Kevdebbi's 120 V6 Grande

[BlakMoth]

Re the coolant, why use the red one? Is it different than green or do Toyota just want to be different?


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[kevdebbi]

These are pictures of the three coolant hoses that were not included in the Mackay hose kit, it only had 10 hoses not the total 13 required.



These are the old plugs that came out and one of the new Bosch Platinum plugs.

[kevdebbi]

I had a bit of time over the weekend so I thought since the car is dead I and it was due for a service I would give it a go. The 180K service is basically change the oil and give it a once over. I used some Nulon engine oil flush treatment before the oil change. I thought I would try a slightly thinner oil so after an went with Valvoline engine armour 10W-30 synthetic blend. I also fitted a magnetic sump plug. As a bonus both the oil and oil flush were on sale at Super Cheap. They also had Bosch platinum plugs for on sale so grabbed some as well (P11-4 FR8NP) had too buy 8 as they only come in packs of four. The old plugs were quite black indicating rich running, something I have suspected for some time. I have been getting a fair bit of black soot around the exhaust. Something to investigate

I also used a Mackay coolant hose kit from Western Filters http://www.westernfilters.net.au/toy...-fe-2003-2007/ which is meant to be a complete hose kit. It didn't include the two hoses that ran to oil filter assembly and one little one going from the thermostat area to somewhere on the inlet manifold so I need to source these. Since I was changing the hoses I flushed the cooling system with Nulon cooling system flush, before refilling it with Red Nulon long life coolant.

[kevdebbi]

Faulty Brake accumulator pump

Well my brakes stopped working the other day, it turned out the pump for the brake accumulator is totally buggered and just stopped. It means there is no assistance for the brakes, just a real hard brake pedal and not much braking. Luckily it happened just as I was leaving home, not the middle of nowhere.

The workshop manual states the whole master assembly needs to come out in order to change the pump. This is a big job which requires disconnecting all the brake lines. I found I was able to just remove the brake accumulator and pump assembly, by disconnecting it and wiggling it out.


This is the complete accumulator assembly. Toyota's price $3000, ouch.


As you can see the motor is totally stuffed, the brushes have plenty of material left but wave worn all the way through the commutator. Strange, the brutes are meant to wear, not the commutator.


I have ordered the new parts (not from Toyota) all Four x 4 spares in Kotara were much better priced $1650 but there is a 2-3 week wait so the car is out of action till then.

[kevdebbi]

Shortened front sway bar links

I have shortened and strengthening the front links. Since I have a bent link i cut and shortening it by 23mm. I made a sleeve to go over the join and welded it into position to restore the strength.

I cleaned and regressed the link balljoint and gave it a coat of paint. The Sway bar now sits much closer to its original position, I am yet to drive the car so don't know if it will make any real difference. I figured since the old link was bent I had nothing to loose, if it doesn't work I was going to replace the link anyway. Time will tell.

[kevdebbi]

Bent front sway bar links

I was just putting the bash plates back on after installing my diff drop spacers and noticed the drivers side sway bar link was bent Glad I found it before it got any worse. I pulled the sway bar out tonight and will try and straighten it at work tomorrow, Fingers crossed.

I am also thinking about shortening the front links. From what I can see shortening by approximately 20-30mm would help return the sway bar to a more horizontal position. I have checked clearance and could see no issues with a reduction in link length. Since I have a bent link i was thinking about cutting it and shortening it, I was going to make a sleeve to go over the join and weld it into position to restore the strength.

[kevdebbi]

Hi Tony, yes since I had most of the front apart anyway it was very easy to remove the strut. I used a hydraulic press to change out the lower bush. If I had the gear it may have been possible to change it in situ but would have been a real pain in the ass as access is quite limited with the CV in the way. Checks amts description here:

http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...l=1#post363592

Works very well. Make sure you don't fully tighten the bottom shock mount until the car is back on the ground and sitting normally to prevent premature wear of the bush.

[foxclan]

Hi Kevdebbi
You sure dodged a bullet with those wheel bearings, good one.
On the subject of the front strut lower bushes, did you totally remove the strut from the vehicle to allow you to press out the old bushes?
Cheers
Troy

[kevdebbi]

Front strut lower bush replacement

I also noticed the lower bushes of the front struts were stuffed, they are around three years old with around 30,000km on them. I thought they would have lasted longer but they are defiantly stuffed. I spoke with my suspension guy and he suggested replacing them with Toyota bushes as they were the best around and were interchangeable into the Bilstein struts.

[kevdebbi]

Front Wheel bearing Change

When I recently rebuilt my front brake callipers I noticed there was some movement in the front wheels from the bearings. Over the last few weeks there has been some noise coming from them so I decided it was time to replace them.


Glad I didn't wait any longer, there was a lot of movement in the wheel, as you can see in the pictures the bearing is totally stuffed.




New bearing installed, nice and shiny.


These are the part numbers I used, I decided to stick with genuine. There were cheaper options on eBay but I don't think this is a place to skimp. The originals lasted 175,000km which I think is not bad.

[macaroon1]

Many thanks Kevdebbi. The conversation with the (unused) sunroof repairer is starting to come back. I remember now he said it was not a big job as no hood lining needed to be removed.. Sounds very doable to me as my excess is similar! One thing I also remember, he mentioned to spray the inside (the grommets) with tectyl or Fish oil to coat all the inside and leave to dry standing up for a day or two. It's just finding one at a wreckers now as most seem to have suffered the same fate?? Mine's not too bad but I believe it's all under the rubber trim and will only spread!!?? May give that website a try one day when I get time....again many thanks for the valuable info.

[kevdebbi]

Hi Macaroon1, Because it was accidentally broken I was able to claim it on insurance so I'm not sure of their cost to replace. Before making the claim I did ring Toyota Newcastle and they quoted $820 for the new glass assembly. I thought the job to replace it would be a big one as I was told it required the removal of the hood lining. I decided it was best to pay my excess and get them to do it "properly". I dropped the car off at 8am on the way to work, at 9:30 they rang me and said it was ready to pick up, I was very surprised how quick they were.

When I got the car back I was very interested in how they did it so quick, they did not remove the hood lining at all I could still hear bits of glass rattling around in there. When I looked at the old frame it is only held in by only 4 torx T25 screws, these are easily accessed from inside the car by just removing the black plastic trim on either side of the frame. Gently pull it and it should pop off. So basically remove the trim pieces, take out the four screws then lift out the old glass. To reinstall drop the new glass in and check it is aligned centrally reinstall the 4 screws. Test the sunroof to make sure it opens and closes properly and if so refit the plastic trim. Job done, easy. In hind site I wish I had done this myself and avoided the hassle of insurance, my excess was $800, ouch. I still had to drop the front of the hood lining to remove the loose bits of glass as I didn't want any rattles.

[macaroon1]

Hi Kevdebbi. I'm interested in your (ex) Sunroof! Curious to know if you did the work yourself or get a professional sunroof repairer?? I've an 03 Grande too and the same is happening to mine. Your right, it is unfortunately a common issue with grandes. I got a quote from Toyota @18 months ago now to get it repaired but walked out laughing. Thought about a breakers but I reckon they are all the same condition?? The repairer told me to do an insurance job but I think my excess is too high LOL!!! Did you source one from an aftermarket supplier like http://www.amayama.com/??
Thanks.

[kevdebbi]

My Front Diff drop Install

Since raising my car I have been interested in ways to minimise the angle of the front drive shafts to prolong the CV life and maintain reliability. I have read a fair bit about the front diff drops people have been doing so I thought I would give it a try myself. I machined two spacers from alloy they are 50mm in diameter and 25mm thick. I measured the drive shaft angle before and after the drop to see if it made any real difference. Before the angle was LH 8deg RH6deg after the drop it was LH 6deg and RH 5deg. This was measured on my drive way which is not totally flat but I think the difference between the two readings is the important bit, approximately 1.5-2 degree improvement. Will this make any real difference, I'm not really sure. It would be interesting to measure a standard height Prado to get a before lift angle so I could compare.




Before Diff drop installed.


After Diff drop installed.

The CV angle reduced by approximately 1.5-2 degree, going from 8 degrees down to 6 degrees which gives approximately 25% reduction in angle. Not bad for some simple blocks and a few minuets work.

[kevdebbi]

My Custom Rear Drawers

My Rear Drawers

I have been wanting to do a set of rear draws for some time now. Over Christmas I finally got the time to get into it. I made the frame of the drawer system from 3mm alloy which I folded and riveted into shape. I used 6mm alloy for the centre divider as it needed to support both drawers. The top was made from 15mm marine ply which was wrapped in marine carpet. The drawers themselves are made from 2mm alloy with a 6mm alloy front piece which was also covered in carpet. The drawers are approximately 1060mm wide 950mm long and 300mm high. They are held in place with turnbuckles at the rear and bolts at the front which I screwed into the factory holes in the floor where rear seats folded down and latched into.

I used heavy duty drawer slides which have the built in lock.http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/141203953...84.m1586.l2649
This enables the drawers to be locked in the closed position, fully open position and the half open position. having the drawers lock open and closed was important to me as I have a steep driveway and its also very handy when out bush.

I have loaded these drawers up with heaps of stuff and they are very strong and no annoying rattles. I can fit the majority of my camping gear in the drawers, much better than having it bouncing around the back.