2006 Toyota Land Cruiser - Staying Put

[Rod/b]

With the kid seat, the belt is supposed to be locked with the seat installed.  Last thing you want is it going slack while you’re driving with a nipper in the back. They don’t weigh enough to lock the inertia reel if the worse comes to it.

Once the  buckle is clipped in and the lap belt piece is installed and pulled tight, arrange the chest belt around the guides in the chair, pull the belt out as far as it goes to activate the lock and let it retract itself. 
 

If you’ve got one of those seats that comes out of the car and goes on a buggy base, look into getting an isofix base or you’ll just end up hating it. 
 

 

[St.Jude]

16 hours ago, tom13 said:

Which road is this?

Also if you haven't got the rubber inserts in your rails that will normally be the cause of the whistle. Ask me how I know ha. Tape will cure it or just wedge some rubber down there.

It's Deansford Lane.

My view of the road

His view.

So yeah. I can't see what's coming around that corner, but there's plenty of people coming towards me that know they can't see either. So do what that Fiesta is doing. Discshitery Driver decides it's their road, so plants it in the middle at speed and I only had the shrubbery to get in to.

5 hours ago, Rod/b said:

Once the  buckle is clipped in and the lap belt piece is installed and pulled tight, arrange the chest belt around the guides in the chair, pull the belt out as far as it goes to activate the lock and let it retract itself. 
 

If you’ve got one of those seats that comes out of the car and goes on a buggy base, look into getting an isofix base or you’ll just end up hating it. 

Yeah that's what I've been told to do. Haven't had time really to try this out, as I need to get hold of the rubbery mat first otherwise my lovely leather seat will be chewed up.

We didn't get that sort of seat as the wife wanted a spinny base for her car, so we got separate ones for the cars. 

[Dave_Q]

Soz not exactly land cruiser related but before spending out many GBPs on some behemoth of a buggy have you considered using slings instead?

Just tying the baby onto your front or back (depending on size of child) is not only way easier but the babies tend to be happier attached to mum or dad as well. 

Works up to walking size or longer if required and there are people who will show you how to use them and rent you one to try (there are various different types/designs as well as the fact babies grow really fast so you won't keep the smallest size ones for very long)

https://happyslinglady.co.uk/ is apparently localish to you.

Whenever we were out in town watching someone struggle to manouvre round a shop with some beast of a buggy that takes up the same amount of space as our entire family of 5 I always wondered why anyone bothered.

[loserone]

hashtagbeigemumsnet.  We tried buggies, slings are loads easier but require a bit of practice and confidence.    But then I put three kids under 5 in a 205, so maybe my risk appetite is different to most.

[tom13]

I thought you were going to say Lloyd way knowing where you are based.

[St.Jude]

5 hours ago, Dave_Q said:

Soz not exactly land cruiser related but before spending out many GBPs on some behemoth of a buggy have you considered using slings instead?

Just tying the baby onto your front or back (depending on size of child) is not only way easier but the babies tend to be happier attached to mum or dad as well. 

Works up to walking size or longer if required and there are people who will show you how to use them and rent you one to try (there are various different types/designs as well as the fact babies grow really fast so you won't keep the smallest size ones for very long)

https://happyslinglady.co.uk/ is apparently localish to you.

Whenever we were out in town watching someone struggle to manouvre round a shop with some beast of a buggy that takes up the same amount of space as our entire family of 5 I always wondered why anyone bothered.

We ended up getting a pram because it's fairly compact when you fold it down, as the wife's Mercedes isn't blessed with a great sized boot. Thanks to the hybrid bollocks. Also, some how, we've inherited an old silver cross pram. Thanks to the LandCruiser, I can not only tow the pram if I want to I will also no doubt be inundated with requests to do driveways or cut some trees down!

That Happy Sling Lady - sexist much - has been recommended to the wife before on something. I'm up for it, would probably be easier for me to cart the child around with a sling than a pram. Saves on the gym membership too!

4 hours ago, loserone said:

hashtagbeigemumsnet.  We tried buggies, slings are loads easier but require a bit of practice and confidence.    But then I put three kids under 5 in a 205, so maybe my risk appetite is different to most.

Babyshite - Your Child Is Our Concern - In a non-child catcher/social services/Jimmy Saville kinda way.

4 hours ago, tom13 said:

I thought you were going to say Lloyd way knowing where you are based.

I've never been down there, but now I feel like it's a challenge!

[tom13]

Just loads of dickheads driving up and down it. It follows a trend of most of the flow coming in one direction before and after work so its a bugger if you get it wrong.

[horriblemercedes]

On 10/11/2021 at 9:11 AM, St.Jude said:

I'll try it again, but it seems it's doing it at every stage.

I'll give it a look. It doesn't look to have been messed with. But I would think that it's just purely not being used that could be causing issues. 

-

On a lighter note, which I forgot to mention, on my way to work Friday morning some c**t in a Discovery Sport nearly ran me off the road. It's a single track road, and as you get to the top of the hill there's a blind left turn (for me). Coming the opposite way, everyone usually pulls to the left so you can see what's coming up the hill. Dickheadery Sport driver decides fuck that, and cuts the corner. I slam the anchors on, and had to pull to the left where there's a bush. I managed to avoid them, but took half a bush to my wing mirror. No real damage, can't see much in the way of scratches, but I do have to get a dashcam. Because all I know about this car was that it was a pure jet black Discovery Sport. A newish one.

This morning, on my way to work, same road, I don't meet anyone coming my way. Until I get to a residential bit, and I turn a corner. Guess what I see just being thrown in to the middle of the road, from a driveway with 12 ft hedges either side? A jet black Dickheadery Sport. The daft bastard goes absolutely postal - with his kids in the car, poor teenage kids - at me for basically being there. I'm less than 100 yards from the corner of, what is really, a main road. He spends the next 20 seconds - and I swear this is true - smacking his steering wheel with his hands shouting stuff at me which I can't hear. He winds his window down, at this point I'm doing the maths in my head thinking there's a good probability that this is the prick I met Friday, he's calling me all sorts. I tell the prick to get some tampons for himself (which I don't think he liked) as he slammed the brakes on while I drove off. 

Life is too short and too precious to get het up over things like this. It was what, 8:15am and he's already nuclear. If his impending heart attack doesn't kill him, someone who isn't as nice as I am about his driving will. 

My post is not relevant to the thread, but when I encounter someone like this, I always wonder how they function well enough to do things like bring up their children or earn enough money to buy a reasonably valuable car like that

[Rod/b]

We used to have two bases and one seat for the same reason. (Well, four bases and two seats with the twins) 

Babyzen Yoyo buggy ftmfw. Super manoeuvrable and it folds down small enough to go on an aeroplane as hand luggage.  

Here endeth Rob’s parental advice section. 

[St.Jude]

On 10/13/2021 at 3:22 PM, horriblemercedes said:

My post is not relevant to the thread, but when I encounter someone like this, I always wonder how they function well enough to do things like bring up their children or earn enough money to buy a reasonably valuable car like that

Saw the prick again this morning, just down from when I had the altercation with the shrubbery. I've never seen a man look so sheepish as I mouthed "ah it's you dickhead" as I passed him.

[St.Jude]

Nothing to report. Which is nice.

It's belching black smoke on acceleration when above 2,000 rpm, but not all the time. So I'm not concerned by that, I think it's just me not driving it hard like a nutter.

MPG is around 21/22mpg, which is better than the rough 18mpg I was getting. The difference is tyres, I've put them at 38psi all round (seems to be the middle ground from other owners I think). Although part of this recent MPG included me throwing some weighty planks on top of it and going across the Midlands with it.

I'm considering doing an EGR delete in the new year with it. Again, I'm researching it, but the black smoke "issue" is thought to be improved with that as well as MPG. But you don't buy a vehicle like this for economy to be honest!

Cool news though, and this applies to all Toyota owners, Toyota do a sticker thing for their "High Miles" club. The thresholds are 150,000, 200,000, and 300,000. Well the other day my Land Cruiser clocked 150,000 miles dead.

Anyway, this turned up in the post. What's nice is that they also included a Land Cruiser Owner sticker in it too! Which I didn't know about and didn't ask for!

I think it's only open to Toyota UK, maybe Ireland too I don't know, but I think it's a very very cool thing to get!

[artdjones]

43 minutes ago, St.Jude said:

Nothing to report. Which is nice.

It's belching black smoke on acceleration when above 2,000 rpm, but not all the time. So I'm not concerned by that, I think it's just me not driving it hard like a nutter.

MPG is around 21/22mpg, which is better than the rough 18mpg I was getting. The difference is tyres, I've put them at 38psi all round (seems to be the middle ground from other owners I think). Although part of this recent MPG included me throwing some weighty planks on top of it and going across the Midlands with it.

I'm considering doing an EGR delete in the new year with it. Again, I'm researching it, but the black smoke "issue" is thought to be improved with that as well as MPG. But you don't buy a vehicle like this for economy to be honest!

Cool news though, and this applies to all Toyota owners, Toyota do a sticker thing for their "High Miles" club. The thresholds are 150,000, 200,000, and 300,000. Well the other day my Land Cruiser clocked 150,000 miles dead.

Anyway, this turned up in the post. What's nice is that they also included a Land Cruiser Owner sticker in it too! Which I didn't know about and didn't ask for!

I think it's only open to Toyota UK, maybe Ireland too I don't know, but I think it's a very very cool thing to get!

21/22 mpg seems a bit high for fuel consumption, although of course it depends on usage. I would have expected late 20s or even 30 on a run. Is it automatic?

[Matty]

On 10/14/2021 at 6:43 PM, St.Jude said:

Saw the prick again this morning, just down from when I had the altercation with the shrubbery. I've never seen a man look so sheepish as I mouthed "ah it's you dickhead" as I passed him.

Now that you know where he lives, is it not worth nipping round late one night and pissing through his letterbox or something?

[bezzabsa]

2 minutes ago, Matty said:

Now that you know where he lives, is it not worth nipping round late one night and pissing through his letterbox or something?

or 'lose' a box of roofing nails on his drive!!!!

[Rod/b]

1 hour ago, St.Jude said:

Nothing to report. Which is nice.

It's belching black smoke on acceleration when above 2,000 rpm, but not all the time. So I'm not concerned by that, I think it's just me not driving it hard like a nutter.

MPG is around 21/22mpg, which is better than the rough 18mpg I was getting. The difference is tyres, I've put them at 38psi all round (seems to be the middle ground from other owners I think). Although part of this recent MPG included me throwing some weighty planks on top of it and going across the Midlands with it.

I'm considering doing an EGR delete in the new year with it. Again, I'm researching it, but the black smoke "issue" is thought to be improved with that as well as MPG. But you don't buy a vehicle like this for economy to be honest!

Cool news though, and this applies to all Toyota owners, Toyota do a sticker thing for their "High Miles" club. The thresholds are 150,000, 200,000, and 300,000. Well the other day my Land Cruiser clocked 150,000 miles dead.

Anyway, this turned up in the post. What's nice is that they also included a Land Cruiser Owner sticker in it too! Which I didn't know about and didn't ask for!

I think it's only open to Toyota UK, maybe Ireland too I don't know, but I think it's a very very cool thing to get!

How the fuck did they know? 🧐

[St.Jude]

1 hour ago, artdjones said:

21/22 mpg seems a bit high for fuel consumption, although of course it depends on usage. I would have expected late 20s or even 30 on a run. Is it automatic?

I thought that, but it is an automatic and people expect low 20's, mid 20's is really good and you get about 30 on a long run. A lot of my driving is on country lanes, so I'm stop/starting a lot, getting to NSL, then down to 30. So it's mixed. 

Only two runs I've done were the day I got it, and Bournemouth, and the latter was mixed driving again. Plus I wasn't keeping tabs on consumption. Sat here trying to work out when my next long trip will be, and I can't think of one.

1 hour ago, Rod/b said:

How the fuck did they know? 🧐

5G in the Pfizer vaccine. Billy Gates found out, told Mr.T, and I got that.

I told them. I messaged them on Faceache and asked if they were still doing the stickers for the high miles. They were, and I gave them the address.

1 hour ago, Matty said:

Now that you know where he lives, is it not worth nipping round late one night and pissing through his letterbox or something?

I drive past often, his Discshittery is behind a wooden gate.

There's no doubt I'll see him again, but a balloon full of brake fluid is more my style. If I had a style, obvs.

[808 Estate]

On 10/22/2021 at 7:45 PM, artdjones said:

21/22 mpg seems a bit high for fuel consumption, although of course it depends on usage. I would have expected late 20s or even 30 on a run. Is it automatic?

My Surf hovers around 29-30 mpg. Its an auto and is permanently in 4WD

Lots of round town hooning still gives 26-27 mpg.

[St.Jude]

2 hours ago, 808 Estate said:

My Surf hovers around 29-30 mpg. Its an auto and is permanently in 4WD

Lots of round town hooning still gives 26-27 mpg.

Frig knows. I reckon an EGR delete will get me 25. But I'd only get your figures on a long motorway run or if I cut off half the cab

[St.Jude]

I managed, somehow, to have a Sunday that didn't involve baby stuff or DIY. So I took the opportunity to fit a dashcam to Randy.

Never done this on a car with curtain air bags in the A pillar. I did wonder though that given I'm not meant to have the cable go across the air bag, why did Toyota put a grab handle there? I think, actually, it just goes forward of the handle. So you don't get it in the face.

It was a fairly cluttered job, and a long one.

 

I ran the cable down the inside of the rubber strip along the door, and up to the bottom of the fuse board. On the Corolla, I was able to just feed it down from the top of the dashboard to the fuses, but this was a bit too hard to do here. Hence the roundabout way of doing it. Wired it up to the cig lighter fuse so it comes on with the ignition. Took about an hour really I think, although I wasn't timing it.

This is about as close a shot as I can get to what it looks like when I'm driving, so this is my eye level with most of what is in my peripheral vision too. 

On my Corolla, which uses a much smaller dashcam which seems to be discontinued now, is completely hidden by the rear view mirror. Which makes it awkward to hit the "remember" button. So I decided to stick this one under the mirror, and as you can see it doesn't really get in the way of my vision. 

It's a fairly chunky camera if I'm honest, and it only cost £35 or something. It's the first cheapo one I've had that accepts a 64GB card, but I think it's because it can record a rear view camera as well. Useless for me, as I'm rocking gangster glass. So there's nothing to see!

Annoyingly though, the camera was there for an hour and I was at some lights when two twats decided to go (quite fast) across the junction (running a red basically). I fumbled for the remember button, and it ended up remembering the clip after I found the button. It's in 1 minute chunks too so I need to fiddle with the camera settings to increase that.

Other than that, it got treated to a wash as I'm not going to work between now and the due date. As if I get COVID or come in to contact with it, I'm barred from the maternity unit so the wife would be on her own. It means I don't go down the country lanes now, so the car will remain clean for at least a week!

Given I have to ask how high whenever the wife asks me to jump now, yesterday we had to go and get the christmas tree. Which we did, and it was the first bit of "off roading" I did. Took the opportunity to try the height adjustment on the high setting, and it makes a bit of a difference. It's very crashy over bumps, but I've got the suspension on the soft setting, so it's to be expected. But yeah, swallowed the tree, and the tree shat it's needles in the car. 

In the new year, and I'll put it here now so I don't forget, I need to do the following:

• Replace door switch on the rear, as it's broken. So when you open the boot, the light doesn't come on, and the car locks itself again setting the alarm. Which is a loud alarm.
• Rear tow socket, needs replacing.
• Need to identify the rear parking sensor which is broken, meaning I don't have to park by feel no more.
• Look in to fitting an LED bulb under the ash tray so it lights up the heated seat controls. 
• EGR Valve delete with the Australian kit - supposed to improve torque, MPG, sex life etc

Randy is smoking a little bit on hard acceleration, but this is cleared with an Italian tune, which is indicating it'll be better off without the EGR bollocks. Millers EcoMax seems to do fuck all if I'm honest as well. 

[St.Jude]

So with baby due date being tomorrow, the wife has been looking for ways to speed up the process of eviction. Usual things, raspberry leaf tea, spicy food, and apparently bouncy car rides.

She got one this evening, and not by choice either. We were in the LandCruiser and noticed that the arse of the car was bouncing like a stripper on an OAP's lap. It got quite severe, as if someone is sat behind you and is pulling and pushing the back of the chair you're sat on.

Well I was pissed off at this. Got to the shop, got what we needed and got to the car. Started up, drove the same way as we did there - no bounce. It was normal. 

So there are two issues right now, only one is (hopefully) the issue. As this has air suspension, the car has height adjustment as well. It'll auto level if there is weight in the back (or none at all). There are two sensors either side, and it's not unheard of for these things to just shit themselves. That is, from Milners Off Road, £220 a pop. Apparently it manifests itself like this (random bouncing over silly bumps), and can be intermittent but ends up being terminal. 

The second issue, although unlikely, are the rear shocks are gone. I doubt this though, but it's something to look at. Can't really check now as it's cold and dark, but I will tomorrow. Same website would like about £450 a pop for these, as again they're electronic.

It isn't airbags, as the compressor would be on all the time and (obviously) the car would sink or be lop sided when I got to it in the cold. It doesn't do that, thankfully.

Quite annoyed, given the timings of it all. I'm looking in to cleaning the sensors, or if it's possible, to at least extend the life as much as I can in to 2022. 

[goosey]

Do the sensors have little plastic linkages that seize into the metal balls on the arm that then give a false reading?

like on a Merc or p38

[Rod/b]

On 11/29/2021 at 11:11 PM, St.Jude said:

So with baby due date being tomorrow, the wife has been looking for ways to speed up the process of eviction. Usual things, raspberry leaf tea, spicy food, and apparently bouncy car rides.

She got one this evening, and not by choice either. We were in the LandCruiser and noticed that the arse of the car was bouncing like a stripper on an OAP's lap. It got quite severe, as if someone is sat behind you and is pulling and pushing the back of the chair you're sat on.

Well I was pissed off at this. Got to the shop, got what we needed and got to the car. Started up, drove the same way as we did there - no bounce. It was normal. 

So there are two issues right now, only one is (hopefully) the issue. As this has air suspension, the car has height adjustment as well. It'll auto level if there is weight in the back (or none at all). There are two sensors either side, and it's not unheard of for these things to just shit themselves. That is, from Milners Off Road, £220 a pop. Apparently it manifests itself like this (random bouncing over silly bumps), and can be intermittent but ends up being terminal. 

The second issue, although unlikely, are the rear shocks are gone. I doubt this though, but it's something to look at. Can't really check now as it's cold and dark, but I will tomorrow. Same website would like about £450 a pop for these, as again they're electronic.

It isn't airbags, as the compressor would be on all the time and (obviously) the car would sink or be lop sided when I got to it in the cold. It doesn't do that, thankfully.

Quite annoyed, given the timings of it all. I'm looking in to cleaning the sensors, or if it's possible, to at least extend the life as much as I can in to 2022. 

If its the bags they’re either fucked or not fucked aren't they? Rather than an intermittent fault.

[jamescarruthers]

Is your Landcruiser the type with basically Citroen hydraulic suspension? I ask because I was at Pleiades yesterday and while we were discussing spheres in general they told me that they can not only re-gas Landcruiser spheres but also have adapters to make C5 spheres fit if required as the Toyota ones are insanely expensive if a replacement is required (E.g. the membrane is torn).

 

 

[St.Jude]

25 minutes ago, Rod/b said:

If its the bags they’re either fucked or not fucked aren't they? Rather than an intermittent fault.

Yeah that's what happens. So either the compressor will be on all the time, or the car will just sink. 

I drove it last night and it was fine, and it's been sat on the driveway since, and it hasn't sunk. So I'm confident it's not the air bags.

Also, Roughtrax is not Milners Off Road (like I thought it was) - so the sensors there are £95 a pop. 

1 minute ago, jamescarruthers said:

Is your Landcruiser the type with basically Citroen hydraulic suspension? I ask because I was at Pleiades yesterday and while we were discussing spheres in general they told me that they can not only re-gas Landcruiser spheres but also have adapters to make C5 spheres fit if required as the Toyota ones are insanely expensive if a replacement is required (E.g. the membrane is torn).

It doesn't have hydraulic, just pneumatic. 

[St.Jude]

17 hours ago, goosey said:

Do the sensors have little plastic linkages that seize into the metal balls on the arm that then give a false reading?

like on a Merc or p38

I'm not quite sure how they fail if I'm honest. All I can see is a lot of talk about corrosion, so it's either corrosion of the bracket so they fall off, or it's corrosion of the metal inside the sensor. 

They do have a linkage but again, from what I can see, it's steel. Although they too have been known to break/bend/snap. 

[jamescarruthers]

1 hour ago, St.Jude said:

It doesn't have hydraulic, just pneumatic. 

Ah well, that was the limit of my Landcruiser suspension knowledge anyway! Good luck with it.

[St.Jude]

33 minutes ago, jamescarruthers said:

Ah well, that was the limit of my Landcruiser suspension knowledge anyway! Good luck with it.

I was curious about what you said though about there being a LC with hydrualic suspension. The LC it concerns are the new ones after mine with the KDSS - which is silly money expensive when it goes pop. 

It's very clever, but it's expensive when it goes wrong. 

[St.Jude]

We move on from the suspension misbehaving, to the injectors totally shitting themselves. 

About 2 weeks ago I started it up, and I noticed a fair bit of white smoke blowing past me. It was like I was electing the new pope, which surprised me as I think Frankie is a top bloke in that position.

Anyway, I'm on the right side of pay day and have today been sourcing parts to do the injectors, as well as "removing" the EGR valve. So I hope to stop is blowing white smoke when cold, and black smoke when I boot it. 

I'll have a break down of costs when I get the Toyota invoice, but I'm already at £1,600 in parts and not a single item put on the car yet. Things like fuel lines for the injectors are one use items, which I think cost the most from Toyota. Injectors have been ordered from recommended diesel specialists, although he didn't seem to think they did those injectors but said I could send mine in for a refurb if I got stuck. I think that's fair enough. Then I've a magical box of tricks coming all the way from New South Wales in Australia for the EGR valve removal.

The wife is obviously pleased with this, but forgot that - for once - the cost of parts is less than the actual value of the car. So she's not too bad at the moment...

[St.Jude]

I've had a text message from Toyota telling me my parts are ready.

As I type this, a box of brand new injectors sits next to me.

Now for the EGR thing....

Waiting on a jet plane....

[St.Jude]

It's coming!!!

I sometimes put one of those livestreams of air ports on when I'm trying to get the boy to sleep, so I probably saw this plane leave Sydney today. 

All of this is mental. I rang the guy, emailed him, and he's sending me this thing to where I live. Looking at the map, New South Wales is practically the furthest point away from me on Earth before you start coming back on yourself. And now I've probably watched it depart there too, not live, obviously.

 

Need to get my phone sorted though, otherwise there'll be no video of this.