1992 Land Cruiser with 38k miles

[Joe Alcohol]

I sold my Range Rover Classic and decided that I no longer want to just make it to the woods but I want to make it home as well so I've been researching Land Cruisers.

Today I saw this listing and am both incredibly intrigued and terrified by the mileage. I'm about 2 seconds from getting on a plane from Philadelphia to JFK and driving this thing home. The miles concern me because if it really sat that long there's going to be cracking issues with belts and hoses, fluid issues, etc. Plus if I pay for a 38k mile cruiser am I going to be kicking myself when I put 10k miles on it in a year? I also would want to do modifications to the interior and would that take away from the eventual value of such a low mileage vehicle. I'll take it to get fluids and compression checked once I buy it but what do you guys think?

1992 Toyota Land Cruiser -- | eBay

 

[Heckraiser]

DO NOT get on a plane and drive that thing home. Get a flatbed or hire a mechanic in New York. 38k screams neglect (or odometer fraud) to me. Save this one for the dupes

 

[Joe Alcohol]

I got too excited and wrote this before doing more research. These scumbags bought this thing from a salvage yard with 184,000 miles on the odometer. When you google the vin it comes right up. What a bunch of scum bags. They didn't even do any repairs to the wear and tear. They just cleaned up the exterior, put some wax on it and rolled back the odometer. I hope that no one buys this thing. I put the vin number in the comment so hopefully if someone looks it up they find out before they consider it.

JT3FJ80W5N0046168

 

[mjosoba]

@Heckraiser said it. They don’t even have four of the same tire on it. And it looks like that valve cover had oil that was washed off, but they missed it by the PCV hose.

 

[CaptClose]

Good catch Mr. Alcohol!

Since you’re new, you may not have seen this buyers guide for 80’s. Check it out.

80 Series Newbie Guide - Slee Off Road

As soon as the excitement of the purchase starts to fade, the questions start popping up. What modifications can I make? What are those 4 bolts on the back

www.sleeoffroad.com

I know everyone has their own opinion and biases, but if it were me, I’d be looking for a 95-97 with locked axles. Mileage wouldn’t be all that important to me, except as a bargaining chip. Keep in mind, you’ll do the same baseline maintenance on a 38,000 mile 80-series, as you would on a 238,000 mile cruiser.

Just go in with the mindset that you’ll want to do a top end rebuild when you install the turbo, and you’ll be good for another 200,000 miles.

 

[BILT4ME]

Observations:
Back half of the truck has been repainted at some point. DS rear door starts as a different color but matches the LR quarter. The marker light of LR quarter has paint on the top of the black part of the light. Same on RR marker light.
Truck has "newer" tires when it only has 38K?
Both rear bumperettes have been mangled.
Hitch is an aftermarket hitch (Possibly towed a boat a lot and /or got rear-ended? Rear bumper is a cross member and looks to be scratched/damaged and rattle canned over.)
Driver's seat wear is inconsistent with 38K wear. Looks more like 138K. Especially for the cloth interior.
States there are "no leaks" yet in the pictures, the puddle underneath gets larger and wider with pics.
Entire bottom of truck has been recently coated with something and not very well done.
Was owned in PA according to the info listed, one of the worst states in the country for salt.
In one place it states a 1000 mile warranty, in another it states as-is, where-is, no warranty.

RUN!

 

[Joe Alcohol]

I wrote to the seller and let him know that it had 184,000 miles on it and he should take it back to whoever he purchased it from. He just replied :

"You must not have read the ad"

He still has it up listed as a 38k mile car. I think that he's referring to the line that says "due to the age of this vehicle it is possible that the miles may not be actual" but the listing title and multiple places in the ad all state that it's a barn find with 38k miles. The place is called Automation Unlimited in Ozone Park, NY. I said before but I can't think of better term. Scumbags. I hope no one gets taken by this one.

 

[BILT4ME]

I wrote to the seller and let him know that it had 184,000 miles on it and he should take it back to whoever he purchased it from. He just replied :

"You must not have read the ad"

He still has it up listed as a 38k mile car. I think that he's referring to the line that says "due to the age of this vehicle it is possible that the miles may not be actual" but the listing title and multiple places in the ad all state that it's a barn find with 38k miles. The place is called Automation Unlimited in Ozone Park, NY. I said before but I can't think of better term. Scumbags. I hope no one gets taken by this one.

Report Odometer Fraud to the NHTSA and the state it's in.

Need to forward the ad and info to the state this dealership is in.

 

[projectcruiser]

I just reported it through eBay, they have a fraudulent odo category under vehicle misrepresentation.

I suggest others do this.

 

[Joe Alcohol]

I just reported it through eBay, they have a fraudulent odo category under vehicle misrepresentation.

I suggest others do this.

I did the same when I first saw it but I wrote to the dealer because they have a 100% rating on ebay so I mistakenly thought that they might care.

 

[LC4LIFE]

Man, I was expecting another listing for a 20-25year old cruiser going for 50k....

 

[White Stripe]

My 92 had almost 300k miles on it when I got it. It was in better shape than that by far. Lots of problems with that one. With a vehicle that has a lot of age to it, mileage becomes less important. Not unimportant, but less important.

 

[ZackR]

Glad you missed the bullet on this one.

A 38k mile cruiser needs to come from someone's fancy summer home up in the mountains (always garaged and clean), who was the original owner and had it serviced annually. It should be nearly pristine, except for where the kids bike fell against it back in the summer of 02', resulting in a small but explainable scratch. At this point the original owner is in his/her early 70's and has moved on to a 200 series to tow the bigger boat and the grand kids are out of the loop on the majesty/importance on keeping the family cruiser going for another generation.

 

[fjbj40]

lots of rust under the hood, filthy seats, torn seat, filthy headliner, its a high mileage rig.

 

[absalom]

Posted an honest review about their character on their Google reviews. I'd suggest others spread the word

 

[leonard_nemoy]

I new it was to good to be true lol, there description was so fague

 

[Cass007]

I've never seen that many rusted clips before on an engine. Usually if the truck is up and running it will "self oil" a lot of those parts as small leaks develop over time. This truck looks like it was in a flood at some point.

 

[Lowbudgetlc100]

my 91 is much better condition with 254k. no rust runs perfect.

 

[2KCruiser]

I shortly owned a '93 LC with 77k miles and the interior and engine bay was flawless. It was completely stock and I knew that if I kept it I would have ripped it apart for upgrades. I felt bad doing that so I sold it for a $3k profit after just baseline maintenance.

 

[offroadvegan]

Reported.