Toyota Blade V6.

[flygt4]

Yep can confirm the aurion pedal dance works on these blades too.It completely transforms the acceleration in 1st gear but requires a bit of feel for the throttle without the idiot proofing to stop you leaving a cloud of smoke. Not as bad as expected though if you wind into it a little like you would in any other moderately powered 2wd car, I suspect you would still be faster to 100km with it turned off.

[Al]

Yep sure makes the car feel different to drive after teh pedal dance.

[s4turn]

Havent been here in a while, but thought id notify others just in case.

I got a call from Toyota today about my 08 blade master needing the passenger air bag replaced.
this is being done under Toyota as a recall

I think this might be the details here:
https://www.toyota.co.nz/about-toyota/t ... and-yaris/

[Bling]

Thanks for the heads up, I might look into that one day for ours.

[thegreatestben]

Picked one of these up, noticed when inspecting the car it had paddling pool for a spare wheel well. Noticed these cars (more commonly under the Auris badge) have well documented problem of leaking around the tail lights and/or the rear body vents.

I stripped the car out and removed the tail lights, which I could see had definitely been leaking. I removed the old gaskets and replaced them with new ones I hand cut with a sheet of the same material from Para rubber ( $8 ). The original ones are adhesive backed and the new stuff wasn't so I used a tube of Selley's silicone sealant in conjunction with the gasket.

I put sealant around all of the penetration areas such as the studs on the tail lights, and the 2 plastic retainers plus any other grommets or clips in the area. I also removed the rear bumper as the body vents are also known to leak. I popped them out and added sealant to the seals, popped it back in and then ran a bead around the vents again. These are the commonly mentioned fixes so I went ahead and tested for leaks by spray the hose at the car while I sat in the boot.

Still leaks!

Turns out most of the leaking was coming from around the square holes which the bumper mount brackets are mounted into. I popped the brackets off, they have little square gaskets which I think had shrunk, they were still nice and soft but definitely weren't sealing, lots of dirt/dust build up around all these areas weren't helping. So cleaned and reapplied the gaskets with a dob of sealant.

Smashed the brackets back in, hose on.

Sorted.

TLDR, Put sealant around anything thats poking through a metal hole. $20 and a couple hours of your time.

[GDII]

Had the same issue with a Honda Logo. It also leaked at the joins in the rear quarter and roof panel in the water drain area at the top of the boot panel near the hinges.

Good effort fixing all the potential leak points. Dirt really messes with the gaskets on lights.

[mlracing]

Interesting will have to check mine when I get back to NZ

[thegreatestben]

Alternator packed up at 98,500kms.
Got a Denso refurb from rockauto.com for $210 usd in 5 days. I can return the core for $80 usd - probably cost me that to send back.

Has anyone replaced their alt before?? It looks like on pretty much all 2GR mounted FWD the repair manual and youtube says you have to drain the radiator so it can be disconnected to slide the fans out to make room for the alternator to come out. My eyeballs agree but then the lazy/cunning part of my brain thinks I can wangle it out.

[thegreatestben]

Well on a blade you don't have to remove the fans or disconnect the radiator hoses. Just be careful of the electrical connector plastic when you're extracting and reinstalling. It appears to be made of milk based plastic and super easy to break.

Job was actually quite easy, take off the plastic covers, remove battery, jack up front of car, wheels off, take off front bumper, drop the belt, take off rad support, disconnect wiring, unbolt alt, tilt radiator forward and wriggle the alt out. Took about about 3 hours to do the whole job, I spent about half an hour on removing the bottom alt bolt

[Bling]

Wow that sounds like so much fun!!

[thegreatestben]

Mine was hit by a bus while parked and written off last week. I'm buying it back off the insurance company.

Will part it out if any one wants anything.