Have changed sides just bought a Turbo Landcruiser

Hi there Warren, the only thing I would recomend besides the usual servicing like all diesels filters etc is find out wether the main bearings have been done. Their were a bad batch of bearings released fitted to these motors, its possible the previous owner has done them but to be on the safe side if not I would have them done and then every 100thou after that. Its not a major expense roughly around the $500 mark to get done. Great vehicle otherwise. Regards steve

Hi Warren, how many k's has your new beast done? I think if you check on lcool technical you will find the bearings that gave trouble early on with this model were the con rod (big end) bearings. From what I have read there were different bearing suppliers and some failed at fairly low k's. These were replaced under warranty but as wherehegone has said it's not a bad idea to have them checked and replaced if there is any doubt. My personal opinion as to startup is to fire the engine without any accelerator and let it idle for a short while to let the oil pressure normalise. Shutting down depends on how hard you have been driving. If you have been running around the local shopping centre carpark looking for a place to pull in (usually at low throttle) I don't think you will harm anything by turning the engine off without much idle down time. On the other hand pulling hard through beach sand on a hot day I would let the engine idle for a couple of minutes. Fitting an exhaust pyrometer if the car does not already have one is not a bad indicator as to how stressed your turbo and engine internals are and if they need a cool down period. As far as turbo timers are concerned I think leaving the engine running and walking away is illegal in most states, but I could be wrong.
Apart from normal servicing these 80 series don't appear to have any particular problems and seem to be a pretty good unit.

Cheers
Pop

"Hallelujah, another brother has seen the light"
"Praise be to the brother who now drives a Toyota"
"Hallelujah to you Sir to ride a mighty steed"
"Hallelujah for becoming enlightened"
"Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah"


Sorry, thought that was something i thought of on the fly!

didn't mean to hijack the thread. I got inspired by a memory of a African american baptist minister.

Have fun with your new vehicle.

i hope you have a good laugh.

Warren,
Watch the weight of the gear(+ water etc) you load into your van, the early 80 Series may not have the same towing capacity as the later model GQ's.

Peter

Gday,
First of all...... Dont be surprised if it starts when you turn the key on.
Secondly.....You will probably find you need to turn the key off to stop it running.

After all those years of the Nissan stopping when it wanted to and not starting, these little Toyota traits might take a little getting used to.

Good luck
LOL

Cheers

Hi Warren,
Not a very expensive job to have the Big Ends Bearings done, I just had mine done on Friday. $300.00 plus oil & filter, I supplied my own. The old girl has 312000 k's on her now, pretty cheap insurance if you ask me.
I've fitted a Bogaard turbo timer, pretty easy to set up. Behind the drives kick panel you will pull a plug apart, connect the timers wirng into that and earth the timer. Find some where to put the stop over ride button and the jobs done. They come in handy if you've been towing up a rang or hill, and at the top you pull over, it will let it idle for up to 5 minutes in settings of 30 seconds increments.
If your radiator is looking a bit sad, replace it with a 4 core brass/copper one, about 600 to 700 bucks.They tend to get a little hot while towing into a head wind for long periods.
As Pop mentioned, become a member of Lcool, there is heaps of info there about what to do and not to do.
Peter & Drew are right about their towing capacity, I believe the weight to be 2500kg in the earlier model., 96 they changed it 3500kg.

Also Warren,If you can get your hands on some Chemtec Diesel power additive, she'll run heaps better on it, check eBay for 80 stuff. Just type into the search '80 series' A lot of it is new after market gear from 4wd shops that is way less than what you would paid for it from Mr Toyota.
If your going to do a hell of a lot of Highway driving, it may pay to put a part time kit in her, from Marks Adapters,
3" exhaust from Scotts Rods Will let her breath heaps better, I fitted one, and what a difference it made, more torque, better fuel economy Again you can buy this from eBay,
I know I'm an eBay junkie

I hope this helps,
One less for them & one more for us

Good stuff

Onya Warren......at least you now own a diesel; even if it does have the wrong badge on the grille...hahaha.

You probably already know this, but in case you don't....you will need to allow the glow plugs to do their cycle before hitting the starter for the first time each day......well, you do on all the diesels I've ever started anyway; Toyotas are so perfect that maybe you don't need to do this step on one of them...LOL

Personally I wouldn't bother with a turbo timer. 99% of the time, when it's time to switch the engine off, it won't be hot enough to need to idle it down. This includes when you've been tooling along the highway at 100k/h, come into a town and decide to pull up for lunch, pit-stop, smoko etc.... by the time you slow down from 100 to 80 then to 50 (say 2 to 3 minutes in a small town), the turbo will have cooled sufficiently to enable a safe shutdown immediately when you pull up.

I would much rather spend the money fitting a pyro gauge. This will tell you what the exhaust gas temperature is, so not only will you know if your temp has reduced to a safe level to switch the engine off; but it's also a really useful tool to show you if you are labouring the engine at all.

Cheers mate and hope Barb is well.

Roachie