landcruiser from Hell

lazos · 07-08-07, 06:03 AM

Hi everyone, this is my first post here and hope someone out there is good enough to help me. I have purchased a landcruiser from hell. My story begins when my wife told me she was expecting our second lot of twins. She has stoped work and given her company car back. I had to buy a car that could carry all 6 of us. The wife wanted a tarago but i insited on a landcruiser. Anyway i traveled to NSW from melbourne to buy what i thought was a good buy. A black 1998 Toyota landcruiser 100 series. It had 200000km on it but was a good price and put on LPG only 1 year ago. I drove it back from NSW (1200km) and noticed it sometimes wasnt shifting correctly. After about a month of stop start driving the car got bad. The RPM;s would falre between gears and then the car would switch to limp mode. I took it to a Automatic transmision specialist who plugged his diognostics computer to it and we took it for a drive. It was not giving an error code. We did this for about 4 hours. It then gave a code but he cleared it too quickly and did not read what it was. He worked out that the throtle position switch on the engine was intermitently not giving a signial. The computer therefore would change up gears quickly and put it in limp mode. Switching the car off and on would get it working ok for a while. An after market alarm and keyless entry had been fitted and he susspected that this might be sucking current from the computer and therefore causing the problem. We removed the alarm module and the keyless entry module and reset the computer. I drove it for 3 days without a problem. Took it back did an oil change pluged the module back in and removed it 10 seconds later. The following day the problem reared its ugly head. I removed the dash and cut all wires of the alarm. One thing to mention is that when the car was started and you pushed the alarm button for the doors to lock or unlock the D on the dash would flash as well as the indicators. Anyhow, Removing the alarm did not fix the problem. I do not have another $200 for a mechanic to tell me another story and still not fix it. I was wondering if anyone had the error codes list for a 100 series landcruiser 4.5 ltr petrol engine car. Also i've found how to read the code ie put a jumper wire from the TE1 to the E1 and count the "check engine" light. If this is not the way to check please tell me.
I guess this guy had this problem all along and sold it to someone else

e9999 · 07-08-07, 04:31 PM

welcome to the forum!

sorry to hear the story. No worries, seem like it could likely be easily fixable with minor detective work. Somebody will chime in...

ELLTEE · 07-09-07, 01:28 PM

Lazos -
You'll be needed the 'stralian bunch down at Land Cruiser Owners On Line - the Yahoo group.
There's lots of good info on this site, but most of it is on US-spec cruisers. Our 100 series come only in the 4.7 liter V-8 version (except for a couple of frankensteins and the odd, almost illegal import -wink-). And as far is I know, there are few if any 100s in the US sniffing gas.

Oh, and none of us are likely to have seen the Toyota Tarago, either.

I hope you get it worked out, soon and cheaply!

LT

e9999 · 07-09-07, 01:55 PM

L,
does your rig have some easily accessible diagnostics port (like the OBDII ones in the US)? Here at least, you can buy a cheap reader for something like USD40 and have at it. Some car parts stores will also read the codes for free.
good luck

Corbet · 07-09-07, 03:44 PM

Tarago = Sienna.

Sorry I can't help with your Trans.

xlr8it · 07-09-07, 04:13 PM

Might be worth your while to take it to your local toyota dealer and get them to check it out, they have the right equipment to diagnose properly.

lazos · 07-10-07, 08:40 AM

I woiuld be interested in where i could get a fault code readeer for $40 USD. If you know who sell them please point me to there web page. The mechanic that looked at my cruiser paid $10,000 for a snapon brand one. Does anyone have a wiring diagram? or a fault code list?

Corbet · 07-10-07, 09:25 AM

I'm very happy with my Actron CP9180. I got it on Ebay for about $110 USD.

http://www.actron.com

I don't know if they are available in Australia but I'm sure something else is, if not. They make cheaper models as well.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Actro...29844118QQrdZ1

But make sure your vehicle is OBD-II compatible first.

e9999 · 07-10-07, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazos

I woiuld be interested in where i could get a fault code readeer for $40 USD. If you know who sell them please point me to there web page. The mechanic that looked at my cruiser paid $10,000 for a snapon brand one. Does anyone have a wiring diagram? or a fault code list?

HarborFreight has readers/erasers for OBDII for about $40 (on perpetual sale). This is just an error code reader, though, it won't give you temps etc.... Note also we take OBDII for granted in the US but I don't know for sure if that's available on non-US models. I don't remember on the 100, but on the 80 there is another diag port as well in the engine bay.

NMuzj100 · 07-10-07, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazos

I was wondering if anyone had the error codes list for a 100 series landcruiser 4.5 ltr petrol engine car. Also i've found how to read the code ie put a jumper wire from the TE1 to the E1 and count the "check engine" light.

What codes are you getting ? Most of the codes are standardized across the model lines so we could probably use the tables/manuals for the 4.7L to give you the meaning.

This sounds a lot like the TPS (Throttle position sensor) / APPS (Accelerator pedal position sensor ) problem with the 4.7L. They may have used a similar part/system in the 4.5L. Just a wild guess but read the 100 FAQ TPS thread and see if it looks familiar. My Max Ellery manual shows the 4.5L to have a throttle position sensor and has diagnostic steps to test it by taking resistance readings. The TPS is relatively cheap ~US$60 to replace.

xlr8it · 07-10-07, 03:43 PM

I do not think that OZ spec Landcruisers are OBD-II complient.

xlr8it · 07-10-07, 03:49 PM

If you are after a repair manual for your cruiser try this one you will not get one cheaper. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/TOYOTA-LANDCR...QQcmdZViewItem

lazos · 07-10-07, 08:54 PM

Thanks guys, I just took it to Toyota and they pluged 2 diferent readers on the landcruiser and found no error and the car was experiencing the issue at the time. The only error found was for a ABS sensor but they said that it is not related. i turned the car off and back on and the issue went away. While it was having the issue they did a TPS diognostic and it came up ok no issue. They are stuck i am stuck. They said they need the car to sort it out and charge $85 per hour. As this sometimes only happens after 2 hours of driving this is going to be costly. Did someone mention that this is a similar issue to the V8 Version with a tps problem?

100 TD · 07-10-07, 09:42 PM

Has it been raining in Melbourne? (Probably a silly question)
What you are experiencing may be due to moisture on an electrical connector somewhere which is tracking from 1 pin to another. One of the things Toyota did was to see if mine had had a new windscreen fitted at any stage as water sometime leaks around the windscreen then runs down the wiring harnesses and congregates around electrical connectors causing slight leakage across pins which upsets ECU's.
I have just ordered a scangauge http://www.scangauge.com/ for mine, but don't know if it suits or not, the 05 petrols work with this but not sure about mine

Pull all conectors on the tranny and blow them out with compressed air then spray with a bit of WD40 and put them back. (I would also be checking the engine ECU, throttle position sensor, throttle body sensor etc.

1 thing you could try, it is a pain I know, is to dry out the inside of the vehicle.
This of course may or may not do anything for your problem.
First, ensue your A/C drain is clear, it will be on the left firewall, a small black tube about 1cm dia sticking out of a grommet about 2.5cm.
Whenever you drive the car have the aircon on flat out and recirculated air. You can mix warm air via the control to keep the cabin warm.
You could place a blow heater on the passenger and driver floors blowing under the dash and heat up the whole vehicle, then run you air con flat out etc.

lazos · 07-14-07, 07:25 AM

hey guys here is an update. I took it to toyota who looked at it for 6 hours. They could not get it to fault. They did however tell me that the windshield looks like it was replaced at one stage and the kick panels at your feet once removed show some water. They said the screen must be leaking a little. They said the same thing 100td mentioned on this post. The wires might be getting wet and shorting or something to that effect. They dried it out but the problem being is that it has been raining quite a bit in melbourne so just keeps on getting wet. They said the leak looks like it is comming from the rubber trim on either side of the windshield. They mentioned that the trim should be riveted on but mine has rivets only on the top and bottom and screws in the middle. He suggested i pull it off and reseal it. he alos said all the water from the roof gets funneled down that trim and if it is leaking thats where it would get in from. Is this true or is this Toyota Talk when they have no idea. They alos ended the conversation with dont bring it back we dont want to see it. In other words it will take up too much of there time trying to find a fault that is not diognosed on the CPU. Also can anyone help me out with the 100 series fault codes? I bout a workshop manual and tells you everything exept the codes. Also Did you have a similar issue 100TD?

NMuzj100 · 07-14-07, 07:30 AM

What are the codes you are getting from the truck? The codes in my FSM run about a dozen pages.

With the posts below looks like it'll be pretty easy but sounds like the evidence points to a poor windshield install. Several on the board have had problems similar. Getting a tech with experience, giving them the pages on windshield installation from the manual and watching the work is the board consensus on how to get one installed correctly.

hoser · 07-14-07, 11:07 AM

These two sites list both Toyota Specific Trouble Codes and the Generic OBD II codes.

http://www.obd-codes.com/
http://www.troublecodes.net/

100 TD · 07-14-07, 05:57 PM

I had a problem with the tranny(engine ECU), they mentioned they had to check for windscreen leaks first as this creates lots of problems. I actually think mine is leaking now anyway, it is the original but the car gas smelt musty and my wife said some water dripped on her foot once when it was raining so I have to investigate further.
I purchased the ScangaugeII but it does not work on my vehicle unfortunately, so I am about to send it back, although it may work on yours but the only way to find out is to try it. I know it works on Mooooooooo's vehicle, but his is a 2005 V8, so it may not work on the the 4500 six, however they were imported in the 80 series to the US in 96/97 I believe so there may be a chance yours is compliant.