Jump to content


Tony Prodigy

Regular Member
  • Posts

    3,366
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    443

Everything posted by Tony Prodigy

  1. Hey Rob, thanks for your kind words as always mate. I have ordered new pullies and when they go in I will also do the serpentine belt. I have a brand new one that's been soaking in Aerospace 303 in a plastic bag for a few years now. It would be interesting to see how it performs over time in terms of longevity. Mind you, the original belt is still in excellent shape believe it or not. I can see no cracks at all, but good practice would be to do the belt along with the new pullies. The thing is with the pullies is that the pulley themselves don't wear, it's the bearings, which are pressed in. I'm going to hang onto the original pullies and try and source new OEM bearings and press these in and keep as spares. I managed to regrease the original bearings using an intravenous grease needle which attaches to a grease gun. The Tensioner pulley was dry and after some injecting at various points on the bearing, it took some time for the grease to work it's way through the rollers. It was still protesting after start up for a while, but then settled down and has seemed to do the trick for now. Nevertheless I will still be replacing them for good measure as the bearing has run dry for some time so there has to be some degradation for sure. I'll post up the pulley job when I do. Cheers mate
  2. G'day good people, I finally stopped procrastinating and decided it was time to get the coolant flush job done and dusted. I wanted to take advantage of this long weekend and in doing so, wanted to tick a few jobs off the list. These consisted of the coolant flush, tensioner and idler pulley inspections and rear brake adjustment I'll be covering the coolant flush here as it was quite involved. I'll post up a separate post on the other two later. It was quite a cold start to the morning but nevertheless I went about setting up with the various tools and apparatus I needed for the job. The aim was to drain the radiator and both banks of the engine. The heater core didn't require any special attention because it sits higher than the drain point of the block and so it would naturally drain out by virtue of the block drain. I did set the heater to high if that helped. Not sure at this stage if the Aurion's have a heater valve which opens on a heating call. If anyone does know, please let me know. As this is the first coolant flush, this would be the factory fill coolant from new, so despite the 7 year recommended frequency, this coolant was almost 11 years old. Mind you, it wasn't as bad as I thought either. I ended up doing a PH test on the old coolant Vs the new coolant for comparison. Results at the end. So, here we go.... I jacked the car up, axle stands in position to be able to access the rear engine drain, then started removing the lower engine cover plastics to get full access to the radiator and front engine drain. According to the driver's handbook, the coolant capacity is 9.2L. It must be said that you will not recover all 9L worth of coolant from the entire system. That is impossible without fully disassembling the engine and who's crazy enough to do that right ? I ended up recovering just over 7L. So despite draining the block and radiator, there would still be around 2L left in the block. Admittedly, the engine drain cocks are midway in the block, so it occurred to me that the coolant will only drain down to this level and residual coolant will remain below this. This could account to the 2L of coolant. 1L per side perhaps ?? Began by draining the radiator. Radiator Drain.mp4 Here's the Rear Engine Drain. Hose attached to capture the exact contents. Rear Bank Drain.mp4 The front drain was a right Royal Pain to locate and access. It took some time but I managed to get to it. You have to unbolt the dipstick bracket and swivel the tube out of the way to the right to be able to get access to the front block drain. It's nestled right behind the dipstick tube. You will also need to the remove the overflow bottle on the 50 series as it's too cramped to even get your hand in. You won't be able to see the drain, but you'll need to go in by feel. I attached a 10mm socket to a 1/4" extension and fed it in and managed to locate it on the 10mm drain bolt. Then you can go ahead and attach the ratchet and crack it off. I was also able to collect the coolant into the drain pan for measurement. Attaching the clear hose was impossible as evidenced by all the scratches on my hand, not to mention the skinned knuckles. Arrgh, it was frustrating, so I just let it run out. The pan managed to collect pretty much all of it anyway, so the tube is not compulsory. I also took the opportunity to give the overflow bottle a good clean before reinstalling it. Reinstalled and filled to high after the system was bled and engine was hot. This is the front drain After draining all I could, with all drain points closed, I filled the radiator with approximately 6L of demineralized water and ran the engine to circulate the residual coolant with the water to help neutralize the old coolant and aid in its evacuation. I ran the engine with the bleeder open for around 10 minutes to expel trapped air whilst the fluid circulated. I had to wait until the thermostat opened so the full flow cycle can be achieved and after a few more minutes, I stopped the engine and flushed again as described previously. Note the colour of the old coolant compared to the new stuff. I filled up two empty clear bottles for comparison. The old coolant turned a reddish colour with no pinkish hue. It was spent. It was now time to add the new Toyota Super Long Life Coolant. I purchased 2 x 5L coolant for the job. After setting up the "No Spill" coolant funnel kit and bleed hose, I began filling the radiator with that Pinky goodness. That took around 7 minutes. After filling it to the point where the fluid started coming back (@ 6:51) up the bleed hose to the specified level on the funnel, I then began the bleed process with the engine on at 2,500 RPM. 20230611_120121.mp4 TIME TO BLEED Some will say the process should take around 5 minutes to bleed, but the bleed process took around 15 minutes. I suspect that by draining the block, it does tend to add more air in the system hence the longer purge cycle. The Car Care Nut was right in saying that the 2GR-FE is a stubborn engine. It certainly didn't give it up without a fight. There was a time when nothing was happening for minutes, then slowly, it coughed up some air and this continued for a while. There was a false sense of completion, when after what appeared to be a steady stream, which is the tell tale sign it's almost done, well, the steady stream came and then shortly after this, it coughed and spluttered some more. It wasn't done just yet ! I'd advise to wait even after the "steady stream" is witnessed. There may be more to follow. I thought I'd add some videos to show this in real time so you can see how the engine behaves. PART 1. Bleed Part 1.mp4 PART 2 Bleed Part 2.mp4 The SSL is a very pretty pink indeed. If you're wondering how I managed to keep the revs up, I utilized the jack handle by sandwiching it between the driver's seat and accelerator pedal and as it's an electric seat, I simply edged the seat forward until it pushed the handle enough to get it to the correct rev range. Here are a few pics to show the difference in colour for both old and new coolant. I also conducted a PH test to see how acidic, if any, the old coolant was. The first picture shows 11 year old SLL coolant on the left and New SSL coolant on the right. Note the redness of the old coolant minus it pinkish hue and the new coolant with a somewhat fluro pink look. The PH test strips also revealed something quite interesting too. The Old coolant seems to have a PH of 6 and compared to the PH of 7 (which is PH Neutral), so although being very slightly acidic it's not where I'd thought it would be and definitely not acidic enough to have caused any detrimental issues. Not bad for Toyota SSL coolant. I'd be more worried if it had a PH of 5 or less to be honest, so life is good as AMD would say. Here's a video by Scotty Kilmer about the various types of coolants and one which puts my mind at ease knowing that even though my coolant was 11 years old, the mileage done is way under the maximum recommended. Toyota's SSL Pink is the best coolant you can buy and by design it won't conduct electricity or have a galvanic reaction to aluminum so even if you are late to do the coolant flush, your engine is still safe from long term damage. However, in saying that, I would still recommend doing the coolant service on time for best OCDnesss 😄 So this concludes the coolant flush service. It took the better part of the day and I then went to work on the rear brakes. Hope this was enjoyable and informative. Cheers everyone
  3. That's the old school term for position II. The one just before you start. In the older cars, you had all the warning lamps come on with position II ignition. They were red lamps. Nowadays, the dash cluster is more like a Christmas tree. I just call it "reds"
  4. All you do is push the button once. No foot on the brake either. This will activate accessory. Second push of button with no foot on the brake will activate reds.
  5. Either that or your one or both CV joints could also be bad. The intermediate shaft will also give all the feedback you described. Not a big deal to be honest. Any decent mechanic can tend to these repairs with a minimum amount of fuss. Very common age related issues.
  6. There's always something satisfying doing an oil change. It's the one job I'd never pay anyone to do largely because it's so easy to do as a DIYer. No excuse for regular oil changes either. Not a bad effort considering it's travelled 280k. Usually the thinner weight oil can seep through the smallest of clearances. I guess it's been good to you because you drive it daily. If it sat around, then I'd say for sure the oil will start seeping through the gaskets. Cars need to be driven on a regular basis.
  7. Yeah, thanks. I have several bikes actually, but this one in particular is a 2001 Kawasaki ZX9R Ninja. I also have another one identical to this which is in storage that has only 4,300 kays on it since new. I purchased it from the original owner who hardly rode it. It is in absolutely brand new condition for a 2001 model bike and very sought after model/colour combo. It's totally unmolested and 100% original. I just love old school bikes. Proper riders machines. I previously had a 1994 ZX9R which I sold many years ago prior to getting married and have regretted it ever since. I too was like your mate. I rode a 250 around for a few years then went straight to the 900. I suffer from sellers remorse these days, so I try to keep them if I can help it. I have a weakness for cars and bikes, sorry to say.. 😜
  8. I did something similar to you but on a two wheeled machine. I had to pull it out and give it a once over as it's been sitting in the garage collecting dust for nearly 6 months whilst doing other stuff around the place. It's going to get a very thorough going over once my shed is built. Gotta love a good foam cannoning 😜
  9. I'm sure you'll be ok. This is a problem for gunked up, sludgy engines.
  10. I am genuinely surprised about this tiny part. It seems that both the oil control valves for the VVTI systems have them. So one for each bank. It would be safe to say that if the engine was sludged up then for sure you'd have to look to replace these two items or inspect them regularly during the desludging process. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I don't think it's been discussed here before. I could be wrong. How about you Ash ?? I looked it up on the Toyota Partsouq website and the diagram indicates both these as 1567846020 FILTER, OIL CONTROL VALVE, RH/LH
  11. Gee whiz mate. It was a stab in the dark, but looks like you're all over it. I hope you get it sorted as I'd love to know what could be the root cause.
  12. Hi Kelvin, are you handling the globes with your bare hands when installing ? If not, the oils and acids in your fingers can degrade the globe by creating hot spots causing them to fail prematurely. Wear gloves when installing or use paper towel. I'd also check and clean the electrical socket connectors. Look for corrosion and other contamination. With no power applied, spray some contact cleaner in an aerosol can for this and this should do the trick. I cannot see any other reason your globes are failing at tis rate if the applied voltage is correct.
  13. How did you manage that ? Nobody would ever guess that right ?
  14. I can concur with that Ashley. I had a look back at my purchases in the last few years, primarily the time before Covid and the prices of nearly all the DuraTech tool sets, spanners etc I purchased from Amazon have either doubled or tripled in price. There's no way I'd pay today's prices and makes me feel like I got an absolute bargain back then. The price hikes are ludicrous.
  15. On the subject of tools, I decided to purchase another Flex polishing machine to add to my ****nal of detailing equipment. I've been wanting a decent variable speed rotary polisher for ages and the prices have been quite high for the most part. The Detailing Shed had a sale recently and the discount was too good to resist. I purchased the machine and the set of various sized backing plates for the various sized polishing pads I have. It's called the Flex PE 14-1 180 Rotary Polisher. The rotary machine makes light work where time is of the essence. If used correctly, it can cut through the toughest of paint corrections quite quickly before being finished with the dual action. (Flex XC3401). The dual action can cut through quite well, but it is a much slower process and is more user friendly. The rotary machine needs experienced hands for sure. So the rotary and the DA machines complement each other. I still have my old "Stayer" machine I purchased way back in the early 90's. That was good for polishing acrylic paints back when I used to paint cars, but by today's standards, it's a little too aggressive, as It predated variable speed drives and only had a 2 speed select. Speed 1 for polishing and speed 2 for sanding. Speed 1 was a tad bit too fast for my liking and extra caution had to be used when polishing. It was great for the big flat sections, but you had to be ultra careful around delicate sections and corners. You could burn through very easily. It was an era when we used wool pads as sponge pads hadn't quite taken off. Wool is a heavy cut medium and caution needs to be exercised when using wool. Gotta love modern equipment though..
  16. Hmm. A ratcheting breaker bar. I never thought the two could or should be combined due to the extra force being applied to "break" the bolt or nut loose. Hopefully the ratchet section can hold up to the rigors or breaking free those tight nuts or bolts. I don't mind the Force brand either Ash. The quality of finish is also nice. I have a torque wrench made by them and it's a really nice piece. Feels great in the hand too. It doesn't have to shiny like most tools to earn my praise. Something different I guess.
  17. For a bit more continuity on this subject, I thought I'd add this video by AMD. There's a few surprises in this one.
  18. These modern hybrid cars and electric cars are fast becoming DIY unfriendly. Gone are the days when you could diagnose an issue pretty quickly, pull out a screw driver and a wrench and you're done. This issue looks like a problem for the dealer. I hope you get it sorted mate. Be sure to post back the solution so others can benefit.
  19. That was pretty interesting Ash. This is something that will come to us all eventually I guess. Good idea to take plenty of photos before disassembly, especially that fiddly handbrake assembly. Did you damage the ABS sensor lead when removing it Ash ? You mentioned using a rubber mallet. How effective was this compared to a dead blow hammer ? How long before the hub popped out ? A good idea would be to spray some wax film on the outside of the hub after hub is assembled to stop the slip joint from rusting and seizing the new hub on.
  20. Nice one Rob It has me thinking that why you'd need such a product when your car is always minty I've never been a fan of glass cleaner in the past mainly due to the streaky finish. Those were all mainly ammonia based too and not pleasant when you get a head wind blow the mist into your face when trying to apply it. I gave up on glass cleaner eventually when a mate of mine showed me a simple trick by just using a microfibre cloth and hot water. Dip the cloth into a shallow bucket of hot water, wring out as much as you can, and go to work cleaning the glass. The heat in the cloth dissolves and mops up everything and then evaporates squeaky clean. If the glass in more funkified, use two buckets and two cloths. First bucket and cloth does the cleaning and the second mops ups. You'll be surprised how amazing and simple it is and very cost effective, Like $0. However, in saying that, I'd never knock any of the TW Hybrid Solutions range. That new glass cleaner is actually a good product but there's no way I'd be paying $30 for it. You're paying a premium for the fancy bottle too. They claim it to be streak free because it's alcohol based. Not sure of the exact formula, but being ammonia free, this is why they can claim "streak free".
  21. I'm trying to find out if Akebono make pads for the Aurion. Apparently they are the world leading maker of OEM brake pads and are the OEM supplier to most car makers including Toyota. I suspect the Genuine Toyota brake pads could well be Akebono pads. If Scotty Kilmer says they're good, then I believe him.
  22. Here's a snippet of a previous post. Longevity........ The First brake pad change (Bendix), Oct 14th 2017 to Aug 2nd 2020, lasting 2 years and 10 months.. Original pads lasting 5 years and 6 months (Car is an Oct MY2012, first registered in April following year), and the first 40K not driven by us. Second brake pad set (Remsa), Aug 2nd, 2020 to April 13th 2023, so pads lasting 2 years and 8 months. Third brake pad set (Remsa) April 13th, 2023 Current. We'll see how long these will last. They should similar to the above time frame I'm guessing. In a nut shell, the original pads lasted 5 years, 6 months and the following 2 changes at just under 3 years each. It's a lot of local driving that takes its toll. I can't say for sure what my wife's driving style is like as I've never been in the Aurion while she's at the wheel. Usually the other way around when we go out as a family. She uses it to commute to and from work, shopping etc. I use my own car mostly. Also, to be fair, the pads I'm replacing aren't all the way finished. I would estimate that I'm replacing them when the pads are down to around 15-20 %. I like to replace them this way so there's no chance of getting metal to metal contact. Usually when they're that low anyway, the brakes feel like crap and I don't feel comfortable leaving them this way, but if you were to leave them to go longer, I'm sure another 6 months or so could be got. Not really worth it in my estimation,
  23. Thanks mate. It is in itself a form of therapy "cleaning" the car. Once I'm all set up, it's ok. You just need to find the right day, time and have plenty of energy. This job took around 6 hrs.
  24. It's similar to the 50 series. The 40 series have longer side trim pieces where the 50 has short ones. You need to pull on the trim pieces pictured. Pull towards you. They will pop off. Gear knob removed, and from memory, open ash tray and that small pop up bin forward of the gear shifter and then in the front left and right corners, pull up. You can determine how much force you'll need yourself. I did mine a while back when I had to remove the head unit and centre console disassembly was required. I can't remember exactly how it all came apart, but I managed to figure it out on the fly. So, if I can do it, I'm sure you can. Look for any snags around the ash tray. I should've done a DIY..
×
×
  • Create New...

Forums


News


Membership