1992 LJ78 buyers remorse (1 Viewer)

[beefboy]

Looking for advice here. I made the mistake of trading my 2015 Tacoma for this, before I realized that these were under powered cars for American suckers like me to buy.

Should I try to sell? Make the best of this one? I don't have a lot of means or experience to put into it.

 

[Nas90tdi]

Before you give up, maybe do some reading and figure out what you want to do. Many of us have owned those trucks for years and they can be a perfectly fine vehicle with some tweaks.
Check out posts from @GTSSportCoupe , @JimmyPrado , @AirheadNut ,and many others I am sure I am forgetting. Lot's of these trucks around and some of them being driven pretty hard and still going strong. My build thread in my signature has a lot of info in it.
No 25 year old Toyota is going to be comparable in day to day driving to your Tacoma. Just doesn't happen.

 

[joekatana]

2LT with a automatic trans is a combo that I never understood toyota has ever made , 2lT's with a 5 speed are not fast but doable in regular trafic . The automatic transmissions in the 70 series come from a time when the autos where robbing way to much HP , you can swap a manual trans in to get a bit more pep but it will never be a modern day vehicle

 

[beefboy]

thanks @joekatana and @Nas90tdi. I knew better than to expect a car as reliable as the 2015 tacoma, just talked to jim in lancaster and read a bunch on here about problems with the 2lte, so nervous about the lifespan. i don't have a lot of money to spend on it, so i'm feeling pretty embarrased i ever went for a car this old in the first place.

has 250000 km on it, and i basically traded the 2015 tacoma with 80000 miles and $2000 for it.

 

[jmylie]

I have over 330,000 km's on my LJ77.

Add some waterwetter to the radiator to help with the overheating issue.

I drove mine from St Louis back to CT before I new about the "overheating" issue. Not a problem on the almost 3 day trip home. The weather did not cooperate and I drove through some of the worst thunder storms ever.

Keep it for awhile, it will grow on you, as long you are ok with a RHD vehicle.

 

[FJ73Texas]

The cruiser itself from what I can see in the pictures looks to be clean so that is a very good start. Most important thing (at least to me) is no rust. Us Texans don't have much of a stomach for rust.

I realize that you don't have a huge budget at the moment but maybe some time down the road you will.

 

[Gun Runner 5]

You have what appears to be the correct steering wheel which gives you a leg up on most LJ78 owners.

 

[Waikato Willy]

dont fret! even though mine is a 1KZTE its got the same auto, I am really rough on mine with overloaded towing, beach driving,and general paddock bashing.
Wagon runs stock driveline and I just did the easy stuff like intercooler, external trans cooler,exhaust and more boost, we have stupid strict 6 monthly road worthiness checks in our country and my wagon passes more times than my wifes little 2009 118D BMW, once you know which parts cross over from other models its easy to work on as well

 

[CRSWA]

I've had mine for almost three years and I really do love it. As others have said, read up on the basic and fairly inexpensive steps that you can take to make the engine more reliable, go through the drive train, steering, and suspension to make sure the maintenance is up to date, and then drive the crap out of it.

As for it being under-powered, my best advice is to cultivate patience. I drive very differently in my LJ than I have in any other car I've owned, and frankly, I prefer the LJ.

Lastly, there's no rush to get rid of it. These things aren't going down in value. Drive it for a few months and if you still don't like it, sell it for what you paid for it.

 

[Gun Runner 5]

"Cultivate Patience" ...... should be made into a 70 Series bumper sticker.

 

[Zorlac]

dont fret! even though mine is a 1KZTE its got the same auto, I am really rough on mine with overloaded towing, beach driving,and general paddock bashing.
Wagon runs stock driveline and I just did the easy stuff like intercooler, external trans cooler,exhaust and more boost, we have stupid strict 6 monthly road worthiness checks in our country and my wagon passes more times than my wifes little 2009 118D BMW, once you know which parts cross over from other models its easy to work on as well

1KZ and 2LT ---- Day and night / even with the same automatic transmission

 

[jblueridge]

Yes, hang onto it.
If one of the many offers to buy it that will occur while you are shopping or getting fuel you can sell at a profit.

 

[beefboy]

update:

I've managed to find the right oil filter and change the oil. The Prado has been running well for the most part (little bit of smoke and sputter on cold start), so I drove it on a 180 mile round trip.

Toward the end of the trip my oil pressure light has started to come on and off periodically. I haven't changed the fuel filter yet, and I'm thinking that may be helpful.

Does anyone know off hand the filters I need for this? Maybe a good how to reference?

 

[Waikato Willy]

you sure its oil pressure light?
My 1kzte has an oil pressure gauge and an oil level light, the oil level light is orange, its never been accurate the plastic slide thing inside the sump was a bit damaged so it doesn't work properly
I comes on intermittently when its about half full off oil

 

[Dprio34]

@beefboy Toyota Oil Filter 90915-30002 is correct and Wix 551368 from O'Rielly's will cross in a pinch.
Air Element / Air Filter 17801-54080

 

[AirheadNut]

I get genuine Toyota filters and parts from Dave at Back 40 Imports:

Back 40 Imports

Importing Toyota diesel Land Cruisers, Hilux pickups and hard to find Toyota parts to the USA.

back40imports.com