Barry

Hi Mike, welcome to Carnity 👋🏻 Which engine do you have in your A5? I'm guessing it's the CR 170? I was thinking you couldn't be in UAE because I haven't seen a single diesel Audi since I got here then I noticed you're in Romania.

While you might not need to change the petrol filter often due to blockages, it's best to change it every 50-60k due to degradation which will decrease fuel flow. On older vehicles with metal tanks, it should be changed more often. The tanks corrode internally and small flakes of rust can cause a lot of damage if they were to get to the injectors or carburetor. The gauze in the fuel pump will catch most of the larger stuff but some small pieces can get through. Diesels are a different story and the fuel filter is generally a service item to be changed along with the oil filter. Especially in modern common rail systems with high pressure pumps, the smallest particle can wreck a pump causing a huge repair bill.

Friendly, approachable leadership ready and willing to share and teach the most basic stuff to new members over and over again.

You're very welcome. Helps to have a good mechanic on the job too @shadow79 😉

Is that you Chandre?

Pre detonation is when the fuel ignites from the compression in the engine before the spark plug fires. Like a diesel, kind of. Performance engines tend to have higher compression and are more susceptible to pre det so need a higher octane rating. Turbo engines also. Always good to use the fuel recommended by the manufacturer but a general rule of thumb is that an octane rating over 95 is for sports and turbocharged cars. By sports cars I mean Ferraris and stuff, not GT86s or Miatas. It’s just a waste of money buying expensive fuel when you don’t need it.

Well done. It’s sad that you still have to fight for your rights in this day and age.

Name some cars with the best names. Here is the Toyota Blade Master G. Doesn’t look like much but very cool name.

The viscous clutch is there for a reason and from a professional standpoint, running long term with it constantly locked up is never a good idea. Fuel consumption will be increased by a noticeable amount. Horsepower will be reduced. Hard to guess a figure on it without doing the proper math but I’d say maybe 10 BHP. The fan blades are at a pretty sharp angle to allow them to push more air and it takes a lot of power to turn them. One of the first mods I do on anything I buy with a longitudinally mounted engine is to remove the fan completely and fit an electric fan with a thermostatically controlled switch mounted directly into the cooling system rather than running off the air temperature in the engine bay. Added stress on belts, bearings and associated components. The engine will take longer to reach operating temperature which will in turn have knock on effects, Again, increased fuel consumption. Temperature sensors will read the engine as cold so the ECU will request extra fuel. This rich running condition will lead to extra carbon in the engine. Fouled spark plugs which will again affect fuel consumption, fouled valves which could lead to a sticky valve or bad valve seal against the head leading to lower compression. Carbon in the ports which will affect free gas flow leading to a reduction in horsepower. The oil will take longer to reach optimal temperature. Camshafts, crankshaft, bearings, rings and other components may suffer.

Take a drive around Al Awir. You’ll see brand new Landcruisers being converted to GXR and VXR spec, RHDs being converted to LHD and all sorts of fuckery going on. Maybe worth putting your chassis number into www.vindecoderz.com and checking if your car really is what it’s supposed to be. Also to add, it’s not Toyota who are working on your car, it’s Al Futtaim. They are just a product dealer. If you have issues, don’t be afraid to escalate complaints directly to Toyota in Japan. Jerking gears on any car is not normal unless you’re running a race box with straight cut gears. Sounds like you’re being fobbed off because they either don’t know what the problem is or are too lazy to fix it. There are consumer protection laws and you should be able to return the car for a replacement or refund if you can prove the faults. I am not clued up on them but someone else here will know.

I have a machine here for cutting vinyl. Can’t do those 3d ones though. Dragon mart is the place to go. You’ll find everything there. I saw a Corolla with 3d GT-R badges on my way to work yesterday so anything is possible in dragon mart. Personally, I hate the place. If you’re going it’s a good idea to bring one of those kick scooters.

@Gaurav if you need to borrow a spanner, no problem 😂

This looks like a good idea for any garage for keeping a few low key red horse handy.

Fuel boosters are a scam to make money for the fuel stations. Start with the basics. Has your driving style changed? Is your air filter clean? Are your spark plugs in good condition?

There was a study about this a few years ago and a black car can use up to 2% more petrol than a white or silver car. So yes, in theory it will use a bit more fuel but realistically, not an amount that you're going to notice. Lighter colored cars do make sense in the UAE because white, silver etc reflect heat whereas dark colors retain it.

I don't know much about them, I've just seen guys with them when I've been fishing. Personally, I'd get the biggest one available. There's nothing like having more power than you need.

Well done chum 👍🏻

Yes but it might not always engage at the same level on the temperature hand. Maybe one time it will come on at 60%, next time it might not come on to 65 or 70%. The reason is that the temperature gauge is measuring the actual temperature of the coolant. Fan activation is not controlled by coolant temperature, it's controlled by air temperature in the engine bay.

I'd like to point out that running hot and overheating are different things. If the temperature hand goes up a bit, it's running hot. If the hand goes to full and steam comes from the radiator cap, then it's overheating. As long as the hand isn't in the red, it's fine. People worry too much about this. An engine is designed to be able to handle a bit of heat over the normal temperature, it's not going to pop just because the hand touches 3/4. Some customers have confused the hell out of me with this in the past telling me their car was overheating when it wasn't. It was just running hot due to blocked radiator, stuck thermostat etc. and no matter what tests I did, I couldn't replicate the 'overheating'. If they had told me properly what the actual problem was, running hot and not overheating it would have saved everybody a lot of time. The fan clutch doesn't engage when the engine overheats. If it did then it would be too late. It engages when it becomes too warm, which should be long before the point of overheating.

What about picking up some cheap lights from dragon mart to open your options up? I’ve seen a few people using small battery powered LED floodlights on extendable poles when fishing and they light up a big area.

As far as I know, parts should have 12 months warranty. Maybe worth an email to Mitsubishi in Japan to let them know what’s going on. If a so called authorized seller is selling fake parts or refusing to honor warranty they might be very interested.

Were the parts marked as genuine? If so, this is complete bs and the vendor deserves the full force of the law plus whatever karma is coming to close their doors. Its one thing ordering online on aliexpress or eBay, you already know if it's too good to be true, then it probably is too good to be true. But when you buy supposedly genuine parts from a proper shop, there are no excuses.

This one of the reasons why I think the system is flawed. Rahim bhai is one of the hardest working members on the site but he only has one star.

What happened? What was the part? Did it fail? Or was it just fakey fake and you didn’t use it?

I thought this was going to be something else. Anyway, here’s a corolla compressor in a 69 mustang.