Lubo
I don't know what to suggest. Mine shudders briefly when I switch off,
so I wouldn't worry about that.
To be honest if it returns a reasonably good fuel economy, doesn't burn
a significant amount of engine oil and doesn't blow out too much blue or
black smoke I wouldn't worry too much about the engine. To give you an
idea mine will do at least 27 mpg (10.5l/100km) in typical "mixed" long
and short journey usage. A lot of short journeys in town will be worse,
and long motorway trips will be better - a constant 70 mph will return
29 mpg (9.8l/100km) or better. It uses less than 0.5 litres of engine
oil in 5000km unless I've been working it really hard.
When cold my engine makes all sorts of ticking, clattering, whirring,
whistling and other noises; when warm it is quieter, but it still sounds
like a truck engine - which is exactly what it is!
If you are getting vibration at idle try adjusting the idle speed very
slightly. Start off by very, very gently pressing the accelerator to see
if the vibration changes at all: you may find that at (say) 600rpm it
shudders horribly, but at 650 rpm it is fine. This means that you are
hearing "resonance", where the engine is rattling in tune with something
else in the body and magnifying the noise, in which case a small
adjustment to the idle speed screw will fix it.
If it judders over a range of revs then possibly you do have a problem,
but do the simple things first: replace the air and fuel filters, and
give it a good dose of injector cleaner. Only then move on to worrying
about injectors, timing and fuel pump - and Julian will be able to
advise you there.
As Jon says: it's really a truck engine and chassis to which Toyota have
added a turbo, ABS, air conditioning and a moderately smart body. But
it is still basically a truck: people who ride in mine are sometimes
surprised that a vehicle with such an upmarket reputation is so
agricultural in many ways.
In fact when I bought mine the salesman tried quite hard to talk me out
of it, saying that I'd like the Colorado / Prado more because it had
better road-holding, miles better gearbox, smoother engine, and so on.
All of which is true - the diesel 80 series is NOT a luxury 4x4 by the
standards of 2006. (But compare it with a Range Rover of 1996 vintage
and it looks pretty good.)
Christopher Bell
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