Hilux2400

I can see the attraction of this for engines where access to the drain plug is not easy. Sometimes the under trays are a bit awkward if you haven't got a ramp to gain access. However, on my 911 the access is good. I like to see the old oil flowing out and be able to inspect the magnetic plug. I sometimes put a half litre of new oil in on an empty plug to see clean oil flowing out.

Nice one!

I'm OK at my home, but I'll look out for cameras next time I'm at the supermarket. I'll mention the cameras to my son, as he has some new neighbours who might have installed something. Thanks H

If my understanding is correct the key fob generates a signal at 433.9mhz, but it can be overwhelmed by a signal at the same frequency but of greater magnitude. Most times my key fob works OK, but there is one location in a local supermarket car park when it does not work. I can lock and unlock the car with the key, but not with the electronic fob. At first I thought it was a faulty key fob, but when it happened twice in the same location I thought there must be something else going on. This has also been happening to my son with another make of car when the car is parked on his driveway. Sometimes his key fob works on the driveway and at other times it does not. Recently, when staying with him this fault occurred twice. Mysteriously it stopped just after 10.00 am. After which time there was no re-occurrence of the same problem. My son has since bought a meter which registers and measures an RF signal. In his area there is a continuous background RF signal about a fifth of the magnitude of the signal put out by his key fob. When the background signal is at this level, the key fob functions as it has a much higher strength signal. Since buying the meter, the key fob has continued to work, but also there has not been a high overriding background RF signal. It seems that many domestic signals are generated on the 433.9mhz frequency. They are mainly short burst signals, so normally don't give problems. Typical examples would be: garage doors, driveway gates, domestic heat controllers or short wave radios. If these are strong and continuous I believe they could cause problems. Has anyone had similar key fob problems? H

The auto box is manufactured by ZF. This company has a good web-site, with maintenance recommendations.

As you are going to empty it check the two long lines that run front to back. I had a leak in mine last year and replaced both. One had corroded where the plastic cover had been damaged and the alloy pipe was leaking. The smaller diameter alloy pipe was also corroding below its plastic sheath. I could not understand this as there were no visible holes in the sheath.

This is a great site and you'll be hard pressed to find better for info about your Porsche. I've been a contributing member for 4 years and it's worth every single penny. No matter how simple or complex there is always someone who has had a similar problem at some time and will be ready to help. So how about 25$. I have no purpose other than to keep the site going and the excellent exchange of information. Almost seasonal greetings Hilux Hereford UK

Here's my tutorial on the matter:

Have you looked at the front bulkhead drains on either side of the battery? You need to take off the plastic covers and there are two drains on each side.

I had a cranking speed problem with mine (2003/996) and when I replaced the battery I put in a much larger one with higher cold cranking ability. However, I still had problems at times. The problem disappeared after I cleaned up the earth strap between the engine and frame. The one under the rear wheel arch. Since then I only get the problem if I leave the car, not on charge, and unused for about 7/10 days depending on weather. Then it's very slow to crank, but quite often starts. If I drive it every day, even for short journeys it's OK. I find these cars quite strange from this cold cranking perspective. I have two Toyotas which will stand easily for a month unused and even longer.

I have tried non standard Xenon fitting, but not LED. I removed them because I was getting false engine management signals. For example, the oil light would flash whenever I used the headlight flasher. I would make sure that the ones you buy are warranted not to cause such problems.

Have you tried heat? Try a heat gun. The progressive heating and cooling will draw penetrating oil between the pin and the calliper bore. If this fails, push the pads back and remove the whole caliper from the car. Cut the pads off the pin with something like a Dremel with a V.small cutting disc. This will allow you to grip the pin with a self grip wrench and try to turn it to get it moving. It will also allow you to get the pin in a vertical alignment so that gravity will draw penetrating oil into the joint. You could make a small reservoir with SuGru around the pin hole and fill it with penetrating oil and leave it soak over night. If you continue to bash the pin you will flatten the end and make it larger, then it will jam in the bore even more effectively than it has at present.

I replaced mine and the plugs when the exhausts were off. It's much easier and it's not the difficult to remove the exhausts. I found a "wobble" bar was useful on the ratchet wrench as it's difficult to get a straight line.

It's not an easy job putting coil packs in and it's not a job you need to do that often. You may as well buy OEM parts, like Beru. They are a bit more expensive, but they will go the distance. The coil packs in these engines get very hot due to the closeness of the exhaust manifold.

I assume the wheel bolts are tight?

I saw the Olympic20 sale and was going to post, but as you say more expensive than other options. The price variations make me cross as parts like this are used across many ranges. Once you put a Porsche tag on the price goes up by about 50%.

As Ahsai said, you could try cleaning the throttle body. It's an easy job with the air box removed and the ignition off and key removed. Mine has an electronically controlled throttle. The butterfly valve can be opened and the area cleaned with throttle body spray and lint free cloth such as micro-fibre, to prevent any fabric bits being left behind. Even use a vacuum cleaner to make sure. After this has been done and the air-box and filter put back on, I turn on the ignition for about a minute, without starting the car. I understand that this settles the control mechanism. As I mentioned before, I would also try cleaning the MAF with a specialist spray. Do not touch the delicate film areas, just use the power of the spray to clean things off. When I did this I found I had a noticeable improvement in fuel consumption.

There's a Bosch one at EuroParts for £287. Do you know if it's faulty and have you tried MAF cleaner?

On my 2003 996 I get sludge like this on my magnetic plug after 5K oil changes. I would say it's normal. Many years back I had a Mini with a combined sump for engine, gearbox and transmission and no syncro on first gear. That also had a magnetic plug. After three thousand miles the plug looked like a Christmas tree with chips from the gear teeth. H

This is not an easy thing to do and I can understand your difficulty if you have not done it before. The star shaped thing is at about the horizontal line. Look through the lug nut hole and use a torch to locate it. The screw threads on the adjusters can seize up if they have not been used.

I hope the battery terminals are tight as that's an essential resistance component in the circuit when the alternator is charging. When it's taken out of circuit on a running engine voltage spikes can occur which sometimes result in serious damage. We had a similar incident on a Merc when someone forgot to tighten the battery terminal and the voltage spike fried a component in the ECU.

I had a similar crack on both my mufflers (silencers in UK) and decided to replace them with Dansk stainless mufflers at a cost of about £700 for the pair. It was an easy job, but time consuming as I took off the back shroud. However, I welded up the seams on the old mufflers and sold them on for about £75 each, which eased the pain slightly. I checked with my nearest Porsche dealership who quoted £2,600 (including tax) minimum for the work, with the warning that there might be other work that could be needed. H

15 year old Toyota Hilux.

Thank you Loren

Thank you Loren - very useful.