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Definitely annoyed. Lots more attention planned. In the meantime, I have done a few tips and tricks under the engine cover to help the desludging. "Sludgy" is now behaving herself and I rewarded her with a brief Italian Tune Up. Inspection camera has just arrived [still unopened] so will get batteries to be ready to use when I next drop the engine oil.

In the past few weeks, I have driven about 860km with some decent trips where the engine oil has got up to operating temperature for a decent amount of time. Last weekend I added about 100ml of ATF to the engine oil as an aid to get rid of any remaining sludge and help to deep clean the engine internals. A few days later "Sludgy" very unexpectedly blew some smoke on startup. Her way of annoying me to get some more desludging attention. This morning, I had another 2 hour therapy session with myself and "Sludgy" flushing the engine with diesel and then flushing oil. Existing engine oil [used for 860km] looked quite dark in the change pan has been reused and is now quite clear on the dipstick. Existing oil filer cartridge and housing were cleaned using petrol then air dried. Overall, quite surprised at the amount of oil sludge particles that were present. Planning upon doing a follow up check in 3 weeks so may end up recycling oil from my project vehicles to temporarily replace the current engine oil before doing another full overkill oil change.

What I really appreciate of a road trip is when you have the open road/highway very much to yourself after a breakfast at sunrise. You can just relax and cruise at a comfortable pace. Recently got a reminder of how peaceful and relaxing it is for me with deserted suburban roads and that was an early Sunday morning before 6AM.

I had a quick look at the reported figures recently. NSW cases are trending down and VIC cases are trending up. Pressure is on to get the population fully vaccinated to whatever target figure [80-90%] then let the "new normal" begin. In QLD, the "tounge in cheek" prediction is that we will head into a lockdown within a week after the NRL Grand Final on 04.10.2021 . Apparently, the ticket requirements have just got changed to be 2 jabs so you can attend. Personally, I will be seeking a medical clearance to confirm when I it will be safe for my 1st jab. Certainly expecting to have to be fully vaccinated. In the meantime, I will be getting my Aurion fully road trip ready in the next month. I am more expecting the QLD border to be re-opened with NSW after the Xmas school holidays. Then I will be doing my usual interstate road trip but avoiding the Easter 2022 period. I will definitely have to be in cruise/defensive driving mode knowing that there will be a lot of pent up frustration being released on the highways. That will then result in a stepped up Police and speed camera presence offering those involuntary invitations to make a govt. contribution. Remember and Do Safe motoring. Keep out of the way of those potential Darwin Award candidates.

Counselling, what counselling?😁 Actually I find your acknowledged OCD quite inspiring which nicely offsets my tendencies to use quick workarounds. Better to do the job once and do it right then have to come back and do it all again. Also having the right specialised tools makes tasks so much easier and enjoyable instead of being a time wasting frustrating exercise. Good quality tools are worth the $$$.

Welcome to the Forum. Can I suggest that you concentrate more upon enjoying driving your recently acquired Sportivo. This should give you the time to consider the areas for improvement and personalization plus be realistic about how many $$$ you realistically want to part with. If you do some Forum searches then you should find recent posts about what upgrades and modifications are going to be most recommended. I have also found that doing Google searches can produce more targeted results. Personally, my focus is upon preventative maintenance and safety related items. Therefore, I concentrate upon having a good set of known brand quality tyres suitable for my driving requirements. If your choice is a specific performance tyre e.g. Michelin Pilot 4S then determine what size tyres are available and suitable for your Sportivo. You may need to increase the wheel size. My choice is a touring type tyre with superior wet braking performance to fit the existing standard wheels. Next focus is upon the brakes particularly the brake pads. There are posts from Forum members about which brands of brake pads that they recommend. I am currently using Bendix Premium brake pads and have both the Hi-Q brand brake pads and Remsa Ultra Ceramic brake pads in my eBay Watchlist for future reference. I have also got braided brake hoses in my eBay Watchlist as an upgrade. Next focus is upgrading light bulbs and cleaning headlights and glass. I have upgraded the original halogen headlight bulbs to LED ones which are direct plug n play replacement design. A few members have recommended the STEDI brand for LED bulbs so a Forum search will locate their posts.

Excellent idea for long term ownership and avoid any future issue of burning oil because the rings have got clogged up. Precisely what I thought was the underlying reason for your question. I am guessing that you are intending to get the engine oil up to operating temperature then using some decent mechanics gloves and being very careful just do a drain and fill.

I have got a more basic serpentine belt kit which did the job for me. However, I can see the benefit of spending the extra $$$ for a more comprehensive kit. I previously acquired a set of 6 extra long spanners with zero offset from Trade Tools. Got the 8mm size but missing 11mm, 20mm and 21mm. The extra 7th spanner makes your selected kit that bit more comprehensive. The extra length does give you more leverage for undoing those bolts in restricted spaces where you may not be able to fit another tool. I do have a separate 24mm ring spanner that I picked up from a clearance bin at either SuperCheap Auto or Autobarn. It is my goto spanner for the refill bolt on the side of the Aurion's auto transmission. More than likely I picked it up to complete a larger size range not realizing at the time that it was going to be so handy.

You should know better particularly if the fuel pump is located in the fuel tank. 8 years is a good run for that battery. You would have a good idea of how well the battery is holding its charge. SuperCheap Auto and others will have batteries on discount in the next few months especially for Xmas, Boxing Day and Australia Day.

You have a new vehicle under warranty. Definitely use the oil viscosity recommended in your owner's manual. Be very careful about what you read on the internet. Past posts are not necessarily relevant to your recent modern Toyota engine which would be manufactured with tight tolerances and specific lubrication requirements. Have a look at the Penrite Product selector for your specific vehicle. https://penriteoil.com.au/product-selector#/ General concensus of opinion on this Forum is to use a known brand quality full synthetic oil and the correct oil viscosity for your vehicle's engine.

I recently got into a situation where my Aurion hesitated upon hard acceleration from a low speed. An internet article suggested that a solution or part of the solution would be to clean the throttle position sensor. Started doing some research and eBay listings indicated that this sensor was a bolt on part. However, as I discovered when I actually removed the throttle body on my 40 series Aurion, the throttle position sensor is actually riveted to the throttle body. Attached picture is from an eBay listing for a used throttle body and you can see that it can do with a decent clean before being fitted.. I had recently cleaned the throttle body when it was attached to the intake and decided to give it a more thorough clean. As I could not actually remove the throttle position sensor, I placed the throttle body so that the shaft for the butterfly valve was vertical. I then sprayed some WD40 into the area a few times and let the WD40 penetrate and hopefully do some cleaning. This was done to both ends of the shaft. Upon reassembly, I attached the lower coolant hose to the throttle body then using a small funnel was able to pour some coolant into the upper coolant hose until coolant spurted out of the throttle body. Upper coolant hose was then refitted. It took a few attempts to start the engine before it started. I was thinking that the engine was idling higher a bit noisier, then discovered that I had not refitted a hose from the oil catch can to the intake. Everything sounded normal after refitting that hose so ready for a test drive which ended up being a drive to a beach on the Gold Coast. All good because I was able to test some hard acceleration from 80kph[roadworks] back up to 110kph speed limit. Later when coming home after exiting the freeway, I had a few more tests from a stationery stop at the traffic lights up to the various speed limits. Acceleration and gear changes were totally smooth and I attribute this to a lot of recent maintenance as well as this additional cleaning. Main finding is that it was worthwhile to remove the throttle body to be able to give it that extra bit of a thorough clean to be just like new

This Wikipedia link should be useful. I am also guessing that the bell housings could be different and may need to be swapped over. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_U_transmission#U140F

My normal operating procedure is to give them an opportunity to overtake so they can speed away and meet their deserved Karma. Certainly hope that tailgater got your message to stop messing around with you. Based upon what you are reporting, check for exhaust gas leak because you could be smelling the unburnt fuel when accelerating hard. It should also be easy to check the spark plugs in the bank closest to the front of the car. https://axleaddict.com/auto-repair/What-Causes-The-Smell-Of-Gas-Inside-A-Car

I am sure that I have previously viewed this YouTube video which appeared in my suggested viewing list today. The 26 minute mark on relates to the WS specification fluid. Good point is made about the aftermarket fluids and what specifications that they claim to be compatible or complying with. Had to check and Penrite only mentions Toyota WS specification only and not any other Toyota specification.

WS is a Toyota specification for ATF which was released in 2002. In the past, mineral or semi-synthetic oils may very well have been used to meet the standard. Current aftermarket ATF meeting the WS specification are described as full synthetic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Automatic_Transmission_Fluid#2002_-_WS_Fluid https://aisinaftermarket.com/uploads/fslqkiuy_ATF-0WS_TDS.pdf https://totachi.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/TDS_ATF-WS-1.pdf https://penriteoil.com.au/assets/pis_pdfs/ATF LV (Full Syn) .pdf I had previously viewed this YouTube video. Factual enough for me to remain using the aftermarket Penrite ATF LV.

Over the years there was an ongoing discussion about whether the Toyota WS ATF at the dealership was semi-synthetic or full synthetic. What is certain is that the ATF is manufactured and supplied to Toyota by an oil company. I have come to the conclusion [rightly or wrongly] that the WS ATF started off as semi-synthetic and later changed to a full synthetic. I have done a bit of reading into the WS specification and then compared to the specification sheets for the various brands of ATF complying with the WS specification. I found that the Penrite LV ATF [low viscosity] had the slightly better LV specification so this is what I use. Anyway, good decision to stay with the genuine Toyota WS ATF and to have a flush to totally replace the ATF.

Can I suggest that you keep an eye out at the local Toyota Dealerships where a new buyer has opted to change the wheels to aftermarket ones. The dealership is then setting the set of original wheels hopefully at a well discounted price.

Welcome to the Forum. My son has an older Nissan Patrol which appears to be quite well built and reliable. Hopefully, your new Prado GXL lives up to the Toyota reliability reputation. If you plan upon being a long term owner, can I suggest that you have a good read of your owner's manual and service it more regularly based upon extreme driving conditions. The capped price servicing is based upon longer service intervals. Okay for a new car buyer who wants to minimise their servicing costs then move onto another new vehicle in 3 years.

What I am offering is an opinion, [not actual experience] based upon a fair bit of research for maintaining/servicing automatic transmissions. What you have briefly indicated is extreme driving conditions for the auto transmission. Towing heavy loads qualifies as extreme driving conditions. Normal driving condition is cruising down the highway at the speed limits. Higher temperatures shorten the lifespan of the automatic transmission fluid. Being able to maintain a cooler temperature will ensure that the ATF will last and continue to provide the necessary lubrication and protection for your transmission. My advice/recommendation is to have the largest transmission cooler suitable for your intended driving conditions professionally fitted.

The "Italian tune up" has been happening since the last oil change. Lot of the recent maintenance has been due to hesitation when accelerating at low speed. Idiot charged onto a roundabout just as I had just entered the roundabout to then turn left. Put the foot down and delayed response; not happy Jan. Good stretch of the legs will be handy to help clean the engine internals that little bit extra.

Since last oil change using my overkill oil change procedure I have noticed a significant improvement in engine performance. Engine seems to have a more torque and quickly rev to 5000rpm. I would say that there is effective oil pressure and the VVTi system is functioning correctly. Looking forward to the next drive on the highway, possibly this coming weekend.

I love a challenge but I was not expecting an ongoing 6 year battle. I was more expecting frequent oil changes over 12 months so fitting the catch can is a worthwhile step to try and keep as much oil vapour out of the intake. Certainly has been frustrating and annoying after feeling the triumphant joy of finally getting any oil sludge out of the engine. "Sludgy" keeps surprising me with her resilence to keep generating oil sludge from my mostly short distance driving. This time I am thinking [again] that "Sludgy" is on the ropes and going down for the count. It looks like it will be some more months before I can have the good test of an interstate road trip to help desludge the engine and check out how my catch can setup with additional inline filters is working

You are on the right track particularly if you are going to be a long term owner. There have been quite a number of posts about changing the ATF in the Aurion Forum. I understand that quite a number of members are using Penrite LV ATF which is a full synthetic ATF conforming to the WS specification. When last on special at Repco, price was $36.90 for 4 litres. There has been a bit of a debate whether the ATF filter needs to be replaced as Toyota refers to it as a strainer and does not specify a replacement interval. Aftermarket ATF filters appear to have a paper element and a service replacement interval. Fortunately, I retained the original part so at some future stage it will be refitted to the transmission. Now having said that, your Camry will presumably have a different transmission [U660E in the Aurion] but the servicing principles are the same. Regular transmission servicing is an excellent preventative maintenance measure.

This is the latest battle for bragging rights for the Nurburgring electric production car lap. https://www.drive.com.au/news/tesla-model-s-plaid-claims-nurburgring-lap-record/?utm_campaign=syndication&utm_source=smh.com.au&utm_content=article_4&utm_medium=partner I am sure that Porsche and other german auto makers will respond in due course. Maybe Toyota will throw their hat into the ring one day in the future. Watching the in car video of the lap was a lot more relaxing and enjoyable than the latest COVID-19 updates. Interesting to hear how hard the tyres are being pushed and the whine of the electric motors is so quiet. Guess when you are driving an electric car by the "seat of your pants", you get to more clearly hear the feedback from the tyres

I was waiting for Metal_Head to respond as he has direct experience with making recent exhaust changes. Suggest that you search the Forum for his posts. If you want your exhaust system to sound louder, can I suggest that you do a rear muffler delete. Good way to test this out before parting with $$$ at the exhaust shop, is to temporarily disconnect the rear mufflers. There are a few YouTube videos for the Aurion or Camry V6 [in the USA] that you can view beforehand to get some idea of what to expect. I would suggest leaving the resonator alone as its function is to reduce exhaust drone. Another suggestion is that if you proceed with the rear muffler delete is that you keep in storage the removed mufflers. This will be handy if you want to revert back particularly if you attract some unwanted Police attention and get given a defect notice or an invitation to go for a machinery inspection.