Old Guy, with old car

[stubas]

Hi Crispin
Thanks for your welcome.
I am retired BT engineer with a long standing interest in 4x4's. I currently drive a 1996 Prado which I have owned for the last 16 Years and it has served me very well and still remains in excellent condition. Previously I owned a Mk1 discovery from new and the difference is like chalk and cheese.
Unfortunately I now have a problem which the garage seems unable to resolve and I am hoping some of your experienced members may help? Yesterday I was out driving when all of a sudden the engine stopped running whilst climbing a hill and the T-belt light came on. Not wishing to turn the engine over I had the vehicle recovered to my local garage and today they report that the timing belt was fine but the car is still reluctant to start. They have so far been unable to diagnose the problem but report a clicking from behind the glove box whilst trying to start. They also say the engine does start occasionally but dies again almost immediately. I have read an online a report of an ECU which is behind the glove box which has caused similar problems.
If anyone has any guidance on this problem I would be very grateful.
Thanks

 

[Dave_S]

Timing belt light is just a warning, see thread here: Timing belt light - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]

Can't help on the other point, sorry - but one of the Prado guys will chip in soon enough.

Welcome aboard.

 

[Shayne]

Crack an injector see if fuel is getting to it maybe .

I never heard of the spill control valve giving up that abruptly but they do fail eventually .

 

[stubas]

Thanks for your replies but I have had a report from a specialist diagnostics company who seem to think my problem rests with the Engine Management System, ECU, we shall see. Looking on the threads on this site I am alarmed at some of the issues people have had with the J90 Landcruiser ie:- cooling problems, corrosion etc. I have owned my 1996 Prado for sixteen years and have had none of these issues so can members advise what are the major issues to look out for and what precautions to take to stop problems. My Prado has covered about 140000 miles.

 

[Shayne]

140K is nothing for these trucks and most of the problems were bought used at 10 or 15 years old and relate to lack of maintenance by previous owners .

If your coolant has been changed at the recommended intervals over the years I'd doubt you need to worry about anything .

Even a brand new car can benefit from underbody rust protection as preventative maintenance .

 

[karl2000]

Have you ruled the immobiliser out? Simple things first, have you tried to start with the spare key?

 

[Shayne]

ECU problems are extremely rare even in the most abused 90 series which makes me think its a red herring . ECU uses input from the various sensors to tell the fuel pump when to inject fuel . When the SCV fails the pump can't inject fuel . Typically the problem evolves with random power loss while driving and starting problems .

Difficult to diagnose if it wasn't a known problem here on the forum .

 

[karl2000]

+1

I think ECU is often given as the answer when they've run out of ideas.

Toyota diagnosed my 120 as having a faulty ECU and wanted stupid money with no guarantees. Turned out to be a dodgy wire on the parking sensors!

 

[Shayne]

Spare key - brilliant idea .

I can't actually remember the details but the mrs 90 wouldn't start and after much faffing about i finally worked out her key was imperceptibly bent , or maybe just worn so the truck thought it was being stolen and shut fuel off .

 

[stubas]

Hi Guys, thanks for all your suggestions so far but,
The garage reports that under workshop conditions the car has on several occasions started and after a time stopped for no obvious reason. At the moment they cannot get the car to stop again without switching off, it just keeps running as normal but obviously not reliable. They are monitoring the ECU and expecting a fault code on the monitoring device to be produced when it fails but so far to no avail. Meanwhile the car sits in their compound waiting for results. There is no immobiliser as far as I am aware, the second key is just a flat key, no fob apart from a after market alarm fob.

 

[Mick W]

@stubas Check out this recent thread..

1996 1KZ-TE Prado engine cut-out on open road-ECU​

 

[stubas]

Thanks Mick
I have seen that thread before. I passed it to the garage already but not sure they read it. They have a specialist diagnostics on the job and when I can get hold of him on Monday I will make sure he has seen it also.

 

[Mick W]

@stubas had same thing on a Ford Probe I had years ago. Bad solder joint on one of the tracks and only a few minutes to fix and a lot cheaper than replacing but a pain to find. Does anyone on the forum here have a spare ECU you could loan to test?

 

[stubas]

Specialist Diagnostics now say they cannot deal with motor as it is an import model and they have no access to wiring diagrams. I would have thought the diagrams would have been similar to UK models but perhaps not. Anyway I have now had the vehicle transferred to another garage which is a Japanese Vehicle Specialist who seems to be more confident in locating the fault. Here's hoping

 

[Dave_S]

"it is an import model and they have no access to wiring diagrams"

sounds like code for:

"its an old truck (relatively speaking of course!) and we can't be arsed to try to work through it properly, as our fancy arsed electronic gubbins won't tell us exactly what's wrong".

Or am I being uncharitable?

Fingers crossed your new garage will get it sorted for you.

 

[stubas]

Eureka!!! Japanese Vehicle Specialists rang this morning to say they had found the fault after running diagnostics and it turns out to be faulty capacitors in the ECU (where have I seen that before??) I can now pick up the car tomorrow as it is now fixed and road tested. Very expensive episode but at least its fixed. Phew!!
Thanks to you guys for all your input.

 

[Dave_S]

Great news - glad its sorted for you.

 

[stubas]

Thought I would share these pictures from Japanese Car Specialists of Lincoln, UK from the repair (replace capacitors and repair tracking) done to Landcruiser in case anyone has the similar problem. Same problem as Lovelongtime methinks.