kiwi-red

I like my local Kmart. Good t hear that you've figured out the over heating problems. All still good I hope?

did you figure it out? Blocked radiator, cracked head, stuck thermostat

I love my old Prado. seems to go forever. Its a 2000 3litre TDi. I find that it is slow in accelerating, but I've not noticed the other issues you've mentioned. I've got 420K on the clock, and have had one cracked head and two front diff's replaced. Starter motor has started playing up, and the duco on the paint is flaking in a couple of places. My last set of BFG AT's lasted 110K. Two tanks, (90 and 69 litres) I get about 1300km before I worry about refilling. Tows my boat or caravan pretty well. cheers

The starter motor on my 2000 TDI prado is on the way out too. It will sometimes engage and start the engine and sometimes it will spin. Given im on 420K, I'm going to get a replacement off ebay and swap it out, although I hear thats a bit of work which involves removing the front wheel and disconnecting the brake line

I ended with a pair of Toyo's for the front. Back ones were still good

yes, thats what happens on my Prado. When I'm on the freeway, the temp drops downa bit lower, so this weekend I had a go are replacing the themostat. Took a couple of hours but I got there in the end. Temp was perfect on the freeway this morning. What coolant would you recomend?

Hi again one other thing I've noticed is that on the freeway, the temp guage points down to about 4pm but around town its a little higher at just below 3pm. Do you think it worth replacing the thermostat or not worry about it? I hear that when they run colder, the engine managment systems makes the mixture a bit richer so that would then increase the fuel usage. Is that that case? cheer

HI couldn't get a very good photo with the wheels on sorry. I took it in to get a pink slip, told them about the movement and they had a look and found nothing amiss. They noted that the dogbone has a small crack which I had pointed out, but it doesn't go all the way through but I should consider replacing it at some point. The rocker cover has a small oil leak and that it was in pretty good condidtion. I got them to put a matched pair of tyres on the front (Toyo) and to do a minor service. So maybe I was just worrying for no reason. I'll change the dogbone this weekend. thanks for your advice guys!

Wheels and nuts all look standard. The rotors are quite loose on the studs. I think that maybe they slide down a mm when the wheels go on and then the studs don't quite fit properly. Anyway, I fiddled around a bit and got them pretty reasonable now. Very little movement in the right and none in the left. I've noticed that the rubber in the top engine mount has a small crack in it, so I'll replace that. Looks like an easy job. Just two bolts. This might be what is causing the gear stick movement in 5th of the freeway.

Thanks for the tips and advice I'll have a look at the engine mounts tonight. I understand about the rotors, but when the wheel is on, it moves no matter how hard the studs are done up. I'll put it on my stands tonight and have a real good look and report back what I find. I'm hoping that the CV's are ok. cheers

what did you end up with? I've got a 2000 v6 and was looking at tyres as well.

Hi I've recently bought a 2000 CSi V6 manual and have been going over it before giving it to my daughter. I've noticed some front wheel movement. I took the wheel off to have a look and noticed that the rotor is moving quite a bit. Gave the studs a pull but didn't notice any movement, so its just the rotos. That should be fine but when the wheels are on, no matter how tight I do up the studs, the wheels move. Not sure what to do about this. The rotors, I got told, have been replaced. The screw holes in them have no screws. Its the same on the other front wheel too. Not sure what to do about it. A second thing I've noticed is that the the gear stick moves when I'm on the M1 in 5th and I put my footdown and then take it off.ITs a bit like the gear box isn't properly bolted in and is really only noticeable in 5th gear. There is a bit of cluck with it too. I climbed underneath and noticed that the half-shafts (I think thats what they are called) have a bit of sideways movemement in them and make a similer noise that i was hearing when driving. Is this normal for this car? Its a 2000 V6 CSi 300K on the clock. Everying else seems to be running really well. Lovely engine hardly makes a sound. any advice would be greatly appriciated.