Hi all,

Firstly, awesome forum. I've got a 2004 Sirion that I've had since almost new (it had 200 k's on it when I bought it) that I've decided to do all the maintenance on myself - mainly because I don't think the mechanic who is working on it is actually doing much more than changing oils, etc, when servicing.

I'm hoping for some input/thoughts about:

1. Gradual (over a period of years) loss of power.
I've noticed that I need to drop down through the gears earlier than I used to. As it's been a slow decline, I'm not sure when it started, and, actually, I was thinking it was "just me" but it's become pronounced of late and now I'm sure I'm not imagining it.

I haven't done a compression test, but my thinking is that it might simply be a case of the car getting older, compression dropping, etc - except that from my understanding that would be indicated by smoky exhaust, and my exhaust isn't doing that.

2. Intermittent missing
I have had this issue for a while; it feels like it's idling roughly for a short period of time, fluttering and so forth, and that it might stall, but it doesn't. Just to make it more frustrating, it won't happen again for some time and then, when it does, the time interval between occurrences varyies; there appears to be no consistency to it.

I recently had the entire car actually shuddering, which was a first, and was on the cusp of returning home to grab another car to get to work when it cleared. In that case I thought it might have been caused by the higher-octane fuel I'd just put in as the local servo was out of the "ordinary" octane unleaded.

At the last service I spoke to my mechanic about the fluttering, rough idle, etc, and he advised he was following the Daihatsu service planned service regime, as per their recommendations, and that the spark plugs had been replaced in the previous service. Following the service, he told me that they found no evidence of rough idle. Obviously, that's all well and good, but the car is still doing it.

3. Dash rattle.
This isn't a big issue, just an annoyance. Periodically there's a really irritating rattle from somewhere in the dash. It's been there from new, and was brought to the attention of the local service agent numerous times for sorting under warranty. They did nothing about it. Any pointers on where to start looking on getting this resolved? Is it a common issue? I'm almost at the point where I'd be happy to strip the dash out entirely to get it sorted.

4. Keys.
I broke one of my grey keys in 2 pieces when using it as a screwdriver (yes it was dumb, but I work on the railways here in Melbourne and it was either sacrifice my key or have trains delayed; I opted to have the trains run on time), and the 2nd grey is long lost.

I have the black (master) key, and can get transponder blanks from fleabay. I loathe paying locksmiths inordinate amounts of $ for "programming" keys, and I'm aware that many Toyota cars have the ability, with a bit of jiggery pokery, to add new keys to the car's "accept" list. I assume the same holds true for Daihatsu vehicles? Can anyone explain the process? In searching the forums here I've seen passing references to it being possible, so I'm hopeful that I won't have to offer up my firstborn as a blood sacrifice to the (bill)shocksmiths....

5. Reverse is, and always has been, tetchy to get in: is this normal?? I usually resolve the problem by rolling forward a fraction. It's not a hassle, but I dread the day I park hard up against something and can't roll forward to slip into reverse...

6. Workshop manual...
I would love to get the WS manual if it's available - I've looked through the "manuals" section of this site, but there doesn't appear to be a Sirion one there. Can someone please point me in the right direction ??

Many thanks!

Cheers,
Pointy.