and today i have mostly been...

[Welly]

Well you fed him, the least he could do was give your leg a good pasting

Great Pics again Steve

[steve_earwig]

The good news is: the Toy Tractor is back And the bad news is: the Toy Tractor is back

I mentioned elsewhere that I'd been having "issues" with the cat but I thought I'd save it up until I had the full picture. As above, when I was buying it, it had the emissions warning light up but the previous tosser reckoned it only did that when he put cheap fuel in it. The mechanic stuck it on the code reader, it said "catalyser", he cleared it and it didn't return, so we saw no reason to doubt the guy. It can't be that bad if it stays off, right?

So about 100km after buying it the lights came on again. I tried all sorts of different fuel but it stayed on. Eventually I got sick of the lights shining in my face and the decision was made to take it to Toyota to put their computer on it. It came back emissions system fubar, replace big cat & both sensors:

2 gaskets, air/fuel and O2 sensors & big cat - £835.48
Labour (3.5 hours @ £13.33/hour) - £46.67
Sundries - £3.64

Sub total - £885.79
Tax (25%) - £221.45

Total - £1,107.23

Yes, very funny, thank you ever so much, goodbye

So back to my mate's garage to see if we could fix it for a little bit less. Now they always fit universal lambdas and never had any problems, so they ordered one up for the top (air/fuel ratio) sensor, which duly turned up half an hour later (£45) This is when we found the old sensor was corroded in to the cat, removing it left very little thread but it was enough. We spliced it in and fired it up. This time there was no delay and the lights came up immediately. Over to the code reader and this time it says "catalytic converter - bank 1", which is the big cat. Oh bugger It's one of those that's part of the exhaust manifold, no way we'd weld a Mickey Mouse one in there. We started phoning around for a second-hand one, for 166.67 I could have one from a car in Italy but I'd have to wait until the end of March Then we came across a guy near Zagreb who reckoned he could open the old cat up and fit a new catalyst, with a year's guarantee for £222 - less than half the price of a new one

I took it there myself. Nice guy, laughed a lot. He took one look inside the cat and said "this is not a catalytic converter". Whuh? I thought for a moment I'd got the wrong bit or something but no, overfueling had incinerated the catalyst and it had exited the exhaust as a fine powder

That took him a day, got it back on the car, fired it up and on came all the lights again Ordered a second universal sensor (and another £45), half hour, fit it, fire it up - all the lights still up. Buggery bollocks

I could only think the universal lambda sensors weren't cutting the mustard. Unfortunately the only place you can get genuine ones from in Croatia is the dealer, 340 quid's worth. So I started looking on the Internet and found World Car Parts, who looked like they'd ship to here. Phoned them up and the guy said he knew of a universal for the bottom sensor but not the top one. I went away and thought about it, I could order just the top one but if it still didn't clear the fault I'd want the bottom one too and then have to pay more postage and wait another few days, so I ordered both for 155 quid including shipping. I could have got my family to send it and avoid the customs but that could have taken 3 weeks, so I ordered it straight from the guy, he reckoned 3 to 5 working days and even included a not-quite-so-honest receipt

That was a week ago last Wednesday, Friday afternoon I got an email from some female with a UPS shipment number on it, I thought at first it was yet another phishing scam but it was in Croatian. Seems Croatia has decided to change all the rules regarding importing things by post and she's working for the Croatian contractors for UPS and, to get my stuff through customs, she needs:
* a signed affidavit
* scans of both sides of my Croatian I.D. card
* conformation that I'd paid for the shipping
* my contact details
+ proof that I actually paid for the damn things

What the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!?

Friday pm I had to go to the hospital in ZG to piss into a machine, so Monday my mate phones her up and it is indeed not a joke. These Croats are really getting the hang of this European Union thing I'd still be waiting for my credit card statement, so the only thing I could think to do was print off both the conformation email and the order details from my WCP account, scan them back into my computer and send them, along with scans of the affidavit & I.D. card, via email. I was also advised strongly to forget about the bogus receipt that WCP had sent me, apparently they take fraud rather seriously here.

The next day I got another email with how much I'd need to pay - 63 quid The Mrs. had to fill out a paying in slip, I went and paid it, scanned the receipt into my pc and emailed it back again.

Wednesday morning a big van pulled up outside - hooray, they've made it!! Off back to the garage. Because of the damaged thread the mechanic took the cat off so he could get to the lambda easier but it was all for nowt - it came out sideways My mate spent a while trying to find someone with the right size helicoil but eventually we had to give up and take it to a machine shop instead. I picked it up this morning, they'd done a splendid job but unfortunately it cost another 45 quid Ah well, still cheaper than a new cat.

Around lunch time the mechanic fitted it, fired up the car and - no lights!! It was running for quite a while, the mechanic took it out for a thrashing (I told him to enjoy himself, just not to roll it) and I've been driving it about all afternoon. It'll probably be a while before I stop watching for the lights but I think we finally cracked it.

I might get my money back on one of the universals but the other one is obviously buggered.


Incidentally, this thing about resetting the fault light and it not coming back for awhile is apparently normal for Toyotas. Disconnecting the battery does the same thing. So if you're selling one because the lambdas and cats are goosed, all you need to do is disconnect the battery before anyone turns up to look at it. Unless they take it for a colossal test drive they're not going to know about it until after they've bought it...

[Doggy]

Feel for you there, Steve. There are some parallels with my FAP removal & subsequent months of limp mode, before happening on a solution, (more by luck than judgement).

I know you researched these issue first and it appears every reasonably modern vehicle has it's own built-in bleed you white at the dealers scam, but this still seems excessively expensive. I have to say your experience contradicts the now commonly held view that petrols are simpler / cheaper / more reliable. I'd feel safer with 2000-2007 common rail diesels at the moment.

Anyway, let's hope yours is sorted and stays sorted for a decent period.

[steve_earwig]

Every time you think you have a solution the nightmare continues. At least I had a spare car thought... My mate Goran kept saying what if the OEM lambdas still don't clear the problem, I was trying not to think about it. I still had a plan B ready - I was standing over the car with my softball bat when we started it up

I still need to find out how much to pay the mechanic, ok he's a mate an' all but I can't not pay him anything.

Modern petrols have less on them but obviously they still go wrong. There must be more reliable cars, but when you look at things like JD Power it's all the Japs at the top still, I guess they're ok for rich feckers that can change their cars when the ash tray is full but for us poor mugs further down the line each is a wallet-emptying disaster waiting to happen. *wanders off to Google Lada*

[Welly]

Bejesus, what a faff about

The worst thing is you will STILL expect to see the warning lights every flipping time you start the thing but feel a slight relief when they don't actually shine up.

Lets hope that's it for now and you can get on with more important things.......like buying food and water

I think you're right though, it is the age of the equipment leading to this failure.

I feel like I'm beginning to enter into a world of unknown calamities now that my car is 7 years old, 8 years if you look at most of the Build Date tags and the dealers friendliness is fading fast........ "warranty" Sir? have you seen your registration plate lately?..........Oh but thanks for the servicing business over the years, I bet your little service book looks a picture......

[highlander]

my car is 7 years old, 8 years if you look at most of the Build Date tags and the dealers friendliness is fading fast........ "warranty" Sir? have you seen your registration plate lately?

I've never had a car with a warranty. I've never had a new-enough car!

The Coupe has just turned 10 years old, by the way, and passed the 77,000 mile mark on Friday night. Other than needing a new set of brake discs all-round, there's not much wrong with her (but then I've already spent quite a bit of money on her, replacing quite a lot of the old falling-to-bits consumable parts).

[Welly]

My car was just approaching 4 years old when I bought it, with 23,000 miles so it was all pretty much like a new car. I decided to stay with dealer servicing in case something expensive went wrong (like the ABS system which has been known) hoping I'd get treated favourably.

I've not had any problems yet but have taken their 'essential service' now which is just a basic service (£150.00) and a stamp for the book other stuff like brakes and filters I do my self, well I say 'I'......

[steve_earwig]

Apparently you can get the service book all stamped up lovely for a few euros here, it won't be in the system but nobody's going to be checking with the manufacturers when they're buying a car. I don't actually think you get a good deal going to the dealer's anyway, you pay well over the odds for a little stamp that's not going to add very much to the value of your car and you'd have saved much more than that by having the work done by your local garage. And if the ABS did go up the swannie I reckon they'd happily rip you off just like any other punter. Also "he's a loyal customer, which means we can charge him whatever we like 'cos he's too daft to go anywhere else..."

The Toyota place I went to was really friendly and, depending how much you spend, you get gifts - with the 150Kn or whatever I spent on the diagnostic I got a biro, an ice scraper and a wood key ring, all with Toyota and the dealership's name on. The question is, if I did let them do the job, what would I have got then? I'd at least be expecting a BJ off the receptionist...

[highlander]

if I did let them do the job, what would I have got then? I'd at least be expecting a BJ off the receptionist...

* Not included in the price of your vehicle's annual service. Please see our Terms and Conditions for details.

[Doggy]

I decided to stay with dealer servicing in case something expensive went wrong (like the ABS system which has been known) hoping I'd get treated favourably.

Isn't that a bit like hoping you get mugged considerately?

[Welly]

You wouldn't want one off the receptionist at my Volvo Dealer.........he's a smashing bloke but.......

[steve_earwig]

At my age I'm grateful of anything I can get

I finally had to pay for the labour today - 300Kn (divide by 9 is, erm, where's the calculator? Ah) 33 quid odd. The light is still off I'm still looking for it though, I just don't trust it.

Incidentally, while it was on the ramps, the mechanic noticed how much water it was throwing out the exhaust. Ok, it's a normal product of the kombushchun process but it has a big transverse can at the back like a Merc. they were telling me how they can half full up with water, which then speeds up the rust, and they even had one where the ice froze and split the can, sooo..

They drilled a hole in each end

[Welly]

I've followed cars before and seen water *pouring* from the eggsauce, it must build up and sit there. I think it's worse if you pootle around at low revs, you really need to blast it out.

[Doggy]

They drilled a hole in each end

Sounds a bit drastic, stiil the alternative......

[steve_earwig]