1996 hilux surf 1kz-te good daily driver? (2 Viewers)

[Joey55]

Hello, I'm between getting a 3rd gen 4runner or 3rd gen Hilux Surf for a daily driver. My focus is more towards the Surf in this post, and I just have some questions. I have done a crap ton of research on the 1kz-te seeing if there still parts and I found a few websites that have engine related parts. I'm not too worried about other parts since the Surf and the 4runner share somewhat the same parts like suspension etc. I'm located in Florida in the US so the roads are almost always flat and there aren't any hills.

I know that these engines overheat, and the cylinder heads crack but how do they overheat just by driving them regularly? I don't plan on towing or going off road often and beating on my Surf. I do plan on going on long trips from time to time. I'm already aware that these vehicles aren't fast at all and I'm ok with that. I've read enough posts about adding after market gauges and all that good stuff. If its still a good idea to get the Surf some of the first things I will do to the car is add 10 blade fan, digital water temp gauge, EGT gauge, EGR delete, and maybe a boost gauge. Obviously at some point get a 2.5'' or 3'' exhaust to help with flow. Add a different temp thermostat and add an intercooler.

So, my main question is do these cylinder heads just crack by driving them regularly? most roads in my state are 70mph (112kph) will that be a problem?
Overall are these engines even worth it? I've seen people say 1kz-te suck and then there's people saying there great and will last a lifetime. I'm just not sure on what to believe.
Are there any other ways to make the engine cooler that I didn't talk about above?
How much should I worry about glow plugs breaking and falling into the combustion chamber. Is there a solution to this?


thanks

 

[HiCruiser LandLux]

Honestly I can't answer the questions on the 1KZ but I can suggest getting a 3RZ Surf. All the USDM parts will interchange, easier to work on, cheaper intial purchase price, cheaper maintenance. Like you said yourself you aren't going to be overly using it for anything heavy duty where the diesel really matters. Just my $0.02, the diesels are rad as hell. Just not worth the State side headaches that will inevitably pop up.

 

[ALX4X4]

1KZ's are awesome. Heads can crack because people DON'T service the injectors and a poor spray pattern can hot spot. Every 100,000klms get them rebuild, pump every 300,000klm and off you go. Mines got a mechanical pump and a high flow turbo only running 14.5PSI and in gear pick up at road speeds it eats my 6.0 manual 80. Until the LS hits its stride of course.

 

[OM617YOTA]

I put an EGT gauge in my 1996 1KZTE Prado and found that even with a dead stock factory tune, if you're heading up a hill with your foot flat on the floor for a length of time you can get the EGT higher than it really should be. No issue at all in normal driving, you can't leave your foot flat on the floor long enough for it to be a problem without going stupid speeds, but if you were pulling a trailer up a hill you could leave your foot flat on the floor long enough to cause a problem. I'm suspecting this has a lot to do with the head cracking issue.

I wouldn't call these fast, but they're not necessarily slow either. A 140hp 250ft lb diesel drives much differently than a 140hp 180ft lb gasser.
Nearly spritely driving around town, no trouble getting up to freeway speed, and I've surprised more than one person taking off from a stop light. Once you're at freeway speed is where you notice the difference, acceleration from 60mph-80mph is leisurely, and that's the only place I've ever wished I had more power. Yes they will cruise at 75mph all day, no problem.

 

[saltfrog]

I have had a 97 Surf w/ 1KZ-TE since for about 5 years, it just passed 300,000km (was at 220k ish when I bought it). Previous owner did EGR delete but otherwise it has stock exhaust, stock fan, stock water temp gauge, no EGT thermocouple/gauge until I installed them a couple of weeks ago. I haven't had to do anything other than preventative maintenance (oil changes religiously, various fluids, belts etc, replaced the 25 year old stock suspension). We don't do a ton of 4x4ing and never tow anything, but it is very mountainous here. Have also driven Vancouver to LA and back in the summer, including through Death Valley, with no issues whatsoever. So your experience may vary but I would say you will have no issues with "normal" driving. Who knows though, maybe I have just been lucky. Definitely lots of stories of them cracking but also lots of people who seem very happy with them and have not had issues.

Re speed, 120km/h is fine, I find that fuel economy starts to suffer at much faster than that.

According to RoughTrax's listing for 1KZ-TE glowplugs, glow plugs breaking and falling into the combustion chamber is caused by using poor quality glowplugs (but maybe take that with a grain of salt as they are selling glowplugs lol)

Out of curiosity, why add an intercooler rather than just getting one of the intercooled models? I know adding a front mounted intercooler is supposed to be better but it seems like a pretty huge pain to install.

To conclude: if I was going to buy another vehicle today, I would probably but another 97 surf with the same engine (but I would get an intercooled version )

 

[nonstopbike]

I've been daily driving a 1 kz-te 4wd automatic hiace for the past year here in Oregon, where we get some hills, and its been solid.

The dealer I purchased from (vanlife northwest) performed all routine and pre-emptive maintenance prior to my purchase ( at ~70,000 miles) and I've had ZERO mechanical issues. I've added 10-15k miles to the vehicle, with lots of 'toddler nap' miles and idle time.

I can see high temps on the EGT but never set the alarm off ( set at 130* i think). Having some mechanical sympathy and understanding of the limitations is helpful in ownership for sure.

That said, I typically try to take momentum into going up hills, then settle into the slow lane to keep from purging diesel for no speed gain. It will spool up and get around other vehicles in the 60-70mph range.

The motor loves flat and fast driving, and like others have said, can cruise at 70-75mph no problem. It'll take a draft up to 80mph, to which I typically let my draft go. But this has a 2in lift, and BFGs and my family in the van.

Driving in washington is where we see higher speed limits like yours ( 70mph), and I try my best to tuck in behind the Sprinters and rental box trucks.

It sounds like you've got a great plan to make the Surf work well for you.