way? I was looking to get a nudgebar and encountered the problem that you stated. To be honest, In the past, none of my cars have ever gone back to the factory for servicing as I don't really trust them. I usually take my cars to a mechanic that I have known for years and replace fluids even more frequently than specified by the service manual. Log books also get stamped by the mechanic. I've only had to sell cars twice privately and I don't believe it has affected the resale value when I explain the history of the car and how my servicing is more frequent than what is specified by the factory. (things like gearbox/diff oil and brake fluid being changed at 40,000km is a bit silly I think). But now with Toyota Advantage, I'm not sure whether to take my Kluger back to the factory for servicing as it is very cheap. I had my 1000km "check" done recently and wasn't really impressed either. I reported a couple of issues and I remember the guy behind the desk saying "just keep on complaining about it, Toyota have a 3 step resolution process, you need to raise the issue 3 times before they will do anything about it". The inside of the car was vacuumed ok, not happy with how they washed the outside of the car, I believe I may have a few extra swirl marks too.

Dealers can often do all sorts of things with the price when they know you are ready to go and will sign on the dotted line. :) it was probably because he knew you were still tossing up the options.

Yeah, I'm not exactly sure how to explain it, but the best I can describe it is like the car is changing gear slowly and as a result the engine revs up slightly between changing gears (like the car is in neutral); then when the gear actually engages, it will engage roughly as the revs don't match the road speed. my car is still new and only travelled 2000km. I will continue driving and if it is still an issue, will flag it at the 10,000km service (which at this rate could be over a year away! It actually doesn't happen often, under normal driving conditions with normal throttle inputs, it is quite smooth.

p.s. the censored words above is J erk

Hi Guys, I've been meaning to ask this question for a while now. My Kluger is a 2010 model. Does the gearbox feel a bit rough at times? I've found that under certain conditions it can be rough or clunky, conditions such as: - When changing directions, even if if I come to a complete stop before changing into R and stepping on the accerlator again, the uptake of the gear can ***** when I start moving. Its almost as if the car is very slow to change gear and I need to wait a couple of seconds before stepping on the accelerator - Under light throttle at low speed, sometimes the car can be a little indecisive whether to change up a gear or not, and when that happens, it seems to engage into gear roughly and with a *****. an example of this may be say cruising along at low speed, you can back off the throttle but then need to accelerate (still with light throttle application), the car will when engage gear roughly. Just wondering if this is normal for the transmission of the Kluger? thanks..

May I ask what fuel you guys are using? Would it be Shell 98 RON by any chance? I'm not sure about the new VPower, but the old Optimax had a high sulphur content, as a result, under any hard driving, the exhaust gas would stink of rotten eggs... I was once following a friend who decided to give his car a boot, and the smell was so bad I almost felt sick. I've never used Shell and have never had a rotten egg smell from my car. I really don't know if the new VPower is the same formula as the old Optimax but its something to consider.. If you guys are indeed using Shell V Power, maybe change to Caltex or BP for a few tanks and see if it still happens?

I don't think thats what TheBroker was asking... but in terms of fuel consumption, I think you will find that the figure displayed by the car will be the most accurate. Servo pumps are rarely totally accurate, and ambient temperature can affect the volume you have filled up. I've had servo pumps (I won't mention the name) over reading by 5 - 10 Litres on 4 separate occasions, at two different servos. You can fill in a form and have them check calibration, but I haven't gotten anywhere with that so far.

km's to go is always going to be an estimate right? Sorry for stating the obvious, but the car doesn't know what sort of fuel economy you will be experiencing for the current tank (it doesn't know if you will get stuck in peak hour traffic or whether you will go on a long distance cruise). So it will give you a rough estimate of how many km's left. I would think as the current tank gets more used it will be able to provide you with a more accurate estimate of remaining KM as it will be able to base it on the fuel economy experienced on the current tank and / or the current, instantaneous fuel consumption. Having said that, many have reported that even when the KM's remaining reads 0km, there is still a significant amount of fuel left in the tank.. enough to drive around for a while more.

Yep.. I have heard about the quality issue leading to a shortage of stock. I enquired at the dealer about how much a nudge bar would be, and the guy told me that sourcing it would be a problem as there were quality issues and they weren't sure when they would get stock. This was about 2 months ago.

Good luck with it Tonester. Definately the first time I've heard of something like this happening on any vehicle. Personally I know that I never look at the moonroof, I either tilt it, or open it all the way; if the glass had a crack or chip in it, I would notice... Is it possible that it had been damaged someway before and you hadn't noticed?