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My new purchase!

Simon5030

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Jul 15, 2014
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great_britain
Well, i have had my 2005 LC about 6 weeks now, during that time i have had the gearbox linkage repaired, wax-oiled the underneath (do they not protect the chassis?), had a great trip to Wales and back with the Scouts for our summer camp (8 seats were useful!).
I recently registered it on My Toyota site only to be told there was a voluntary recall on the LC, i suspected this was to do with the injector seating's so i contacted Toyota and booked it in, to my surprise they mentioned that the recall expires at the end of this month:eusa-naughty:, so me thinking i was very lucky getting it in in time!:eusa-clap:have read many a story of people losing engines and being told it had already expired!
Several days before it was due to go in i noticed the oil light was flickering on and off on tick-over first thing, checked the oil level and it was fine, at this point i was wondering if this was related to the recall? drove it and it disappeared even at tick-over, this set alarm bells ringing:angry-screaming:

Called to pick it up today only to find there is a problem, the modification went ok but they only managed to drain just over a litre of oil out of it, it seems that for some unknown reason the oil had emulsified blocking oilways and causing the turbo bearings to get very noisy and god knows what else, they recommend that the engine is taken out and the whole thing cleaned out £££££, they suspected that the oil had not been changed since 2010 but it shows 2 non Toyota services annually after this :think:

The only good news is that when i bought the car my good lady suggested i took out an RAC warranty, typical man, hmm i know what i am doing, then she said, 'fine', it was at that point that i realized it was a good idea:icon-exclaim: so i splashed out another £400 on RAC's Platinum warranty, anything breaks and its covered up to £3k, so on Monday i pick up my courtesy car from Toyota and they will spend the next 3-4 days stripping the engine and cleaning it, the other bit of good news is that they normally charge £86/hr labour but have offered to do it at £60/hr, as my warranty only covers labour rates (as negotiated with the repairer) up to £50/hr i will only have to pay £100, all of this assuming they don't find the bearings in the sump basket:crying-blue:

Just when you find the car you really, really like it has to test your loyalty to the limits, i even when as far as buying a selection of stainless nuts and bolts so the underneath of my LC can look as good as the top!


Got my car back now and it was all covered on the insurance, i still have failing turbo bearings (now confirmed by Totota) but they suggested i wait until i make another claim so fingers crossed that it will wait maybe 2-3 months!

Just taken the back bumper off this weekend and fitted reversing sensors, nice easy job, i just love the way there is lots of room to do things, the back of the chassis was a bit rusty so i dusted it off and gave it a coat of Hammerite, looks a little better now, also replaced the rear bumper supports that hang off the back of the chassis, all the bolts were seized and badly rusted so i am now on a mission to replace them all with stainless ones so next time i have to remove something i know the socket will fit!

I can see this going to be like the Fourth bridge but i just love renovating!

IMG_20140905_152321.jpg IMG_20140905_161920.jpg
 
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Hope it all gets sorted for you. Where did the recall notice appear on My Toyota? Be interested to see what else is there!
 
I hope it all gets sorted and there isn't too much damage.

i have just returned to a 120 after 3 years away managed to find a nice low mileage one
 
Excellent thanks - both my vehicles are clear :)
 
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Had my LC back just over a week only to find out the AC compressor is seizing up!
Slowlt losing faith in reliability of these LC's:icon-cry:

Off back to Toyota this Friday, at least its covered by my insurance policy again! :icon-biggrin:
Simon
 
Your not having much luck with this one but stick with it the are good trucks.

I'm on my third
 
So my saga continues!!! Should have started a blog really as i think this will go on forever (or until admin:icon-ugeek: boots me out for boring you all to death!) :laughing-rolling:

Just running up to the weekend and my good lady calls me at work to tell me there is a patch of oil on the road, no big shakes me thinks:icon-exclaim:
So come weekend i decided to take a closer look (as Toyota have just flushed all the engine and done the recall for the injector seats and its going back in to have the compressor replaced, all under my RAC warranty i might add!), removed both the engine under covers (parked on the curb and lay a few 2x3s on the floor and drove onto them, no jack or anything needed, lots of room underneath, in fact at this rate its fast becoming my new home!).
Well the oil was dripping off the cross-members like it was going out of fashion!
IMG_20140920_131152.jpg
Jet washed and cleaned off what i could and found 2 leaks, worst one was coming from what i call the bellhousing? where the engine joins the gearbox? but not from it but it was dripping onto the top! managed to follow the river all the way to what appeared to be a leaking rocker cover gasket! Alarm bells ringing as Toyota had just had this off!
Sunday was my planned maintenance day, weather set fine so i started to strip bits off (novice) everything marked up and following instructions step by step, removed the foam noise reducer? from the actual cover and one end was soaked in oil (nearest the bulkhead) seemed a bit strange as the cylinder head was only a few years old so the seal cannot be that old, maybe trapped or not put on right?
Before stripping the rocker cover off i noticed that one of the bolts was missing!IMG_20140921_111327.jpgMmmm time to speak to Toyota!
Well as soon as i got the cover off i nearly fell through the crack in the back end it was that big!!!!
IMG_20140921_121811.jpg

How the hell did Toyota manage to A) miss out one of the bolts completely :wtf: B) Manage to miss this enormous crack! :wtf:or just forgot to let me know there was a problem!
The crack looks like it has been the result of some heat and age cracking, it seems to be made from a thermosetting plastic? (not my forte), cleaned it all down, very lucky the crack did not extend to the edges!!!, cut a groove in both sides, flushed it with thinners, epoxy resin sorted it out good and proper!
Checked it over today and not a peep of oil!

So that was leak number one!
My other leak after mopping up downstairs was coming from the timing gear case underneath the large pulley but it seems to be coming from the mating surfaces and not the seal as we would all expect?
IMG_20140920_163927.jpg
I know it doesnt look like much but i had just wiped that with a cloth and i came straight back, and the engine was cold at that point!
Looks like a set of new seals for the shafts and another weekend strip down, I am guessing this can be done in situ as there seems to be lots of room where the radiator is?

Above all i am beginning to trust no one with my car, least of all Toyota, like the good book says 'if you want something doing properly then do it yourself'
Learning lots about LCs and really enjoy repairing anything :icon-biggrin:
Any pointers would be a great help!

Regards
 
Let me know when you get to the gearbox output seal replacement - I'll bring you mine to do lol
As you say though, great learning curve and useful knowledge.
 
That's not very good from Mr T but now you had it in bits they probably won't want to know anything about it!

but at least you are getting to know the truck a little better which is never a bad thing.
 
That's not very good from Mr T but now you had it in bits they probably won't want to know anything about it!

but at least you are getting to know the truck a little better which is never a bad thing.


Soon find out as i have an appointment with them at 5pm today with the service manager and the engineer that did the jobs, they know i have 'a concern' but i would not tell them what it was, its also booked in to have a new compressor tomorrow, expect they will do one of 2 things 1) give me the cold shoulder 2) do a better job!

Well it all seemed to go well, they were very apologetic and they were dissapointed with their service to me so they have now offered to strip and re-check all the work they have done and investigate the oil leak coming from the front timing gears cover FOC if i just pay for the oil seals if needed and a timing belt if needed, so its in until mid next week, i suppose i will need to check what they have done when it comes back but in all i am happy with this as i know there is quite a bit of work involved and they are very clear about my expectations now!:angry-nono:

Simon
 
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How did this pan out? Bit of a worrying thing to happen.
 
How did this pan out? Bit of a worrying thing to happen.

Crispin
Well as i mentioned earlier it really is war and peace!

So they apologized profusely, what they offered to do and what they ended up doing seemed to be two different things!
When they originally 'sorted' the problem with the emulsified oil it seems that they may have down the minimum ie flushed the engine several times replaced the oil and checked the pickup, they charged the insurance for engine removal and a new oil pump something of the tune of £1200! so once i picked up on this they have now decided to help me as it put them in rather a vulnerable position.
So now they are removing the engine, leaving my top end repair alone, replacing the oil pump (although there is actually nothing wrong with the old one!), sump is off and they found one of the big end bearing oil pipes in the sump, looks like it had broken off! at this point i said that i had to look at the shells, number 3 was shot!
IMG_20140929_165725.jpg

Crank seems ok and other shells are not too bad so i am having the crank polished and a new set of shells, minor score in number 1 cylinder but thats not a job for today!
IMG_20140930_180024.jpg
New helicoil type in stripped hole, i did this at work as i cannot afford the sump to be damaged!, cannot remember the name of the inserts but loads better than helicoils (might be called Tapex)!!!!
On top of that i found that the small sump had been put back with one screw too long, this had burst through the back of the casting and into the sump! this has also been repaired with liquid metal!
IMG_20140930_181308.jpg

Beggining to feel like a bit of an expert now! talk about being thrown in at the deep end!

The only good news is that total cost to me will be the crank polish, shells and all front end seals as they have pretty much stripped everything off the front end now! at least i get all oil leaks done!

They are also fitting a new compressor on insurance!

Not far off a new engine as its had a new cylinder head in 2012.

Just the turbo left to sort and that's covered by insurance too! i will be blacklisted after this year!

Almost forgot, when they drained the coolant they said it was just water with no additives! that could have been costly too!

If all goes to plan i should have it back by middle of next week, been reading up on turbos and they dont seem that complex to overhaul!
any experience?

Simon
 
Wow, quite the story. Glad you spotted it all and got them to put all that right. Lucky find on the BeB - would not have lasted long like that I bet....
 
Well after several weeks of repairs i am finally going to pick up my LC from Mr T. then spend the next few weeks checking what has been done against what they say they have done!
This has been one poorly engine but should now be fighting fit!

Tyres next, read lots of reviews and have finally decided on Grabber AT2 based on good snow and wet ability with reasonably good wear factor and low ish noise for AT tyres :icon-biggrin:

Looking forward to driving the LC agian as it seems since i bought it it has spent more time being repaired than driven!

Simon
 
And they say newer is better :think: i reckon my 17 year old KZJ90 had done around 50,000 miles without a service when i got it and it still ran sweet as a nut .
 
LC is now back washed and polished! :dance:
Mr T has done everything they should have (and i had a long check list when i went back!) and replaced all seals on the engine so now i have no leaks at all
Cost to me £27, engine is alot quieter and smoother
I am now looking forward to doing some driving at long last!!!!

Simon
 
LC is now back washed and polished! :dance:
Mr T has done everything they should have (and i had a long check list when i went back!) and replaced all seals on the engine so now i have no leaks at all
Cost to me £27, engine is alot quieter and smoother
I am now looking forward to doing some driving at long last!!!!

Simon


Enjoy :thumbup:
 
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