MTH

Are you thinking about Billion Bar on soi pattayaland 1, one soi south of soi postoffice?

Interesting lop, how long ago was this that Cambodia rejected entry from Thailand?

Of course the sensor could be off, however if the problems only occur at long time idle or during high load in steep terrain, then a sensor problem is probably not what to look for.

Then again, it's a very cheap an easy part to take out of the equation.

Two interesting points here.

If the radiator has been replaced, it could possibly have been replaced with one of a smaller capacity, and therefore being under-dimensioned for your engine.

Also you mention having changed the thermostat twice. You should be able to buy a thermostat that opens up fully at a lower temperature. I don't remember the range on top of my head, but it's usually something like 68 to 72 degrees Celsius. So why not look into getting a thermostat that opens up at the bottom of the range, somewhere around 68 degrees. You might currently have one that opens at a higher temperature.

As I noted earlier, the thermostat I removed from the engine was a 82 degree model. I just referenced the Toyota service manual again and it stated: "The thermostat in this engine operates at a temperature of 88 degrees".

Would using a 82 degree thermostat (in place of a 88 degree model) affect this overheating problem in any way?

Could be a few things, viscous fan coupling came to mind as not responding, but l feel the rad replacement could have less veins than it should have to flow and cool the water.

I hope a larger radiator or even a new water pump solves this problem.....or even another fan.......

Sorry I was a bit low in my initial statement about when the thermostat should open. Either way, an 82 degree Celsius, would open earlier than an 88 degree and therefore provide more cooling for your engine. So if you're going to replace the thermostat, don't go up in degrees.

As for the radiator, it could be under capacity, as you mention it has been replaced by the previous owner. Some cooling fins could have deteriorated, or there might be dirt clogged up between some of the fins preventing air to flow and cool it properly.

Water pump could also be a culprit, even though it's not leaking, the impeller could be corroded and therefore not pumping enough water through the system.

The radiator cap could be faulty, and therefore not keeping the correct pressure in the system, but letting water overflow to the expansion tank too early.

And yes, there could be some problems with the fan, but you seem to have already tested that it works properly.

^ Spot on, the 5th isn’t a good day for extensions.

And the 10th should also be closed. Any other weekday from now on should be OK for the OP to do the extension.

You can go in early, no problem. You will not lose anything by doing so, the 30 day extension will give still follow from the 16th.

What rate did you get? If it is less than other banks it's not worth finding one of their ATM's.

At the risk of getting our resident google expert from the Finance sub section interjecting,, but on two separate weekends when rates have been locked down and the same piece of plastic used but I was to receive a higher true cost using AEON.

Yes of course they dont charge the 150 baht, but I dont care what anybody links in a response, but you get a lower rate. Try it yourself when rates are locked but you MUST use the same piece of plastic which allevaites any discussion re bank charges from home.

Chivas, quite funny to see that you are slamming AEON ATMs in this forum as well. Man what has AEON done to you to deserve this?

So if I read you correctly, you're here stating that AOEN will give a lesser exchange rate than, some other banks ATM on a weekend?

I had to go through my online statement a few months back before I could find any AEON withdrawals over a weekend.

Here are two that occurred in July this year. As there are no other fees, (since I used an AEON ATM). The rate can easily be calculated.

Each pull was for 15K Baht.

My withdrawals and the VISA exchange rate are exactly the same.

If you do the math, you should come up with the same result.

Reciprocals in parentheses, as that's what you will see, if you check the exchange rate on VISAs site.

July 30: 29.64 (0.033737)

July 16: 30.05 (0.033277)

Conclusion, AEON provided me with the best possible exchange rate.

Ya, I'm not entirely clear about that with Schwab... To have a High Yield checking account with them, you have to also open a linked brokerage account, although you don't have to do anything with the brokerage account or even keep more than $1 in it...

However, I seem to recall reading comments here from Schwab account holders in the past who said they had Schwab cards linked to the cash balance in their brokerage account.

I've never asked Schwab about that myself, since having one Schwab card linked to the checking account has always been more than enough for me.

It makes me wonder, though, whether that issue might have anything to do with some Schwab account holders talking about getting immediate ATM fee reimbursements, while others (myself included) typically get those credited at month's end.

I guess I should ask Schwab about a brokerage account linked card next time I'm talking with them.

Seeing MTH's answer above, I suppose there are some folks who ONLY have the Schwab brokerage account for various reasons, and weren't interested in or having any need for the checking account.

As my debit card is linked directly to my brokerage account, I'd say this make sense.

I get reimbursed immediately for ATM fees, if there are any, and have always been.

Others that have mentioned end of month reimbursements, seems to all be withdrawing funds from their checking account.

JimGant was also curious about this the other day.

This could also explain the difference in maximum pull per ATM transaction, $500 vs. $1000 .

I currently don't have a Schwab checking account. However that might change, (been using BofA for checking, but been thinking about cancelling that account, due to their new fee structure and minimum account balance requirements).

Jim, I read somewhere that my card was limited to $500 per withdrawal and $1000 per 24 hours. So I usually try to pull close to the equivalent of $500 when I use an ATM. I have been close to $10 over a few times, but assumed that due to exchange rates, a slight excess wouldn’t raise any flags and deny the transaction. Have never tried to pull more at one time, however have been declined once when I tried to withdraw more than $1000 in a 24 hour period.

When I talked to Schwab about raising the limit, I was calling customer service from over here. I actually called about another issues and asked this in passing. I don’t remember the actual answer, it might have been that I had to do it writing and could not do it over the phone.

And yes my card is directly linked to my brokeragae account.

Bring the car along if it's 7 years or older, as you then need to test it there as well. Otherwise just the blue book is enough.

I read somewhere a few days ago that the LTD at Regents no longer does the vehicle inspections.

Interesting, hadn't heard anything about that. Last time I was there doing an inspection was June this year, so it's been a few months.

If that's true, then another option close to the OP, is to head out from Pattaya Klang, turn left on Sukhumvit nortbound.

Just after soi 34 there is a shop that does the testing and takes care of insurance and taxes. Here is a link to the location.

Guess it's the same shop that timekeeper mentions.

Supposedly there are more shops like this around, they all have a yellow cog on the sign, but this is the only one that I know the location of.

Downside with these subshops is that you have to hand in the paperwork one day and then come back a day or two later for pickup.

I went there this morning. Quick and easy. Car on the rolling road. Out in 10 minutes. Total cost 2,337 Baht for Tax, Insurance, Inspection. Inspection inluded was 200 Baht as is the 50 Baht service charge. I go back tomorrow and collect the documents. Took the car home with me.

Easy to find thanks to that link. Big sign outside saying Car Inspections.

Thanks for the brilliant link

My pleasure, I know how hard it sometimes can be, to find a place here based only on directions.

I personally have an ACH link between Bangkok Bank and a US bank account. Trust me, this is only ONE way. No ambiguity at all. You can do an ACH transfer to your Bangkok Bank Thailand based account. You set up the ACH transfer through your US bank website. It's a bit complicated to do the initial setup. Then you can do ACH transfers anytime you want TO Thailand. You can never do them from Thailand back to the linked US account. You don't open an account with BB NYC (or London) but you do the ACH transfers to those banks with your Thai bank account number.

I know you’re correct. I too have one US account linked to BKKB via ACH through NY.

I never stated you can send monies back to the US through this system.

I just supplied chanwit with some information on how to set up and ACH link, as he asked for it.

I knew there was a Bangkok Bank in New York but have been unable to find a branch in Thailand that knew how to transfer money there.

Could you please elaborate on "send it to ur Bkk Bank account number and it is credited in Thailand"

How exactly do you do this?

And more to the point, most big banks in the US now limit transfers to $1000 without the extra security systems they have initiated in the pass 3 years.

What I mean now they send an SMS to your US mobile phone or other device which would make it impossible to do a transfer from Thailand.

Even if you could handle the SMS message the US banking system recognizes your Thailand Internet provider ICP address and voids the attempted transfer.

My Bank of America account requires you visit a US branch and fill out 20 pages of documents to enable a phone transfer over $1000.

I've had good luck around this transfer limit by using Bill Pay instead of an ACH transfer. I wonder if I could Bill Pay my Thailand Bangkok Bank account though the New York branch.

Any thoughts?

Someone at a local BKKB office here would most likely not know anything about setting up an ACH transfer.

Your branch back home should be able to help you though.

Here is some information from BKKB.

Here is my post from another tread about this.

It's great if you need to transfer a larger amount quickly without paying huge fees.

Center condo do still allow walk-ins, and the pool is supposedly 25 meters, according to their web site.

Deck chairs are 50 Baht, free if you buy something from the bar.

There's no way that pool is 25 metres & the general area doesn't look clean either

I've been there a few times to eat, don't have any complaints on cleanliness and the food has always been up to par.´

Never been swimming in the pool though. However I was a bit surprised that the web site stated it as 25m.

I would also have thought it was a bit shorter, that's why I said: "Supposedly 25 meters, according to their web site".

Did you walk along the pool to get an approximate feel for how long it is?

There is one other possibility. If the time and date are being changed to just one day or several hours away, it could be that time auto-synchronization is enabled. If your computer thinks it's in your home country it will auto-synch to the wrong time and date. I have this happen to me from time to time (no pun intended).

Click on your clock/date, click on "change time and date settings..." Click on "Internet time" tab. Click on "Change Settings" and make sure "Synchonize with internet clocks" is unchecked.

Good luck.

As you say this is a possibility. However why disable synchronization? Whenever I travel to a new time zone and will be there for more than a few hours, I change the time zone settings to coincide with where I am. Then my computer clock will always stay accurate.

I too do suspect a faulty CMOS battery though.

Your assumption is most likely correct. I got a response from Jiu-Jitsu in the mobile forum a few months ago regarding 3G providers in Bangkok.

He pointed me to this site as one option. At the bottom of the page you can see the MVNO partners that provides access over TOTs network.

AFAICR all my one year visas, O and B type, have been stamped in my passport and all my tourist visas have been of the sticker type.

But as Mario says, this all depends on the issuing embassy/consulate.

I hope you're aware that you will get a poorer exchange rate by doing an over the counter withdrawal inside a bank, than withdrawing monies from an ATM.

At an over the counter withdrawal you will get the banks own exchange rate.

However at an ATM you will get the daily interbank exchange rate, which is more beneficial to you, than the local banks exchange rate.

Not correct - if the transaction is a cash advance off the card, then its a visa or mc transaction and the rate is the visa or mc rate. The bank's exchange rate will apply for currency exchange or travellers checks etc.

Not sure what exchange rate you would get on a cash advance, however I don't doubt you're correct. I've only done it once, years ago and just remember it ended up being quite expensive. And as TGJohnBKK says, that will be against a credit card not a debit card with other fees to consider. You will have to start paying interest from day one of your cash advance, additionally you might have to pay a foreign exchange fee and a cash advance fee, depending on the issuing bank.

There are quite a few different exchange rates at the banks here, if you're doing an over the counter withdrawal, with a debit card, you will most likely get the "Sight Bill" rate. Compare that to the Visa exchange rate, and you can easily calculate how much you will lose.

I have the same linkage (i.e., with brokerage), but I receive my ATM reimbursements at the end of the month. No big deal -- but curious.

The ATM entry for 8/16 in the statement is the Aeon at Carrefour (well, it was Big C by this time) so, of course, no ATM fee to rebate. The end-of-month rebate was for the 7/12 Bangkok Bank ATM withdrawal.

MTH, in case you hadn't noticed with your report, the 15,000 (plus 150) baht from Bangkok Bank on Sunday, Sept 18th, and the 15,000 baht from Aeon, on Monday the 19th, both had the same exchange rate of 30.251. And it would have been the same rate had you hit the ATM on Saturday, Sept 17. This is because Visa DOES advertise -- and use -- weekend exchange rates, based on the projection for Monday (MC does not). Check it out at their site, HERE (you have to use the inverse of the number provided).

The MC site is found HERE

Of course, if their projection is off, you may or may not be better off. In this Sept case, the dollar was heading north at a pretty good clip, and Monday's TT rate (30.30) exceeded the Visa rate, which is normally several satang better than the TT rate. MC, which normally has a worse rate than both Visa and TT, was, at 30.21 on Monday, 19 Sept, true to form.

[A check of Visa for last weekend (12-13 Nov)had the rate at 30.741 which, again, was the rate you see for Monday, 14 Nov. The Bangkok Bank TT rate for 14 Nov was 30.65. MC was 30.54 -- a full 20 satang worse than Visa. What's in your wallet? ]

Besides saving on that 150 baht fee, it's nice that Schwab does NOT pass on the Visa foreign transaction fee. So, on my 25,000 baht pulls, I saved 250 baht each over the majority of cards that do pass-on the 1% fee, as well as, in many cases, add additional fees.

Good information Jim,

Someone else banking with Schwab without a brokerage account, told me that they were reimbursed at the end of the month.

So I thought that was the difference. Well I guess there's more to it then.

Yes thanks, I had noticed that my exchange rates were the same. I usually do check my exchange rates and I've been using this site, but the result is the same. Didn't know about the weekend rates though, that can be useful!

Can't beat Schwab. Just hope they don't follow-up on this quote from their monthly statement:

Schwab Bank reserves the right to modify or discontinue the ATM fee rebate at any time

Arghhhh!

This is worrying, and I therefore always try to use AEON if possible, then I don't rack up on ATM surcharge reimburses.

Hopefully as long as this doesn't stick out too much, Schwab will continue doing it.

You got some wrong information from 'somebody'.

You can enter either by land or air and use your current visa. You will then get the initial 60 days.

Just remember to write the visa number on the TM card.

No, you don't need a return ticket when entering Thailand.

Correct, you would most likely only get a 7 day extension, but even that is not a guarantee.

As you've got conflicting responses, I'll agree with elliss.

You're currently permitted to stay until the December 2, 2011.

Then you will have to leave Thailand.

You can activate your second entry any time before Feb 22, 2012.

At which point you will receive another 60 days, that can be extended an additional 30 days.

Chivas, you're referring to what's called a "counter withdrawal."

Some Thai bank branches will do that, and not charge the 150 baht fee. But others will balk and direct the person outside to use their ATMs, which do charge the fee. Members here have had mixed and inconsistent results with that method.

The other issue about counter withdrawals is that the banks typically require you to present your passport when doing one, which means the person needs to be carrying it with them at the time.

I always carry a color, laminated photocopy of my passport and visa stamp...but never my actual passport for safety/security reasons. I've used my passport copy for some things at Thai banks, and they've always accepted the laminated copy... But I've never tried to use it for a counter withdrawal, so I can't speak to that.

That's the nice thing about AEON ATMs in Thailand vs. the regular Thai bank ATMs: AEON ATMs don't charge the 150 baht fee, they accept most regular VISA or MC logo debit cards, you don't have to worry about them saying yes or no like some branches with counter withdrawals, and they don't require any passport to use them.

My Apologies-I was assuming everyone knew that you can go inside the bank and normally withdraw.

I did it twice in Buriram at a SCB and BB Branch with no problem. Got the impression that they had become used to farangs asking to do it-whatever no query and no problem. These branches were actually in the centre.

I hope you're aware that you will get a poorer exchange rate by doing an over the counter withdrawal inside a bank, than withdrawing monies from an ATM.

At an over the counter withdrawal you will get the banks own exchange rate.

However at an ATM you will get the daily interbank exchange rate, which is more beneficial to you, than the local banks exchange rate.

You may be correct but is the difference 150 baht, on say a 10,000 withdrawal ??

No, you've got a point there. If you're paying the 150 Baht ATM surcharge, you would probably have to maximize your withdrawal to cancel it out.

Chivas, you're referring to what's called a "counter withdrawal."

Some Thai bank branches will do that, and not charge the 150 baht fee. But others will balk and direct the person outside to use their ATMs, which do charge the fee. Members here have had mixed and inconsistent results with that method.

The other issue about counter withdrawals is that the banks typically require you to present your passport when doing one, which means the person needs to be carrying it with them at the time.

I always carry a color, laminated photocopy of my passport and visa stamp...but never my actual passport for safety/security reasons. I've used my passport copy for some things at Thai banks, and they've always accepted the laminated copy... But I've never tried to use it for a counter withdrawal, so I can't speak to that.

That's the nice thing about AEON ATMs in Thailand vs. the regular Thai bank ATMs: AEON ATMs don't charge the 150 baht fee, they accept most regular VISA or MC logo debit cards, you don't have to worry about them saying yes or no like some branches with counter withdrawals, and they don't require any passport to use them.

My Apologies-I was assuming everyone knew that you can go inside the bank and normally withdraw.

I did it twice in Buriram at a SCB and BB Branch with no problem. Got the impression that they had become used to farangs asking to do it-whatever no query and no problem. These branches were actually in the centre.

I hope you're aware that you will get a poorer exchange rate by doing an over the counter withdrawal inside a bank, than withdrawing monies from an ATM.

At an over the counter withdrawal you will get the banks own exchange rate.

However at an ATM you will get the daily interbank exchange rate, which is more beneficial to you, than the local banks exchange rate.

Go to Bangkok Bank and take out 25,000. 150 on top of 25k is really not worth worrying about...

As a one off, the 150 Baht fee is nothing to worry about.

However if you do this 3-4 times a month, it adds up over a year.

So if the fee can be avoided, why pay for it?

There are other ways to get around the fee as well, e.g. there are some issuing banks that credit these withdrawal fees.

Not good news. Has anyone tried with a Visa ATM card from the US and been hit with this fee?

I have unfortunatly. I have been getting hit with the $5 from AEON at Carefour here in Patttaya ever since they installed a new machine about 5 months ago. this is over and bove the international transaction fee's my bank chages me. When I use that card I usually take out a large amount as many people do and the machine is often out of service. No biggie as there are better and less costly ways to move money around.

i use HSBC UK visa card & DBS Singapore Mastercard at this and the other two Aeon locations

there is no 150 charge levied by Aeon up to yesterday

HSBC charges £5 on a £300 daily limit withdrawal 14,000-15,000 baht (robbing b****)

DBS charges SG$5 on a withdrawal up to the machines capacity of 40,000 baht on a SG$2000 a day limit

these bank charges have not changed for 3 years

if you use a SCB Bank card overseas in an ATM, they will charge the account 100 baht per transaction for the privilege

so i think maybe its some additional bank charges levied on your account that you are talking about not Aeons........

If you get back to the UK look at Metrobank ( London area only at the moment ) There are no foreign withdrawal charges. metrobank-online.co.uk

I also go inside the bank with my passport to avoid the 150 bts ATM charge ( I also get free cup of tea whilst I wait ).

If you go into the bank, you might avoid any ATM charges. However you will pay a quite a bit more, due to the poor exchange rate the bank will offer you.

You can look up VISA and MC daily interbank exchange rates on the internet. Compare that next time to what the bank provided you with. Then you can then calculate the cost of sipping your "free" cup of tea.

As for the topic on surcharges by AEON. Still haven't been hit by one, using my U.S. VISA debit card either at the south or central Pattaya locations.