I bought my 94 FZJ80 new 30 years ago this month. I'm not sure how many original owners are out there, but I thought I'd summarize the few issues I've had over the last 30 years and 220K miles. I've always been good with maintenance, and this thing has definitely delivered.
I kept this stock for the first 12 years, but began doing increasingly aggressive off-roading, bashed in my front bumper, and that got me started on the upgrade list that's in my signature. I've used this vehicle hard by most people's standards, with long road trips, lots of mountain roads, desert trails, more than my share of deep water crossings, and I had a decade where I did rock crawling near the limits of the vehicle as it's configured. I know there are people in here who do more aggressive crawling, but I was right below that top tier.
I just went through all my records, and the repairs I've had to do make up a very short list.
Not once in 30 years has this vehicle failed to start or not gotten me home. It runs strong as ever, and I still get up to 18mpg on a good flat stretch of highway. I just pulled spark plugs with 100K miles on them, and every one of them was picture perfect. There's no sludge under the valve cover, my 5 year old coolant just came out looking like new, and I pass the California smog test with flying colors every year.
What started as my valve cover gasket replacement has turned into a fairly substantial restoration. As parts came off, it's clear that the materials science is catching up with these old rigs, so I'm replacing the rubber and plastic parts under the hood. The parts I've pulled that seem closest to failure are:
I'm replacing lots of other parts in hopes of sustaining reliability, but pretty much everything else looked like it had life left. I just couldn't bring myself to put 30 year old parts back in, especially in the hard to access places.
I've now owned this thing half my life, and I've never liked a vehicle more.
T.
I kept this stock for the first 12 years, but began doing increasingly aggressive off-roading, bashed in my front bumper, and that got me started on the upgrade list that's in my signature. I've used this vehicle hard by most people's standards, with long road trips, lots of mountain roads, desert trails, more than my share of deep water crossings, and I had a decade where I did rock crawling near the limits of the vehicle as it's configured. I know there are people in here who do more aggressive crawling, but I was right below that top tier.
I just went through all my records, and the repairs I've had to do make up a very short list.
- Two door lock actuators failed over the years
- I had a stretch with an intermittent CEL (too rich and too lean), wasted some money on bad guesses by the dealer, before finding a partially torn wire going to one of the O2 sensors.
- My AC evaporator failed at about 20 years
- My headlight stalk switch and headlamp combo dimmer failed at about 20 years. I think the bad stalk ruined the combo dimmer.
- My rear window squirter diverter valve failed at around 20 years.
- My radiator cracked at 25 years
- My front passenger seat recline failed at 28 years
- I think my brake booster slowly degraded over many years, with "boil the frog" results. I'm replacing it now, but I just got used to hitting the brakes harder.
- I developed a "generous" oil leak from the valve cover at 28 years, with oil coming through pretty much the entire gasket plus all the spark tube seals.
Not once in 30 years has this vehicle failed to start or not gotten me home. It runs strong as ever, and I still get up to 18mpg on a good flat stretch of highway. I just pulled spark plugs with 100K miles on them, and every one of them was picture perfect. There's no sludge under the valve cover, my 5 year old coolant just came out looking like new, and I pass the California smog test with flying colors every year.
What started as my valve cover gasket replacement has turned into a fairly substantial restoration. As parts came off, it's clear that the materials science is catching up with these old rigs, so I'm replacing the rubber and plastic parts under the hood. The parts I've pulled that seem closest to failure are:
- The PHH and metal pipe, with what must be a previously undetected pinhole leak and corrosion
- The valve cover and manifold ventilation hoses, both fragile and brittle
- Some of the vacuum lines, especially under the intake manifold, with ends starting to "trumpet" out.
- A new windshield wiper motor made me realize how slow my wipers had become
I'm replacing lots of other parts in hopes of sustaining reliability, but pretty much everything else looked like it had life left. I just couldn't bring myself to put 30 year old parts back in, especially in the hard to access places.
I've now owned this thing half my life, and I've never liked a vehicle more.
T.
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