Just picked up my first Landcruiser! one odd issue

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Turbo74

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Just picked up my first Landcruiser! one odd issue*Update!! bad news*

I made it to madness finally! I picked up a really clean '93 white Land Cruiser with 194K and a 3" Old Man Emu lift. I absolutely love the truck but with no manual I am left to troubleshoot this problem on my own.

While im driving(moreso over 30mph), the low oil level orange light comes on. It stays on until i stop and then goes off. Usually resumes again after i've been going over 30mph for 30 seconds or so and again stays on until I stop. I look at the pressure when the light comes on and its completely solid in the middle to upper middle depending on acceleration. At idle its still solidly below the half mark. I have checked the oil numerous times and it shows within spec? Any ideas what could be causing something like this? Do these trucks have a low pressure light or is it tied in with the low oil level? Thanks for any help!


Rob
 
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Your oil level is good right?
Some oil level lights on these trucks can be more sensitive than others.
 
The manual says to check the oil level with a warm engine after waiting a few minutes after shutting it down, not cold. IME the light will first come on when a little over one quart low under acceleration then may go off as more oil drains back into the pan when coasting or idling.
 
Good news and bad news:

good news: the oil was indeed a quart low even though it looked like the dipstick showed fine....

Bad News: PO had just changed the oil 1000 miles ago and had all levels up to spec. If it went a quart low in 1000 miles I wonder where its all going? It's got a small leak(couple drips on the driveway) and i see or smell no burning oil so I wonder whats going on here.....
 
Look the motor over really well for a leak.
Known leaks-dizzy o-ring, oil pump cover gasket, valve cover, rear main seal, oil pan arches.
Your oil consumption is ok, just keep an eye on it and enjoy your new cruiser:cheers:
 
lol wow, it's like an old german car except some reliability! I'm glad to hear this is possibly normal.

Now for mods.... I dont really know where to start? i am thinking wheels but the only set I like has a 5.5" backspacing which i dont see as something that is a good fit? I am guessing 4.5" is factory?

What are the must-do mods for this truck? Right now it has 285/75/16 mud tires on it and it is all over the place on the freeway. under braking it pretty much goes wherever the hell it wants haha... is that the tires?

Rob
 
Sounds like all completely normal. Oil light here comes on faithfully at 1 quart low. Freaky cool to have that on a vehicle, but don't over-depend on it.

And oil consumption. Pretty much what others said, too.

I do a lot of around town driving and use about that much. Take her out on the road and she sips like a lady, actually seems to go 2000 miles on a quart, probably due to less stop and go I suppose.
 
Turbo74 said:
What are the must-do mods for this truck? Right now it has 285/75/16 mud tires on it and it is all over the place on the freeway. under braking it pretty much goes wherever the **** it wants haha... is that the tires?

Rob
Click to expand...

If you have a lift and no caster correction, sounds like it could be the problem. Bad shocks will give you some of that, too. Both easy to do, shocks especially (you want longer ones with a lift, of course), lots of info in the FAQ section.
 
Like Green truck said.
You sure you don't have a lift.
Sounds like the behavior of a lifted truck without proper castor correction.
 
Welcome! Nice color of truck, how about some pictures????:flipoff2:
 
kidglove13 said:
Like Green truck said.
You sure you don't have a lift.
Sounds like the behavior of a lifted truck without proper castor correction.
Click to expand...


being new with these trucks(im a sports car guy, this is my first supposed lifted truck) ill get some pics up so you can see. The PO says that he purchased and had installed a 3" old man emu lift kit. All i can see is the yellow old man emu shocks so who knows what i have under there haha.

Rob
 
Your handling issue sounds a lot like my rig. I'm pretty sure (in my case) that the wandering is due to the s***ty mud tires. I'm sure people will debate this with me, but those tires are just not designed/intended to cruise at 60+ MPH...I don't care what the speed rating on the sidewall says. When I had my Jeep Cherokee...it wandered slightly with BFG A/T's (aligned properly).
 
Bad News and worse news:

I topped the engine off with oil and exactly 150 miles later the light came on again..... I took it into 2 different shops and both said the same thing:

Bad leak coming from the timing cover, distributor and oil pan. Both shops quoted SEVENTEEN hours to do the job at between $2K-$2500.... They said the head has to come off and while im in there might as well do the head gasket/valve cover gaskets as well. :mad:

reeeeeallllyyy shoulda researched that oil leak worse when i bought the truck but it's all on me now. Thing is I dont want to dump $2500 into a truck I only paid a bit more for however i LOVE the damn thing.

So i guess instead of blowing $2500 on a 195K engine i'll blow some more money and go for a 4.7 motor/tranny swap.... Time to research this as it seems like it would be a good fit for this truck and a relatively easy bolt-in with minor fabrication(I hope, I could be wrong on this as well).


Oh well.... I still love the truck regardless but I cant keep throwing a quart of oil in it every 150 miles :frown:
 
Its not the timing cover it is the oil pump cover gasket for sure
Oil pump cover gasket easy fix parts $60 save $1000 in labor if you do yourself
Dizzy o-ring easy fix as well
I would clean the bottom really well and inspect the oil pan.
I bet it is not leaking and is just remnents for the other leaks
When my oil pump cover seal was leaking it looked like the front of my oil pan was leaking as well and it was not.
Do not throw in the towel yet these things are easy fixes if you are good with a wrench and are not that difficult to do yourself.
Do some searching on here and you will find more than enough info to help you fix your problems and save all that labor monies.
The parts are cheap it is the labor that is the killer
You can fix it all yourself no problem, use the force, I mean MUD to help you out.
 
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