Longevity of 80 series Landcruisers.

Yes I totally agree with you on that eighty matey, Gotta love the Cruisers, I am one who now owns a fantastic 100 series. The road taken to end up with this 100 series has been long and varied as I owned a TD 79series with a Camper on its back for 5 years, and this set up served me well travelling to the Cape twice and the Simpson, Birdsville, Oodnadatta, Cameron's Corner and lots more in between. I sold the 79 series back in Oct 2013 to sit may ass in a 2007 200 series TTD, and I have to say that this 200 series was the most comfortable, most responsive vehicle I have ever driven and I loved it. That was until I was introduced to the problems that these trucks can suffer and the exorbitant prices that some dealerships want to charge to fix them, mine had 207000k's on it when it developed an oil leak under the valley and toward the front of the engine. A non Toyota mechanic struggled to find the source of the leak and after $1100 (2 days on his hoist) he told me it will need to go back to Toyota and the engine will need to come out, I was shocked to say the least. This mechanic phoned a Toyota dealership to see if the problem existed with other customer vehicles, he was told by the service technician that this is an isolated case and they will need the truck for up to 4 weeks. The whole conversation was heard by me as the mechanic had Toyota on speaker phone and when the question of a ball park figure was asked, the Toyota guy responded with a huff and said anything up to $10,000 as when they are in there they will look at the injectors and rail system. I realised then that I simply don't have the funds available to keep this 200 series maintained so it was given to a dealer who wholesaled it to auction (with all faults listed on an invoice from this non Toyota mechanic) I lost a bucket load of money in the transaction so I went on the hunt for a factory turbo 100 series wagon steering well clear of the common rail issues, I was in disbelief of the prices that the 100 series were pulling but realised that if I don't buy one soon then the availability of these will soon dry up. So in Oct 2014 I bought a 2004 GXL turbo diesel and I'm still grinning from ear to ear each time I drive it, it doesn't compare to the ride comfort of the 200 series nor does it have the grunt of the twin turbo's but it does have far less computers and comes with the reassurance of getting me back from anywhere I venture as long as it has clean fuel, clean air and regular servicing. Yes go the pre-common rails I say

Bought mine 8 years ago, travelled 120k in it on 5 lots of 6 week trips. Did a diff in Darwin 4 years ago but that has been the only problem. Was bought on the advice of a relative who was in the 4WD business. Coming up to 400k now, no plans in selling it. In that time my kids have tried 200 series Sahara, Pajero, BMW X5 and Range Rover Sports. Twice they have needed to do some serious off road work, so both times they borrowed the 80 series off me as they considered it more reliable!

Love the 80 series matey. I reckon it is Toyota's finest moment. Our 96 GXL Pet/auto is relatively young at 270,000 and very comfortable and capable. We've used my 79 series for long distance touring last couple of years only because its a diesel and its much younger mechanically at 110,000, but the 80 is a superior vehicle in many aspects in my opinion.

We had 2 GXL 80 series, Steve, a '90 & a '97 model.

Stepped out of an asthmatic 60 series one afternoon in Toowoomba, into the '90 model turbo, and life went ahead with a whoosh! Kept it over 2 years, and traded it on the '97 model, that was only 18 months old with 87,000 on the odo. Had it for a further 12 years, and reluctantly sold it to a young bloke on the station, when we moved to town.

The only expensive items we had done were rebuilding the injector pumps.........it seems people will insist on running tanks dry, before switching to the auxiliary tank. Fitted a 166L rear tank to the newer one, and that gave good range for bush trips.

The improvements between the 2 was very noticeable, though the 1HDT seemed to pull much better than the later model turbo.........maybe it was the lower profile tyres?

The young bloke had some bad luck when the rats chewed a small hose on the cooling system, it burst, lost most of coolant and about $12K later he was back on the road again. :-(

Still look with some affection at a good '80, when we see them on the road. :-)

Bob

Oh yes, every year now we discuss the merits of keeping our 80 and each time we discuss it we reach the conclusion that there's nothing to be gained from "upgrading" to a newer model. We have the '97 GXL but have added a Denco turbo. Good to see others also in agreement. I can't see us ever parting company.

Just to add to the above, my 80 series did 518000 km, had it for 12 yrs when I traded in for a 100 series T/D cruiser. Have had this now for 9 yrs, done a low 209000 km so far and the only expense so far is regular Book services by an excellent mechanic, Not over the top prices that Toyota charge. It will last at least another 20 yrs. Cheers

Can't beat a basic 6 cylinder diesel for reliability whether it be a Toyota or Nissan with their lack of computers and electronics you're on a winner.

We had 2 of them over the years and they were a great car, never put a wheel wrong. Sold our last one to a young fella in Brisbane who was going to do it up for his daily ride. I reckon the old girl will be looking a million bucks by now. Only sold it cause it was getting a bit long in the tooth and the local Toyota dealer is probably the wealthiest business owner in the area. Cheers Toni