HJ61 Issues

The 12-HT does not have glow plugs. There is only a glow coil on the air intake but it will not glow unless the ambient temperature is below 0deg.

The 12-HT came out in the GX station wagon and the dash has boost gauges - well green light red light fitted.

I've checked the service manual recently and found that mine is meant to idle at 770rpm, it's sitting on 600rpm at the moment, but at 770rpm, idles a lot smoother and without the roughness. So i'll be setting my minimum idle speed to 770rpm this weekend. Hopefully this will solve this little problem.

Yeah mate, I'm in W.A.

Hi Gerry,

Thanks for that, the car has an aftermarket boost gauge fitted so I wasn't sure if the gauge was dicky or not.

I must say that I am pretty impressed by the performance of this engine, it chugs along quite happily on the freeway at good speeds for a car this size. I dare say it would've given my old 4.5ltr Patrol a kick in the pants.

Thanks mate, I'll add this to the Service Assualt list for the weekend! Any other little tricks I should know about these motors?

Another little trick

There is a coolant hose that is only 70mm long and goes between the pump and thermostat housing. If that splits it is a major issue to remove all the parts to replace it. The easy way is to put the new hose in boiling water and when it is soft and pliable just force it into the gap.

Make sure you don't run your fuel too low as the fuel pump uses the coolness of incoming fuel to keep it cool. The motor only uses about 20% of the fuel pumped up and the rest is sent back to the fuel tank and recycled. If you run your fuel really low then you are running hot fuel through the pump.

Get yourself the diaphragm on the back of the fuel pump for a spare part - these can split as happened to a mate of mine and then - no go.

I had a turbo timer on mine - just to cool down the turbo after trips. The turbo uses oil from the motor to cool down so if after a long hard run you just shut it off it can crack a turbo. $$$$$$$$$$$

Love the motor - no glow plugs, no computer, over engineered everything, tough as, simple as - should go 1,000,000 km.

I changed oil very 3 months.

David

Hi Banditfj
I've owned one of these motors for five years now, added 100K to the clock, and I smile inwardly every time I drive it.The 12HT motor is one of the best that Toyota have made and should give you plenty of years of reliable motoring.
Here's a few extra tips:-
1/ When changing the air filter always unclamp and detach the rubber hose from the top of the air cleaner, don't be tempted to leave it attached and bend it out the way when replacing the filter as the hose will split [it has different diametre ends] and it costs a lot more than $100 from Toyota to replace.
2/ Use the Toyota genuine oilfilters , they have a extra fine bypass filter built in.
3/When replacing the coolant ,flush then use a 50/50 mix of Toyota "Longlife" coolant and distilled water and change every 2 years.
4/If you cruiser is an automatic, install a transmission fluid cooler , especially if you do a lot of towing.
5/If you cruiser is a Jap import[24 volt] replace the "Japanese conditions" thermostat with the cooler running "Australian conditions" one.
6/Oil change every 5000km[I always change the filter at the same time], dump the oil within a minute of turning off the hot engine, while all the sludge is still in suspension and let it drain overnight. Pre-fill the new oil filter before spinning it on the motor, that way the oil pressure comes to normal much quicker.
7/ Consider adding CAV fuel-filter with a water-trap, this greatly extends the life of your regular fuel-filters and is a bit more protection for your pump and injecters.

Enjoy Your Purchase

Welldone

Hi Welldone,

Thanks for the info mate, greatly appreciated.

With regards to the thermostat, what are the aus ones meant to open at? 82ºC? I'll get to it this weekend.

Cheers!

Bandit

Hi Bandit
The temperature is stamped of the thermostat:-
Japanese........88ºC
Australian.......82ºC
Cheers
Welldone

Alrighty I'll look into that Kevin. She's got 249,000km's on the clock and I plan on keeping her for a while yet, so I want to get everything running hunky dorey straight up.

Any good diesel specialists in Perth?

My mate takes his 100 series to Freo Injection but i'm not sure if they'd work on me old dinosaur. I'd preferably like to take it to someone who has good knowledge about these motors so I can rest assured everything is done right.

Less than 250,000 Kms.??

The plurry thing is only just run in !!!!!!!