Kev - (Cairns,QLD) replied:

Have you thought about going to Toyota for the work ?
They quoted me approx $400 to change the bearings and as you said its cheap insurance.
What i want to know is how do you know if its been done already by the previous owner ? Do Toyota keep a record of this stuff ?

A bloke i know had his bearings let go just a couple of months ago while towing a boat, cost him $5,500 to fix the engine.

Kev.

Roly replied:

can't west end do it for you, they know their stuff.

a friend of mine also does stuff from home, can out you in touch with him if you want to save a few $$$$

Roly

Janset replied:

Hi mrdesmo.

Why do you want to replace the big ends ? Do you suffer low oil pressure, are they knocking? Do you suspect a problem there?

I sold some tyres to a prospector guy with a 92 troopie with a 1HZ motor (non turbo) a couple of days ago and his bus has done in the region of 400,000 Km and he is still running on the original bottom end.

From all that I have read, the overhead diesel motor 1HZ, in you case it may be the 1HD-T (Turbo) same dog different fleas does not suffer from the weaker bottom end bearing failures experienced in the earlier pre overhead cam model.

The normally aspirated 1HZ motor has a compression ration of 22.7:1 and the turbo 18.6:1 so if anything logic would indicate less loading under normal usage. Granted the turbo pumps a lot more juice in but still the compression is still less.

Mine in an intercooled 1HZ turbo with the indirect injection higher compression standard head and it has done 60,000 kM so far. Touch wood it still runs as good as the day it was modified.

My advice for what it's worth, don't look for demon under the bed unless you hear the clanking of chains in the basement :-))

Just food for thought.

Regards

Roly replied:

the factory turbo diesels had bearing shell problems from new

the bearing would brreak down and flake

toyota spent lots of $$$ replacing bearing in and out of warrenty as well as complete engines after failure

Roly

Roly replied:

toyota should be able to tell you if THEY did the bearing change over

if not, do it anyway, piece of mind

i'm in the market for a factory TD 80 (to repla ce my GU)and i'll do it as soon as I buy one.

why wouldnt you spend $400 on an unknown engine to save a huge repair bill in the future

Roly

Member - DOZER replied:

This toppic was discussed on the cruiser web last week. It seems the oil we get over here is different in Calcium content to jap oil, and this may well be the reason big ends are failing. Two friends one with the 91 1hdt and the other with a 1hz/safari turbo have had bearings come out worse for wear. Do them every 100000kms and sleep well at night. $400 every 5 years is not a great outlay for a glimps at the condition of the motor. Mates 1hdt had ACL aftermarket brgs in it when he bought it, and just to make sure he had them checked.... they were delaminating like the Toyota ones, so he is on his 3rd set that we know of.
Andrew wheredayathinkwer mike?

Member - Dave replied:

I spoke to toyota in Canberra the other day to find out if mine had been done (90 model turbo) as the previous owner and service place told me was done under warranty. What they told me was the bearings were not officially classed as warrantly but "customer satisfaction" and as such there was no register kept. Bet if you tried to get something from them they would know if it was done or not. They said that could not search under engine/chassis number as it was not a recall type of thing and was done on a case by case basis. They also said that all the ones that failed (flaking or just broke) occurred before 120 thousand. Mines 280 something and they said it would be just wear and tear. They said it would be about $500 odd to replace, and if any damage to the crank jumps straight around the $5,500 mark. This is when he started to loose me as he said the WHOLE motor would need replacing. My old man was a mechanic (now retired) and we built/rebuilt a few V8's (ford) for me. I just can not see how if the crank has some damage that you just can't buy another one, or have it reground. He also told me that you can not tell if they need replacing by oil pressure as this is maintained through the mains and not the big ends. he also said that it was only a period of bearings that were effected.

I was talking to the head of the service department so I dont know if he was just doing something in my pocket or not. Cheap insurance to replace - I think so. Will be getting mine done in the future. But with the assistance of the old man. I can say that I have been told by lots of people that the T/D in the early years there was definatley a big end problem.

Member - Mal B replied:

as a 80 series factory turbo owner 1992 model if you change your oil every 5000 k as per your owners manul no problms safe driveing mal