Dave89

eh, locking pin. thats what i meant by gear jamming.... poor choice of words i guess Dave

in my opinion when push comes to shove, if they ask for your logbook and it's not filled correctly then they burn you alive. i'm sure toyota probably dont have the time/care enough to check logbooks for little warranty jobs especially if its a common issue. but lets say your engine blew up, i'd bet first thing they'd say is, lets see your logbook. and on the plus side, a reguarly filled out logbook means better sale price, if you choose to sell (you are mad if you do) Dave

the park gear has a bit of free movement in it, maybe about an inch of movement on the wheels either way, you can test this by parking on a flat surface, putting it in park (no footbrake) then getting out and pushing the car forwards untill it stops, then backwards, and you can see the free play that the park gear has. when you are engaging the park gear and the footbrake on an incline, you aren't putting the footbrake in enough, and the only thing stopping your car from rolling is the "locking" action of the park gear. so the gears are all jammed together, that is why they clunk out/in to/from gear when on an incline, because it has to force the gears to "unlock" suggest putting the footbrake on more firmly, i think 3 clicks is not enough, the normal is about 5-7 clicks (check car manual, should be written in there). Dave

Well i'd follow it up with fair trading. They have their own motor vehicle department, so they pretty much handle everything. Let us know the outcome. Good luck Dave

well it looks certainly arguable, are those three photos the only defects? the LH rear door sill, is that viewable with the door closed? I wouldn't be happy with the door handle one, that'd stand out like dogs balls. Guess you could only keep trying with toyota... take it higher up? tell them that you will contact fair trading if your dispute can not be resolved with toyota? or even contact fair trading and get some advice off them? Good luck! Dave

imperfections happen....with everything...not a single thing could be made 100% the same everytime. unlucky though :( can you throw some photo's up? Dave

guys, that rotten egg smell is what carbon monoxide smells like when it goes through a catalytic converter. only really smell it when you hammer down hard and then stop, such as traffic lights or something. Dave

Canberra, really, sounds like the typical **** service you get from Canberra toyota, which branch did you go to? I normally buy from Fyshwick, i'm a tradie, so i try to go there in my work clothes, usually get trade price on items and not treated like a moron, but if i go in there dressed in casual clothes i get the "you don't know anything - lets overcharge you" treatment. I usually get beter service from the younger guys there rather then the older ones.

Lead-acid batteries (like the ones found in cars) dont like being discharged too low, you've got to remember the battery is only there to start your car, after that the alternator should supply more then enough power for all your car systems. It takes a huge amount of current for your starter motor to turn your engine and start your engine firing. Charge voltage is around 13.5-14.5 volts, so if you are reading that (which you are) then that means your alternator is charging your battery, and if it wasn't supplying enough charge current then your "alternator light" on your dashboar would illuminate. -That charge voltage is what is read when your engine RPM is higher than idle...such as 2000rpm or higher. The longer/higher you run your engine, the more power that is generated by the alternator is which to charge your battery.... As i said batteries dont like to be run down to low, if you've read anything less that about 8 volts then your battery cells are possibly getting damaged, so if your battery has spent a lot of time discharged, my recommendation is get a new battery, if you run big stereo's, amps, subwoofers, suggest getting a bigger battery? the dimming lights/"half power electrics" is because you are drawing more current then the battery/alternator can output, so if thats because your idle speed is too low and your battery can't hold a good charge because the cells are damaged. Wind up your idle speed a little and replace battery. Also, a good sign of a dieing battery is "sluggish" starting of the engine, batteries will also perform worse is cold weather than in warm weather.

Hop into a new holden or ford and feel around the interior, it feels like parts just want to fall off....ever tried to pull a toyota bumper off? it takes a bit of effort, not the holdens, one touch and it just about falls off.... Seriously not joking.

Thanks guys.... What dates are we talking about here when we say pre-facelift ??? Facelift date was some time around august/september 2009 i believe.

on the CES note, i also contacted them several months back and they said not one person has called or emailed them wanting a cai for the zre's, i was the first, they said they had the parts sitting in a box on the shelf collecting dust waiting for a test car to come up, they suggested i drive up and they would do a custom one for me, so i thought i'd see if anyone here was interested....again, no one said anything about wanting one...so i dropped it, couldn't be bothered to chase it when i'm not loaded up with cash, and now with work getting a lot tighter everywhere i have even less cash, if there is plenty of interest i'll head on up to queensland and get the ces cai tested in my car, i'm coming from ACT, so i've got a fair way to go so there'ed have to be enough people wanting it..... but as SB says, email/phone em and they may even organise a car up there.... otherwise let me know i'll take some time off work and have a holiday. Dave

i find HID headlamps, and the brighter(whiter) lamps to be much more blinding than having fog lights on, they are down lower and aren't tilted up, they just give more spill lighting, i don't find fog lamps on other cars coming at me to be blinding, and there aren't that many roads(besides suburban) that don't have an island seperating each direction of traffic in canberra. IMO, HID lamps and the whiter lamps pose more of a hazard to other drivers.

When my headlights are on, my fog lights are too, i never use headlights without fog lights, drive past plenty of cops pull up beside cops, nobody says anything. I live in Canberra and as anyone that lives here knows, there are **** kangaroos everywhere, the fog lights in my car give you a wider spread of light to the side of the road to help see roos. If a cop ever pulls me over to tell me i'm not allowed to have fog lights on while driving i'll talk my way out of it.

It's the catalitic converter processing the carbon monoxide, happens after you've been giving it to your engine a bit, and/or you're heavily loaded. you can usually smell it when you sit idleing after driving hard, i still smell it occasionally, car is 33,000 old. Dave