Are these reliable?

So here I am staring at a pretty blue 96 Land Cruiser. I'm not a novice when it comes to cars and to my eyes this one looks really solid.

But you guys here would no more than me, are these typically reliable vehicles or should I only be buying one knowing that there is a lot of work ahead of me?

I've had my share of project vehicles but I don't really want this to be one. Barring the usual maintenance is there anything special I should look for in buying one?

Welcome to the forum.

Rust in general and the rear wings behind the mud flaps in particular.
Providing the vehicle has had regular effective maintenance there should be no reliability issues.

Saying that the majority of 80 series land cruisers out there are over 20 years old now and mine turns 20 next year but if I had the time and currency I would happily set off to southern africa or to asia tomorrow in it and be fairly confident that I would have no major issues if any on my trip.

What I would suggest is peruse the forum and have a look at what problems members have come up against so that you can have some idea of what to expect, it's not a land rover product.

Oh and do introduce yourself in the lounge area and when you do get a cruiser pictures would be of interest to most of us here

I'm not an 80 owner but assuming your only moments away from deal or no deal i thought i would share this with you . I've tried to look back on my 2 years or so on this forum and remember an incident involving AA roadside recovery of an 80 and i can't , MOT failure nope i'm sure it happens occasionally but nothing springs to mind . While browsing the forum it may seem the 80 is commonly mentioned to be undergoing remedial work - big end bearings - axle rebuilds - replacing bushes and so on and so forth but rest assured this results from mechanically competent members ensuring their trucks will last another 20 years rather than any fear of breakdown . Hope this helps .

Good question, not many replies, after mine spat the turbo out the when we were the wrong side of the Atlas Mountains, it had 180k miles on the clock, it had sucked in the fragments and spat them out the exhaust, we were able to drive the beast home, it had a bent conrod, badly distressed Pistons etc etc, was trashed basically, but, it got us home, had a rebuild, now with 300 k miles on the clock, I suppose it qualifies to reliability, dunno why the turbo grenaded, but now has an inter cooler which if it happened again might prevent the fragments being ingested. Not much history of this happening tho on the forum. Been back to the Sahara twice since. Tows our Froader, has regular oil change, what else might you ask?

These are reliable but not fool proof. In fact there are so many fools that the 80 can suffer. If it drives ok with no noises you MUST do the following:-

Change front diff oil immediately.
Grease front prop shafts.

Get to know the weaknesses of the 80 and keep on top of them.

frank rabbets said:

These are reliable but not fool proof. In fact there are so many fools that the 80 can suffer. If it drives ok with no noises you MUST do the following:-

Change front diff oil immediately.
Grease front prop shafts.

Get to know the weaknesses of the 80 and keep on top of them.

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Agree with Frank 100%.

Any vehicle will only be as good as the maintenance that it gets and that it has had before you get it. If it drives well (remember it's a truck and not a Mercedes or BMW) and you maintain it well, it will go for...... Sort of ever.

Mine was badly treated when I got it, dents, lack of oil changes, original oils in the diffs and gearbox/transfer box, dirty inside and out, you name it.

Ive modded it, tidied it up, and maintained it, and it's fine, not mint nowhere near, but I'd drive it to Asia or Africa tomorrow too, with no worries.

If you were able to buy new 80 and just put fuel and oil in the first things to go wrong I think would be the front dif and prop shafts. In that sense these could be unreliable points.

Front dif oil needs changing every 36,000 miles and prop shafts need greasing every 4,500 miles.

Thanks for the replies guys. This particular 80 has 220k on it but it looks like the owner has kept up on maintenance pretty well. Should I be really worried about those miles?

I have a 99 BMW now and as I get closer to 200k I have done some large preventative maintenance. Other than differential oil and grading the prop shaft, what are some other preventative maintenance that I should do?

Hello is it auto? Autos thrive on regular oil change and will last. Regular maintenance pays, everything needs regular maintenance, there are a lot of trucks with huge mileage on here, but it's no secret regular oil changes, good maintenance and vehicle sympathy will pay. Nothing is bulletproof. hope you have as much fun from your cruiser as I've had, best regards, Bill Westley

96? Unlikely to be an auto unless it's a petrol.

Or a personal/grey import but I bet its a manual.

Owned by a vicar's daughter?

First registered to vicars daughter in North Wingfield who was afraid to drive when the road was wet.

Do not fear high mileage on a Series 80. 220k is about right on a 96, provided it was maintained. Toyota considered 600,000 miles to be the service life on these.

Well, it is an automatic, but I don't know about the vicar's daughter. I'll have to look into that. :]

Are automatics more rare?

Is it diesel or petrol?
Or link us the advert for it, some one on here might know the vehicle

its no different to any car of the same age milage. expect to find rust, worn parts and scuff marks. In theory despite any ancillaries that might fail the 80 is renowned for having a power unit that will run for a long time even if poorly maintained. We on this form like to be clinical about our maintenance and servicing but the truth is there are thousands of these working the back roads of Africa and South america with little or no maintenance. If you do buy it and anything breaks someone here will help you get it sorted. You pay your money and take your chances....

Julian T said:

Is it diesel or petrol?
Or link us the advert for it, some one on here might know the vehicle

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Here is the ad:
m adison.craigslist.org/cto/5013018384.html

Apparently I can't post URLs yet. I added an extra space after the m in madison

The ad says gas so I assume petrol.