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Got One at Last!

212k miles is nothing there are 1KZs with over 500kkm (310k mi) on them round here and my 5VZ has 387kkm (240k mi) on it.

Apparently (and bear in mind I have zero qualifications in the mechanical space) you can tell the wear in the auto tranny by how long it takes between selecting reverse and it loading the engine. Mine takes about 0.75 seconds but anything under 1.5 seconds is OK.

Like others said the 2nd start locks the minimum gear to 2nd to lessen the risk of wheelspin on surfaces like damp grass or ice. The top one is ECT PWR which adjusts the shift schedule to allow you to almost to redline before an upshift. The switch just under the shifter lock knob is OD OFF which limits the highest gear to 3rd gear. Used when towing mainly.
 
Well done, looks to be a good one
 
es. One of my first enhancements will be to do the separate tranny oil cooler mod. I've read so many horror stories about the autoboxes being killed by leaking radiators that I'm going to head that off at the pass right away.
Worth it also worth checking if your tranny is not over full. Mine has leaked out of the breather several times from overfilling (not by me). I also have a tranny cooler which was separate for a while but then was convinced to include the radiator in the loop as this is much better at cooling apparently. If you're not going to tow much then I think leaving the radiator out of the loop will be fine but if not then maybe consider a new radiator plus external tranny cooler. My car has a newish radiator and rebuilt tranny from milkshaking when with the previous owner.

My trailer is only 1000kg but the car is also close to GVM when towing.
 
nice one. I remember when mine looked as tidy as that .VX spec means the + of heated seats but the - of the twin battery set up , discussed at length in the electrical forum .I would personally get rid of that set up & go for a single battery , one with more AH & maybe fit a leisure battery in the other tray ? Did i say ball joints ? i know i sound like a broken record on this but i would be looking to replace both upper and lower ball joints on the wishbones as they fail without warning , no signs of play as they tend to seize .Spot on for price , a great Landcruiser.
 
Congrats. I know that feeling when you finally find a good car after looking for so long. Good weekend to drive around, enjoy your weekend.
 
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Cheers all. Keep the handy tips coming!

Like others said the 2nd start locks the minimum gear to 2nd to lessen the risk of wheelspin on surfaces like damp grass or ice. The top one is ECT PWR which adjusts the shift schedule to allow you to almost to redline before an upshift. The switch just under the shifter lock knob is OD OFF which limits the highest gear to 3rd gear. Used when towing mainly.

I'm still a bit confusticated here. I get the point of the 2nd and PWR buttons now. But do these need to be used with corresponding settings on the gear lever [eg: 2 and L]. If not, what are those 'gears' for?

Also, I didn't notice a OD/OFF switch under the shifter lock. But I may have just missed it as I wasn't really looking for anything round there.

Worth it also worth checking if your tranny is not over full. Mine has leaked out of the breather several times from overfilling (not by me). I also have a tranny cooler which was separate for a while but then was convinced to include the radiator in the loop as this is much better at cooling apparently...

I'm not planning on doing any towing really. Maybe just the odd time if I have a trailer of stuff to move, etc. So, in those circumstances, what's the consensus of opinion on the most bombproof and effective cooling setup. Should I go separate tranny oil cooler, or break out the credit card and go for a new combo radiator/cooler and replace the existing one before it fails?

nice one. I remember when mine looked as tidy as that .VX spec means the + of heated seats but the - of the twin battery set up , discussed at length in the electrical forum...

Yeah. I can't believe how shiny that paint job looks. It's a bit scored up close but from a distance it's like a black mirror. Well chuffed. I've still got that 'new toy rush' thing where, every time I go outside and see it, I think "Wow! That belongs to me!".

As regards heated seats...Yuk! That's just all wrong in my book. Like sitting on a warm toilet seat. When I perch my pert buttocks on a seat; whether toilet or truck, I want the reassuring iciness that doesn't suggest someone else's sweaty arse has just vacated it. The missus on the other hand, who is completely 'nesh' [as they say round Manc-land] has been pining for a heated seat again, ever since we sold the old Isuzu Trooper, which had them, about 15 years ago. So she's happy at least.

I'll have to read up on the dual battery issues. When I looked under the bonnet and saw two batteries I thought that looked like a good thing. Apparently not. I'm intrigued to find out why.

Did i say ball joints ? i know i sound like a broken record on this but i would be looking to replace both upper and lower ball joints on the wishbones as they fail without warning...

Yep. That's going to be high up on my todo list. Which I'm going to have to write down soon , as it's starting to get a bit long. So far I'm thinking [in roughly this order]:

1: Fluids & Filters and Timing belt
2: Preventative maintenance or upgrade of cooling system
3: Ball joints
4: Tyres
5: Underbody wire brushing and rust treatment
6: Block off EGR valve and clean out manifold
 
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2nd start works in 2 or D and makes 2nd gear the lowest possible gear.

2 on the shifter means 2nd gear will be the highest gear selected, so you'll get 1st and 2nd but no more.

L on the shifter means 1st gear only. 2nd start in this position is ignored.

So you can use 2nd start in 2 to only ever have 2nd gear.

Will you ever need to do this? Probably not. Probably D will work for most things. If you are on ice or slippery grass 2nd start could be useful.

2 and L also have the benefit of a little engine braking as these positions don't allow the transmission to freewheel on it's own. Not as much of an effect as a manual as the torque converter will not lock up in these gears

I've used 2 to get up and down mountains and avoid the runaway and hard brake use.

If you don't plan on towing much I'd just use an external cooler only though I stress I am just a software guy who pisses around on his own cars not an expert by any means, so you may want to get other advice on this.

If you do go for an external cooler only you can just join the input and output of your existing radiator then any interval leak doesn't matter.
 
The radiator is perfectly up to the job trouble is you can't tell when it rots inside until it mixes coolant and oil , its an age thing and nothing more so personally i wouldn't go to the trouble of fitting a separate cooler when a new radiator might last as long as the original . Search the forum for the towing thermostat part number , i can't remember now but it opens and cycles coolant when your engine is about 10 degrees cooler than the standard thermostat does .

As i've tried to explain all along its not so much a case of repairing these truck but more about prevention , making sure it lasts again as long as it already has .
 
I'm still a bit confusticated here. I get the point of the 2nd and PWR buttons now. But do these need to be used with corresponding settings on the gear lever [eg: 2 and L]. If not, what are those 'gears' for?
yes the selector lever has to be in 2nd for it to work.(edit: Adventure wagon has given a proper explanation , thanks mate) Turning off the O/D helps going up or down steep hills especially towing .The twin battery set up means that one battery , the one furthest from the alternator will die before the other & then drag the healthy one down with it.Then you need 2 new batteries even though one might have some useful life in it .The heated seats are great after a day on site in the winter , to ease my back .
 
As i've tried to explain all along its not so much a case of repairing these truck but more about prevention , making sure it lasts again as long as it already has .

Yup. Which is why I'm thinking that I might as well go all in and get stuff like this done right away, while I'm still a couple of grand in the black from selling my previous van. Coz, if I leave it too long, that'll end up getting frittered away on outrageous luxuries like food and paying the rent.

The twin battery set up means that one battery , the one furthest from the alternator will die before the other & then drag the healthy one down with it.Then you need 2 new batteries even though one might have some useful life in it...
I found a couple of threads in the Electrical forum on it. Sounds like the best plan is to separate them, put a split charge system in and use the second battery bay for a leisure battery then. That way you've always got the option to try starting from the leisure battery if the main one dies. I didn't realise the twin battery system was just for extra 12v amperage to draw on, if you lived in the arctic wastelands. I thought maybe the Land Cruisers needed 24V for ignition, like some of the old army spec Land Rovers.
 
Another couple of newbie question for ye's:

When I turn off the ignition and remove the key, the truck does a wee "beedledy-beep beedledy-beep" noise. It sounds a bit like when you have a burglar alarm and set it and it beeps to tell you to get clear and lock the doors. I assumed this was similar; the motor telling me to get out quick, while it armed the alarm. But I've sat there til after the bleeps stop, both with doors closed and with driver door open and nothing happened. So what is it?

Also, when I get in and turn on the ignition, theres a kind of deep whirring noise for maybe 3 - 5 seconds, which I've assumed is the fuel pump priming itself. But this also happens after I've switched off the ignition and removed the key [and after the abovementioned bleeps]. So that seems odd. Why would the fuel pump prime itself on shutdown? So is it something else?
 
Beeped beep it more likely the stereo system - mine does, at least - nothing to do with the alarm/locks.
 
Beeped beep it more likely the stereo system - mine does, at least - nothing to do with the alarm/locks.

Hmmm... that's a possibility I suppose. I just assumed it was the truck speaking to me

Does it have a sunroof? it might not be completely shut.

Yes. Electric sunroof. Funny you should say that coz, when I press the button to shut it, it looks like it slides all the way forward and then lifts slightly at the back. But maybe that's just the back locking into place. I'll have to nip outside and see if it looks properly closed from above....


...Nope. Can't be that. The sunroof is closed perfectly flush. Hmmm.... the mystery deepens. I'll have to record it next time I'm in the motor and see if they ring a bell [or make a bleep] with anyone.
 
Hmmm... not sure. I didn't pay much attention to the stereo, apart from noticing there was one. Now I'm an old fart, I hardly ever listen to tunes while driving any more.

That looks like a possibility though. I'll have to look and see if the front of the stereo is detachable.
 
Mine makes the beep noise too, just as you described. It’s to remind me to take the face off the Sony radio/cassette player
 
Well, the mystery deepens. I'm not saying the noise isn't the stereo. For it was indeed a Sony. I tried to follow the instructions on that page @Dave_S linked too. But I didn't ave exactly the same menu options...

  1. Rotate the Control Dial until CAUT ALM displays, then press the Select button...

I had an item called CT BEEP which I turned off. But the bleepedy-bleep noise still happens when I turn off the ignition. Plus the weird noise that sounds like the fuel pump priming. Here's a short clip of it. First I turn the ignition off, then back on again. the 'pump' noise makes sense when turning the ignition on. But why would it happen when I turn the ignition off? It must be something else?


In other news, I've just been doing a bit more inspecting under the bonnet and discovered two nasty things.

1: The tranny fluid which looked quite reddish in the bright sunshine we had yesterday is actually a bit more on the brown side of things in the rather less dazzling light of today. Thankfully it's still clear though. No trace of milkshake. But it looks like a good ol' tranny flush and filter change is going to be at the top of my todo list...

I'd put it at about no.3 on this handy chart I found, although it didn't seem too opaque. Maybe I'm at level 2 1/2:

SS 2021-06-05 at 19.39.25.png


Another thing I discovered is that the truck has run into something at the front at some time. There are two metal struts which cross in front of the radiators and the lower one of them is slightly bent in. Though thankfully has stopped just short of the radiator. I didn't spot it yesterday as its hidden from above by the upper strut and, from below by the radiator if [like I was] you're lying underneath behind the radiator peering up at the underside of the engine bay. There's further evidence of this in the fact the plastic of the leftmost headlamp surround has its bracket broken. And that whole side of the front headlamp / grille section is held on with only one bolt and some cable ties.

It'll all fix up easy enough but it's very shoddy and I'm kind of annoyed at myself for not spotting it yesterday. But I was really concentrating so much on poking round the mechanical and chassis side of things, I only gave the bodywork and interior a very cursory glance.

20210605_190038.jpg


20210605_190030.jpg


In slightly more promising news, I shone a torch down the gap between the air con radiator and the main one and there was no embedded crud in there. The main radiator actually looked in quite good nick, although I'll probably replace it anyway. I also looked at the coolant and it was very clear. Previous owner has either diluted the antifreeze to a stupid degree or used pure glycol. Because I'm not aware of any off-the-shelf antifreezes that don't have dye in them. Another hint that I need to do a full scale fluids and filters change ASAP.

I'm starting to think this truck is running well in spite of what maintenance it's had, rather than because of it. Although, to be fair to the seller, I did get a bundle of receipts with it showing 'stuff' had been done. But it was mostly things like brakes, batteries and bushes. One of the receipts was for 'Digital Wheel Alignment' in 2018. So, if that was done right, then the wheels shouldn't be out of alignment so soon [that as regards the previously mentioned tendency to try and drift to the left, which I'm still hoping will turn out to be the mis-matched and differently worn tyres across the front axle].
 
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Give the tyre pressures a check and or match the two on the front then go for a drive and see what happens also someone will be able to help with information when you change transmission fluid or if you are close to Trevor he should be able to help you with the fluid change and only a suggestion but the wirring pump noise could be the ABS pump if you have someone to help open your bonnet put you hand on top the brake fluid reservoir and get them to turn on the ignition if you have vibration under your hand then all should be OK Karl and Chapelgate both supply new and used parts so give them a PM
 
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