2006 Toyota Land Cruiser - Cold Cold Car…

[grogee]

@St.Jude excellent work. Wisps of soot are indicative of perfect* combustion. 

Seriously though with no DPF, there's bound to be some clag, no? How's the air filter?

Re-read this thread from two or three weeks ago, you were in Broken Bolt Purgatory. Now look at you 👊

[RoverFolkUs]

Wouldn't worry about the smoke, black is "just" unburnt fuel, probably from the magic yellow box. If its only minor then its perfectly normal, pretty much every diesel of an age that I see emits some smoke to a degree. As long as it doesn't start billowing out you'll be 'reet

[St.Jude]

So here’s what it’s like right now.

When I filled up Friday, that was at 266.7 miles and just over a quarter tank left. That’s partly down to the injectors but mostly down to the Aussie box of tricks. It’s still set to it’s default and I won’t play with it until I know what the MPG is now. 

I took it for a mad jaunt today so the boy could sleep, and took it on a mix of roads. The smoke has gone, even revved to 3,000 and nothing was there. So I’m thinking the smoke I did see was just crap being burnt off.

The car did remind me though that the suspension needs looking at, as after a period of time the suspension got so hard it was bouncing so much it’d give you brain damage. Pulled over on the flat, turned it off for 5 seconds and started it again and it sorted itself out. It’s just sensors on the back causing this though.

Could really, really do with the air con working though! 

[St.Jude]

Well…

274.7 miles of mixed driving. Around town, country roads, a bit of motorway action. The result?

29MPG!!!!!

An increase of 5MPG - the Land Cruiser guys reckon they get 30MPG on motorway runs, so this is bloody good!

Now I’m going to mess about with the Aussie box of tricks to see if I can get 30MPG on my normal commute.

[Dobloseven]

It's because you've not got the aircon holding the engine back! 

[Dave_Q]

Whang your height control into low for MAXIMUM AERO, should get you over the line

[Spurious]

Also maybe tyre pressures as it's been sitting idle waiting for all that hard work. Might be slightly low you know. 

Fucking brilliant work however. 

[Rust Collector]

I've just caught up on this thread - fantastic work on getting it back on the road, well done!! 

[St.Jude]

45 minutes ago, Dave_Q said:

Whang your height control into low for MAXIMUM AERO, should get you over the line

That only works up until 20mph for some silly reason, at which point it goes back to a normal level. 
 

39 minutes ago, Spurious said:

Also maybe tyre pressures as it's been sitting idle waiting for all that hard work. Might be slightly low you know. 

Fucking brilliant work however. 

Yeah I’ve not touched the tyres, just wanted a base line (especially as the 24mpg was with lovely inflated tyres).

[808 Estate]

Excellent news. Mine smokes occaisonally, but an Italian tune up sorts that out pretty quick. SImilar MPG to mine now as well so thats pretty decent.

[St.Jude]

Discovered something, I think.

The Aussie box of tricks has been in, and I’ve only just realised part of it has been in bypass mode. Whatever that is. I’ll email/call the guy tonight and find out because I can’t really work it out from the guide.

Thing is though the fuel is set two ways. The box provides “more fuel” on acceleration and then reduces it on cruise. By default it’s set to provide 10% extra, and the little dial then trims it on cruise. Mine was set to either 0% or +1% on cruise. But because the “Mapper” was set to bypass, I don’t think any of the settings were applied. But again, won’t know until I confirm this with the chap. 

Currently set the fuel trim to +13% and -6%. The room for manoeuvre before we set off the warning lights. That’s accumulative though, so mine is currently set to 19%. That’s enough I think.

However, part of this box also concerns the EGR (or the removal of it). Can’t remember if I’ve said this or not, but I stuck a blanking plate in before the EGR cooler. There’s no need for a 7mm hole in it as the box of tricks simulates it so the car doesn’t know any better. But you can change this simulation too, and in the Instructions it reckons there are 7 levels, and the default sets it to what Toyota sent it out with which translates to a 10% reduction in power.

So what did I do? Set it to Level 2, which translates to a reduction of 1-3% in power.

Once I’m well enough to go to work to try this out (I’ve been off all week with non-COVID COVID-like flu) we’ll see if it makes a difference to anything.

[St.Jude]

Had a little day out today, and it was a busy day which got busier.

Went to my moms to put the Corolla in for an MOT, and took the opportunity to bring my boy to see his granny and auntie. 2 hours later, the Corolla has an MOT with an advisory for a tie rod.

I decided to give the boy a sleep, so I go the long way round to Shrewsbury. On the motorway, trundling in to Wolverhampton, loving life. Steve Earle on the CD player, I look down and I have a new light on my dashboard.

The battery light. 

The fuck? I turn the radio off, windows opened, air con - sorry, “air con” - turned off, display turned off, and I head straight for home. Got home, which meant I then had to transplant the boy in the wife’s car but she wanted to feed him first and blah blah blah, a full hour and a half later I get to where I’m meant to be.

The Corolla gives me none of these problems, but that’s by the by.

So tomorrow now I’m going to take the two batteries out of the Land Cruiser and bring them to Halfrauds for a check. If they’re perfect then I’m looking at a new alternator I’d imagine. I’ve seen where it is, am I fuck doing it. Someone else can this time.

Car is driving fucking wonderfully though, apart from this!

[grogee]

😕

sorry to read this. I'm sure you know more than me about this but I'd be surprised if it's the battery. Have you checked batt voltage at idle?

[St.Jude]

4 hours ago, grogee said:

😕

sorry to read this. I'm sure you know more than me about this but I'd be surprised if it's the battery. Have you checked batt voltage at idle?

Well it’s either the battery or the alternator, and I’ve a vain hope it might be a battery not charging.

To be honest I’m going to call a garage on Monday and book it in. The alternator is in the middle of the engine, under the air con compressor and above some other doohickey, fuck messing with that.

[RoverFolkUs]

Battery light is more often than not going to be a charging system fault rather than battery. If it was caused by the battery being so dead it couldn't take a charge, it wouldn't be able to otherwise power the car. 

Firstly check battery voltage while running, if it's low then check voltage at the alternator output. If it's low at the battery but fine at the alternator you know there's a wiring issue somewhere, if it's fine at battery and alternator then there's an issue in the sensing circuit, etc etc. If you've got nothing at all, or significantly less than battery voltage at the alternator then there's a wiring issue, if there's matching battery voltage at the alternator then it's an alternator issue

To be honest it's usually just the regulator packs (brushes etc) that fail on alternators so if a replacement is big bucks and the bearings are all ok you'll get away with rebuilding the old one no problem

You can do a simple load test on a battery yourself, charge it fully (externally in this case) and then measure the voltage while cranking. Anything above 10.5v (while cranking) is healthy.

Apologies if teaching grandma to suck eggs etc but just listing all the basics in one go 👍

[St.Jude]

Took the boy for a walk today, and down from me is a Toyota Amazon (100 series) and it looks well tatty, but it’s always moved. Anyway, I walk down today and the doors are open on it, so I think why not - let me ask this man who he uses to keep his Land Cruiser on the road. I know a garage where I get the MOT done, but the work has either always been good or a bit crap, and they’re not a specialist on anything. But very anal on the MOTs.

Anyway, he went in and got the number. Googled it and it seems to be a place with good reviews from the Land Rover community, and is a 4x4 specialist. So will give him a call tomorrow.

[St.Jude]

Both garages aren't going to be able to do it this week, the one recommended by the chap down the road is busy next week as well. 

The one garage said they could try and fit it in around work this week. I'd have to leave it with them on the off chance that it could be sorted this week and hope no fucker does anything to it.

I'll more than likely just wait for the recommended place to get time and then throw it to them.

[St.Jude]

Update - the 4x4 man gave me another number to someone he recommends. They're not answering, which is handy. So I just thought fuck it, booked it in with this guy. 

It's booked in for the 16th June. Not great, but part of me feels that if the guy is this rammed then he can't be bad. 

[St.Jude]

Dropped it off to the bloke this morning, there was some confusion as he thought it was in for a starter motor not an alternator.

Now we wait to see how much it cost and if it solves the issue. 

[St.Jude]

Update: He called me up, about £300 for a new alternator and to fit it. He said it's up to me about changing the belt as to him it looks fairly new, but I want to see about doing the timing belt so will probably change it then. 

Should have it back working later today!

[big_al_granvia]

Found a Halfords advanced 10mms spanner in paddy, happy to post it back to you if you want

[St.Jude]

24 minutes ago, big_al_granvia said:

Found a Halfords advanced 10mms spanner in paddy, happy to post it back to you if you want

Is it just a normal one or a ratchet one? If it's a normal one you can keep it, if it's a ratchet one it explains why I couldn't find it the other day!

[big_al_granvia]

Just a normal one mate

[St.Jude]

It's fine you can keep it. Can't actually remember what it was in there for though!

[St.Jude]

Got to work, and I thought it’d be a good idea to crack open windows of the car while I’m at work so it’s not too hot at lunch.

It’s at this point I realise none of the windows (other than the drivers window) would work from the drivers door. I think fuck, another problem. I cracked my window open and the sunroof and went to work.

Turns out the windows aren’t broken. They are all automatic one touch windows (both up and down) and because of this, if the battery has been removed at all then they need to be reprogrammed.

So in the car park of Lidl, sweating my chebs off, I reprogrammed them. This is done by going to each door, putting the window down half way, then close the window and hold the button up for 3 seconds.

Once it’s all done, all the windows work back how they should.

What a fucking stupid thing to do!!! What dickhead at Toyota thought that was a good idea!? I know that the window switch in a Xsara has two positions, and if you push it past the first point then it just throws the window down automatically.

Anyway, great to be in it again. Other than dragging my sorry arse to work, the first big job it’s done is go to Screwfix for an air con unit. For 20 minutes I had working air con in my car, albeit not permanently.

Tomorrow I’m at the unit clearing it up ready for a push on breaking the MG in order to get the Lada bodywork done before the garage gets demolished. Which is meant to be August, and both the next two weekends I’m not able to do anything on it.

Such is the pressure on my schedule!

[St.Jude]

The truck has been running well. Averaging about 28/29MPG, and about 750/1,000 miles in to it since doing the injectors.

It occurred to me that I’ve not checked the oil, so I did yesterday. Oil is grand, it’s not drinking anything.

I’m about to close the bonnet and I thought I’d best check the fuel lines see how they are, and I notice a bit of black oil on top of the EGR cooler. I thought nothing of it as I remember there being a bit of oil on it when I fiddled with injectors (oil got everywhere), but I thought it’d have dried up by now. So I touched it and it was wet. Odd, no oil goes near there, so I put my hand above it where the intercooler joins the throttle body, and it’s wet there.

Google doesn’t help, as they go OMGTUrbO. It can’t be the turbo, there’s no smoke or anything and this is on the opposite side away from the turbo for a start.

I’m keeping an eye on it and the oil, see what happens. Bit confused though, as I know the air intake will have oil in it, so what ever this is is coming via the air intake or the PCV which I may also change too.

[St.Jude]

So it’s MOT time… and it passed! Two advisories on the rear shocks having damage. The guy said it’s the dust covers and they are just rotting away. So at some point they’ll need replacement. Joy!

He was also complimentary about the overall condition of the car. Bits are a bit frilly, which I knew about, so will need to get it covered in kroil or everyone’s favourite lanoguard fetish thing.

I got the air con sorted to. The issue? Two seals going to the condenser! Throw your minds back to last year when it was away for a month, what was changed? Two seals on the condenser. £10 for seals then a regas, and I had a lovey cool ride home.

Lets just see if it’s the same in 2 weeks…

[AnnoyingPentium]

Stolen from @JMotor...

[St.Jude]

6 minutes ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

Stolen from @JMotor...

Not going to lie, my nipples were hard. Less from the coolness of my air con, more from knowing I no longer have to drive with my window open like a pauper

[AnnoyingPentium]

5 minutes ago, St.Jude said:

Not going to lie, my nipples were hard. Less from the coolness of my air con, more from knowing I no longer have to drive with my window open like a pauper

After I had the air con done on the Auris years back we all had to wear coats when sitting in it or else we'd freeze but had to get our money's worth of air con etc. 😂