Monday, September 16, 2019

DIY sound proofing sliding door and rear door

It's a boring weekend, hence internet surfing online shopping portal, saw some DIY rubber sealer so decided to have a try on it. Bought a small length of it together with a bottle of 3M primer to get a better seal.
 The rubber is a B type which seems to be a bit better to keep dust and sound out of the car.
Stick to the lower half of the sliding door and this is after cleaning, the parts with soap and water and alcohol to remove any dirt and put some primer (3M), let it dry a bit before sticking the rubber.

After finishing the door, got some left over of the rubber and use the balance on the rear door. Only stick to the bottom of the door and not the side as I believe it is not usable or pointless to do the side.

Went for a test drive and feel just minor difference in sound, is it worth it ? Not sure but it does fun.



Sunday, September 1, 2019

Brochure repost

I had lost my record and found a website having this. All credits to the owner. Just sharing. A little bit of memory of this great car after discontinue recently.













Links to original post :-
http://www.en.japanclassic.ru/booklets/467-toyota-isis-2004-znm10-anm10.html

Friday, August 23, 2019

Broken drive shaft boots again

During the recent routine service, the mechanic had spotted that the drive shaft boots had broken again. The last repair was done at 2014 and now it comes back as the rubber boots had cracked and leaking grease.
Anyway, I think I might just get an OEM drive shaft replacement for the car as it might not worth the money to just repair the rubber boots and the CV joint might damage due to dirt running into it.
I will find some supplier and get some quotation on the drive shaft replacement together with the suspension too. I think it's time to replace the suspension as someone had complain of noise while going through bumps.
I will further update the cost and repair done once I get all this sorted.

Link to my previous post on the drive shaft boot repair :-
https://toyotaisis.blogspot.com/search/label/Drive%20shaft%20boot

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Michelin Primacy 4

Some months ago, my wife complain that the car are not comfortable for long distance driving. She don't have the same comfort as before so I told her that the car is almost 10 years old, noise and suspension, wheel, tire does age and not so good.
I know back in my mind that the current tire I am using is a affordable type which sound a bit loud in the highway, the rims also are bent due to harsh driving for the past few years. So I told her that I will change the tire to a premium one, get the wheel fix and let's try on next long drive on the feeling in the back.
I bought 4 Michelin Primacy which claimed to have better comfort and noise level and fix the bent wheel. Put in nitrogen, balance the wheel, done the alignment and bring my wife for a trip back hometown. I purposely didn't tell her the changes during the trip to gauge her response.
After that, I asked her on what her feeling on the changes of the car after I done up the tire and wheel. She claimed not much differences. Oh dear, she didn't notice much differences. A bit disappointed on my part, but I feel great driving new tire. The new tire brake well, good cornering as it doesn't flex much. Sound is a bit better from previous, but maybe it is due to the wheel balancing and alignment done.
I bought the tire online and went to a local store to install, the tire are delivered there from the online seller, the price include basic alignment and balancing, so I think this way is more comfortable than running around town asking for price from shop to shop. The price are stated clearly including the term and conditions.
If you can see from the photo, there are some hairline cracks on the wheels, is it still safe to drive with it ? Drop me a comments.

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

B pillar door insulation

Have you seen one of these ? I saw them once before and it doesn't come cheap many years ago. Previously it was advertise manufacture by Korean but now the chinese produce them too, and it is cheap.
Hence I decided to buy one to try it on the car. Price is so affordable, but when I received it, it was a bit shorter than I think. 80cm for both strips instead of 80cm for 1 strip. However it is adequate for Isis. The sliding door on the Isis have good insulation on the left hand side panoramic door so the strips are good for 1 door.
I had install it on the car, 1 strip for the top and 2nd on the bottom, the curve on the middle part of the door seems trick to install as the strip doesn't bend well. After installing, there are a small gap of 1cm between both, but I am ok with it.


The cross section of the strip are as below. Inside is a metal clip to keep it in place on the door position. No glue or sticker are required, I prefer it that way.

Now what left is the road test to see will it block some wind noise. I will update soon on the result.
If you wanted to buy one, just search for B pillar insulation from any online store. Small sum for some easy DIY.

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Isis stop production

It's been a while that I follow up on the news of Toyota Isis, it is sad to discover that the car had stop production back 2017, where Toyota officially announced the end of production for Isis without a successor on the same car.
Isis is truely a JDM, as it is kept for the local market so such a long time. Interesting design and concept, typical of Japanese mindset. Hope that there are something great in the future that carry the legacy of Toyota Isis. Now I hope the parts still available and getting cheaper.
 

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Radiator cap

It's been a while since I last post, a year plus went missing. It is due to nothing much changes and less usage of my Isis for the past year.  This time I bought a new radiator cap to replace the original factory fitted cap in order to try to improve the cooling performance.
The original factory fitted radiator cap was from Denso 0.9 without spring type, small head. The one that I bought also original parts but not made by Denso. Not sure the brand but still the small head and without spring.
The story started when I notice a drop in cooling performance after my last service. The coolant temperature are a bit higher and I notice some coolant on the overflow tank top and nearby the radiator cap. Hence I believe the radiator cap had lost it performance and hopefully by replacing it, the cooling performance will be restored.
The cost of the radiator cap? RM30.00 and I bought it from my favourite shop in Sentul. However, the owner had opened another branch nearby Batu Caves there. Google for Gateway Auto Parts and you can find it. They carry a lot of Toyota parts too.