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

hmm, they suggested to me i drive up and they do a custom job for me. i'm considering, be a good holiday anyway, just wanted to see if there was enough interest.....just that no one has bothered to contact someone about getting it done.

there is no price, they don't sell an intake system for the zre's, becuase no one has enquired with them, they haven't bothered to make one up. CES have since said to me, that they can do a custom job for people that want to take their car to them, but if you want them to send you a kit then they need to have enough interest to actually make a kit for the ZRE. if there is enough interest for people who actually WANT to get a kit for their car, not just have thought about it, or are interested then they will make one up. is there anyone here who is actually wanting a kit?

Hey all, I didn't hear anything more about the CAI CES were developing that silvabullit was chasing up (i think??). Anyway i decided i'd contact CES and this was the reply i got: Is there anyone in brissy with a zre willing to do some tests with CES for cai fittment?? and i'm sure there are people here interested in a CES Cold air intake, surely. If you are, let me know, i'll pass on to ces how many people are interested so that they know there are people out there wanting one!!! Come on ZRE owners!

ok so is there anyone that has had one fitted? what wire needs to be run to ecu? and you sure bar needs to be cut? it doesn't just bend underneath?

So i dropped my ZRE rolla sedan in for 30,000km service last week and asked for a quote to supply and fit a tow bar. Couple of hours later and i get a call from the service department, the guy said it would be $970 supplied and fitted, i told him i'd get back to him. As i walked into the service department to get my car i thought $970 was a bit over priced, i paid my money for the service and asked if $970 was the best price they really could do, he took one look at it and said "yeah, we charge $105 an hour so thats about right." i said to him "about right, or right?" then he said "the guy that priced it knows what he is doing". i still thought it was overpriced, so i pushed more "i just don't understand why it is so much?" he then said, "well it takes some time to put the bar on, then the wiring has to be run all the way to the engine bay, and plugged into the car's ECU, we need to put some relays in the engine bay." r replied with, "you've got to be joking me" the guy had obviously got the ****s with me because he said he would go and get someone from the parts department and then he walked off. So the guy from parts came out, and printed me off a quote for just the parts, $435.44 for the parts, then he said "It looks like they have overpriced this a bit." i agreed with him and then he asked the guy i was talking to first how long it would take to fit the towbar, the first guy checked on his computer then came back with 3-4 hours. So 3-4 hours at $105 per hour is $315 to $420, plus the cost of parts is $750.44 to $855.44. that is already $120 to $225 cheaper than the original quote. The parts guy said if i still didn't like that price than i can just fit it myself, he said it's not hard, it just bolts on and it comes with a wiring diagram as well. Where do Toyota get off trying to rip people off for one to two extra hours, they make money on their hourly rate as it is, it doesn't cost them $105 per hour to pay a mechanic plus running costs. anyway, as far as running the cables to the engine bay and adding extra relays, that sounds like bull**** to me, surely when Toyota designed the car the made provision for a towbar wiring harness by having a plug behind a panel in the boot that you just plug the wiring harness in to and that plug would just look out of the tail lights anyway. Even if there wasn't a plug, i'd just cut into the tail light cables in the boot anyway, what point is there running to the ecu, and what are the extra relays for? Can anyone confirm any of this? Has anyone else had a towbar fitted? Cheers! Dave

i have conquest sedan from that time period also.... i haven't received any letter...i am slightly worried, but i'll check with toyota dealer when i drop my car in for service in 2000km's.

errr, zre's dont' have TC/VSC..... Toyota is slowly making it standard on their cars.....but not for this model of corolla. Extract from www.toyota.com.au AB-i – Active Braking with intelligence - for all conditions True to its heritage, Corolla makes safety a priority. All models are equipped with Toyota’s advanced AB-i braking system, which combines Anti-skid Braking System (ABS), Brake Assist (BA) and Electronic Brake-Force Distribution (EBD). AB-i is standard on all Corolla models, and delivers uncompromising stopping power in virtually any conditions. • Anti-skid Braking System (ABS) – ABS allows you to continue steering under heavy braking. It prevents the wheels from locking up by rapidly ‘pulsing’ the brake on each wheel independently. This helps you retain control of steering and helps prevent the vehicle from skidding. • Brake Assist (BA) - Designed to assist you in emergency braking situations, where you can’t apply the high pedal force required to obtain the shortest possible braking distance. BA interprets a quick, hard push of the brake pedal as emergency braking and supplements the braking power so that the car slows rapidly. • Electronic Brake-Force Distribution (EBD) – EBD minimises your stopping distance by maximising braking power to the wheels that have the most grip. It also adjusts automatically to increased load, moving brake force from the front to the rear to ensure maximum brake-force is delivered. not sure what you think traction control is but this is certainly not traction control. traction control (or ESP electronic stability program) is all about applying the brakes on each wheel independently as needed to get the car moving in the direction the driver is trying to put it. for instance, a truck is driving in front of you and some of its load falls off the back, you swerve right into the right hand lane, and the wheels start to slide, which would take you off the road, so you turn left to counter it, a normal car would just keep skidding off road, a car with traction control would apply the brake of the rear left wheel which would then turn your car in the direction you want. it takes input from the steering wheel, from each wheel, and each brake, and there is a series of sensors in the car which work out which direction the vehicle is traveling in compared to the direction of the steering wheel. Dave

you can do what now??? where how and when do i go about getting this? my local dealers knew nothing, emailed toyota and then told me no chance, everything is intranet for them.....

Spotted a black sportivo turning right from northbourne av on to mouat street about 2pm today, saw out of the corner of my eyes while i was snapping this shot.

Ok, driving home from work late one night, dropped off a mate and bottomed out my front bumper on the curb. now there are these ugly deep scratches and chunks missing from my bumper and that horrible white colour that concrete leaves on your car. black car, very noticeable. just wondering if any one has suggestions to fix it, just touch up paint....or??? Thanks!!