Skydancer2992

Significant MPG improvement even at a hundred feet.

When a battery gets cold, it's voltage gets lower, sometimes too low to give you more than a solenoid click. My college car, an old Audi FOX, in Chicago wouldn't start unless the temp was at least -20 F. Taking the battery out and letting it warm up indoors for a few hours was how I managed to get a start (if I really wanted to go anywhere at those temps). Giving your battery a boost from the coach battery by jumpering across the isolator for a few minutes prior to start might help.

When my alternator was starting to go bad, the GEN light would light up at low idle speed, particularly for a few minutes after startup. I bought a surplus unit off of Ebay for about $30 and it has served me for the past two years. It's kind of nice to have a spare core, esp if I need to take one to an electrical shop for rewiring. Most likely all they need to do is replace a couple of carbon brushes and it will be good to go. THat being said. The GEN light indicates low voltage, the cause might just as easily be a bad battery that is drawing the voltage down. Make sure water levels are OK. Charge the battery and see if it gives you about 12.5 Volts. With the engine running, a good generator should give you around 14 Volts.

My personal experience is that today's 12 volt accessory plug may short out the 90's vintage cigarette lighter socket, dependent on the orientation of the plug going into the outlet. I regularly run my laptop off my cigarette lighter via a 200 watt inverter but I keep spare fuses available. My longterm intention is to wire directly to the battery via an appropriate fuse. A 210 watt laptop at 120 volt will draw less than 2 amps (current = power divided by voltage) or (210 watts/ 120 volts). Most Toyota auto accessory circuits are rated at 15 amps max. Plenty amperage to spare while listening to the radio and cruising the internet in the McDonalds parking lot.

Try calling the large Uhaul locations. They may have some stock left over from the Toyota moving trucks. I bought some spare wheels plus newish Goodyear tires from a Uhaul servicer.

My sofa seat belts had fallen down into the base under the sofa. If yours is the convertible bed, you can prop it up in a halfway position and reach down and push the seat belts back up through the gap between the two sections. I also found about two dollars in coins and various brochures and receipts.

When I order exhaust parts out of the Walker catalog for the Toyota truck, they always send 2" pipes. Some time in the past, a muffler shop had installed 1.75" pipe after the CAT. I've been able to slide the new parts over the old and clamp them. My muffler and tail pipe are now 2" and they look better. Your mechanic seems to be suggesting that a reduction in back pressure may increase power/mpg. Maybe. However, having too little back pressure can be as bad as too much. With too little back pressure, some of the incoming fuel/air mixture goes out the open exhaust valve before it closes - MPG/power drops. One thing to consider is that there is a lot of heat in the exhaust after it passes the catalytic converter. The longer standard pipe gives it a chance to cool somewhat before exiting. The last time I lost my tailpipe, the remainder directed exhaust toward the wheel well. Despite a distance of a couple of feet, the edge of the plastic wheel well melted and dripped away. I'm just glad that the Winnebagos have a metal layer on the bottom of the camper and that nothing decided to combust.

The Uhaul ebay outlet has mirror assemblies . These were meant for the Toyota moving trucks, so the style looks a bit different from the camper.

On the Warrior, all the corner edges are held together by an L-shaped aluminum extrusion on the outside and wood on the inside. Fiberglassing over the aluminum would create a concave shape on top of the camper and a place to hold water. Why fix something that ain't broke? Now for a broken area: My forward driver side over cab area was missing much of the material of the forward driver's corner due to a PO's collision and hasty metal tape repair job. I removed the aluminum gunnel and fiber glassed the whole corner on the outside. Refilled the inside with Great Stuff foam insulation. Replaced the aluminum gunnel. The repair is not pretty, but it is water tight.

Google MC4 cables or MC4 connectors or ebay those terms and you will find them for sale. $3 for a pair of connectors. My bathroom is in the back. The shower is the back corner with the wall between it and the stove. The vent goes up the false wall, which also houses the monitoring station. On the Uni-Solar panel, there are self-adhesive and non-adhesive versions. When I ordered mine, I made sure to put in the remarks that I wanted the self-adhesive one.

Yes, the Uni-Solar is amorphous like the Harbor Freight cells. I actually had bought the Harbor Freight panels for the RV but they will probably go on the house instead. The Uni-Solar is rated 4.1 amp under optimum conditions but the orientation on the camper will hardly ever be the best. Because of potential shadow from the AC unit the panel was placed at the extreme left. There is almost enough room to add a second panel with a slight overlap. Each cell seems to have an inch border inside the plastic.

Right now, the wires are not connected, they are just sitting next to the vent. They are about a 18" each and have MC4 plugs. The plugs are about $3 a pair on ebay. I ordered a pair of 5 meter wires plus plugs for $20 (from Ebay). I have a Harbor Freight solar power control center. Haven't decided where to put that yet. The specifications are located here. http://www.uni-solar.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/PB_ePVL_Technical_Data_Sheet_EN_(AA6-3624-04).pdf Installation guide: http://www.uni-solar.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Bonding%20and%20Installation%20Manual%20(AA6%203633-03).pdf

My 1985 Toyota 4Runner had an access plate below the rear passenger seat. I unscrewed five bolts and I was looking at the top of the fuel tank and the assembly that holds the fuel pump in the tank. This access made a fuel pump swap a 30 minute job. Like you, I believe it is safer to work with the tank full than with vapors. Looking at my Toyota camper, I'm pondering about fashioning a similar hatch to make the fuel pump more accessible.

I've started my solar project with a Uni-Solar flexible, self-adhesive panel. It is a 68 watt and cost $99 from Solar Blvd. I plan to run the wires through the seal next to the shower stall vent in the bottom right of the picture.

The timing belt tension is provided by a coiled spring. I don't recall that there is any way to adjust the tightness, other than to get a different spring.

The 3VZ is a non-interference engine. If the timing belt breaks, it will just stop. Toyota puts timing chains on its interference engines and timing belts on non-interference engines. My 91 Warrior had over 200,000 miles when I bought it. Not knowing its history, I immediately changed out the timing belt, all the other belts, plugs, rotor, water pump, distributor cap, radiator hoses, engine oil, oil filter, air filter, transmission oil, and rear differential oil. After learning a little more about the 3VZ, I'd probably have checked the valve clearances while I had the timing belt off. It's easier to remove the shims if you can take the cam shafts out. I'm very impressed with the 3VZ. It's an easy engine to work on. Toyota did a good job standardizing the nut and bolt sizes. With 10, 12, 14 and 16mm sockets, you can just about dismantle the entire engine.

In my 1985 4Runner with the 22RE engine, the OEM fuel pump lasted 167,000 miles. The fuel pump started failing by intermittently not supplying fuel on engine start. Like once every few days. On second try, a good start. Then one day the car stalled on a highway. Only to start again a day later. Drove it home and bought a filter and fuel pump from Autozone. 60,000 miles later the Autozone pump quit suddently. Autozone gave me a free replacement. Sold the car at 235,000 miles. My 1996 4Runner has 340,000 miles on the original fuel pump. Go figure. On the 85 4Runner, there's a hatch underneath the rear passenger seat. Undo some screws and you are staring at the top of the fuel tank at the right spot to pull out the pump assembly. Basically, one hour's work and you have a new fuel pump installed. Might make for a good mod to put a similar hatch in the floor of the camper. A fuel pump on Ebay is about $35 plus shipping: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ELECTRIC-FUEL-PUMP-AIRTEX-E8023-/320856623703?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4ab48b8a57 Might be cheap insurance to keep one handy.

I had a similar loss of power on my Toyota 4Runner. Changed out the spark plugs, spark plug wires, fuel filter, coils. The last thing to try was the fuel injectors. Did a lot of research on www.yotatech.com. Several guys bought Bostech brand refurbished injectors from Injector Warehouse and were satisfied: http://www.injectorw...yota/mp4047.htm $140 for a set of four. Bostech is the same brand sold at auto parts stores, where they sell for twice the mail order price. An alternative is to send out injectors and have them refurbished - just takes time. One guy kept his old ones and had them refurbished just to have spares available. Since new injectors sell for $150 a piece, I went with Bostech. The refurbished ones were the same brand (Nippondenso, I think) as the factory ones but looked like new. If you want to do the job yourself, someone on yotatech probably has a good writeup with pictures on how to do it.

In the past on other sites I've encountered both the search engine redirection virus as well as the fake virus checker virus. I believe they come in on the advertisement blocks. The quickest fix is if you notice the web checker virus starting is to unplug the computer immediately to stop the installation. If it gets in the free malwarebytes program can get the Virus checker virus out. It has not worked for me on the Search tool virus. What has worked well on both viruses is to simply start windows in protected mode. Ask windows to revert back to an earlier version, like a few days before the virus showed up.

Have used the Walker Exhaust catalog. www.walkerexhaust.com Look up the Toyota truck with your choice of engine and CA/non-CA with the longest wheelbase, the 121" I'm currently using the Walker muffler and tailpipe on my Warrior. The tailpipe does not project past my first inside tire on the dually so I may add a short extension. However, it has been working fine so far. Their cats should be compatible. Many auto stores like Advance carry the parts but I usually buy them off Ebay. The one part I question is the middle pipe - it may not be long enough. May not be a problem to add an extension.