1992 Toyota Windom 3.0 questions

[vladivar]

I just bought a 1992 Toyota Windom 3.0 here in New-Zealand, and I have some questions about it (it's a Japanese import).
Can anyone recommend a repair manual for this car (e.g. haynes or chilton)? I understand you can use a manual for a Camry, but which one?
I also hear some different stories about which fuel you can use best for it, 91 or 96 octane? Anyone any ideas on this?
Thanx!

[rxstephen]

Originally Posted by vladivar

I just bought a 1992 Toyota Windom 3.0 here in New-Zealand, and I have some questions about it (it's a Japanese import).
Can anyone recommend a repair manual for this car (e.g. haynes or chilton)? I understand you can use a manual for a Camry, but which one?
I also hear some different stories about which fuel you can use best for it, 91 or 96 octane? Anyone any ideas on this?
Thanx!

Gidday mate, I've just signed up and have the same questions

I'd really like to know the answer to the octane question, the dealer put 91 (RON) in the car when I bought it, but I'm sure that's just because it's cheaper, not because he knows what fuel it runs on. I assume the engine has a knock sensor and will de-tune it's self when you run too low an octane (but assumptions can blow up engines). Lets hope someone can answer this thread, I don't know if the 3.0 Windom is exactly the same as the NZ Camry, it may be that the Windom has higher compression but I don't know!!!

As for manuals have a look at....
http://www.car-handbooks.com/Windom.html

And the Camry workshop manual will probably have everything you need ...
http://www.workshopmanuals.net/Camry.html

Cheers
Stephen

[rxstephen]

I've been doing a little research and from everything I've read the '92 Windom 3.0 should be able to run on 91 (RON). It will also run on 96 (RON) and should perform slightly better, you may get better fuel economy too.

What I sugest you do is fill up on 91 and measure your economy over a couple of tank fulls, then do the same with 96 and see which is more economical for the style of driving you do.

If you drive the car hard, have lots of hills to climb or tow a trailer etc. then I'd suggest you use at least 96 octane anyway. But if you mostly putter around town and don't accelerate hard then 91 will be better value.

Note: our fuel is rated in RON, if you see posts from the US they refer to RON/MON, so their 87 = our 91, their 91 = our 96 and their 93 = our 98.

HTH
Stephen

[vladivar]

Thanx for your replies. I do have another question regarding the fuel. I saw that you can also buy these octane boosters, does anyone have some experience with this or any comments on?
My car is also still fitted with the original radio, so is there also someone who has fitted one of those band expanders, or has some more information on this?

[rxstephen]

Octane booster is for high performance engines when you have no supply of high octane fuel available. It used to be very popular before we got 98 octane (BP and Mobil), I used to use it on my turbo RX-7. It's pretty expensive compared to just filling up with the correct fuel in the first place.

For the Windom, you'll never need anything more than 96 octane, and that's available everywhere (no harm in running 98 though, but no benifit either). The only thing I suggest you add to the fuel is some injector cleaner every 20,000Km's.

I too have the original radio, I have bought a band extender from Dick Smith's but haven't installed it yet... not sure how easy it is to get behind the radio to install it (perhaps someone can give us some instructions on how to do it), but they just pug in between the aerial wire and the radio and you have to splice a 12v supply wire to it too.

I also have a cassette adaptor so I can play my mp3 player through the stereo (much better than fiddling around with CD's). It's a pretty good sounding stereo, so I think I'll keep it (plus it looks stock).

[cadifan1]

Stereo removal instructions
http://www.carstereohelp.com/stereor...sES300StrR.htm

[rxstephen]

Excellent URL for removing the stereo! I had removed the bottom bit but was struggling to work out how to remove the top.

Thanks
Stephen