Quote from: Ardent on April 21, 2026, 07:01As fawtytoo said, you should hear something come to to life when the drivers door is opened.

Quote from: rajid on April 21, 2026, 01:37That's quite interesting as I'm not sure if I am right here

but mine sounds like it starts pressurising when it's turned to ignition position 2, runs for about 10-15 seconds and then I start the car and engage gear.

I have started the car quickly before and tried to engage gear, and realised that it doesn't want to. Have learnt the habit of relaxing and letting it do its thing before starting up the car very shortly after!

You will likely have seen that it is said that the SMT system was developed by Luk England.
From this link you will see that Luk England is located in NW London!
https://www.gdl-uk.com/brands/luk/

@Monkey Relish As the SMT was developed for the Australian market, you know what you're talking about.

Quote from: AndyGman on May 23, 2026, 12:12Thanks again I will try the camshaft sensor Carolyn thanks for the info how can I test the vvt hub is this possible like I said it's the voltage that's got me wondering if I set 12v into the solenoid the car shuts down.
I do have a dongle Shnazzle that would be a great apk to test it I guess I will pm you thanks

I managed to install it from my history on play store, but it's no longer there. A ehile back I'm sure I managed to make a hard backup of my phone but I can't find it.
A google pointed me to this: https://apkpure.net/elmscan-toyota/com.elmscansoft.toyota?

Basically, you have to remove the camshaft to test the hub.  Then use compressed air in one of the oil holes in the camshaft to see if it unlocks and moves relative to the camshaft.

They can fail - it's not a common fault but is does happen.

Thanks again I will try the camshaft sensor Carolyn thanks for the info how can I test the vvt hub is this possible like I said it's the voltage that's got me wondering if I set 12v into the solenoid the car shuts down.
I do have a dongle Shnazzle that would be a great apk to test it I guess I will pm you thanks

Hello all, sorry I haven't been back to update, the last 2 months have been difficult. The MR-S lives and I made the journey back just fine (thank you for the offer Carolyn, missed your message).

There are problems with the car, such as the Laserline immobiliser doing whatever it feels like when I go to start the car after deactivating it, but it always seems to start the car eventually. Kinda embarrassing though, it looks like I'm an idiot in car parks.

The next potential roadblock is of course the SMT, because it's about the only original part left on the car, so why wouldn't it play up? I don't want a manual MR-S, I love the way the SMT drives but it did something today that made me very nervous.

I'll make a new post about that as this one is concluded essentially. In a nutshell, final bill from East Mids MR2 was £2,526 - 90k 2004 1ZZ engine, fluids, parts fitted etc.

 

My partner bought a 2zz-compressor engine with a Rogue-built sports cat exhaust around 6 years ago. It's approx two years older than that.
A dose of Cataclean before the MOT & it breezes through each year.

For the "is the Toyota SMT fluid really brake fluid ?" debate, this is from the attached safety paperwork from an OEM TOYOTA SMT fluid container.
Brake fluid it is.

Mr Relish

If you have an OBD2 dongle, I may still have an APK of a Toyota-specific android app that allows you to activate the VVT valve manually degree by degree.