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Was editing as you did your reply, see again about the DAB and traffic alerts.

Your AC is fairly conventional apart from the use of ND11 compressor oil rather than conventional PAG oil. ND11 is non-conductive for electrical safety. If you go to a general AC repairer they are unlikely to have a separate set of equipment for ND11 so there is a risk of contamination of your system with PAG oil. A large Toyota dealer should have separate kit for hybrids, but whether they have an experienced technician is another matter. If its lost most of its gas over 4 months then you should be able to see compressor oil at the site of the leak. Use a good torch to inspect all the pipe joints and look for oily residue. With a newish car I'd suspect a leaking O-ring as opposed to corrosion or fracture of the evaporator or condenser. A stone impact on the condenser is a possibility. A favourite place for leaks on most cars is the pipe joints to the evaporator behind the dash. There are three sets of joints (two O-rings in each) because the expansion valve is sandwiched between the evap and the pipes to it and then there is a joint at the firewall. I imagine its the devil's own job to get access to this area on an Auris Hybrid. Sometimes the evap drain water (under the car) will look oily and/or have dye in it if there is a leak in the evap area. Dealers usually hate aircon work on warranty because it can be labour intensive and they get only a low hourly rate for it. Also many new car warranties don't cover AC gas, its considered a consumable - not sure with Toyota - check their T&C's. With AC problems a lot of it is down to having an experienced tech on the job. These days the dealers tend to buy a fully-automatic regassing machine and send someone on a three-day course - which may not help much in the case of an obscure leak.

One thing to check is whether one's insurer includes panoramic sunroofs within the policy's glass cover. Some have been caught out in the past.

Finally got all rot cut out and rest of the underside under sealed 🙂

There are different gasket thicknesses, there is a part of the gasket that has notches or teeth which denote what thickness. I can't remember the details of each, but my car had 3 notches originally and I fitted the thickest which has 5 notches. The difference is 0.1mm so I was lucky as that's how much needed skimming off the head. Buy Toyota parts, there is a head gasket set that costs about £70, contains everything needed except for the head gasket. Stuff like injector seats and seals, inlet and exhaust manifold gaskets, turbo gaskets, injector pipework seals etc. The head gasket is sold separate, my local dealer said they would advise fitting the thickest gasket even if it means the compression is reduced slightly, cost is about £40. I also fitted a new set of FAI head bolts. The original ones seemed ok to reuse when checked for length but I went for new anyway, Toyota bolts are very expensive but the FAI set I think was about £30. The water pump will leave coolant deposits on the top of the oil filter housing, you can see from underneath or through wheel arch if you remove the plastic cover from under that side of the engine. I have changed the pump in situ and it takes a couple of hours, 5 minute job if engine is out as only 6 bolts and gasket but access is difficult in the car. The engine is chain driven so no timing belt.

Mick Hi, your 4 pax could get out (and push??) The gear ratio is the same going Fwd or Rev, as it's an Epicyclic system. In theory on a flat surface you could do about 25mph fwd or rev.

It is not impossible to replace the water pump engine in place but much, much more easier to do it engine out. Maybe ten times quicker... If the water pump leaks badly it is wet from below and you can see it with tiny mirror. Not much. A little hiss can be heard... And not so much when hot either. Not necessarily but the old gasket has identification on it which shows how thick it is. The new one should be at least the same.

Well, if your timing belt is due, at least ask the garage how much it would add to the bill to change it whilst they already have the engine out. You don't have to do it at the same time, but it could be a bit cheaper to have it done then.

Interesting. I have the same (or a very similar) problem with my 2007 Avensis (T25) with a 2.0 litre 1AD-FTV engine, and 217k km on the clock. The car has been loosing coolant during the last couple of months. I've also seen some coolant residue on the engine cover from time to time. I believed this to be a small leak somewhere in the cooling system, and didn't worry too much about it. Two days ago I stopped by the local Toyota dealership and the mechanic quickly concluded that this was a "known problem" and most likely a blown head casket, or something even more serious (cracked head and/or engine block). The bottom line: the fix is very expensive, and the car is basically ready for the junkyard..! The car has no other signs of a blown head gasket. The oil looks fine (17k km since the last oil change), no white smoke, no obvious leaks. I've had a lot of problems with sticky residue clogging up the EGR valve a regular intervals (5-10k km). Apparently a bad "EGR cooler" can give many of the same symptoms as a blown head gasket (bubbles/pressure in the engine coolant). See this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC52wdRcr-A Maybe this is something worth checking out?

In that case, I had better keep a closer eye out for signs of my head gasket failing. I am about to change the oil and coolant today, too. I bought this as a disposable runabout, but put a few quid into it for new braking and tyres, and it seems okay apart from some high oil consumption. Ex taxi with almost 150k miles since 2007. If the hg goes, then probably another Citroen or Vauxhall. Toyota is okay, but not nearly enough comfort touches for me. I thought TR was a high-spec. 🤔

The water pump on mine was also weeping. Get a good one, cheap ones don't last very long. I got an Aisin one off Amazon for £50 and when I opened the box it has Toyota written on it. Had a Blueprint one and some other make before, not recommended.

Hi, I have been through this with my 2007 2.0 D4D. The rushing water sound behind the dash is an indicator of head gasket failure, mine did that but after fixing it the noise has gone. The loss of coolant through the cap also indicates head gasket failure. Mine failed 2 years ago at 114000 miles, I started trying to strip it down with engine in the car but the bolts are very inaccessible and the timing cover cannot be removed easiy as the sump and pickup need removing first. I ended up dropping the whole engine / gearbox lump out as per the Toyota manual, split the engine from the gearbox and got it on an engine stand to strip down. I took the head to local engine reconditioners, they said the gasket material was starting to eat into the face of the head so skimmed 0.1mm off it, fitted new valve stems etc etc. and I reassembled with a new gasket that was 0.1mm thicker. It now has 200k on the clock and all is well. I also went as far as doing crankshaft bearings and piston rings whilst it was apart but that was probably not needed. If it happened again then either I would just do the head or get a used engine. There is a thread on here in my name with details and pictures if you search. Think it would cost about £1000 for a garage to do the work. Good luck Ken

Water pump is good to replace at the same time and glow plugs if necessary. I think the root cause is engine geometry and emission control (= egr). When piston comes to TDC it is a little bit higher than cylinder block. Clearance between piston and cylinder head is made with the head gasket. When soot begins to accumulate to piston and head, the piston is hammering it towards the gasket and finally the gasket gives up. Good old days engines was not forced to breath exhaust gas, just air.

Root cause was a design flaw, as far as I gather. I don't think the rushing water sound is significant, I get that very often on a cold start of my 2.0 and have absolutely zero indications of head gasket failure. I was a bit worried the first few times I noticed it, though.

I´m afraid it is engine out job. At least Avensis T27. Along here Toyota workshops drop the whole packet (engine & tranny) down to do the job. I know some minor workshops have done it engine in place but there is great danger to fail.

I once had a Fiat Panda (750cc) with all of 30-odd BHP. Never any problem. It all depends on gearing.

Hi Mark, welcome to TOC 🙂 In the case of an Avensis the head/head gasket issue can potentially affect any AD series engine (1AD is 2.0l & 2AD is 2.2l) manufactured up until February 2009 although only a small % actually do develop it. I would start with a sniff test & also check in case the water pump is weeping (common). How many miles on the car?

I like the white bits looks good to me.

Our first run in the Prius has been completed and with judicious charging and using the charge mode we completed a 220 mile journey with 5.8 litres of petrol (full to full). That is well over 150 mpg plus 3 full paid charges (about £3) and one free top up in the Flemingate shopping centre. About 75% was EV so we travelled about 55 miles on charge mode. This is about 45mpg. The charge mode seems to generate 1EV mile for every mile travelled so we recovered about 50 EV miles on the journey, so I assume that would be the same as 90mpg in normal HV mode. Whichever way you look at it the Prius PHV is amazing at 4p per mile. None of this was at the cost of slow driving - mainly A roads at speed limits. More results in the future. Tony B