LordBug

There's a reasonable chance your dash is a new one. If the colour is slightly lighter than the rest of the trim, has a new-car smell, and isn't glossy at all. A couple of ways of spotting a melting dash is it's becoming shiny (thus reflecting a glare onto the windscreen), it feels slightly sticky/tacky, if you wipe a dry cloth against it it feels like it's getting caught (again the tackiness), or if you gently poke a spot with your fingernail, it leaves a mark that stays there, or you can even scratch the surface without any effort and the bit you scraped is gummy. It is more pronounced when warm, but even cold there's still the shine it gives off. There were a couple of people who were reporting reactions (such as coughing and mild breathing restriction) only when in their car with a melting dash.

Hopefully not, we have to pray that they changed the formula so that it doesn't happen again.

Check out the facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/803730803039477/ Most of us have had luck with getting our dashes replaced. I'd say it's your particular dealer who's being an obstinate twit - A few people lately have had their claims go through quickly and without hassle, and at least one person says they heard through the grapevine that the head office is approving pretty much all the claims. I'd recommend trying a different dealer, or at least telling that particular one that a large group of people have had success. Even people who had to pay for the labour (but received the dash free) eventually were refunded that labour charge.

If it's relevant to the year of your car, then I heartily recommend upgrading the rear sway bar. Finally did mine today (Couple of years of wanting to, then a couple of months of letting the new bar sit out back until I could be motivated to), and I have to say, the difference is very nice, very well worth it.

Nothing wrong with them at all, just that for a soldering novice the difficulty of dealing with them is higher than LEDs with legs (aka through-hole style).

Are you any good with soldering? Just have to hope they're not SMD types, doable but difficult-ier.

Special paint. But you can grab it from most auto stores. First google hit was super cheap auto, can of red for $15 http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/Dupli-Color-Aerosol-Paint-Caliper-Paint-Red-340g.aspx?pid=324038#Recommendations

The placebo effect is great. And it's even better when you know it's placebo effect, but the knowledge doesn't stop it! I find it pretty satisfying setting the cruise control a few klicks above the limit number, though I know I'm bang on the limit, looking at the needle being that bit over just feels satisfying. The downside is when you're stuck behind a slow driver, and you know that they're even slower than they think they are.

Starting to think I'm going to have to sacrifice some SC oil and just take the snout off to check before ordering. So far, I have: ordered cheap inspection camera of ebay only to discover that the body is too long so I can't get it past the filler hole. Asked the guy who's been my contact about replacing my dash if he happens to have access to that info, which was an unfortunate nope. Sent Harrop an enquiry via the contact us page on their site, just read the response, "Speak with local dealer to have unit inspected for repair". Time to try to track down some torque specs. Guess at least I'll be better able to better determine if I also need a replacement bearing/seal kit (slight signs of oil escape around the pulley says yes). It'll also do me some good to practise with the old gasket goo.

Before I try to chase up Harrop to find out if they remember (You'd hope so!), has anyone removed the snout off the TRD supercharger, and seen what type of coupler it is inside? I realise it's a silly thing to worry about, but I know that some chargers have a torsion coupler (has a firm spring as a part of the coupler). Since I need to replace mine (That rattle is slowly getting worse), I'd prefer to replace like with like :) Thanks in advance! And a picture would probably help too I suppose :p

Well, the good news is that Toyota has become a lot more willing to come to the party, sounds like they're paying for all dash replacements now (parts & labour). So looking forwards to getting mine replaced next Monday, I'll be able to see again! A lot of thanks does have to go to a couple of names in that Facebook group that I linked to, thanks to their efforts things have gotten easier for everyone else.

Yep, definite financial pain with TRD rotor/pads. Looking at getting new rotors myself. Did pick up a pair or RDA's off ebay for a decent price yonks back, though I'm not going to touch the current offerings for the fronts. $350ish for a front pair of RDAs that a bit of online reading suggested they're prone to warping at the drop of a pin. I haven't seen the gold version for a while. And when I contacted a brake place to find out the cost of DBA rotors for the front, it was about $380. Each. Think I'll have to check out what a pair of Corvette rotors will damage me with shipping & exchange, not to mention getting the holes machined. Sigh.

None of those. For a long time I thought it was alignment/balance issues, but after getting that looked into and the problem not going away, I asked a friend who is a Toyota mechanic to have a drive, it horrified him, and he found the problem that way. He gave me the old shaft afterwards so I could see where the dodgy bearing had worn a groove, which as he explained as the wheel rotated, that particular bearing would go into the groove instead of smoothly sliding back and forth along the way, and thus cause the shudder. Only showing up at particular speeds is the blame of physics. If you're handy on the spanners I'd suggest having a look in the joint, if you have access to a small borescope camera that could make it even easier.

Could be a CV joint on the way out. Had pretty much the same symptoms (shudder at certain speeds on acceleration, not on cruising at other speeds etc), ended up being the right hand CV, had it replaced and the other CV rebuilt and it's been good ever since.

Wouldn't screwdrivering open a door set off the alarm though, as long as the car had been locked? I know I tested out, by accident, the alarm on my car one day by going to open the bonnet half an hour after popping it, forgetting I'd locked the car after jumping out. And an easy switch just seems silly, I'd wager the officer had misheard information, potentially been misled or just misinterpreted, I've witnessed people in all sorts of professions get funny ideas in their heads that they pass on as gospel.

I stand educated, only a touch embarrassed, but most of all a bit gutted by that wee bit of oiled surface where there shouldn't be on my supercharger. Think I'll look into how hard it is to do that snout seal myself.

What. The. Absolute. F##K? That's just ridiculous. I know that when I finally get around to it (my coupler is slowly on its way out I'm fairly certain, need to confirm before I order a new one) I'm just going to use the old gasket goo. A new bloody charger, jebus, that's the cruellest idea of a joke I've heard in a long time!

You could also try to reset the transission ECU to see if relearning from the start helps. Apparently disconnecting the battery then holding the brake pedal down for 30 seconds up to a minute (to drain any remaining charge in the circuits) will perform a reset, so then it'll start learning your driving style again. Otherwise could ask Toyota nicely if they'd hook up one of their computers to reset it that way.

Haha, if you went to a weekend carpark market and you were the only person there, it wouldn't be a market, it'd be one person in an empty carpark ;) The cost to develop and create a short run is shockingly expensive, so it's best left as a lotto dream (Hey, I'd take it on if I won lotto, I don't want to buy a high end sports car that costs $5k for a simple service and is allergic to speedbumps :P )

I got a cheap unit off eBay when I did, it worked well enough, I'm confident of it being good enough for more changes. Hopefully it's mild steel, so if it does break I'll be able to weld it back together easily enough. For the time being, it's nice to have had a win with a cheapie :)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/803730803039477/

That listing is for a single belt buckle, not the most attractive of exterior accessories :P

I've got one of those cheap units that connects via bluetooth, have used it with the app called Torque on my Android, excellent amount of information and ability to be customised.

Hmm, I think I need to change my insurance policy in that case. I've got an annoying chip out of my front windscreen, and my rear has bubbling in the tint, I think there's failed track in the demister, and the rubber around it on the outside has perished badly. So the windscreen thing costs no excess or premium increases?

In case you haven't, you may want to add a bit of rubber or similar between the bracket and the bonnet & side panel, otherwise the flex will possibly wear down the paint leading to rust and other unpleasantries.