Wayne & Irene

Go to www.livingforest.com

Let's Set a Date and Location for the 2013 (3rd Annual) Vancouver Island Toy In I'm pretty sure there's a good level of interest in this event and that many of you are holding back until you know where and when. Fair enough. As the self-appointed organizer ... with no other potential organizers stepping forward ... I'm announcing that we'll hold this Toy In at Living Forest RV park, just south of Nanaimo on the weekend of 21 - 23 June 2013. As before, we'll book our own sites and try to get them in the vicinity of the covered patio area adjacent to site 214. I will book the covered patio itself for our group for the Friday and Saturday evenings so we will have a cozy place to hold our dinner events in the event of rain ... or even if it doesn't rain. I strongly recommend that we book sites early. You can always cancel as long as you follow the RV park's cancellation policy which is explained on their website. For now it would be great to have an indication of how many people might be interested in attending. I'm always open to questions, so feel free to ask me anything at all about the park, ferries, etc etc. Look forward to meeting lots of new and "old" Toyota campers. Cheers, Wayne & Irene

Hi Andrew Thanks for the great input. Since we met you a couple of summers ago I've had to do a valve job and a transmission replacement. i'm now at the end of a lengthy and costly bunch of repairs, but the good news is that it's running better than ever now. I've been wondering how your 3.4 L transplant has been going. i assume it must be finished by now? Hope to see you guys at this year's ToyIn on Vancouver Island. i haven't announced it formally yet but I'm thinking that the weekend before the July 1 holiday weekend might be a good choice. There seems to be a level of support for having it at Living Forest again. It's hard to beat that park for location and facilities and most people speak very highly of it. Did you see Ron/Rose's message about the new Toyota campers in their neighbourhood and the hope that they might meet some others at the ToyIn with children for theirs to play with? Cheers, Wayne

I have a 91 Warrior with an excellent camper section. The V6 chassis has been troublesome and underpowered and noisy compared to the newer Toyota trucks. I recently had a ride in a friend's 2002 Tacoma truck and thought how great it would be to have my camper mounted on this really nice Tacoma chassis. Has anybody ever thought about ... or done ... such a project?

Hi Sue: The last weekend in June flows right into the July 1 (Monday) holiday, so that would be a bad choice since reservations at the campground, not to mention ferry and road traffic, would all be really bad. The previous weekend, 21-23 June could work as could any weekend in July after the 4 July holiday. The weather in July would likely be warmer and dryer although school is out by then and campground reservations will be somewhat tighter. (Not a problem if we book far enough in advance.) How about some input from some other potential Vancouver Island Toy In campers? Wayne

I will look into the sensor issue you mention. Since the idle does return to the normal, warm value eventually, I'll also check to see if the dashpot plunger mechanism might just need a bit of cleaning, lubrication to operate smoothly. If it sticks a bit that might also explain the slow return to idle as the engine warms up.

Shim n Bucket appears to be correct. I did find a picture of this gadget online. It is the dashpot and the rubber "collar" I was referring to is called the dashpot boot. The online picture showed this boot to be badly cut up; mine just has a very small crack in it. The expert opinion online is that the dashpot, if not adjusted right to allow the throttle to close fully, can cause the engine to stay at a higher than normal idle. The same expert opinion stated that dashpot operation should have no effect on "slightly lumpy" idle ... which I have a very slight case of... or at least my engine does. I'm not sure whether the fast idle is caused by dashpot adjustment issue or the tear in the rubber boot letting in extra air as my mechanic is stating. Any thoughts?

I have the 1991 V6 3vze engine in a Winnebago Warrior. I have seen a number of pictures online of Toyota IAC valves, but nothing that matches my picture closely. It seems, as well, that this part is no longer available from Toyota, at least not Toyota Canada. The actual problem with my part, according to my mechanic, is a small split in the rubber "collar" at the engine end of this module. He claims it is letting in too much air and that is causing the fast idle to stay fast for too long. I'm wondering whether a tiny drop of liquid rubber from the tubes you can buy everywhere might just patch this little split ... I can almost not see it ... and keep out any excess air but still allow the rubber collar to expand and contract with temperature changes. I'm trying to educate myself on the operation of this module and perhaps save some money. To be honest, the time at fast idle during warmup doesn't seem unreasonably long to me before it drops down to a normal idle for warm engines, so maybe this isn't much of a problem at all.

I'm pretty sure it's called the Idle Air Control (IAC) valve but I would love to see a matching picture online. Also would like to find someplace where I can get one. My mechanic informs me that Toyota Canada doesn't carry the part anymore. :-( Wayne

My mechanic tells me I need a new "warm up module" because the engine stays at fast idle for too long before eventually dropping down to the normal idle speed for a warm engine. I've done lots of "googling" using this name and every variant of it I can think of, but I'm not sure I'm getting the correct name here. My mechanic tried to get a new one for me because the ribbed rubber collar on this module is cracked and letting air in, which causes the idle problem. Other than that it runs fine. I have attached a picture of the part in question. It's the thing with the white, cylindrical piece on the right in this picture. Does anybody know the correct name of this module/part so I can try to find one. Thanks for any help. Wayne

Hi Ron and Rose: Glad to hear you are interested in attending a 3rd edition of the Vancouver island Toy In. (Hope your new neighbours and the Bunney's will decide to come as well.) Like you, we recently met some Toy owners in our neighbourhood and encouraged them to join this forum and the next Toy In, assuming we go ahead with one this summer. I hope interested folks will respond and perhaps give an early indication of a preferred time frame. Cheers, Wayne & Irene

For the Blueberry team: at this point we are just looking to get an idea of how many might be interested, so we can decide whether or not to hold this Toy In. The last two years we have looked at late June, but we could really have it any time in the warm weather. That would typically be June, July and August. Even early September might work. Of course we want to avoid holiday weekends for traffic and ferry reasons. See my message of 9 Feb above for a bit more info and check out the messages on this site about last year's event. Cheers, Wayne

We visited Coombs last fall to check it out. It is close to Coombs market which is a neat place to visit. As I recall, prices for full hookups were about the same as Living Forest. It has a group area, but the shelter is small, the entrances to the shelter are really low ... bumped my head a couple of times. The shelter has 'electricity' if you count the extension cord hanging from the ceiling. I think the nicer and larger shelter at Living Forest is a definite advantage if we encouter rainy weather. We found the Coombs campsite to be not very clean and there were dozens of kids running around and making lots of racket. The location is about an additional half hour's drive from Living Forest, so anyone from off island would have further to drive. Frankly, we found the Coombs RV park to be much less attractive. That's just our opinion, however, since you did ask. I would still vote for Living Forest over the Coombs site. Cheers, Wayne

Hi to Everyone: Good to see that there is already some interest in the "Third Annual Vancouver Island ToyIn" (if I can be excused for presuming to give it a name already!). Irene and I arranged the last two get togethers and we wouldn't mind doing it again this year if there is enough interest out there. So, first thing is to ask you to indicate whether you would be interested in having such an event on Vancouver Island this summer, comment on the location: either have it at Living Forest again or somewhere else. And finally, give an idea of your preferred time frame ... keeping in mind that we should avoid the July 1 and July 4 holidays for pretty obvious reasons related to travel and ferries. For our part, we have looked at a number of other sites on the Island but keep coming back to Living Forest (google it if you're not familiar with it) because it has so many positive aspects to it ... lovely location, beautifully kept park, close to the ferry terminal, close to Nanaimo for all the facilities and attractions of this nice city, etc etc. Anyway ... I'll be watching this board for indications of interest and we'll all decide if, when and where after everyone has had a chance to respond. Hope to hear from lots of you ... at this early point a simple indication of interest is probably enough to decide whether to go forward with more detailed planning at a later date. Cheers to all, Wayne & Irene

Have a safe trip and we'll look forward to meeting you on Thursday. Wayne & Irene ps. Don't forget to fill your gas tank on the US side just before crossing the border. Our gas is 137.9 per litre. There are 3.8 litres in the US gallon. The dollar is about the same, so that works out to $5.24 per gallon. Even Washington state is considerably cheaper. pps I hope you saw the posting about reduced fares on BC ferries. In effect until 25 June. W

Sorry to hear that you and your friends won't be making it to the Toy In. Perhaps if we do this again next year, we may see you then. Have a great summer. Wayne

I strongly urge you to reconsider your route. Hwy 3 through south eastern BC is a terrible road. Lots of twisty, turny climbs and very few gas stations. When you do find gas it is considerably more expensive than urban areas which are already about $1,40 a liter ... about $5.25 for a US gallon. You would be much much better off coming west on I90 or US Hwy 2 until intercepting I5. I drove your proposed route once ... from west to east ... 2 years ago and said "Never again!!!" Just saying ... Wayne

Latest News We now have confirmed reservations for the covered patio area adjacent to site 214 which we will use for our Friday evening Meet and Greet and our Saturday evening Pot Luck. It looks like we will have about a dozen Toys in attendance, so plan your Pot Luck dishes accordingly. For the Meet and Greet we will provide hamburgers and salad and ask everyone for a nominal donation to cover that cost. Liquid refreshments will be up to each person to bring their own. We don't have anything planned for the Sunday evening meal, but last year we got together on an ad hoc basis and had great leftovers from the previous two evenings. The weather here has been slow to warm up but the long range forecast looks encouraging for our event weekend. Keep your fingers crossed! There had been another group event which was using some sites in our general area of the park. The Living Forest staff informed me that they have now cancelled that event .... so there are some last minute sites which are now available in our area. If you haven't booked yet and still want to come ... mention the Toyota group and ask for a site as close to the covered patio near site 214 as possible. If you have any last minute questions or concerns feel free to email me directly at carnwini@shaw.ca. See you all at the Living Forest!! Cheers, Wayne & Irene

Group Rate? I checked with the LV staff about the possibility of getting a group rate. They do offer a discount to groups who actually use their group area. We looked at the group area last year and decided we didn't like it nearly as well as simply booking individual sites. The group area sites are very small and half of them have no cable TV. On another note: I understand that there is another group booked into the same general area as we are using, and that this group wants to use the covered patio area. I talked to the staff about this and was told that the patio could not be booked but was "first come, first served". I plan to talk to the other group members and suggest that we take turns with the patio ... one group could use it onill the Friday evening and the other group on the Saturday evening. Additionally, there is another covered patio area just a bit farther away ... towards the Tent camping area. (Check your park camp diagram to see the one I mean.) I'm hoping this other group will be reasonable folks and we can come to a fair arrangement for using the two covered patio areas. We will have a Meet and Greet BBQ on the Friday evening and a Pot Luck on the Saturday evening. (We will provide hamburgers and salad for the BBQ for $5 per couple just to cover the cost of buying the food.) Bring your own drinks. The Pot Luck on Saturday evening will give you a chance to let your imagination run wild. There is a good grocery store within walking distance of the campground if you need any last minute items. Looking forward to seeing everyone there. Cheers, Wayne & Irene

Hi Ron and Rose Great to hear that you are planning to attend this year's get together. I understand that you may not be able to commit right now, but you might want to make a reservation soon because the spots are filling up. Check out Living Forest's cancellation policy in case you have to cancel out ... if you let them know in time you won't lose any $. Hope to see you there. Wayne & Irene

Good Deal with BC Ferries!! BC Ferries has just announced special rates for weekend travel between the mainland and Vancouver Island for the period between 5 May and 25 June. This will save our Vancouver Island Toy In visitors a good deal of money. These rates are based upon a 20 foot vehicle ... they may charge a small bit extra if yours is 22 feet, but it will still be a lot less than the regular rates. Check out the link in the attached notice and give them a call if you have any questions. BC FERRIES ANNOUNCES COASTSAVER FARE PROMOTION Make every weekend a long weekend VICTORIA – BC Ferries is bringing back its popular CoastSaver promotional fares for the three major routes connecting the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island from May 25 to June 25. Travel on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday during this time and save more than 37 per cent on a passenger vehicle and driver fare. The fare for a passenger vehicle and driver for the Tsawwassen – Swartz Bay, Tsawwassen – Duke Point and Horseshoe Bay – Departure Bay routes is just $39.95 one-way Friday through Monday May 25 to June 25. Adult passenger fares are just $9.95 one-way for the same period. "This is a great opportunity to make every weekend a long weekend during this five week CoastSaver promotion," said Janet Carson, BC Ferries’ Vice President of Marketing and Travel Services. For even greater savings, BC Ferries is offering guaranteed free room upgrades on selected accommodations when travellers book a BC Ferries Vacation and sail on a CoastSaver day. For more information regarding the CoastSaver promotion, BC Ferries Vacations packages or reservations, visit www.bcferries.com, call 1-888-223-3779 or drop by BC Ferries Vacations in downtown Vancouver at the Fairmont Pacific Rim at 1010 Canada Place. - 30 - Media Contact: BC Ferries, Media Relations Victoria: (250) 978-1267 Customer Contact: Victoria: (250) 386-3431 Toll-free: 1-888-BCFERRY (1-888-223-3779)

Hi Cathy Glad to hear you will be coming. Spreading the word to other Toy owners is probably the most helpful thing that could be done now. Cheers, Wayne & Irene

Hi Ron and Sue... You have the dates right. Actually, Monday the 25th will probably not work for everybody, especially those folks still working for a living; but we're all free to stay as long as we want after the weekend itself. Irene and I will be staying Sunday night and checking out on the Monday morning. Looking forward to seeing everyone there. Around early June I'll put out a call and ask everyone to confirm their attendance and their campsite numbers ... just so we'll know for planning purposes. We'll use a similar format to last year ... Friday evening Meet and Greet ... Saturday evening Pot Luck .... and Sunday just leave things loose and unplanned .... leftovers? Go to a local pub? (Crow and Gate in nearby Cedar is really good!) Wayne and Irene

I just bought a bunch of LED bulbs which fit directly into the existing 12V sockets throughtout my rig. The bulbs were about $2 each and work great. Wayne

I'm suggesting we gather around the covered patio adjacent to site 214 ... anywhere in that general area. Wayne