Update 17 – Dec 12

Well I got to get a bit more work done on the Prado today. I’ll do a bit of a pictorial as it’s a tad easier to explain.

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I didn’t get photos as the timing belt etc was done, as to be honest it’s too hard mucking around with a camera and doing the job. My hands were filthy the whole time.

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The offending part, and the resultant fix. Actually I should fix it properly sooner or later. You know it’ll be later 🙂

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Water pump was the standard generic affair. Not a bad price either.

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Old water pump wasn’t in too bad a condition, but why go to all that trouble and not replace it at the same time…..

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Those hoses will become emergency spares now.

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The old parts swapped out. Be careful with the seals you get with the kits, as you can quite often get a standard ‘black’ seal instead of the high temp ‘red’ one. Either way I always use a bit of sealant around them when fitting as it’s a lot of work to replace it if it leaks.

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I tend to use Castrol oils for transmission, diffs etc and always had a good run out of them. At $35 ever 4 litres though, it sure gets expensive when you are having to flush the system this much.

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Engine oil. This is the alternative rating, but keep in mind that the engine is starting to get a few km’s on it now days.

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Not quite the right colour! That’s ATF mixed with soapy water. The soapy water has done it’s job and mixed nicely – exactly what I was after.

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Same same. All of it was pulled out and flushed again. Hot soapy water. I don’t have any hand cleaner (the smooth stuff, not the gritty stuff) which would’ve been preferable. However dishwashing detergent does the job.

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Dirty throttle body (something people always forget about)

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Clean throttle body – the difference is obvious.

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Throttle cable etc – a moving part but something that people also forget about.

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And lubricated up, ready for another 10,000km’s (at least).

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Dirty oil drained.

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New filter, again a generic one. Note that I always write the km’s and date onto my filters when I replace them.

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I don’t have a fancy filter remover, and the Toyota engine bay is made for tiny Japanese hands (well I swear that’s true!). So I used a rope to remove the filter. Note when you put a new one on, only tighten it by hand.

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A bit hard to see, but I always write when the next service is due on the inside of the windscreen with a whiteboard marker. Yes you can get fancy stickers etc – I don’t have any!

Also handy for anyone that does any work that involves radio channels. You can write it all on the windscreen and it just wipes off when it changes.

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A bit hard to see, but that’s basically the short hose for the transmission cooler on the drivers side of the vehicle. By disconnecting at this point and putting the hose into a bucket, I was able to pump out just over 2 litres at a time. In short you start the vehicle and let it pump out – but word of warning if you let it go too far you can cause damage to the transmission.

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And that is coolant mixed with ATF. Pink isn’t the colour it’s meant to be…..

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A little trick for those (like me) that don’t have a small funnel to fit the transmission tube. Works well and costs nothing!

Cheers
Chris

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