There is only one stupid thing that Toyota did regarding timing belts, that was the timing belt light system where you had to take the intrument cluster out to reset it by moving a screw in the back of the cluster - rather a stupid idea!

Well yes, but it might stop the chancer who, if it was a sequence of button presses on the dash, might put the light out and flog the motor on.

To be fair it's only a 10 minute job to fetch the dash out on the LC, had to replace the bulb in the D segment of the auto box display which being the one thats on continually had blown.

When I had my Toyota, I had to change the bulbs for the auto box display too. I found that those little 5mm capless bulbs are exactly the same as fruit machine bulbs except fruit machine bulbs are a fraction of the price car shops charge.

Thanks, consults internet to find said fruit machine bulbs, unless my virtual mate Wackyracer points me in the right direction?

Couldn't find the right bulb without a trip to the Toyota** shop so swapped the good one out of L in to the D.

**Have to visit the Northampton Toyota dealer (no longer Sims) anonymously now, once they get hold of your phone number the service dept bombards you with requests/reminders of work they want to carry out on your vehicle, helpful but a tad overzealous IMHO.

these? Although they seem to be a bit more costly than when I bought some.

Much obliged to me learned friend, they look like the kiddies, also look like the tiny bulbs that Merc fit in the dash switches, one or two of which of mine are on the blink.

I love t'internet. thankyou.

Cheaper here as car bulbs it seems! Mind you, it probably was some years ago when I bought the big bag of the fruit machine bulbs.

Thanks WR, however i've been racking whats left of me mind trying to recall those bulbs in the tell tales on the dash, i'm 90% certain they are a smaller than those and now i come to think of it not absolutely sure that they are standard push in capless either, they are really tiny, i thought the ones for the Merc switches were the same but now i remember trying one and even they were too big, reckon its going to be main dealer only.

Naturally i took the blown one out and put it somewhere safe so i'd have a pattern, you know the rest of that sentence don't you, where's the face palm smiley..

anyway, whats the idea of driving the water pump off a cambelt, its an idiotic idea and bound to be troublesome.

Neither idiotic nor troublesome if a good design.

In the old Audi V6 s only a small area of the pump pulley was driven by the non-toothed side of the belt, so even if an insensitive owner ignored a water pump problem it would still take a lot to fry the belt. I have never been able to find any such problems on all the Audi forums - and I had one from 4 to 15yrs old; >130,000m on the original belt which, like chain(s), should last the life of the engine.

The usual issue, across all brands that drive the water pump from the cambelt is that the belt loses tension WHEN the pump bearings eventually fail - with tension lost the belt jumps teeth until the inevitable happens.

Can be avoided by changing the pump every time the belt is changed but that's extra cost.