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brickpaver

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Posts posted by brickpaver

  1. Herb,,..you've hit on exactly the way that I would initially have done it myself but I've been somewhat afraid and warned of damaging the computer ( apparently a very expensive repair/ replacement should it be damaged by being wired incorrectly)...particularly this 'Canbus' unit.

     It would seem that Toyota severely discourage anyone interfering with their intricate wiring looms, especially with anything that goes through the computer.

    Definitely no criticism intended here because I would have done just about the very same procedure as that that you mentioned ,.....until I got the same info from several sources, warning me of the consequences around this Canbus unit,..which I had NEVER heard of before.

    I've wired up many many spotlights on to all my cars over past decades,..lights  relay and switch,..hooked to the high beam feed off of the headlight high beam wire and all worked perfectly but of course all of those were easy,... being all negative earth vehicles.....but this Rav4 Is supposedly a different kettle of kippers as far as the wiring loom is concerned.

    I guess I'm hoping to find someone with a 2018 Rav who has fitted spotties and could walk me through it. 😀

     i do appreciate your reply though.

      Lance S

  2. I have two LED spotlights mounted to a nudge bar on my 2018 Rav4 but Im getting a variety of mixed information on how to get them connected through a separate switch in with my high beam.

    I'm getting a variety of comments,..including.....What is a Canbus unit,.. I need a 'Canbus' unit,......I need to BUY a Canbus unit,....the Rav already HAS a Canbus unit,....the Rav DOESNT have a Canbus unit.?....They must go through a Canbus unit or it could blow the 'on board computer'.. etc, etc, .. Definitely inferring that it is NOT a simple exercise to carry out.

     Checking with auto electricians,..its been impossible so far to find one confident enough to tackle it,..for fear of damaging the on board computer. ........which is perhaps WHY the one who DID say that he could wire it up (I already have the lights fitted, the switch is fitted and already connected up as a direct separate negative earth through its own separate fuse,.......which of course is illegal.)...said that it woukd cost me $800 to $900 ,...which absolutely tells me that he doesn't want to do it because those numbers are ridiculous.

    I just want to have my lights connected up correctly by someone who knows his to do it,.......which could be ME, if I have an accurate diagram............Google was hopeless.

    Thanks in advance.......

    Lance.S

    IMG_1807.jpeg

  3. Can anyone tell me how to wire up spotlights through a switch connected to the RAV high beam. I've been told and read several that tell me that because of a particular new wiring loom in the Rav and possibly a computer chip, etc, along with the Rav having a special type of globe,...it MAY be almost impossible to wire up the spotlights and the required separate switch without possibly damaging something.

    Im driving over to WA in 3 weeks time and really do need a pair of affective spotlights.

      Lance S.

  4. I'm buying a new phone and I looked at a new 2021 $850 Samsung.  Most of the youtube reviews gave the model high praise but when I read 10 retail store users reviews, eight of those ten users were severely critical of the model, with heating and dropping out being among their complaints..............enough to send me straight back to buying an iphone again.

  5. Can anyone supply or tell me where I can find instructions or diagram on pairing the factory radio in my 2011 hilux. I have googled it so many times and for some reason can never get the actual directions for my model.

    Mine is the SR,..nothing out of the ordinary yet I can find every other Bluetooth instructions on Google except mine. I can Bluetooth my iphone music library okay but the phone receive calls will now NOT connect,....like it used to do, up until 6 months ago.

      Thanks in advance

      Lance. S.

  6. I had a similar problem with my older 2000 Hilux ute at around 150,000 k's several years ago,..started up well but inside a couple of minutes the accelerator pedal was struggling to respond with any power at all.

     Took it to my local Toyota dealer workshop,......turned out to be a faulty knock sensor, which was replaced with a new sensor and bingo,.....good as gold again and still driving perfectly when I sold the ute af 260,000 k's.

      Cheers

     Lance S.

  7. I have the 2011 V6 Hilux which I bought in Nov 2016 with 74,000 klm's on it and have just now hit 171,000 klm's, including four effortless return trips between Adelaide, Kalgoorlie and Perth.

    The one thing to consider, with petrol prices currently on a huge rise at present, is that while the V6 is definitely a very gutsy engine, it can also be a bit thirsty if pushed too hard with around town usage being about 21 - 22 mpg.. (I still talk in mpg)...up to my best being just 26 - 27 mpg at a comfortable and constant cruising speed of 95-105 kph across the Eyre Highway.

    I religiously keep up my regular 6 month or 10,000 K service schedule and there has been no mechanical issues whatsoever, ......nor do I expect any issues in to the future,...in fact it really does still drive and feel like a new car, with one of the most smoothest automatic gearboxes I have EVER driven,.....and I've been driving for 62 years.

    If you can get past the fuel consumption cost, you'll have a very good and near bulletproof ute.

      Cheers ......Lance S.

  8. I have the very same erratic problem with my 2011 Bluetooth unit.

     Everything used to work,..Bluetooth with my music list straight through the cars audio system, I could send and receive all phone calls on hands free, the scrolling worked,......then almost without warning, my send and receive calls refused to work and I have erratic success with my music working when it feels like it.

    I have un paired,..re paired,...un paired again,..paired again,...turned the whole thing off and on so many times that my finger hurts........yet it STILL wont work properly.

    Lance S.

  9. I have a 2011 Hilux dual cab with the standard cd radio with Bluetooth but for some reason a couple of the bluetooth features have stopped working,.......the phone won't 'pick up', which means I can't answer any calls and on the odd time that I can get my iphone music library to actually play through the car audio system,..the mp3 details,..the artist or song title won't show.

    Every Bluetooth feature used to work but now despite my forever having to try and re- 'pair' the phone to the vehicle....the best I can achieve is my iphone song list playing,.....SOMEtimes.

    My question then is,...will a Toyota cd/radio with Bluetooth,..from a later model hilux go in to my 2011 model,..hopefully using the same wiring connections and as a bonus, would the 2011 steering wheel controls adapt and work with a later model radio.

    It is if course double din size so if I needed to go to another brand of radio with bluetooth and therefore lose my steering wheel controls,...I would have to accept that,...but I would still prefer to fit  a Toyota unit if possible,.......OR,....possibly what is  'wrong' with my present unit because I can not find a user manual for this model anywhere on the net.

    Hope that someone can help.

    Cheers,...Lance S.

  10. I have just purchased a 2000 Corolla Ascent but I can not find the clock that I believe that it’s supposed to have on the dash.

    The owner manual isn’t very informative, Google not much help either and neither is anywhere else that I’ve looked.

    There IS a small shiny front black area, about 50mm x 15mm lower down, slightly left of centre on the dash that I believe is where a digital clock is supposed to be but this car doesn’t show one, nor are there any buttons there to set a clock if one WAS to show up there when the ignition is switched on.  The factory fitted Toyota radio cassette doesn’t have a clock either.

    I even wondered if perhaps the clock wasn’t fitted to all their 2000 models, but nothing in the manual differentiates between any of the ‘basic’ features in the car.  If that IS the case however, that the ‘Ascent’ model DOESN’T have a factory clock, then that will be it and I’ll stop looking.......but so far, I just can not find anywhere to clarify that possibility.

      Cheers.

      Lance.

  11. I want to upgrade from my 2011 Hilux SR V6 to either a 2WD SR Hi-Rider,...4WD SR or depending on the dollars, a SR5.

    My question is do I stay with petrol or go diesel. D4D (which I believe had expensive injector problems in their pre 2009 models) or the newer 2.8 motor.

     I would have very little use for a 4WD in my travels and notwithstanding the fuel consumption, I do like the V6 motor, but there are a lot more diesel Hi-lux’s around these days in the later models so I may be reluctantly pointed in the diesel direction whether I like it or not. I just don’t know which one.

    My first choice of course would be a later model SR Hi-Rider with the V6 petrol motor but I have no idea if that would be possible in the later models.

    I live in the near Barossa area of South Australia so very little of my driving is short stuff, with the odd Eyre Highway return trip across to W.A.at least twice a year.

    Any advice would be welcome.

  12. Because of the restrictions and cost factor in fitting a lift kit above a 2” lift, to my 2011 SR,..with 15” wheels, I wonder if anyone can advise if it is viably possible to fit 17” wheels with perhaps bigger tyres, which theoretically could then give me an extra 2” or more of height /clearance.

    My reason being that on a recent trip over to Kalgoorlie and then 535 k’s east, along the trans access road to Rawlinna, Haig and then on to Kybo Station, it became apparent that I was having to slow down to dodge around more and more rocks on the track itself, where a bit more ground clearance would have made the trip far less of a worry about hitting something underneath......like a mini boulder.

     I want to go back again to Kybo but then cut down south, across country fir about 150 kilometres  to meet the Eyre Highway at Madura or Cocklebiddy.

    Would I be causing myself any grief or problems by changing to 17” wheels and bigger tyres.

          Cheers

       Lance.

  13. If you were in Adelaide the solution could be somewhat simple. There is a wreckers here that IS currently wrecking a gold 2003 Avalon Vxi Mark 3,..the identical same model as I have owned for the past seven faultless years and the seating in mine is about the most comfortable that I have ever sat in,..so if you CAN find one of the upper range Avalons being wrecked,..I would seriously look at the seating in one. If you can find a Grande being wrecked,...definitely take a look.

      Cheers

  14. My problem still remains the same. I have my spotties working okay,..I have them wired through a dash switch via the relay and down to the lights with the trigger live wire coming from the red high beam wire in back of one of my headlights,... which means that with the dash switch in the ‘on’ position my spotlights will come on when I hit high beam and will go off again when I hit low beam,...just as the law requires and just as every past negative earth vehicle has done for me in the past,...using the very same wiring and relay as I’m using on my 2011 Hilux now.

    My problem is still that if I leave that spotlight switch in the ‘on’ position when I turn OFF my headlights, the spotlights will immediately turn on,..even if I’ve been on low beam before turning the headlight lights off. This has NEVER happened to me before in any other vehicle that I have ever owned and I’m 77 now.

    Surely it’s GOT to be some sort of peculiarity in the Toyota Hilux wiring setup. 🤔

    Cheers.........Lance.

  15. Ive just returned from a dirt road trip 550 klm’s east of Kalgoorlie, to Kybo station and back again yo Kalg, over 1100 klm’s of dirt road in my 2011 Hilux dual cab 2WD and while it performed exceptionally well over dirt roads that varied between very good to very rocky and ‘slow’, I stopped short of my intending to go on down the 160 klm’s south of Rawlinna / Haig, down the Cocklebiddy track to the Eyre Highway, because of the multitude of various size surface rocks on the ‘road’ itself and absolutely no phone contact should I break down.

    For future trips like this, I need one or two things...I either trade my 2WD for a 4WD with additional lift clearance,..... or I take the cheaper option of just fitting a lift kit to my 2WD, which at 129,000 k’s V6 and running like a well oiled top, would serve me just as well, as long as I keep out of deep water, mud,.. or bulldust. I could/would also need to fit bigger wheels and tyres,..perhaps 16” or 17” with tougher tyres.

    Could anyone give me some thoughts on my lift kit idea being a practical one or would I be creating a new problem fir myself?    Also what could it cost to supply and fit a new lift kit.

      Thanks     

    Lance.

  16. Yep I was....that was a different set of spotties back then but with much the same problem now with these newly purchased  ‘KING’ brand LED spotlights, which come with a complete wiring harness and plugs,.. much like a ‘plug and play’....supposedly to make the whole process a ‘walk in the park’. (Have a look at the 5 minute youtube on the wiring setup for fitting these lights to your 4WD) 

    I’m aware of this problem but very much doubt that the wiring harness is a contributing cause, as the ‘problem’ itself is exactly the same as the last pair of lights almost two years ago. The lights and the relay in both cases are perfectly fine but it's the way that the hilux wiring is arranged that is the problem.  Everything would work as it should if the spotlights didn’t come back on as soon as the ignition is switched off with the spotlights switch still in the ‘on’ position........THAT was the problem two years ago and that is the SAME problem now........I just need to know how to counter or get around this hilux ‘gliche’?..so as the the spotlights WONT come on again as soon as I turn my vehicle ignition off,.......with the spotlight switch still in the ‘ON’ position.

    It must surely have been the same problem to other Hilux owners because of the similar complaint comments that show up on the youtube ‘KING’ spotlight setup video.  Somebody must surely have worked out how to get around this one.

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    Does anyone happen to have or happen to know anything about the headlight wiring setup on a 2011 Hilux.  The usual method is to run a constant live lead to the relay, ...run another lead from the spotlights, back through the switch on the dash, with the other side of the switch, back to the ‘S’ side of the relay, with a wire from the ‘L’ side of the relay down to connect to the vehicle high beam wire..... meaning that when switched ‘on’, the spotlights will only come on when headlights are on high beam and even if the spotlights switch is left in the on position, the spotlights SHOULD still turn off when the vehicle headlights are switched off ( even if I was only on low beam and spotties off).......... for some reason, my Hilux will not do this.  If I turn off my headlights and the spotlight switch is still ‘on’,...my spotlights will instantly come back on,...which can be embarrassing and awkward when in a built up area or not out on the open road.

    I have just fitted a pair of new 9” Kings spotlights, which came with it’s own complete wiring harness and relay, supposedly to simplify fitting and connecting the whole thing up and while the fitting itself was quite simple, it is doing exactly the same as the original set of spotties were doing, they are coming on at the wrong time, in this case coming on on low beam instead of high beam and coming on when the headlights are switched off.

    There is obviously a different wiring loom setup in the Hilux that is different to other negative earth vehicles. For some strange reason, the high beam globe contacts at the back of the light have TWO red wires feeding it instead of what I thought would be just one wire.  I can’t help thinking that this type of loom setup may be a cause of my problem(s).?

    How do others hook up spotlights to run just off the high beam and NOT still when the headlights are turned OFF.

     Cheers.

  18. Quote

     

    I’m going to try once more to see if I can get any help from this forum,  with occasional issues with my 2003 Avalon Vxi, because so far it would seem that almost nobody else seems to drive an Avalon.

     Can ANYONE at all throw some light on HOW do I remove the indicator assembly from the steering column and is it possibly a simple fix or do I need to replace the unit itself,...I’m okay with whichever option works best.

     My headlights now stay permanently on low beam, with the high beam refusing to come on or even give any indication that they’re even TRYING to come on. The high beam connection in the blinker unit itself is not even making ANY contact so as to feed power to the high beam.  The dash high beam indicator light doesn’t even come on now either.

    Obviously I need to remove the blinker column unit itself so I need to know how to do that......and one final question, do any of the Camry models happen to use the very same blinker unit, so as to maybe simplify my finding a replacement part or do I need to get the exact same replacement.

    Thanks on advance,

       Lance 

  19. Gday Dean, I just spotted your post and you seem to have the same problem in your 2002 model as I’m having in my 2003,...no high beam.

    If you have a read of my few posts you’ll get a bit of the progression with how mine went from working as normal,...to beginning to flicker off and on a few times before I went back to low beam before  high beam went off all together while I was driving.

     Now after flicking off and on even more,..they have now stopped working completely and even the high beam wont even kick in so as to not work,..(if that makes any sense).  If I hit high beam before it would go to high beam before immediately going off,..back on,.. off again,..etc, etc before staying off and in darkness. Now it wont even do that,..the low beam stays on the whole time despite my several attempts at still trying to flick to high beam, where nothing happens

    I'm now 99% sure, having checked everything else, including replacing the headlight relay, that the fault is almost certainly in the dipper unit on the column. Either a ‘dirty’ contact or a ‘broken’ contact inside the dipper itself.  I would LOVE to get a dipper switch fitted to the floor above my left foot, just as we used to have but I don’t know how difficult that would be.

    All I need to do now is find out how to get in to the column and get the existing dipper unit out so I can test it and/or replace it.

      Hope that helps,.....Cheers.

            Lance.

  20. I recently related the periodic problem with my Avalon high beam constantly cutting off and back on again. Ive checked every possible related connection and even replaced the headlight relay in the hope of sorting it out and while I initially thought that the new relay had ‘fixed’ my problem, it later turned out that this was not the case and not only did it go back to again my constantly losing my high beam,...it now does not turn the high beam on at all.

    Unfortunately there seems to be virtually all but no-one in this forum who is able to advise me on cause possibilities and possibly how to fix the problem.  It has only ever been the high beam itself that has been affected,....low beam and every other light and piece of electrical bits and pieces are totally UNaffected, with all other lights working exactly as they should.   For this reason, I have come to the conclusion that the only logical cause now appears that it MUST be the headlight / dipper switch column assembly as the culprit. Nothing else comes to mind as making any sense.

          I’ve looked on youtube, hoping to find instructions on how to remove, check and refit / replace the Australian 2003 Avalon headlight/dipper switch but no actual instructions seem to be there. I've never done one of these before so does anyone know and can give me the basic instructions or do I regrettably need to go to an auto electrician, at around $135 an hour to test and do it all for me,...IF of course the dipper switch IS the cause of the problem.

     Cheers,

       Lance.

     

  21. I have the 2003 Avalon (Absolutely love it)...and just recently, my left side power window, while I could put it up or down from my drivers side control bank and could be put DOWN from the left side armrest control, it could not be put back UP again from the left hand passenger side armrest control. This turned out to be the armrest control itself needing to be replaced.

    I don’t know if there is a common ‘live’ connection going to your drivers side control that might power all those things, including your central locking,..(don’t see a clock control coming from that feed though) but it might be worth a look.

     I would also be double RE-checking your fuses and relay boxes as well because for so many electrical components to go at exactly the same time, certainly sounds like just one central cause and that’s where the fuses and relays would definitely be first on my check list...... if it was anything else then surely just about everything else electrical would cut out as well.

      Cheers,

    Lance.

  22. Thanks Ashley.

    I did actually have a brand new alternator fitted almost a year ago and everything has still gone on working fine ever since then so I can rule that out as causing any conflict.

     The reality to me though is that because this problem,..intermittent as it is,...does not even remotely affect any other light or the other electrics in the entire car,..ONLY the high beam.  whereas,..the interior lights (five of them),..the dash lights and parking lights, the radio, the GPS, anything plugged in to the lighter socket, the glove box light, door open lights at the bottom of the four doors,....ALL remain on and completely unaffected at the same time as tge high beam is doing its on /off flicker thing.

    As I said, it has ALL the earmarks of being a faulty or overloaded relay and yet, even though I have replaced that relay, the problem remains.

      Frustration still reigns within. 😟

  23. Awhile back, (6 months ago) I posted about the high beam in my 2003 Avalon going off and back on again, which I later thought that I had fixed by replacing the relay.  I haven’t needed to use high beam too often since then and each time has been okay,..even after driving for awhile.

      Last night however, out of the blue, it started doing it again as soon as I hit high beam, only a couple of minutes after taking the car out, the high beam began the off and on again, repeatedly until I clicked back ti low beam and stayed there. Several times this happened.

    It is almost certainly a ‘high beam only’ wiring or connection fault somewhere and nowhere else because none of the other electrics in the car are ever affected, including parkers and low beam.. I was certain that it was the headlight relay as it had all the signs of an overloaded relay which had seemed fine for the past few weeks,....until now.

    All obvious connections....,.battery, alternator, headlights, etc have been checked and secure and every other electrical component working correctly as they should,....it’s just these random times only when I hit high beam that it happens.  Common logic to me says that if it WAS a general wiring connection fault, then other electric components would be affected as well but they’re not.  My gut feeling also is that it isn’t the column cluster either.

     To me it STILL has ALL the earmarks of being the headlight relay at fault so unless Ive inadvertently replaced the wrong relay,,..??..but I checked that first too, by noting the relay box diagrams and removing and replacing the relay to double check that I had the correct one.

    It sounds like a simple fix which I still just can’t find ....yet,......but I still don’t feel like paying an auto electrician $125 an hour minimum fee either for him to just go fishing for something that seems so simple.

      This is made a bit harder by the fact that the high beam will spasmodically stay on indefinitely, while at other times it will do the flick off and on and off and on again right from the start...... None of the wiring in the car has ever been touched anyway so it's not as if any connections have been disturbed by other work being done.

    If only the high beam would STAY off when it goes off,... then it would no doubt be easier to trace a single fault,... but it won’t do that, it comes back on again.

       So damn frustrating............I hope someone can add a theory or two.

       Cheers,....Lance.

     

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