Recent content by 2009Xrs

That sucks, am not entirely surprised however, the paint quality(toughness, resilience) is lousy on my 2009. I suppose the paint quality of 70s Volkswagens will never return...

Could be lots of things, no reason to go broke replacing everything until you can gain some insight. What I have done in similar situations, is to try things that will affect the way it runs to compare that with what is going on. For example, by removing the air cleaner element to do a test, if...

Is a Toyota provided, CAFE legal upgrade in my case, not an aftermarket product per say. Should be free also! Not sure of the details on their end and any dealings with the various agencies, but the later engines were part of a class action lawsuit. That drove them to fix that problem, not sure...

Thank you! I like the white, is the color I was looking for when I got mine...

On certain engines, that are known to have issues with the rings sticking, some of the tuning has been adjusted so as to reduce the opportunity for that to happen by way of a reflash of the ecu. The ignition timing has been initially set up to accommodate emissions, late timing and a lean...

I don’t prefer the seal swelling additives, as the eventually harden the seals more than they would have been. As for the oil consumption/piston ring issue, I use another Mobil 1product, the 5W40, is marketed towards diesel trucks, has an approval for gas engines however, and works well to help...

I like the amps, very nice stuff there! I had a set of older JBL titanium tweeters from many years ago, and that drove my install. I basically recreated the jbl 4406 studio monitors into my car. I made my own passive crossovers using better capacitors, and inductors, prepped the doors with mat...

I made a noticeable improvement by changing the bushings out under the hood. Still not all that great and I think the person who had engineered all the past Toyota shift linkages must have retired and the new guy is doing them now... The ones in my car have a feature that allows them to be...

Sorry to say, but Its typically not going to be an easy fix with just an oil or fuel additive when it’s to the point of using a quart a week. Have you ever had old pistons out of an engine and attempted to clean the residue off? The aluminum piston is actually softer than the crusty deposits...

...that’s assuming you’ve exhausted the bushing/ball joint/upper strut bearing possibilities.

There is a Technical Service Bulletin on this so Toyota does know about it. You may need to go to a big fancy dealer though, as others with similar issues have seen a surprising lack of awareness at the smaller dealers. Search for: NHTSA 10134109 And TSB-0140-10

I started to look at this, but noticed that there isn’t any way to adjust the linkage like the older cars had. Part of the cost savings effort or something. In the nineties cars you would loosen the cable end-nuts out on the transmission, then use a drill bit to align the shifter parts inside...

Hello, I live in the Pacific Northwest in the USA, and have had a few toyotas over the years. I enjoy upgrades and modifications when they are done without sacrificing any of the quality or longevity of the car. I look forward to looking around on this site to see if what is out there.