San Antonio Cruiser Mechanics (2 Viewers)

[FishTown]

@FJ73Texas They just fixed a power steering leak. I was not in the green FJ Cruiser - I have a white FJ60 that's my daily driver. They had another white 60 in the shop that they were swapping an engine into from a burnt up turbo 62. I'm going to be tackling my radiator myself soon enough - I temporarily repaired the radiator with some JB Weld.

 

[CaptClose]

@FJ73Texas They just fixed a power steering leak. I was not in the green FJ Cruiser - I have a white FJ60 that's my daily driver. They had another white 60 in the shop that they were swapping an engine into from a burnt up turbo 62. I'm going to be tackling my radiator myself soon enough - I temporarily repaired the radiator with some JB Weld.

Let me know when you wanna take care of that radiator bud. I'm ready when you are.

 

[FishTown]

Let me know when you wanna take care of that radiator bud. I'm ready when you are.

Thanks, man. I've got a couple of house projects that really need to be taken care of first. I'm hoping the JB Weld will hold up for another month. I'll be ordering the parts soon. How do I order parts through Beno? I messaged him on here, but never heard back.

 

[CaptClose]

Thanks, man. How do I order parts through Beno? I messaged him on here, but never heard back.

That's strange. He must have missed it. @beno is always Johnny on the spot with communication and shipping. He'll see this post and reply though. You need:

Radiator hose set
Radiator hose clamp set
Small radiator cap

Anything else?

Anyway... I used JB Weld on mine as well. It's holding pressure fine. I'm hoping that it holds out until the weather is cool enough to change out the radiator and tackle a few other projects too. I've got a pressure tester so if you want to get together sometime, we can make sure there are no other leaks in your system.

 

[FJ73Texas]

@FJ73Texas They just fixed a power steering leak. I was not in the green FJ Cruiser - I have a white FJ60 that's my daily driver. They had another white 60 in the shop that they were swapping an engine into from a burnt up turbo 62. I'm going to be tackling my radiator myself soon enough - I temporarily repaired the radiator with some JB Weld.

I think I may have seen it parked outside when I went to pick up my cruiser (your daily driver, that is). I also recall the pair of the FJs inside the shop in the midst of a transplant.

I am still a bit nervous about my cooling system as I think my factory temp gauge is giving me higher than actual reading on the temp. I need to install a mechanical temp gauge but I just haven't found one I like yet.

 

[CaptClose]

I think I may have seen it parked outside when I went to pick up my cruiser (your daily driver, that is). I also recall the pair of the FJs inside the shop in the midst of a transplant.

I am still a bit nervous about my cooling system as I think my factory temp gauge is giving me higher than actual reading on the temp. I need to install a mechanical temp gauge but I just haven't found one I like yet.

Have used a IR gun to see the actual temp yet?

 

[FJ73Texas]

Rick used one and told me my temps are at 210. He thinks my factory gauge may be bad because it tells me I am going to overheat.

 

[CaptClose]

210 is a little on the high side I think. I'll have to do some research, but I think you should be in the 190-195 range. What did you have done to cooling system?

 

[FJ73Texas]

Cody @cwwfj60 did quite a bit of work to the cooling system before he moved to Florida. Basically everything is new except the radiator which is discontinued. New waterpump, hoses, thermostat, and some other bits and pieces.

I agree that I think 210 is a bit hot. Not sure what else I can do to make the cooling more efficient. Right now I don't have a lot of confidence to run it for long periods of times in this Texas heat so my drives have been pretty short.

 

[CaptClose]

Cody knows what he's doing. I'm sure he flushed the system, but that radiator could have years of hard water deposits and crud that won't come out with a flush. It may just need a new radiator. If everything else is new and replaced by Cody, that's really the last thing left, unless that thermostat happens to be bad. Order a new CSF radiator from Amazon and we can install it and see if that helps.

 

[FJ73Texas]

I forgot to mention that Cody did have the radiator rebuilt by Lone Star but yes, perhaps that somehow the root cause is the radiator still.

 

[cwwfj60]

CSF radiators aren't available for the 73 series. Maybe sourcing one from Canada or Australia is a possibility.

Yes I had Lodestar go through the radiator, they cleaned it out, said it was good, but I just took their word for it because they had always treated me right. Had them do my own 60 radiator at one point. But who knows maybe the guy doing it didn't give a s*** and BS'd me. I'd definitely try to source a radiator Matt, I'll keep my eyes out and let you know if I find anything. Everything else has been replaced.

210 isn't going to hurt anything, that's about max I'd want to hit though, 220 is probably about where the red mark is on your gauge.

210 on an IR meter is ok in my book. but with all the money you've invested in your cooling system might as well finish it off with a new radiator.

Good luck man! let me know if I can help

 

[FJ73Texas]

Thanks Cody. I think I am going to just buy a new radiator if I can find one. My options are pretty limited but I think I will get back with @beno because he mentioned another part number may work.

 

[fj4068]

Thanks, man. I've got a couple of house projects that really need to be taken care of first. I'm hoping the JB Weld will hold up for another month. I'll be ordering the parts soon. How do I order parts through Beno? I messaged him on here, but never heard back.

I emailed him directly:
Onur "Beno" Azeri
Land Cruiser Parts and Consulting
onur@landcruiserpartsandconsulting.com
505-944-5081

My first order with him since he opened his own branded LLC is currently in process. No complaints thus far, and was happy with the occasional handful of orders I made through him in the past when he was an apprentice to the Great CDan and then at Lowe Toyota.

 

[fj4068]

Cody @cwwfj60 did quite a bit of work to the cooling system before he moved to Florida. Basically everything is new except the radiator which is discontinued. New waterpump, hoses, thermostat, and some other bits and pieces.

I agree that I think 210 is a bit hot. Not sure what else I can do to make the cooling more efficient. Right now I don't have a lot of confidence to run it for long periods of times in this Texas heat so my drives have been pretty short.

Water Wetter might be worth a try as a band-aid fix. The Diesel Water Wetter should be free of silicates if you're a Toyota Red adherent. It's a bit tougher to procure than the silicate-loaded standard Water Wetter.

Red Line Synthetic Oil - WaterWetter® Coolant Additives - Diesel WaterWetter®

 

[FJ73Texas]

I emailed him directly:
Onur "Beno" Azeri
Land Cruiser Parts and Consulting
onur@landcruiserpartsandconsulting.com
505-944-5081

My first order with him since he opened his own branded LLC is currently in process. No complaints thus far, and was happy with the occasional handful of orders I made through him in the past when he was an apprentice to the Great CDan and then at Lowe Toyota.

You can't go wrong with Beno. He has always been good to me getting my parts.

 

[FJ73Texas]

Water Wetter might be worth a try as a band-aid fix. The Diesel Water Wetter should be free of silicates if you're a Toyota Red adherent. It's a bit tougher to procure than the silicate-loaded standard Water Wetter.

Red Line Synthetic Oil - WaterWetter® Coolant Additives - Diesel WaterWetter®

Thanks. Not sure if you are aware, but I have the lowly gas, not diesel.

 

[fj4068]

I was curious if you had swapped in a diesel of not, but in this case it was more of a question of which type of coolant you run: old fashioned green with silicates, or non-silicate red Toyota Long Life or similar. I just read the technical documents on the Red Line page I linked earlier, and I don't see any explicit statement that either version has or doesn't have silicates. It was roughly six or seven years ago that I chose the Diesel version because it was advertised as silicate-free, so they may have changed formulation since then. The MSDS sheets no longer list the chemical component breakdown, so I'm not sure what the difference is now. Amazon has both, or the regular version is available at most of the discount auto part chains.

 

[Dave Williams]

I took my diesel conversion up to a cruiser guy off hiway 46 near Boerne. Trouble I had was that the brake Master Cylinder reservoir was slowly leaking fluid. Truck was repaired, although it took longer than promised, and within the first fifty miles the brakes started dragging. So much so that it was difficult to maintain speed on a slight hill or even level surface. After some delay they came out to trailer the vehicle back to the shop for a modification to the brake rod under the dash. Works fine now and the work was done at no charge.
When I picked the vehicle up it was pouring and it was parked out in the rain. While driving home the windows fogged up and so I turned the a/c on and the racket from the fan housing was unbelievable. Also the air was not coming out of the registers but out from behind the unit. I had just had about 2 hours of work done on the a/c by Vintage Aire and it was working perfectly before. My radio speakers, which were not mounted, were strewn all over the back bed. I believe it was dropped off a lift to cause these things to happen. When I got home to the garage I found that the foot wells for both driver and passenger were holding about 1/2" of water (maybe that's good - no floor leaks) and so I had to take out the carpet and spend 5 hours drying things out. That's my story. I gotta find a new cruiser mechanic. Recommendations?

 

[FJ73Texas]

Address-wise that sounds like Cody's former shop but the level of service you got is nothing like I got. Cody has always treated me and my cruiser well. Perhaps this was after Cody left but then again, I was told that the shop is closing if not already closed, assuming we are talking about the same shop.