210,000 Klm Service

Much like this update, the Prado was well overdue for a service having last had an oil change at 185,000Klm's, I know I know it should have had three since then but after our epic journey arround Australia the coffers were a little light on and don't even get me started on how busy we've been re-setting up our lives after dedicating the last few to the Terra Australis-Girt by Sea project.

Enough of the whining, how's the car been?  Well pretty good really and it's testiment to the build quality of the 120 Series Toyota Landcruiser Prado in that it just keeps on truckin'.  I booked the Prado into Tibby Rose automotives in Alexandria for an oil change and a few other bits and pieces which they did with a minimum of fuss.  They also replaced the rear brakes, discs, pads and hand brake shoes so now all of the brakes have been done and should be good for another 150,000K's if they're not abused.

We also had the guys wire in a 50 amp Anderson plug to the rear of the vehicle as well as installing a Redarc electric brake controller in readyness for our new Black Series Pheonix hard floor camper.

215,000Klm's

We had just returned from an overseas trip and started the Prado only to hear a very unusal and intermittant rattle from under the bonet, a quick trip back down to the guys at Tibby Rose confirmed that the alternator clutch was on the way out.  We made the decision to just replace the alternator, fearing a case of poor man pays twice should we endevour to perform a cheap fix by way of clutch pulley replacement.  The genuine Toyota item cost around $800 and the guys charged us an hours labour for the install.

Next job is to find out the cause of the intermittant starter problem plaguing the vehicle and of course this is no easy task due to it's intermittant nature.  Of course we are unable to replicate the problem in a workshop environment and as much as I hate to diagniose faults by way of process of elimination my gut feeling is that we may have no choice.  It also tells me that it's the starter motor, so just replace it and be done with it.

I'll endevour to keep this blog updated on a more frequent basis from here on in, I promise.