Matt Wright
Well-Known Member
Hi guys
I have a friend in South Africa who has a 90 which he absolutely loves and has really spent his last penny on buying. He wanted a cruiser over anything else but they're a lot more expensive - but he finally got one. It's been giving him some serious problems for a whole and I'd like to ask for ideas based on the story below.. Any ideas gratefully accepted
I am the guy he met up with btw. He drove all the way to Mozambique from Cape Town to meet us!
Thanks
Matt
I bought a 1999 KZTE Prado a year and a half ago to meet up with you and your crew on your African adventer. This vehicle was in awesome nick with only a slight oil leak. so I thought great. The vehicle has been fitted with an after market inter cooler and Unichip. lots of power and super light on juice.
A month before i embarked on meeting you in Mozambique the vehicle started picking up a starting problem. The vehicle took quite a few swings of the engine before it started. I didn't think much of it as it only happened intermittently. Then the beginning of the week that i was planning to leave disaster struck and the starter packed up. I took it to a big auto electrical firm who kindly looked at it and told me that the wrong starter had been installed by the prevuious owner and they sold and fitted me a correct reconditioned starter. Great I thought problem solved for two days. the starting problem started again but this time all my lights came on the dash. Took it back to the auto electrician who found out that my alternator had packed up so they fitted me a new (maybe reconditioned not quite sure) alternator. Great now no problems. Packed my vehicle and off to Mozambique i went with out any problems. The vehicle was great nice and powerful and light on juice. I was getting 10km/s to the liter. Not bad going if you ask me.
Holiday went great while we were in Mozambique but when we came back into South Africa the intermittent starting problem started again. It would swing and swing till the battery would almost die but would not start but if you pushed started it it would fire up no problems and you could drive around and stop start with out any hassles, but if you left the vehicle standing for a good few hours then it wouldn't start. I checked the glow plugs but they all functioned properly. This persisted for about a week then we drove down to Durban to see a mechanic but when we got to Durban the starting problem seemed to have disappeared and we managed to enjoy our trip back to Cape Town trouble free.. When we got back the problem started all over again. So i replaced the battery with a 95amp deep cycle battery, as I thought there wasn't enough amps to crank the starter. Worked fine for a few weeks. Staring problem happened again still swinging but no start. People who I was chatting to were giving me solutions from glow plugs right through to faulty diesel pump. So I thought of looking into the cheaper options before looking at the pump as the vehicle was idling fine and there was no problems with acceleration so thought it could not be the pump.
So after the new battery i replaced the glow plugs. Ran ok for a few days. Checked the relay and glow plug interval all ok still nothing. Took it for a compression test all ok except number two injector was stuffed. Replaced all the injectors. Replaced and moved the earth cable. Cleaned and tightened all points and terminals all over the engine. Worked fine for a few months then back to square one lots of swinging but no start. Could jump start it if the other vechle was a diesel, thought there was a bad earth as the other vecihles engen revs would drop before you even started cranking. Took it back to auto electricians who tested the battery and found it to be faulty and the starter was faulty. Replaced everything under warranty and put on a new thick earth cable (a welders cable) and the vehicle defiantly swings a hell of a lot better and faster and starts every time. I thought great the starting battle has finally been won.
But after getting the vechle back i noticed a serious lack of power especially when i was off road. My vehicle was really struggling to get over certain sand dunes that it never struggled to get over before and on the road if I was trying to overtake another vehicle it really struggled and if it was on an up hill i could forget it as i would have to drop it into third and send the revs through the roof to try and get anywhere which defiantly was not the way to drive. I had a suspicion my inter cooler radiator was leaking so I pressure tested it boy was it. So i replaced the inter cooler radiator and little bit of power returned but not much.
I took it to a highly recommended mechanic by 4x4 magazines and all the local forms, who dose chip installations and Dyno tuning. For a dyno tune and a chip remapping He put it on the Dyno machine and found out that the Prado is only putting out 60kw and not the the recommended standard 95kw. but seeing as the vechle was already chipped it should be pushing out 110kw to 115kw. But the chip in isn't registering. But he informed me that the biggest problem is the diesel pump is at fault and that's why there is a huge lack of power there.
I took it to an AA, and SABS accredited diesel mechanic who we use as well for all our fire trucks and council vehicle repairs. He did compression test again re calibrated the diesel pump and found that the injectors that i had in the vehicle were the wrong ones and he replaced them with the correct ones. When I received my vehicle back he pointed out that the vehicle was idling a bit high 9000rpm and when you stared the vehicle it had a bit of a high pitch clatter but would go away once the vehicle warmed up. I was told that this was a to do with the fueling of the pump but once i took it back to the other mechanic for the dyno tune he would sort all that out as his dyno machine had just packed up. So i took my vehicle away for the weekend and yes there was a defiantly a huge improvement but hell the vehicle was eating more fuel than a petrol 4.5 Cruiser Doing 150km/h down the free way, and I was only doing 100km/h and my fuel had dropped to roughly 5-6l per 100km. So i took it back for it Dyno tune and and for a new chip to be installed. Which they didn't have the right chip for so they had to get one from Johanesberg. They got the chip but it still was not receiving any signal. So they said there is an electrical fault somewhere. So they have sent the vehicle to an auto electrician who supposedly traced the fault to a circet board behind the dash and that was faulty. He has supposedly fixed it but there still seems to be a fault as the ECU is showing an error code. As far as i can understand there is a signal that comes from the diesel pump that goes to the circuit board that sends a signal to the ECU which in turn sends a signal to the diesel pump how to opperate which in turn sends it back to the circuit broad and so on. The chip intercepts the signal somewhere along the line and manipulates the signal to give more power. So at the end of the day the fault could lie with the circuit board and my original chip could be fine. What I have heard about the circuit board and wireing is in a fine mess.
So at the moment The vehicle is being shuttled back and forth between the mechanic and the auto electrician. Yes I am frustrated as i haven't seen my vechle now in six weeks and now I have also been told that something is draining the battery over night and that they have to jump start it every morning when they move the vehicle out of the workshop.
Help!
I have a friend in South Africa who has a 90 which he absolutely loves and has really spent his last penny on buying. He wanted a cruiser over anything else but they're a lot more expensive - but he finally got one. It's been giving him some serious problems for a whole and I'd like to ask for ideas based on the story below.. Any ideas gratefully accepted
I am the guy he met up with btw. He drove all the way to Mozambique from Cape Town to meet us!
Thanks
Matt
I bought a 1999 KZTE Prado a year and a half ago to meet up with you and your crew on your African adventer. This vehicle was in awesome nick with only a slight oil leak. so I thought great. The vehicle has been fitted with an after market inter cooler and Unichip. lots of power and super light on juice.
A month before i embarked on meeting you in Mozambique the vehicle started picking up a starting problem. The vehicle took quite a few swings of the engine before it started. I didn't think much of it as it only happened intermittently. Then the beginning of the week that i was planning to leave disaster struck and the starter packed up. I took it to a big auto electrical firm who kindly looked at it and told me that the wrong starter had been installed by the prevuious owner and they sold and fitted me a correct reconditioned starter. Great I thought problem solved for two days. the starting problem started again but this time all my lights came on the dash. Took it back to the auto electrician who found out that my alternator had packed up so they fitted me a new (maybe reconditioned not quite sure) alternator. Great now no problems. Packed my vehicle and off to Mozambique i went with out any problems. The vehicle was great nice and powerful and light on juice. I was getting 10km/s to the liter. Not bad going if you ask me.
Holiday went great while we were in Mozambique but when we came back into South Africa the intermittent starting problem started again. It would swing and swing till the battery would almost die but would not start but if you pushed started it it would fire up no problems and you could drive around and stop start with out any hassles, but if you left the vehicle standing for a good few hours then it wouldn't start. I checked the glow plugs but they all functioned properly. This persisted for about a week then we drove down to Durban to see a mechanic but when we got to Durban the starting problem seemed to have disappeared and we managed to enjoy our trip back to Cape Town trouble free.. When we got back the problem started all over again. So i replaced the battery with a 95amp deep cycle battery, as I thought there wasn't enough amps to crank the starter. Worked fine for a few weeks. Staring problem happened again still swinging but no start. People who I was chatting to were giving me solutions from glow plugs right through to faulty diesel pump. So I thought of looking into the cheaper options before looking at the pump as the vehicle was idling fine and there was no problems with acceleration so thought it could not be the pump.
So after the new battery i replaced the glow plugs. Ran ok for a few days. Checked the relay and glow plug interval all ok still nothing. Took it for a compression test all ok except number two injector was stuffed. Replaced all the injectors. Replaced and moved the earth cable. Cleaned and tightened all points and terminals all over the engine. Worked fine for a few months then back to square one lots of swinging but no start. Could jump start it if the other vechle was a diesel, thought there was a bad earth as the other vecihles engen revs would drop before you even started cranking. Took it back to auto electricians who tested the battery and found it to be faulty and the starter was faulty. Replaced everything under warranty and put on a new thick earth cable (a welders cable) and the vehicle defiantly swings a hell of a lot better and faster and starts every time. I thought great the starting battle has finally been won.
But after getting the vechle back i noticed a serious lack of power especially when i was off road. My vehicle was really struggling to get over certain sand dunes that it never struggled to get over before and on the road if I was trying to overtake another vehicle it really struggled and if it was on an up hill i could forget it as i would have to drop it into third and send the revs through the roof to try and get anywhere which defiantly was not the way to drive. I had a suspicion my inter cooler radiator was leaking so I pressure tested it boy was it. So i replaced the inter cooler radiator and little bit of power returned but not much.
I took it to a highly recommended mechanic by 4x4 magazines and all the local forms, who dose chip installations and Dyno tuning. For a dyno tune and a chip remapping He put it on the Dyno machine and found out that the Prado is only putting out 60kw and not the the recommended standard 95kw. but seeing as the vechle was already chipped it should be pushing out 110kw to 115kw. But the chip in isn't registering. But he informed me that the biggest problem is the diesel pump is at fault and that's why there is a huge lack of power there.
I took it to an AA, and SABS accredited diesel mechanic who we use as well for all our fire trucks and council vehicle repairs. He did compression test again re calibrated the diesel pump and found that the injectors that i had in the vehicle were the wrong ones and he replaced them with the correct ones. When I received my vehicle back he pointed out that the vehicle was idling a bit high 9000rpm and when you stared the vehicle it had a bit of a high pitch clatter but would go away once the vehicle warmed up. I was told that this was a to do with the fueling of the pump but once i took it back to the other mechanic for the dyno tune he would sort all that out as his dyno machine had just packed up. So i took my vehicle away for the weekend and yes there was a defiantly a huge improvement but hell the vehicle was eating more fuel than a petrol 4.5 Cruiser Doing 150km/h down the free way, and I was only doing 100km/h and my fuel had dropped to roughly 5-6l per 100km. So i took it back for it Dyno tune and and for a new chip to be installed. Which they didn't have the right chip for so they had to get one from Johanesberg. They got the chip but it still was not receiving any signal. So they said there is an electrical fault somewhere. So they have sent the vehicle to an auto electrician who supposedly traced the fault to a circet board behind the dash and that was faulty. He has supposedly fixed it but there still seems to be a fault as the ECU is showing an error code. As far as i can understand there is a signal that comes from the diesel pump that goes to the circuit board that sends a signal to the ECU which in turn sends a signal to the diesel pump how to opperate which in turn sends it back to the circuit broad and so on. The chip intercepts the signal somewhere along the line and manipulates the signal to give more power. So at the end of the day the fault could lie with the circuit board and my original chip could be fine. What I have heard about the circuit board and wireing is in a fine mess.
So at the moment The vehicle is being shuttled back and forth between the mechanic and the auto electrician. Yes I am frustrated as i haven't seen my vechle now in six weeks and now I have also been told that something is draining the battery over night and that they have to jump start it every morning when they move the vehicle out of the workshop.
Help!
