Wednesday, Feb 28, 2018 at 10:29
One of the things you learn about Japanese vehicles, after you have worked on them for years - is that they will change the design of many components and panels up to three or four times a year - just because they can!
I went to buy a Hilux windscreen wiper blade from a Toyota dealer quite a number of years ago - and the parts bloke asked the year - which I gave him - then he said, "what month of build in that year?"
I asked, "Why does the build month matter?" ...
He replied, "Because there are no less than THREE different designs of wiper blade for Hiluxes in that year! So I need the exact build month to get the right one!"
The only way you can find out the design changes is by tracking down the parts
breakdown of your model.
Parts that show the same part number are interchangeable. If the part number is different, there's been a change in design.
Sometimes, that engineering change is relatively minor, and the part will still interchange with previous models.
If there's a diagram for the part, you can sometimes see a physical difference in the part/component.
To that end, helpfully, we fortunately have the Toyota EPC (Electronic Parts Catalog) online!
Toyota EPC - Landcruiser
The important part about using the EPC is ensuring that you have your PRECISE model number to hand when you search the catalog!
You must also select the country where your model is located - as there are European models, American models, Japanese models, and Australian and Midde East models of Toyotas! - and they all have build variations and different parts!
A 100 series model number looks something like this - UZJ100R-GNANKQ.
The first 5 or 6 letters and numbers is the basic model - the R or L following the basic model designation refers to RHD or LHD - and the following 5 or 6 letters refer to a range of other variations in build such as auto tranny, live or independent front end, etc, etc.
Once you find your model number listed, you will see "Options" at the end of the headings. Holding your mouse over the abbreviation gives a description of what the abbreviation stands for - and the last abbreviation under "Options" is the country where the model is sold.
There is one "country" description - "GEN" - and this means a "General" model, sold in multiple countries, with exactly the same build for those multiple countries.
Cheers, Ron.
AnswerID:
617242