Sunday, May 19, 2019 at 22:03
Hi,
I had a 2007 120 Series D4D Prado and sold it 7 years later in 2014. That model was the early D4D that had the injector and injector seal problems. IIRC by 2009 or 10 they had it sorted in production, but I may be wrong, it may have been later.
Mine had injector problems that were picked up by the dealer during routine service at about 60k/2 years and were replaced under warranty.
Apart from the early injectors themselves, the other problem was the early injector sealing washers. They could leak hot combustion gases into the rocker cover and cause carbonisation of engine oil. The carbon granules migrated to the sump and were picked up on the oil pump inlet mesh filter and over time would choke the mesh, leading to oil starvation and a failed engine. This mainly occurred in engines that were not given scheduled oil changes. Ie, abused and neglected.
Redesigned washers appeared early in the engine's life to address the problem. Your injectors, having been recently replaced, will have the new washers so you should not have a problem. The filter mesh is directly above the sump drain, so if you're worried about any residual issues you can easily check the mesh with an inspection camera through the sump drain.
I stuck to book service intervals of 10k, but after or during an arduous trip would do an intermediate oil change at 5k. By arduous I mean outback or mountainous towing, close to GCM, hot weather. With that regime I never had any problems apart from the one warranty issue I mentioned up to the time I sold it at 160k/7 years.
I kept in touch with the next owner for 2 years and he had no problems, despite giving it a bashing.
An oil catch can is beneficial. If it hasn't got one, consider an intake system clean out and then fit one, but if it's running fine there's no hurry.
EDIT: If it's an automatic a transmission cooler is easy to fit, inexpensive and
well worthwhile, IMO, particularly if towing.
A good resource is
Pradopoint. There is another one set up by a guy who
broke away from Pradopoint. He's a real 120 Prado guru, but I can't find his site now, sorry, but he's worth searching for.
Re your point (1). All common rail diesels are the same re contaminated fuel. The Prado is no different, so no special precautions for that engine over any other. As RMD said, a pre filter would be a good investment if it hasn't already got one.
Point (2) - already discussed above
Point (3) - Rather than that fixed regime, every so often get injector
feedback values checked by a dealer. If they are within tolerances, leave them alone. If outside, replace. A metallic pinging when cold is a sign they need checking.
Point (4) - I did warm mine up a bit, but not excessively. Just a few minutes. I only warmed down if stopping after the engine had been working hard - towing, prolonged highway speeds, hills, etc. In suburban duty I don't believe it's necessary. Opinions differ, but that's my take.
It's a great vehicle. I would still have it but my wife told me to buy a new BT50 for a tourer and set it up, so I did :-)
Cheers
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