JS2004

Cheers guys. Keron - I will give you a call on Monday. will drop Paul a PM too regarding the garage

Thanks Nic for that image. I had to use that last year but had found it online.. might be worth while printing out two copies and keeping one with my certificate for next year =) Thanks for the help guys!

Thanks for the replies guys, I have updated the original thread to capture all the info. TCB is shut right now, but once I have price for both plus delivery & VAT ill stick that up - but seems to be the cheapest option so far. I dont use it very much, so quite happy to just stick with the low cost ones for now. Regarding the emissions test. The MOT failure has its approx first use as 31/12/1994, but its a '93 from the other documentation I have. I think he tested it as if it had a cat, so ive let him know it doesnt have a cat and hopefully it will now pass. Appreciated!

Hey guys, Just had my '93 N/A in for an MOT and unfortunately it has failed on the following: 1) Front headlight pattern (I have HID's, was expecting this) 2) 2 x front shocks leaking - need replacing. Update on this - ive spoken to Toyota and Whifbitz. Toyota is £353.40, inc vat&del for 2x fronts. Whifbitz is 4 x Tein Street Basic coilovers for £444 inc VAT. Id like Whifbitz to fit them if I chose this option, but theyre a long way away from Hull! Do we have any reputable traders around the Yorkshire area who may be able to help me out?. I dont know if coilovers must be installed as a set of four, but im assuming that is the case. Also, no idea what benefit these bring over normal shocks? 3) Emissions - it was being tested as if it had a cat. Ive had problems in the past with this, and from memory it should be tested as if it doesnt have a cat because there is no UK version of the N/A engine.. is this correct?? (I didnt want to come across as rude, but its a problem I have every year) There is also an advisory which I am concerned about regarding the diff mounts. The garage advised one is missing.However, I spoke to Whifbitz and they advised that N/As only have three mounts, so one isnt missing. There is space for a fourth, but it is not needed on the N/A/ - so just incase anyone else has this I was looking for Steve Manleys number - found it, so adding it in, again for anyone elses convenience. 01865 291 300) So looks like I now have to decide whether I go with standard shocks or a set of coilovers. If coilovers, id be interested in knowing which traders / reputable garages who deal with supras are known around the Yorkshire area. Any advice / opinions here are appreciated!

Great stuff cheers guys.

Hi, Looking for a bit of advice regarding these discs and pads if possible. They're being offered as a replacement to a relative for his Honda accord 2008. We have not heard of them so thought I'd ask a quick question here to see if any of you guys have had any experience with them. Any thoughts ? Good, bad, etc. Cheers

Luckily its turned out to be dud bulbs. Both of them going at the same time is quite a coincidence though. The filaments are intact (even looked with a magnifying glass) so the mechanic chap reckons its the pins in the base of the bulbs that went. Having them both die on me at the same time is why I initially thought it was something more sinister. New bulbs in - working.. going to monitor it though to make sure that something isnt causing them to break. Going to chuck my multimeter into the boot so its on hand incase it happens again along with another set of spare bulbs!

Considered the relay also. Ive got it in with a garage right now. Hopefully they can sort it and with a bit of luck its something relatively straight forward. Although the bulb filaments looked intact a work colleague has sugested the pins in the base could be broken. Also as both left and right seem to be dead I cant swap the bulbs over to test. Waiting for the garage to call back. Hopefully its bulbs and not something more sinister! Out of curiosity how much was the relay mate? seems easy enough to remove and replace.

Hi guys, Bit of a strange one. All of a sudden my headlights have ceased to work. I have sidelights, fogs and main beam, however my dipped headlights are kaput. What I have doneso far: Checked fuse box in engine bay. It has a 15 and a 20 amp fuse in there. Part of the plastic on the 20amp fuse is melted. In the past I have had melted / blown fuses. I have replaced both fuses with 20amp and tried headlighs - no luck. I then thought it might be the bulbs. However on inspection both bulbs look intact. On forums I have searched for similar problems but the instances I have seen are usually related to someone touching something and accidently trapping a wire / causing a bad earth etc. I have not messed with the lights or fuses for quite a while so why they have suddenly ceased to operate is concerning. My next plan is to post here and see if anyone knows of this issue or can suggest a fix. I will also be contacting an auto-electrician this afternon. I am assuming that each headlight is controlled independantly so I the left /right fuse had blown then that side should not work, but the other side would continue to operate. If this is the case then I am a bit more concerned as to why both have stopped working at the same time

Cheers guys. I'll have a call round locally to have the alignment checked and take it from there. It's fully stock suspension and I've never fiddled with it so I'll use the oem figures as a baseline.

The bit I'm confused about though is both sky and Adrian flux were using the same underwriter yet flux beat sky by over £120, and got a lower compulsory excess.

Good idea mate had not thought of that. Cheers.

Hi guys, just after a quick poll of opinions I have been advised that my camber is slightly out and needs looking into. I have done research here, and if the arms / bushes etc are seized this can escalate into big money. The reason I have been told this is as follows: Had car for four years and have not changed tyres yet as previous MOTs have advised they were fine (dont do much milage) Took car for MOT - passed but advised that front tyres, although legal, were developing a crack across the tread and I should think about replacing them. Called tyre place, booked in for two new front tyres (old - runway enduro 916, new vredstein ultrac sessantas). Took car to tyre place. Asked guy to check back tyres. He said that they were fine tread wise, but advised the inside of the tyre was wearing a bit faster than the rest. however, he said that theyre still legal. I decided to change rears at this point for the vredsteins. I suppose my question is should I be alarmed that my tyres had started to wear a bit on the inside over the course of four years but remained legal? Is this just a slight issue with camber, and does it warrant potentially ending up with a large bill if they have to cut the arms off and install new bushes etc? Additionally I only do typically 2-3k miles a year in it. The age of the car (94) means the arms have probably seized (I read something about a tipex test but dont know if I can do this and I certainly dont have the right facilities / space to give it a try at the moment) If the implications of not sorting it are big and it does indeed need sorting then I will have to get it done. I am however questioning the validity of what I was told at the tyre place based on what happened just before I agreed to put new tyres on the back... Basically - I knew the price of the rears as I had already planned on changing them. I played dumb and asked the guy to quote me for the rears once he told me about the camber and the price he came back with was £40 higher per tyre than I knew it was. Obviously I didnt pay that, and showed him their own website and they immediately dropped the price, but still, it felt like they had tried to pull a fast one! Hence why I am questioning what they have told me. *Edit - Also just to add the car drives straight and doesnt feel as if its pulling anywhere or loss of traction / grip etc but would I notice this as much if its just the rears?

Managed to get mine quite cheap through Adrian flux this year. I received my renewal letter from Sky who wanted £550 - it should have come down this year as its an added year of NCB and nothing on the car has changed and it only did 2500 miles last year. Phoned Adrian Flux, they offered the same policy as Sky, but the compulsory excess was £100 less for @ £390 as opposed to Sky @ £550. I just don't understand why they renew so high - they know everybody shops around for insurance - had they quoted a renewal between 400 and 430 id of probably stayed with them.

Quality job. The missus has instructions to not write anything at all on it !

Yeah dont get rid of the wonky ones Could be good to have regardless

meep?

2560 x 1600

Cheers Chris, I appreciate it. Taking your recommendations on board when I visit the garage tonight. Hopefully they have a known good battery laying around that they could check against. If that doesnt work then ill try to get the wiring looked at. Fingers crossed! Ill gather as much extra info as possible tonight too.

Cheers for the info guys. I was there on Saturday to check the water pipe and look for leaks. I could not spot anything except for a small bit of oil around one of the bolts holding a flange onto the main part of the engine (block?) There was nothing underneath the car either and it has been sat there for near enough 2 weeks now. Once it is up and running properly again ill have a good look around - however that doesnt appear to be any time soon. After speaking to the garage today, the refurbished alternator and new belt have been installed however for some reason it only seems to be providing 6v to the battery and 6v from the alternator. Im not sure what could be causing this. The garage is also reporting that it runs almost as if it is misfiring. I thought this could be to do with the battery being disconnected for 2 weeks and that running it a bit would sort it, but if the voltage from the alternator is 6v I dont think I would get very far before it died on me. So potentially back to the drawing board again to try and identify what is going on

Correct - it is an N/A. I have not noticed a leak or seen a drop in levels however I will be having a look for this. Tomorrow I will be at the garage and ill have a good nosey around to see if I can spot any. Chris said it could have been from a previous oil leak - so fingers crossed it was and thats now fixed. Im also going to check the rubber hose that fits to the water pump valve as Chris said this may be perished and its a simple replacement with a similar sized push fit piece of hose - it will stop water from going into the alternator if theres a problem with that valve so if anyone else is sorting their alternator out its probably smart to check this too. He said its a valve behind the pulley, underneath. - - - Updated - - - Changing the belt whilst I am at it too

Update - Alternator was sent off to Chris for a refurb. He advised it was in a bad way and it looked like there was oil within it. The innards have been replaced with good used parts and cleaned out thoroughly - A lot cheaper than getting a new OEM one from Toyota. It should be back with me on Friday along with a new belt so I should be up and running again. I will have to have a hunt around to see if I can locate where this oil is coming from though - I have not noticed any significant changes in the oil levels though. So all in all - alternator had bit the bullet and thats now sorted out. Big thanks to Chris for helping with the refurb

Thanks for the ideas guys. I was trying to remove it over the weekend but I think that I was doing something wrong. I cant seem to get the belt loose. Is it just one bolt over the top of the alternator holding it in place - or would I ideally need to jack it up and go from underneath? I spoke to Mr T - a new one is currently out of the question at £250 excluding VAT. Ive recently bought a house and doing that up is putting a lot of strain on my finances. Im planning on having another go at getting the belt loose and alternator out this Friday. If I am able to remove the alternator I can look at weight / shipping prices to get it to you Chris. Out of interest how much would you typically charge to replace the brushes and check the slip rings? I have a backup plan to take it to a garage to remove the alternator but thats even more cost - if I can get it removed myself I would prefer to do that (It is also more convenient as I can just leave the car at home). I did consider a 2nd hand alternator but its another gamble. I bought a 2nd hand shock absorber previously which developed a leak after 2 weeks. So for this id prefer the refurbishment over a 2nd hand unit.

Righto, narrowed it down. Crank Pulley is fine - tipex test and running it for various lengths of time results in the line staying solid and not moving. The belt itself doesnt appear to be slipping - there is some wear and tear visible so this is going to be replaced anyways to rule that out completely. Battery terminals are fine now. There was some corrosion and some resistance but I have cleaned that up and its now showing no resistance. Conclusion is that its definitely the alternator based on my testing. Under 1500 RPM the voltage is dropping steadily on the multimeter. Above 1500 it remains above 12.5v and does go up as RPM increases. So the alternator is working, its just not working properly. Visual check of the alternator it doesnt look like anything is wrong - the wires and cables etc are all in place and nothing appears to be broken. Im guessing its the internal parts which are worn or tired. My options are: 1) buy a 2nd hand alternator (cheapest option) 2) refurbish existing alternator (most complicated option) 3) buy a new alternator (most expensive option) I refurbished my starter motor a year ago using a guide off of here. I have looked for a refurb guide for the alternator on here but have not found one yet. Ill go and check the other forums and www to see if any guides exist. If they dont I will abandon idea number 2 unless I can find a local electrical company who can do it (which I cannot find yet) I will give mr T a call also and find out the prices for a new one tomorrow if possible. If theyre really silly money then I may have to pick up a 2nd hand one from the forum and hope it lasts a fair while and is not on its way out. I know 2nd hand parts are always a big gamble but it may be my only option in the short term! So there we have it.. fubared alternator. *If anyone has a guide or knows of one for refurbing the alternator I would appreciate a link.

Turns out I was doing the Tipex test completely wrong! http://www.jack-frost.co.uk/toyota_supra_crank_pulley.html This website has pictures that clarify what it is you need to test.. which I need to do later on. I was stupidly trying to put the tipex l;ine on the belt and obviously that doesnt work. So further testing to commence. Voltage still drops below 12.5v whenever the engine is Corrosion of the battery terminal is not the problem as I have now cleaned this thoroughly and ensured good connection. Nod differences between bare wire and the battery any more so it has sorted some slight resistance out - however its still dropping below 12.5v when idle (with nothing else at all on.. boo). Could have been happening for a long while, I guess driving with lights and heating on has simply made the problem surface now.