Don't like the adverts?  Click here to remove them

Sigh! --Will I Ever Find One?

Many imports had the additional guages . I retro fitted some. I can't recall specifically but it might have been std on the VX.
 
Mine has had rust noted on the mot for the past few years but never failed on rust or rusty parts and had a small patch welded in the osr wheel arch last year for a 2001 truck reckon thats pretty dammed good dont give up your searching know you need transport for June but she should buy her own vvehicle am down in Somerset if you find something give us a shout be pleased to have a look at trucks for you
 
Random off-topic question: The 90 Series rot box I went to see the other day and several of the ones I've seen in ads had a 'binnacle' [is that the right word?] on top of the dashboard, with fancy digital compass / pitch / roll / direction gauges in it. It looked pretty cool. But I notice that it's not there on most of them. Was this a factory option, or is it something that people have fitted later?
Factory fitted , has a compass & altimiter , trip timer thingy average speed & thermometer.5/10 on the useful/cool scale & yes standard on the VX
 
If you'd said you were going to Rotherham before you went I could have saved you a wasted journey. I've had that one round a couple of times. Its been on the ramp to examine the steering rack mounting bushes ( which I sold him a set), and to fit a CC switch and connect it up.
It wasn't good underneath 2+ years ago but I did have a drive and it drove very nicely.

I wouldn't discount a V6 engined Collie. I sold mine and regret it to this day ( still trying to buy it back). Probably 15% worse on fuel but oh so smooth.
 
The one in Rotherham - was it the one that had been 'doctor-owned'?

That's the one. Sounds great from the blurb, doesn't it?

x2 brand new top spec Bosch batteries...

Two no-brand batteries that looked years old

reverse camera also installed...

That one was a laugh. While I was underneath it, I noticed a peice of grey gaffer tape hanging off the rear cross-member. Instinctively, I went to pull it off, thinking it had blown up there off the street and stuck. When I moved it, there was a tiny camera on a circuit board [like the ones you buy for about a tenner for a Raspberry Pi] stuck to the back of it. with a thin wire leading up under the floor. So "installed" = "stuck on with gaffer tape".

I've had the car undersealed and treated and undercarriage washed to protect from rust- been told by mechanics that it's in v. good condition...

No underseal and axle brackets so rusted I could snap bits of with my fingers

first to see will buy...

First to see will run away screaming, within 2 minutes of lifting the bonnet.

no time wasters please...

Physician, heal thyself!
 
FB Marketplace is where the action is, for good or for bad.

Unfortunately [or fortunately!] I'm not on Facebook. How ever I was able to see the FB ad someone linked to earlier. So if any promising ones tunr up on there, I hope people will tip me the wink.
If you'd said you were going to Rotherham before you went I could have saved you a wasted journey. I've had that one round a couple of times...

It wasn't good underneath 2+ years ago but I did have a drive and it drove very nicely....

Dammit! I never even thought to ask on here about that one, before trundling off to see it. Luckily it was only a one hour train journey and £35 wasted. I'd have been even more gutted if I'd gone further afield and wasted more pennies.

Funnily enough, it did sound quite smooth while the guy was driving it back to his. But, as I said, was spitting copious amounts of oil out the filler hole and had enough blowback to send the cap into orbit. So, for all its smooth purring, I think the engine was pretty worn.

I wouldn't discount a V6 engined Collie. I sold mine and regret it to this day ( still trying to buy it back). Probably 15% worse on fuel but oh so smooth.

I'm not discounting anything at the moment. I can live with auto vs. manual, 90 vs 100 vs 120, D4D vs 1KZ, 3l vs 4l... whatever. My main concerns [apart from finding a decent one, of course] are the tax and insurance brackets, which will naturally be higher for newer models and bigger engines.

am down in Somerset if you find something give us a shout be pleased to have a look at trucks for you...

Thanks. I'll bear that in mind. I think I need a big War Room style map with pins in it. So, whenever one comes up, I can ask those of you who are local to that are, whether you know anything about it or not.

Hmm... I'll also need some young ladies in 1940s outfits to move wee model Land Cruisers about on the map with sticks.
 
Don't like the adverts?  Click here to remove them
Having a little look for you i chanced upon this user review on an RAC website and thought it might just lend a little hope .

William tw152 years ago • edited
I'm from Ireland , and bought a brand new Toyota Land cruiser 90 (KDJ95) in 2000, ninteen years later i am still driving it every day it has 436,000 miles on the clock and is superior to all others absolutely no contest , Toyota developed the 90 specifically to compete with the Mitsubishi Pajero , i don't even think they knew or cared what a discovery was , i knew somebody who had a discovery for a short time , he said it was was the worst piece of junk he ever drove , always breaking down , my Landcruiser has been totally trouble free , i changed the clutch at 220,000 miles and carry out all maintainance myself ( the timing belt is change every thirty thousand ,oils & filters strictly to mileage ) , it tows heavy trailers very often as i am farming , and has rescued quite a few so called 4x4s from mud and snow , so take it from me , somebody who has lived side by side with his land cruiser for nearly twenty years , it is the best 4x4 in the world by a country mile , great article Andy thank you .
 
I wouldn't worry about blow by on a D4D. Mine was like that but didn't use any oil in the 2 1/2 years/25K miles while I had it.
 
It’s sounding like whatever comes up that’s decent will have to be “the one” but to answer your question on road tax I went from an 05 120 to a 54 100 and the road tax was exactly the same! As far as I know Toyota managed to sneak 04 &O5 100’s into a lower emissions group, someone on here that’s more knowledgeable may tell you differently but if that is the case it really restricts your choice of 100’s.
Insurance wise I had the same experience, just under £100 more to cover the Amazon with the same company
Fuel costs? goes without saying they are thirstier, I tow a 1900kg twin axle van and it’s 2-3 mpg less than the 120 when we had the same van but far nicer to tow with (and the 120 was good) that said I’ve sometimes seen the 100 return the same mpg as the 120, all depends on circumstances. The same difference again on solo long runs and local stuff - all depends on the weight of your right foot!!
Would I change back to save on fuel? not a chance but I only do 7-8k a year!
Good luck with your search!!
 
would ask for underside pics. Pretty sure that this ‘garage’ is not where it shows on google maps but is a private house off the A421 East Bedford. I went there couple of years ago to view a Prado and the pictures were deceiving. It ran great but the underside rust was holding it all together! good your not in a rush and being cautious.
 
I'm not on FB either. Scary. I use Emma's phone for that - she loves getting random messages about diesel heaters at 3am. There was a silver Colorado the other day on the Land Cruiser Mart page that looked like it had had suspension and underside done. Roof tent too. I didn't check it out properly but could be worth a look.
 
I wouldn't worry about blow by on a D4D. Mine was like that but didn't use any oil in the 2 1/2 years/25K miles while I had it.

Hmmm... Maybe I was too harsh then. It did seem pretty bad to me though. Not just a fine mist, but properly spitting drips of oil into the air. Then again, it may be normal. Not having any experience with this particular engine, I was just going on what I consider normal in other diesels and I've had plenty of diesel motors much older than this which wouldn't even mark your palm if you put your hand over the filler cap.


That's the same guy in Slough who had that silver one we were all admiring the other week. When I rung him he told me that one was gone but he was prepping a blue one. I presume this is it. I got the impression he buys them in and then spends a bit of time prepping the underside, before listing them for sale, with pics of the underside included, for the cognoscenti.

That could either be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether he's doing this as preventative maintenance on an area which many people neglect... or trying to cosmetically alter the appearance of a previously neglected underside to make it look like it wasn't as bad as it actually was. I'd actually already checked this one out MOT wise as he sent me some pics at the time. I seem to remember it wasn't quite as impressive as the silver one.

would ask for underside pics. Pretty sure that this ‘garage’ is not where it shows on google maps but is a private house off the A421 East Bedford. I went there couple of years ago to view a Prado and the pictures were deceiving. It ran great but the underside rust was holding it all together!

Funny you should say that. I dragged that wee orange man off Google Maps Streetview up and down that road a couple of times, looking for that 'car dealers' and couldn't find anything. The address and postcode given seems to be a Halfords. I was a bit suspicious but thought maybe there was a car dealers round the back up a side alley down which the Google car hadn't ventured.

Ugh! --isn't it awful how searching for a used motor requires you to become so cynical you start assuming everyone's out to pull the wool over your eyes!
 
All LC90's polish up remarkably well , they are strong in every sense and capable of mega miles so at this age its the chassis that tells the truth and that blue one shows what i would expect to see underneath which is ready for my own wire brush and treatment .

Strong as they are most of the bushes will be original and ready for changing even if they might pass mot for a few years yet .

If it looks solid underneath and it drives well , and your looking at is as a forever truck you might see it as a rolling minor restoration project .

Few of us here fixed 90's because we had to but rather because we want to make it last another 20 years .

Steering rack will leak , brake calipers need an overhaul , the centre console lid is broke and 20 odd years is a fair run for the cooling system which is after all just a radiator and thermostat that hasn't failed yet , and paint flaking off the chassis rather than rust pretty much equals "showroom condition"

Age takes its toll on all things .
 
If it looks solid underneath and it drives well , and your looking at is as a forever truck you might see it as a rolling minor restoration project .

Few of us here fixed 90's because we had to but rather because we want to make it last another 20 years .

Forever Truck and Rolling Restoration is what I'm planning, as it'll be my only vehicle and daily [well, couple of times a week] drive. I just hope to find one that is in a reasonable enough state that I can gradually improve it and even treat it to a few enhancements, if it behaves itself.

My last vehicle was a T25 VW Syncro. Another vehicle that, along with a Land Cruiser, I'd always dreamt of owning and jumped at the chance to buy when one came up at a decent price. I'd planned a similar rolling resto future for that. But, although it never let me down too badly, it seemed that, every time I'd saved up enough money to think about investing in improving some aspect of it, some existing thing would break or need replacing. So, even though, looking back on it now, I did sort a lot of issues, at the time it just felt like I was constantly working just to maintain it 'as is', without ever feeling I was improving it.

Hence why I'm anxious to find as solid as possible a platform to begin with this time around, even if it's not got all the fancy extras or bells'n'whistles. A good solid chassis, and an engine and tranny that aren't worn out and I'll be more than happy with that... even if the rest of it is a bit scruffy & neglected.

Strong as they are most of the bushes will be original and ready for changing even if they might pass mot for a few years yet .

This is one of the things that bugs me, when I look at the MOT histories of so many of these vehicles.

You'll see an advisory for something like a worn rubber boot, bush, linkage... whatever. And it'll appear on maybe 3, 4 or 5 MOTs in a row and then Surprise! Surprise! the truck will fail the next MOT on that thing. So, obviously the owners don't pay any attention to all those advance warning advisories. They just leave things as they are and see how many more times it will scrape through before it eventually fails. And, these are the vehicles that they then have the cheek to advertise as "Maintained regardless of cost" or "No expense spared".
 
Last edited:
I've had brand new bushes failed at mot because the tester dirtied his nails and the best swb90 on the planet has been layed up on a sorn in my backyard because i accidentally made an mot tester work late on a friday you see .

I should have just took it somewhere else for a pass but trying to turn a negative into a positive i decided if i have to remove a 1 year old steering rack for no reason whatsoever i may as well pull everything apart and tart it up some . I painted the rack red planning to show his boss i was forced to remove it and everything else i have receipts for renewal dated before they were failed by someone who will be sacked or battered in the next 5 minutes .

I can't even remember what took over in priority at the time and then i unexpectedly ended up with 3 trucks which i don't have room for so at least twice a week i look at it and promise myself i'm going to put it back together next week :icon-neutral:

When i bought that truck i put it into Toyota's own 350 point check and told them to fix everything - the bill for it is on here somewhere i will guess at 1600 quid ish ? I have since changed every single driveline bush that passed their inspection .

My oldest cruiser is 23 years old , my youngest 20 and never has any of them ever been laid up for any other reason than i chose to play with my spanners . The Cruisers reputation is built on the fact that it will always get you home .

If the chassis is good and it drives well you can repair the rest (or not) when you feel like it .
 
At least twice a week i look at it and promise myself I'm going to put it back together next week :icon-neutral:

My '90' is like that; I now have four cars to work on and its always at the bottom of the list <sigh>.

"The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft aglae".

One day (if there's anything left of it).

Bob.
 
I've had brand new bushes failed at mot because the tester dirtied his nails and the best swb90 on the planet has been layed up on a sorn in my backyard because i accidentally made an mot tester work late on a friday you see...

Aye. Finding a decent MOT station is half the battle.

I think it helps that your MOT station knows that, anything it fails on, you're going to take it away and fix yourself. So there's no financial incentive for them to fail it, in order to get a bit of work for themselves. In fact, there's a disincentive for them to fail it, as they'll have to set time aside for the free re-test.

I must have tried every MOT station within a 5 mile radius of my house before settling on the one I use now, who I'd describe as 'Firm but Fair'. If it's something dangerous like dodgy brakes or structural corrosion, they'll fail it on the spot. If it's something daft like a number plate bulb not working or a windscreen wiper blade being a bit worn, he'll just say "You'll need to sort that out" and, on one occasion, when one of my indicator bulbs was gone, he went and dug one out of a drawer and handed me it, so I could put it in, while he got on with the rest of the test.

They always give me the feeling that they're on your side and want your motor to pass. So will talk me through what they're noticing, such as anything that might need attention in future, while they're doing the test. Even if it's not an MOT item.

Contrast that with a place I went to a couple of times before, where the guy would look at you as if he was a magistrate and you'd been brought before him for molesting children. He'd fail it on every minuscule thing he could find and read you the list of failures and advisories afterwards, like it was a charge sheet and you were personally responsible for building the car and for offending his eyes by forcing him to even look at it.

On the second [and last!] time I went there, he jumped in my van and yanked really hard on the handbrake. At which point, the handbrake cable snapped. He got out of the van, looked at me in disgust and said "Well, that's failed for a start. You've got no handbrake!"

"Coz you've just broken it!"
I protested

"If it breaks during the test, it fails!" he said and just walked off. Not even a word of apology or a sympathetic "These things happen some times". And, of course he then went on to fail it on about half a dozen other trivial things like 'Wrong colour of fluffy dice', 'Tax disc stuck on slightly crooked', 'Radio tuned to wrong station'... etc.

Needless to say, I never went there again.
 
Back
Top