Monday, Oct 06, 2003 at 10:59
These are great cars and you can get a lot of
miles out of them IF they have had proven maintainance.
See if you can start the engine cold without the owner warming it up before you get there.Ive caught them doing this because they know.Feel the manifolds if possible as they stay warm for hours
If the engine is in good shape it should start easy and blow only a small puff of grey/white smoke for a second or two and settle into a steady idle. If it is hard to start,runs rough and blows lots of smoke its likely a compression problem and time to walk away.
Check for oil leaks where the g/box joins the motor.Note the colour of exhuast smoke when its revved or under load.Blue is worn rings.
I dont know much about turbos so I cant help there.
The gearbox should be a little stiff when cold .When warm watch out for a notchety feel when changing into 2nd and 3rd and if present it means the synchros are gone.With the g/box in neutral and handbrake on, engine off ,get underneath and grab the output flange on the transfer case where the drive shaft to the back wheels bolts on and
check for movement.If there is up/down or sideways movement ,even a few mm means big money to fix and will cause unholy vibrations as it gets worse.Jumping out of gear is another thing to watch for.
There is a seal that separates the t/case and g/box oil .If it fails and it is not uncommon for an elderly landcruiser it causes all the oil in the t/case which is lower to be sucked up into the g/box and this is disastrous.The basic
test is to remove the filler plug on the gearbox and see if oil floods out because it is now overfilled.It can be remedied with an Australian invention that involves a hose that plugs into the filler plug hole and recycles it back to the t/case.Many landcruisers from that era have them fitted as precaution
The front swivel joints need doing every 5-6 years .Look for signs of leakage of grease and oil mixed together behind the front wheel.It should be clean and shiny.Its $600+ job.
The factory diff locks are great but I was unaware of them being fitted to this model and my workshop manual does not mention them(I have a1988 FJ 73 series which uses the same manual).They could be an aftermarket item and if they are not making any noises can be considered ok.
A landcruiser like this one could be a darling or a disaster and if your not sure a $100 investment to have it checked is money
well spent.Its not uncommon to have to spend thousands on these to get them up to standard at this age if they havent had on going maintenance from PO
AnswerID:
32864
Follow Up By: gerard - Wednesday, Oct 08, 2003 at 21:07
Wednesday, Oct 08, 2003 at 21:07
Thanks
Ross
Saw a little bit of black smoke on start-up from cold but otherwise roared into life and settled at a smooth idle immediately.
Yep, the change from 1st to second was slightly notchy but ia felt worse in some other cruisers and even hiluxs that I have driven.
Definitely factory diff locks, this happens to be the second hj61 that i have seen in the last 2 months with front & rear diff locks, prior to that I had not seen any.
What is the name of the bearing that needs replacing if the driveshaft is loose at the rear of transfer case?
Thanks for your help
Cheers
Gerard
FollowupID:
23740