strang things afoot with my 98 colorado

[daverdlc]

hi all
I'm new to here bought my first lc a 98 3.0 td lwb colorado 90 vx with 180 thou on the clock full service history
I've owned her for around 3 weeks and not had a problem i drove her 188 miles home when i picked her up and she didn't miss a beat.
however today while out on a short run i went to over take a lorry switched off over drive and gave her some beans the kick down came in
and was picking up well then she started to stutter (a bit like hitting the rev limiter) with no acceleration and i noticed a puff of black smoke coming out the
exhaust .
i thought maybe it was because i switched the over drive off so i tried the same thing with the over drive on ,still the same results
being new to 4x4 and land cruisers i have to admit I'm clueless any help would be brilliant
thanks in advance .
dave

 

[Shayne]

It probably just choked itself because it hasn't been driven hard for a while . I wouldn't worry about it but it might be an idea to have a look at the throttle body innards the butterflys are likely coked with egr crap .

 

[Shayne]

Hello and welcome to the forum by the way lol i almost forgot

We all like pics if you have any

 

[daverdlc]

thats what i thought shayne it did feel like it was choking you know the spluttering accelerating then dying then i saw the puff of black smoke out the back window then i shit myself haha

 

[daverdlc]

heres a pic i took just after driving her home 188 miles

 

[daverdlc]

loving what you have done with your lc shayne I'm hoping to do some upgrades when the good weather comes next year

 

[clivehorridge]

I'm with Shayne on the "full of crap" diagnosis, especially this early on in your ownership.

A bit of robust driving will help, these engines like it on the hard side and many owners are too economically light on the right foot to clear it out.

Failing that, as Shayne said, a venture into the throttle body for a clean up may be in order.

Mine on my 80 needs doing too no doubt, I'll get to it one day...

 

[daverdlc]

going to give her a good thrashing tomorrow see if it clears up clive .
I've had a quick flick through some of the post on here I've been reading the egr blanking off thread .
dosent make sense feeding exhaust back into the intake ? surely clean air is what is needed?

 

[Shayne]

Blank it

 

[daverdlc]

if i get chance over the weekend i will have a butchers and knock a plate up and have a clean up shayne

 

[hopeless wanderer]

Now i know i'm opening up a can of worms here ...Buuuut.
My Subaru was being a complete pain it the proverbial. Hesitant, boggy, lumpy etc etc.
I ran three successive full tanks of the highest octane fuel i could find (subarus love 98ron)
in there for each tank was added one bottle of Lucas top end cleaner, I dont use additives or any other magic potions usually but i couldnt be arsed taking stuff off and cleaning it. After the first tank the car was transformed and runs perfectly. In fact it now drinks fuel like a navvy drinks Guinness but goes like a missile too so i'm not complaining.
I'm sure others will help decide if its ok for use but it does say suitable for diesels on the bottle.

 

[Shayne]

I use wynn's gold formula .

Not to mention wynns egr cleaner which has been linked to destroying an engine on here .

 

[daverdlc]

ill look into the wynns gold formula shayne and the lucas top end cleaner hopeless wonderer then if that fails try a bit of good old elbow grease

 

[StarCruiser]

Dave, have a search on here for a thread on the Wynns EGR cleaner. It seems that using it (on an 80 series) hydraulicked the engine breaking lands off the pistons. Shayne on the other hand has successfully used it on his 1KZT (Collie) engine.

I'm with you. Whoever thought it was a good idea for an engine to burn its own waste must have a screw loose. I could understand it on an old petrol engine from the 50s where 50% of the fuel went out the back unburned but on a modern Diesel engine? Nah!

 

[daverdlc]

will have a read later Richard .there is so much good information on here its mind boggling

i suppose its a cheap way for the manufacturers to get the emissions down? return some of the waste to be re used as a result less crap coming out the exhaust , i could be wrong

 

[Shayne]

I hate say this while your still in the honeymoon period and i would hope with a full service history non of the following should apply to you but -

The 1KZ-TE (your engine) achilles heel is the cooling system , a warped head from overheating is a possibility not helped by the fact Toyota deliberately fitted a lazy temperature gauge which will sit where it always sits until the coolant is already boiling .

Autos also suffer a common fault of coolant mixing with gearbox oil as both are cooled by the radiator .

A new rad and thermostat would be first on my list just for absolute peace of mind .

Maybe you will find they have been replaced mentioned in the paperwork , and with a full service history there's a good chance they don't need to be replaced at all even if they are original .

Forgive me but i figured better the devil you know than the devil you don't .

 

[daverdlc]

cheers for the heads up shayne I've checked the rad and it looks to be in good condition fingers crossed. i was thinking of fitting a cooler for the transmission fluid to eliminate the coolant fluid mixing problem

 

[Shayne]

Auto is not my thing but the problem is caused by the rad rotting internally allowing the two fluids to mix hence a new rad kills two birds with one stone i would have thought .
Hopefully Beau or one of the other auto owners can offer some input on whether or not a separate oil cooler is a beneficial and cost effective alternative ?

 

[Beau]

Majority of people I know run a separate trans cooler inline to the standard rad. I wanted to eliminate that so I'm running a single cooler for the trans, have been for nearly a year now and trans has been fine. I'm also in Florida, US, where ambient temps can be 40 degrees+ so I'd it's good enough.

However, doing this can also make warming up the autobox fluid as well as keeping it up to temp in colder climates challenging. Theres ongoing debates about optimum temps for a trans, but I'm pretty certain its the high temps that kill the trans, not having it slightly cooler.

If your stuttering doesn't go away or get any better, I think you should possibly give the fuel filter a change and take it from there. In fact, next time it coughs a little stay on the throttle. The ECU might have enough time to pick up the fault to diagnose the problem quicker.

 

[daverdlc]

cheer guys useful info there .Beau where abouts in the engine bay have you mounted your trans fluid cooler ?