Red_Corolla

I've only had a strimmer, but the only really important thing to remember is to make sure you always dose the petrol with the correct amount of 2-stroke oil. I found the vibration quite numbing, so you might want to avoid using it for extended periods.

Yes, my mistake. I just thought of the first thing that came to mind that might end up in that area of the car and guessed wrongly. I suppose the question is, has it fallen off or is it a surplus item that was dropped inside the car during the build? Time for a thorough functional test.

The short answer is, I don't know. But it looks like maybe one half of a plastic shell that clamps around something, probably for cosmetic purposes. One thing I do recognise is the brand name: Valeo is a clutch company, so maybe it fits somewhere around the top of the clutch pedal?

Good to hear you made progress. You didn't really need to shrink the partition, it just has to be formatted with FAT32. If you're stuck with Windows, there are ways around the limitations of the built in formatting tool. For example, there's a very good tool called Rufus that you can download for free and it will do the job for you. 👍

I think Brose are a known brand in window regulators; I recall the name from fiddling with a window on a Cavalier I had back in the day. Could be OE.

It's evident from the dust on the wheel spokes that a lot of surface rust has been scrubbing off from while the car was sat. As long as the inboard sides are no worse than what your photos show, I think they'll clean up ok with a few heavy applications from high speed (under safe conditions, of course).

A 128Gb Sandisk stick works fine for me when formatted in FAT32. I'm not saying exFAT won't work because I haven't tried it, but it's not mentioned in my PDF owners manual (page 434). It's a common misconception that FAT32 file systems are limited to 32Gb. That's actually a limitation of the Windows formatting tool, which they've never bothered to lift since the days when anything larger than that was too much for the human mind to conceive. A linux or Mac based machine will be able to format all of your 128Gb stick in FAT32 just fine.

Ring end of a combi spanner is what I normally use. Fit it before attaching the pipe, obviously. Gives you a nice 'tap handle,' to quickly flick between open and closed. 😊

You could try a visual inspection and look for evidence that the pump has been leaking. There's normally a very small 'weep hole' beneath the drive pulley and that's where the coolant will be escaping from if the seal has failed. Try to find the hole and look for a tell tale stain. Other than that, I would be inclined to carry on and just keep it under observation, as long as it's not overheating and the coolant loss isn't significant.

It doesn't do any harm and can help by removing any loose metal particles, although I would expect a Toyota gearbox to be equipped with a magnetised drain plug. I think some manufacturers started doing away with the magnet as a penny pinching measure.

They tend to be either 11mm or 8mm. I don't have specific info on your car, that's just general experience from working on a variety of vehicles over the years. Nothing exotic required.

Happened with my last car when it was built. Sometimes the rack is centred in such a way that the dead horizontal position is halfway between two splines, so the wheel has to sit slightly off in one direction or the other. The cure when it's out by that very small angle is to adjust both track rods by an equal amount, just to tweak the centre position without altering the actual tracking.

Assuming, for now, that the timing is correct, the only way I know how to understand more about the loss of compression (without dismantling) is a leak-down test with compressed air.

I too find that the E5 tends to go a bit further, just enough to offset the difference in pump price. With E10 it seems like we have to buy a bit more fuel to go the same distance now. Hard to see any net benefit to anything except fuel duty revenue.

Very much the same with mine, anywhere from late forties to mid fifties as a tank average.

If it was running badly then perhaps that is when the fault developed, not while it was stood afterwards? I would check the mechanical timing just in case the chain/belt jumped.

You say you changed your MAF, did you use a genuine Denso sensor? It's important that the MAF is genuine because aftermarket ones can be inaccurate. I think coolant temperature is probably OK, unless you have it showing high or low on the instrument panel. Does the engine still perform well and rev easily? Maybe an Italian tune-up is all that's required. 🙂

I changed mine at 1k miles, just to get rid of any material from the manufacturing and bedding in process. A lot of people believe that modern oil quality obviates the need for run-in maintenance. But, as I mentioned in another recent thread, I just acquired a brand new BMW motorcycle and it is required to have a first oil change at 600 miles or 1k Km. They also change the gear oil in the final drive at the same time. I think the necessity is determined by what kind of machine it is and what is expected from it in terms of performance and longevity, not material or manufacturing quality. Car engines have a relatively easy life, but I don't see any harm in doing a bit more maintenance than required if it comforts the owner. 😊

I find the difference in price and economy about the same as a percentage. Seems logical to stick with E5 if it isn't costing any more per mile.

A few years ago, I had a BMW with Bridgestone summer tyres fitted from factory. They did the same thing as yours - the outer shoulder wore out faster than the rest of the tyre. But only on the front ones. Correct pressures.

I just figured that if it did anything different (including nothing) then the switch could probably be ruled out. Most cars would come up with something like, 'Depress clutch when starting,' IME. Like you, I've always done it as standard practice. Less load on the starter because you're not driving the gearbox input and it also provides a failsafe should you forget to select neutral. I do the same with bikes, it's better than having blind faith in the neutral switch.

Dodgy auto censorship strikes again. I mentioned a place staring in 'Scun' and ending in 'thorpe' 😉

S$%&^(*)Ihorpe. Nearest of their branches to me, all the local Toyota dealers in S Yorks are Burrows. PX value was the clincher. Everyone else wanted to go over the old car with a fine toothcomb before making a derisory offer, whereas JR offered me a better price without even seeing it.

I have tried 😊

I've got the paddles on mine but I don't touch them, they're a gimmick. It's a CVT transmission but the gear ratio is varied by adjusting the engine & motor speeds relative to one another rather than using belts or pulleys. It does have gears, but they are constant mesh, i.e. no real gearchanges whatsoever. Extremely simple (at least, mechanically) and robust compared to a more traditional CVT.