Buying my first 4wd - update

haha, you stumped me there. All I know its a turbo diesel, didnt really look at the exact specs as it was a stormy day in Adelaide today and I was looking at cars in between the rain. Going to upload some photos to flickr then link on here and that might help see what type it is

Nice looking patrol jarz, looks like its been looked after (going by the pics). Personally I wouldnt touch it if its the 3Litre, 4.2 would be great if thats what it is even the 2.8 is fairly good. Im sure going by the pics some one will be able to tell you what motor it is. I would get the warranty with it BUT CHECK the small print, it might not be worth the paper its printed on.......... Regards Steve

Im fairly sure it wasnt the 4.2, it drove fine but I only went for about a 15 min drive in fairly heavy traffic. Before buying any car I will get it thoroughly checked out by more than one mechanic or whoever does it. Im happy to spend $500 or whatever it costs to get it checked out.

With this car, the dealer mainly sells 2-5 year old BMW, Merc, Porsches etc and this one was traded in a couple weeks ago because they wanted a BMW. So yea it seemed looked after and I am able to contact the previous owners if necessary.

One thing tho, where are the 80 series LC's????? Couldnt find one anywhere today and I literally went by 40+ car yards!

This one has a bonnet scoop - but I didn't think the 4.2L TD had a bonnet scoop?

You should be able to find some 80's on carsales.com.au, drive.com.au, carpoint.com.au or tradingpost.com.au - would save you some driving around! For $18,000 you should be able to get a very good 80. That price is starting to get into the early 100 Series 'Cruisers.

I would take that as a sign, personally it would be an 80 series, they are good value for money, or a patrol 4.2.
DO NOT BUY A 3L PATROL AT ANY PRICE. Even a 2.8 at that milage will only have limited life.
I recon if you hunted around you would get a good 90 series prado for your budget.

Cheers Pesty

Yea thanks for the replies, I looked up a couple of 80 series/100 series with 250+ kms last night but when I went to the dealers today to check them out, either they had been sold or were out on a test drive so yeah, its a very competitive market!

Still, as I said in my post last week Im happy to look for a couple months until the perfect car pops up, am not going away til January next year

It's definitely a 2.8L. Don't listen to the people who knock the 2.8, as most of them have never owned one. I've had mine for 9 years, without any problems.

The main problems with these motors is that a few of them have been known to crack heads at around the 200k mark. It can be very difficult to find the cracks sometimes, a normal compression test wont pick it up. It is important to regularly (at least every 2 years) change the coolant & flush the cooling system to help prevent this. They can also develop a hot start problem due to wear in the injector pump. This can normally be fixed by replacing a plate in the pump, cost about $50 all up.

They are a bit slow off the mark, until the turbo comes on boost, so are not the ideal vehicle if you intend to tow heavy loads. I have no trouble towing my 4.2m ally boat & my B.I.L. has towed a mates 4.7m side console ally boat with his 2.8 easily.

Check out the patrol forum for all the information you need.

Ross I reckon 10% of car dealers are totally honest, but I have found 90% of private sellers are basically honest. I have brought the last 14 cars privately, and the only dud was a lj80 that I only paid $1800 in 1986. A persons House will tell you a lot about them.
Does not mean not to be careful, but bargains are out their. Dealers are experts at getting top dollar, often for rubbish that's had a beaut detail.
Cheers Pete