aussie_camry

A good way to attack these problems is to start with the cheap fixes and work your way up, so filling your tank with 98 octane would be the first step to rule this out, setting you back an extra $15 or so for the full tank. But given its after you accelerate I doubt this is the problem. It could be an engine mount or transmission related... although knocking is usually associated with an engine related problem (albeit under load... such as acceleration... not after it)

Hey... Tbh I have no idea on the electrical side of things, Id take it to an auto-electrician in terms of the alarm because they would know whats going on in relation to that... its obviously an electrical issue. As for engine problems and this bumping, well I dont know exactly what you mean by bumping but I will say this... you should NEVER let the car overheat. After an accident you need to watch the temp needle very carefully and if its rising, it would cost alot less in the long term to get it towed ($100 or so) compared to a warped head gasket ($1500 to repair). This aside, I would just take it to another mechanic and see what they think of the 'bumping', worst case scenario maybe coolant is leaking past a screwed up head gasket into the oil, starving the bearings of oil and goodbye engine (check oil colour, if its milky, that is not good)... I think this is doubtful, maybe it is something else related to the crash, maybe an engine mount is shot after the force of impact and this results in the bumping? Or maybe its electrical and is linked somehow to the alarm, perhaps the electronic fuel igniition system is effected by some eletrical fault which is evidenced by alarm but is part of the engine related issue (I remember when a friends car had bad distributor cords the car due to poor timing would bump under certain throttle positions)? Who knows.. as I said its hard to determine it online... Id take it to an auto-electrician to get the most immediate problem fixed (not being able to start car) and then if the bumping is still their, go to a mechanic.

I personally dont think its wise get your foot off the accelerator when changing gears. Im not automatic transmission expert, but I believe the 'lag' is due to the torque converter, which essentially disconnects the engine from the transmission when changing gears (like a clutch)... therefore by taking your foot off the accelerator and then manually changing gears who knows if this is good for the torque converter and indeed the transmission itself! It may help acccleration though, because by taking your foot off the accelerator it means less load, the torque converter doesnt have to 'disconnect' it for as long and gear changes may be quicker. But yeah not knowing what effect this has on the transmission, which are more sensitive then engines to issues... I wouldnt do it.

Ben_Yu... these are the facts, not my opinion. The above poster highlighted one reason why, in the process of the parts bedding metal shavings do occur... its meant to, thats why they use poor quality oil so the parts fit perfectly into place so to speak. By thrashing it early on, you wear off more of the parts then you should be for the wearing in process... thus decreasing engine life. In relation to the additional points you made... by thrashing the car easly sure you may not feel the repocussions for a while, but it will reduce the longetivity of the car, as I just mentioned above. As for intervals, yes I change me oil earlier, a serval interval is the maxium you leave it to... oil only breaks down once its in the engine, synthetic oils are better because they have detergents in them etc and do last longer, but at the end of the day they are breaking down as you drive and do not lubricate the engine as well they do from day 1. I linked an article on oils a while back, find it and all your questions are answered. The more oil changes the better... however its an issue of practicality on how frequently you do. Also of note is that in the past I believe Toyota had 20,000km intervals which was a contributor to the oil sludge issues with the 1MZ issue... remember they want to increase intervals as a form of product differentiation 'oh less costs'... doesnt mean its better for the engine, in fact its in ther interest that it lasts so your satisfied but doesnt go for to long and delay a resale in the future!

Umm I have issues with the ideas forwarded in that article... when you buy the car they put shyte quality oil in their so all engine parts bed, this is a fact. Any mechanic who has done a rebuild will tell you this, you dont thrash a new engine because of the ECU, an adaptive ECU is just that, it will adapt once you can start opening the engine up in the future (for older engine/ECU, then you manually reset)... so the disadvantages far outweight the advantages. And even if you dont believe this, why the hell would you risk it... be patient for a 1000km.... you have nothng to gain but all to lose

Would seem strange its due to the power, isnt the IS350 engine a variant of the Aurions and TRD Aurion engine... just with direct injection? That is good for 230kw and more importantly 380Nm of torque (not heaps less).

And thats what Toyota would want.... logically if they sold it cheap then people wouldnt buy the TRD. I would think if it is sold, it would be expensive, and mainly targeted for overseas who because they dont have the TRD, would be willing to pay alot for it.

Well Im no expert on this... in my case its not quite a tip per say, the previous owner had the mufflers tip cut off and the new tip welded in its place. It could be the muffler as well I dont know, its a new one, but looks like your average run of the mill muffler.

I think a mouth watering proposition would be supercharging the IS350, not sure if you could just whack it on... but in theory its the same engine as the Aurion just with direct injection which makes it good for 230kw and 380Nm, add supercharger and you in theory get 270kw and 450Nm (Id say even more given that its RWD so no need to go conservative for traction). Now the IS350 in original form does the 100 in 5.8 seconds, with a supercharger it would be under 5. Can only dream on! Maybe if we are lucky this is the future of the TRD Aurion, eventually getting the direct injection version... then AWD.... then goodbye FPV and HSV!!!!!

In some cases an exhaust tip can change the note, I didnt do it but the previous owner of my V6 Camry put a tip on the exhaust and its quite loud (in a good way), might have something to do with going from the dual tip to a single tip

Yeah as everyone said they are changing it all, but even so seems pricey. The overflow bottle does wear prity badly in these cars, I repalced mine a year ago with a used one, cost $20. As for changing coolant, do it yourself it really isnt hard... undo drain plug at bottom of radiator, drain it all, close plug, add coolant till full, keep cap off water inlet (not radiator in the 1MZ), turn car on and let it heap it, level goes down so add more coolant, air bubbles bled from system -> DONE. You could also find the drain plug on the block because there will be some residual coolant their but I dont bother, it isnt heaps. This option will cost you say $50 for overflow and $40 for coolant itself.

http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/ArticleD...p;vf=7&pg=1 ^ Not such a shining review. I do agree though asking $12k or so on top of the ZR6 is abit much, I would have thought it would be better to just put the supercharger in the ZR6 from the outset to compete against the XR6T.

Personally I think anything over 20inch is to much.... like 22inch on an Aurion would look strange not to mention very impractical, you'd want to keep 4 spare tyres in your boot because every reasonably sized pothole becomes a potential blowout.

Yeah I thought clearance might be an issue... not just legal reasons (be a prick of a cop to check that) but practicality, going up steap driveways or over speed humps could become an issue. Which is abit of a bumer becuse its not that the cars riding low, more those skirts are lowering its clearance while the chasis itself is still high.

Yeah cutting springs is also totally SAFE and highly LEGAL..... not <_< Although yes lowering will reduce ride comfort (still not really bad, coilovers yeah they make you feel every bump but if you go spring + shocks seperate you can make it work), it does improve handling a fair bit and give the car a more unique and aggressive stance.

VERY NICE! They are the rims Id get if I owned a camry; multi spoke, 18s and wider rubber to improve handling (stock 215s are way to thin for a car with 200kw and 340Nm... good for fuel economy bad for handling). As someone else said lowering would make it complete, it looks good as is but it would really give it a more aggressive stance being an inch or so lower.

Dont race a TRD Aurion beeeeeeecause it could be a cop: http://www.caradvice.com.au/4101/aurion-tr.../#comment-20636 Queensland police have bought 11 of them. I think the best thing to come from this is that its going to help its image but best of all given the relative lack of information on this new model... is that the Police would have test driven it and are happy with it. So all those who think it will have lots of torque steer etc might wanna rethink their original position!!! P.S It also tells us that if you wanna be a cop, go to Queensland. These are not the first performance cars they have got in their line up, they also have Typhoons among all others.

Yeah from what Ive seen in U.S forums the superchargers are really rare these days even over in the states... so demand > supply means you have to pay alot to get your hands on one.

Yeah dont get me wrong though, 15W isnt going to kill your engine... it is rated for -10 to 30 degrees (5W is rated for negative temps!). BUT from everyone I know who is knowledgable and when you think about it common sense in a way... you want as thin as possible because the thinner it is, the quicker it gets throughout the engine. And given the advances in oil, once the vehicle is up to operating temperature there is no negative effect of having a thinner oil at start up as they are usually 5W-30 compared to say 15W-40... not a massive difference. And on top of this your car manual should have the car rated for these other viscosities. Here is a LONG article which I also found useful when I was deciding on what oil and intervals to change etc: http://www.carbibles.com/engineoil_bible.html

PERSONALLY I wouldnt bother with filters or CAI at all. The gains are neglible and the K&N filters dont do their job, to filter, as effectively as your typical filter. As for CAI the Gen3 at least has the snorkel placed at the front, its already essentially a CAI, again Im not sure about any gains in that department, although it will make the car sound alot better. Personally if i had money to throw around Id go for a port and polish of the intake, 2.5inch exhaust with deleted or at least hi-flow cat and a piggyback ECU. These all work together to get legitimate gains... the intake and exhaust mods free up the breathing, its pointless just doing intake and then not exhaust because the ECU will instantly know it sucks a certain level of air in but the exhaust cant handle the extra capacity (if your talking sizeable gains at least), so its not going to improve performance. On top of this both these mods are still completely useless without a piggyback ECU because the cars ECU doesnt learn that much, newer cars are alittle better but at the end of the day you need to re-tune the car with the new mods to maximise gains. Problem is from what Ive heard your talking about $3000 to do this and you might gain say 20-30kw at the flywheel, not heaps, especially once it gets to the wheels. However given that your doing it all yourself it doesnt hurt to try relatively cheap mods and get any gains no matter how small.

15W seems abit to high dont you think? Doesnt your car manual have the recommendations.... personally I use Penritte Semi-Synthetic (cheaper and car has oil seeping so synthetic might make them worse) 5W-?? in winter and 10W-?? in summer. My mechanic puts 25W in no matter what which annoys me (and i have to go to him for warranty)... in winter you want thinner oil on start up so it goes throughout the engine quicker, the thinner the oil the better, 25W is thick as and 15W is also quite thick for winter at least.

Yeah exactly... most modern cars are put together very well and there isnt much room for improvement through things like CAI. Arugably even in older cars with inefficient intakes something like a CAI doesnt do a great deal. It requires more then just that mod, you will need exhaust mods as sucking in more air means at the same time you need the exhaust to keep up with the extra air.... and on top of this you then need a piggyback to tune the car with the new mods. So all that work in an Aurion to get very little gains really at a cost of $2000+. Just wait for the supercharger, might cost more, but there will be sizeable gains! Im not extremely knowledgable in this area.... but I BELIEVE a CAI involves piping to situate the filter in an area that gets a better flow of air whereas a POD filter is just placing a POD onto the current intake set up. I can understand for sound purposes it may improve, but that really is the extent of it. What Id be more interested in if I owned an Aurion is EXHAUST. I know at the back there is a dual exhuast set up however Ive never been under the Aurion yet, many manufacteres have the dual set up coming from a split after the cat converter rather then a proper dual system where you have one pipe for the rear cylinder bank and another pipe for the front cylinder bank. If the Aurion is just for appearance (the first set up described), then there would be reasonable gains to be had from this exhaust mod (seperate exhausts) coupled with a piggyback ECU (200kw is the limit for doing this kinda thing in a FWD car Ive been lead to believe as given the engine is tranverse, the lengths of piping wont be equal which can pose problems in higher powered vehicles, not that they really exist in FWD). If I had to guess, I think the Aurion might just be for appearance though as history tells me they are cheap on exhausts, I have a 3VZ and the merge for it is ridiciulous, very inefficient, while the intake is good with a variable intake system. This exhuast mod is something you'd do after warranty because for starters you want the engine fully broke in and secondly you dont want to void your warranty early on because something not put together right might pop up in the early days.

^ Yeah actually now that you mention it I remember reading that the Aurions engine (no doubt thanks to its efficient intake) sucks in the most air out of any other 3.5L in the world. EDIT: Quick search, here is the quote: "The Aurion's 3.5 Litre engine boasts the LARGEST VOLUME of air intake than any non turbo 6 cylinder engine in the world" So there are no real gains to be had in this department, if anything, losses!

I wouldnt see any performance gains from a CAI in the Aurion, it would sound better but thats about the extent of it. I dont own an Aurion but from what I saw at the dealership they have a snorkel running from the airbox to the cars grill, this would be a prity efficienct system sucking in cold air.

Man Id hate to buy that guys Aurion... he has thrashed the crap out of it, so many videos flooring it, worst one is where he keeps pushin it at the point of fuel cut off. Abit over the top for mine! But yes that is actually damn quick!!!