Graphite GRJ150R

['Dan']

You must either be very young or very lucky! I've had 5 punctures in the last five years. All five on blacktop, four were tech screws, three in the metro area, two were so close to the side wall that repairers refused to repair them and one of those two write-offs was a three-week-old tyre! And one of the, thankfully repairable, punctures happened on the way back from the local garage, where I'd towed my caravan to check the tyre pressures before setting out on a trip the next day.

And I can say, lifting a tyre onto the door-mount spare tyre location on a Prado takes more than a grunt. But I love the 150 litres of fuel that I can carry when travelling long distances.

Gotta be luck then lol, I'm 41 shortly. I do try and look after my tyres, proper inflation, don't drive on the shoulder where avoidable/through potholes etc and I live 3ks down what was up until recently a dirt road and live in a rural setting where the roads in general are not flash and have been back on the Dunlop AT20s for quite a while now. Luck for sure but also some common sense has helped improve that luck maybe.

I think the last time I had a tyre failure was hitting a gutter in my Celica when I was maybe 20? It was either that or rear end the car that pulled out in front of me in an 80 zone lol Took a big chunk right out of the sidewall and damaged a rim and they were only a week old

Yes I love the tank size too and don't love moving the wheels around during rotations at service time, the road tyres are much nicer to work with than the ATs I had though, so much lighter.

[GeeWhizz]

Guess how many spares I've had to change in my life? 0.... Yeah bit of luck in there and I'm not a big off road person, but in over 20yrs of driving the location of a spare has never really been a concern for me. Oh wait sorry, I changed a spare for an elderly couple in their Prado once as they were struggling because the supplied kit from Toyota is a bit average for the job.

You must either be very young or very lucky! I've had 5 punctures in the last five years. All five on blacktop, four were tech screws, three in the metro area, two were so close to the side wall that repairers refused to repair them and one of those two write-offs was a three-week-old tyre! And one of the, thankfully repairable, punctures happened on the way back from the local garage, where I'd towed my caravan to check the tyre pressures before setting out on a trip the next day.

And I can say, lifting a tyre onto the door-mount spare tyre location on a Prado takes more than a grunt. But I love the 150 litres of fuel that I can carry when travelling long distances.

['Dan']

It gets the spare out from underneath without needing a rear bar. Much easier to change a tire offroad.

You can climb on the tire to get to the roof rack. You can hang a bin bag off it too.

With a drop down table installed it makes a perfect cooking area, and the door can act as a wind break. A 270 awning clears the door easier vs a lift back.

Yep, I love the barn door

Hahah fair enough, we will have to agree to disagree but here's my rant anyway - all in good fun.

Heavy (kids struggle with it and can easily close itself/crunch you/kids etc if it's not fully opened and locked if you're on a slope/wind gets it). Kano specifically sell a shim kit to raise the door back up after the hinges inevitably sag over time.

Rattles/Squeeks - lots of complaints about this one online, I 'think' I've found the specific plastic piece of the guide that causes the annoying squeek so I can just keep some lube up to it, never had this issue in either of the old Territories I had.

Makes bike rack purchasing more expensive as you need swing/tilt if you ever want to get to the door, even then it can be a compromise and I have a full tilt, lay down flat style rack.

Access is limited to the driver side unless you open the door wider, annoying for small parking spots.

Guess how many spares I've had to change in my life? 0.... Yeah bit of luck in there and I'm not a big off road person, but in over 20yrs of driving the location of a spare has never really been a concern for me. Oh wait sorry, I changed a spare for an elderly couple in their Prado once as they were struggling because the supplied kit from Toyota is a bit average for the job.

I stand on the rear wheels if I need to get to the roof or just on the sidesteps - depends on how tall you are I guess, I'm only 6ft.

Also, since the latest firmware I've had like 6 instances of codes so it's a backwards step for me. I did alter the lockup sensitivity as it was extremely conservative when it came back, but maybe that's for good reason to avoid the codes?

I will keep playing and chatting with Marshall but in D the behaviour is either problematic with codes or barely doing anything for normal commuting, but that may just relegate it to being a towing specific mod.

I'm also slowly chipping away on an engine rebuild project with the kids for another car ($500 worth of Ford Mondeo XR5 with a spun bearing lol) that when done I might drive most days of the week for the school run etc (if it actually runs after this) and the Prado can be parked.

'm bored of driving the Prado and paying the excess in terms of servicing/fuel usage just to do basic commuting in/out of town/ferry the kids around etc but we need it for the van/towing race cars etc and even though the missus is due for a new car it won't be anything big enough to tow this or the future van but should be big enough to be a weekend away/family holiday car which we also usually use the Prado.

[malloc]

You LIKE the barn door? What the hell man lol it's my least fav feature of the car hands down.

It gets the spare out from underneath without needing a rear bar. Much easier to change a tire offroad.

You can climb on the tire to get to the roof rack. You can hang a bin bag off it too.

With a drop down table installed it makes a perfect cooking area, and the door can act as a wind break. A 270 awning clears the door easier vs a lift back.

Yep, I love the barn door

['Dan']

Petrol hybrid would be great. I've looked around at other cars as well but like the size and barn door configuration of the Prado.

You LIKE the barn door? What the hell man lol it's my least fav feature of the car hands down.

The size is the winner for me.

[malloc]

Back to waiting for a new petrol Prado

Petrol hybrid would be great. I've looked around at other cars as well but like the size and barn door configuration of the Prado.

['Dan']

One thing I didn't mention in my build thread is any weight over the stock GVM comes off my towing capacity. Pre rego or GVM kits don't do that, it's just because I've done it with the existing lift.

Not an issue for me as my camper is only about a ton dry weight. Could be an issue for you if you want to tow a 3T van.

It's different state-to-state of course, I'd still talk to an engineer to see what options you have.

Oh that's a bit of a game changer lol

Back to waiting for a new petrol Prado

[malloc]

One thing I didn't mention in my build thread is any weight over the stock GVM comes off my towing capacity. Pre rego or GVM kits don't do that, it's just because I've done it with the existing lift.

Not an issue for me as my camper is only about a ton dry weight. Could be an issue for you if you want to tow a 3T van.

It's different state-to-state of course, I'd still talk to an engineer to see what options you have.

['Dan']

Car is about to click over 150k, been looking around at what else is available as we've talked about going a bigger van - next year or 2, but really there's not much in petrol unless you want a Patrol and to me they are a bit big/thirsty for everyday driving and dropping 80-90k on one doesn't excite me - fine for a cool car, but a daily driven 4wd? Yuck.

Plan is to finish a project car I've been working on with the kids - Mondeo XR5 with a spun bearing, drive that for a bit/swap it/sell it for something else once or twice so I have something more fun to drive on the daily commute/school run and a bit less thirsty and stop clocking up k's on the Prado as much and see if the next gen has a petrol hybrid option like we see in the Lexus range.

Farm ute is taking care of dirty work around here, but is unregistered so Prado still needs to go wood carting with the trailer.

Malloc getting a GVM upgrade on his existing parts got me thinking, could I do the same in Vic then add a supercharger to this Prado and then have Van options up to 3T or so? That would do us and it already has the mods for towing... Hmm...

About to remove the lockup controller and send it back for firmware update, I was able to replicate the code throwing behaviour and Marshall thinks we've finally nailed the conditions that cause it - it's almost spot on as it is, but we both thought there was room for a little improvement still.

['Dan']

Nice updates, my Kings winch has seized as well, I'll try the unsticking trick, I've barely used it but it's nice to know it's there if needed.

Interested in how the lock up converter goes longer term, I'd be keen for one as well if you end up happy with it. How does it go with cruise control enabled?

Forgot to add, no the cruise is still just as shitty as ever and will overshoot the target speed by too much when climbing a hill, now it just sometimes does it locked in 4th or 5th lol

['Dan']

We drive almost exactly the same by the sound of it. I'd rather stick to the speed limit and pay a little extra in fuel than annoy other drivers. We do a lot of free camping and arriving 30 mins earlier can be the difference between a good spot or not. Our camper is also only a little over 1t so tows nicely at 110+.

I don't know why I didn't think of towing in manual mode. We're heading back to SA from Darwin right now so I'll have plenty of opportunity to try it out

Marshall recommends it as does the owners manual in all towing situations I think, with the lock up mate or not. Its just better with it.

All that said, let's say its 10% better at staying locked, it's not 50% better. The petrol still really needs the extra torque down low of a 4L barra.

Diesel would benefit more, but even Marshall said the car was very nice to drive, tuned on 98 (we tested with sick tune also).

All in all, I prefer towing with it than without it.

[malloc]

... I opt to drive at 110+ locked in 5th...

We drive almost exactly the same by the sound of it. I'd rather stick to the speed limit and pay a little extra in fuel than annoy other drivers. We do a lot of free camping and arriving 30 mins earlier can be the difference between a good spot or not. Our camper is also only a little over 1t so tows nicely at 110+.

I don't know why I didn't think of towing in manual mode. We're heading back to SA from Darwin right now so I'll have plenty of opportunity to try it out

['Dan']

Nice updates, my Kings winch has seized as well, I'll try the unsticking trick, I've barely used it but it's nice to know it's there if needed.

Interested in how the lock up converter goes longer term, I'd be keen for one as well if you end up happy with it. How does it go with cruise control enabled?

We did 2500ks towing the van over the school holidays. I can very much recommend it as a towing aid, especially when driving in manual mode S4 or S5, just holds lock better and makes the car better to drive/easier to maintain trans temps/speed etc. It "can" help with economy but I opt to drive at 110+ locked in 5th vs 90-100 locked in 4th and that extra speed really eats fuel, I average low 19s for the trip but I priorities trip time/speed and overtook countless other vans. That's not great given the van is comfortably under 2t, but to be fair, that's 3-5L more per hundred than without it and we paid much less for accommodation.

It did throw another code while away then once again here for 3 in total so I have another lockup mate unit sitting on my desk with new firmware to swap in after testing with Marshall as it appears the cross over point for unlock and gear change at certain speeds on decel overlap in the petrol differently vs diesel. Each time the code has been thrown it was exactly the same situation (not towing, rolling with no throttle while decelerating at speeds from 80 down to 50 with low RPM) never when towing.

I have turned it off for regular driving until I swap the new unit in and test further, he also made some changes I requested such as unlock on gear changes for smoothness and adjusting the lockup sensitivity, but this is unique to my setup as I'm tuned etc.

[malloc]

Nice updates, my Kings winch has seized as well, I'll try the unsticking trick, I've barely used it but it's nice to know it's there if needed.

Interested in how the lock up converter goes longer term, I'd be keen for one as well if you end up happy with it. How does it go with cruise control enabled?

['Dan']

In the above pic you can also see the extra Anderson plug I installed and ran back into the rear power setup, this allows the fridge in the van to run while driving. That was done separately and yes it required the bloody tow pack to be out of the car again as I wanted to weld a nice strong bit of 3mm plate as I know how Andersons can be sometimes, the air line bracket is just painted aluminum with some good button head self tapers. I've realised that getting to the back of the valves to change them out/reseat air lines if needed will be a pain now as I've tucked them under but I wanted them protected given they are now part of the suspension effectively and I wanted a tidy install as I see a lot of rough looking brackets just tek screwed in everywhere.

I didn't have the time to do it myself so had an auto elec put the tow pro in quickly before I collected the van, he did a decent job and I find it nice and easy to use.



I also added a Kaon trans cooler which went in no worries and the kit has everything you need, including fluid so long as you order it together. I've always thought the Prado trans temps were a bit high for my liking even with the stock cooler and this has improved it noticeably and the converter and pan will happily run along in the low 70s towing the van on the highway. When the trans unlocks converter temps can still almost reach 100, vs the 110-120 I saw previously if I let it, but they recover much faster and the pan temp is barely affected. The key is still keep the trans locked but I've always driven with that in mind after learning about how this behaves. To get a nice angle for the hoses to avoid kinks etc I opted to leave the lines longer and loop around, I also clearanced the plastic air guide near the passenger light in one spot.



The last piece of the puzzle was a bit of a bonus as I'd been toying with the idea of a lockup controller and reached out to owner of the Lockup Mate Plus gear to see if they did Petrol 150s, they didn't but he said he was travelling past on holiday in a few months and would be happy to put one in my car and use it as a semi test bed to see how it behaved vs the diesel, as a result I would receive the kit for my troubles so I said sure.

Marshall was very good to deal with, knowledgeable and good attention to detail, he installed then spent a few days tuning and then left me with it to test and report back so the tune can be refined as needed. I've had the Lockup Mate Plus in the car for a few weeks now and I can definitely say it helps the trans hold lock longer and makes the shift down to 4th when it happens more pronounced and straight back into lock. The car did randomly throw 1 hissy fit at one point just coming into town in an 80 zone rolling into a round about, lit up some warning lights etc, but no codes were reported and that hasn't happened again and I cannot replicate it, we're both scratching our heads. I'm not sure I'll drive with it on all the time as there are instances were you want the converter to unlock for smoothness, but it's a single click on the LED to turn it on and off and it's fairly instant. As it is now, it does not do anything under 65km/h but that and various other things are configurable, such as lock sensitivity (how much pedal will it tolerate before it unclocks) and it's early days. I'll know more after this 2000k+ trip.

The LED itself is blue and fairly unobtrusive even at night, when you first start the car it slowly pulses to tell you the trans temp is not warm enough yet and switches off when it's ready.



Other than that, it's just been regular servicing. Oh I did fit some newer OCAM weather shields as I complained way back when I got mine about the gap above the mirror mounting point on the front doors where it let water in, I can say the newer ones they sent me with the foam there do stop that leak, I had those in the box for well over a year lol.

I also had to remove my winch and unstick it as it had seized from minor water ingress and lack of use, easy enough to do, just clean up the little rust spots lubricate and put it back together and in, now I try and run it out and back in more often/especially after washing the car. They are not quite water tight on the motor side, there isn't even a rubber seal, it's just an interference fit which is a bit disappointing, but it is a Kings product so you get what you pay for. I mainly use mine for moving trees more than anything and since I picked up a rear hitch mount shackle I mostly use that instead (though with Farm ute we got recently the Prado will be doing less of that work now).

All pics posted here are also in this album in the forum is doing weird stuff with sizings - Imgur: The magic of the Internet