1HD-T burning oil with low km's??

[Jbone]

Hello all,

I have a 1990 HDJ81 with only 86K on it and I seem to be burning between 1.5 and 2 L of oil/5000 km. Is this an acceptable amount? I am running Rotella T 15/40 in summer and 10/30 in winter. The consumption is pretty consistent. I payed too much for the truck to begin with (from a land cruiser shop in BC) hoping to buy it with some peace of mind after it being combed over by people who know more than I do. So much for that plan

I ghetto tested for excessive blow-by just by bringing it up to 1400 RPM taking off the oil cap and sealing my hand around it to feel for any pressure. Same thing for the dip stick. No noticeable pressure. I know this does not really present any useful info, I just wanted to throw it out there.

Anyway, I would like to hear yours guy's input on the matter as I have freaked myself out beyond any rational thinking...

Cheers

~J

 

[Tapage]

did you check your turbo oil seals .?

 

[IanB]

Does it smoke much out the exhaust? Doesn't leak any oil?

 

[BCR4619]

x2 on your turbo oil seals.

Would not be very hard to check, what I did on my truck is eliminate the breather vent going into the intake piping pre-turbo and clean up all intake piping, go for a drive and check you piping post turbo after and if its full of oil... well there lies the problem!

Perhaps there is an easier way but this is pretty fool proof.

 

[Jbone]

Hey Guys,

No abnormal amounts of smoke (aside from cold winter starts). When she is warm, idle is clean, and small black puff when you punch it, but hardly noticeable unless your really watching the side mirror for it. No leaks at all from any part of the truck. Not enough oil is being burnt to smell it at all.

Thanks a lot for the input so far. It gives me hope that all may not be lost.

I will get on checking out the turbo as soon as i have a little more mobility (ankle is currently broken so climbing around the engine bay is a little more difficult right now)

Cheers!

~J

 

[BEE-JAY42]

Don't get too panicked yet, 2L per 5000Kms isn't a massive problem (nothing to keep you awake at night anyway).

 

[hzj79lee]

Does your oil level falls below the lowest point at your dipstick?

 

[wrongway around]

Just a thought but you are running pretty thick oil for Alberta temps ,may the piston oil squirters are leaving the oil on the walls to long because of the to thick viscousity..

 

[Jbone]

Oil levels do not drop below around the bottom third of the dip stick. And in terms of oil weight, I am pretty confident in 15/40 with summer temps for sure. And I wont run 10/30 when temps drop below the minus 15 mark which is fine according to a number of cruiser experienced shops.

 

[Dougal]

Yes some of them do. I know a guy who swapped his out for a brand new long-block about 6 years ago.

I didn't hear if he found the source of the oil consumption.

 

[roscoFJ73]

Do you know for sure the mileage is authentic? 86000 klms in 23 years is rare.

 

[Jbone]

Rosco,

We are very confident that the mileage is authentic. There is enough paperwork from the original owner to support that. It was imported by a very experienced team of people (not myself). I guess there is always the off chance that it is not though... but I would rather not have to consider that lol...

 

[crushers]

roll backs are common in Japan
do you have a copy of the original auction sheet posted at the auction? if so post it up.
86,000 km and that engine should use NO oil between 5000 km changes. none.
the turbo should be good for hundreds of thousands of km, not tens of thousands. i highly doubt the seals are gone ... unless roll back.

something isn't right but at the same time, 2L between oil changes wouldn't get me worried. just keep an eye on it and see if it gets any worse.

i have seen 1990s LC from Japan and older with ultra low km, not all are roll backs.

 

[Jbone]

crushers,

I dont have the original copy of the auction sheet that I am aware of... although there is a large amount of japanese paper work I got with it, some of which I am not actually sure what it is. There is a section at the end of the export certificate though which has mileage summaries for the 3 years prior to export which line up with what the truck has. I am not sure if those are numbers associated with the mandatory vehicle inspection program or not? Again, the export cert being all in japanese does not make it any easier to figure out.

 

[wrongway around]

Kind of out there but an off chance might be that the motor might not of have had the proper break in procedure,and the rings aren't sealed yet.

 

[crushers]

unless the rings are chrome moly, cast rings set in the first 500 km.
oil rings "seat" almost immediately ...

if you can scan and post up the paperwork then we can get it translated.
i am not saying it is a roll back, i am saying the oil consumption is suspicious.

 

[Jbone]

Crushers,

I just did some digging, and the mileage numbers on my export certificate are in fact from "shaken's", the mandatory inspections. The previous owner drove roughly 3K per year for the few years before its export, which checks out for 68K over its 22 year life in japan. (I got it with 68K). It was also scouted in Japan by Brave Auto, who as far as i can tell, have a pretty good reputation and a lot of experience.

 

[wrongway around]

Crushers dosn't that go against the not using synthetic oil in the motor until its broken in. Maybe they used anti seize in the pre assembly. Definitely an odd one that it doesn't smoke or leak ,and apparently it couldn't be the turbo, and its not a roll back. Do the numbers match the vin. Does it have all the factory gaskets ( no silicone )? Would using a thermal gun around the block and head pick up a internal hot spot ? I've had a few of these 1hdt's and one was a real smoker but never had to add oil in between oil changes. Kind of stumping for sure. But at least its not a smoker.

 

[Jbone]

All serial numbers check out, and there are no silicone gaskets in the block. All factory. Dont get me wrong, shes not the most pleasant to be around when cold. I definitely get smoke when warming up, and where I live and play, there are just as many cold weather starts in a year as there are above-freezing starts, but once warm, all is well. At this point, I have my fingers crossed that it is the turbo... 1 L of oil use and i still have a comfortable level on the dip stick. Past that, I add the remaining few hundred mL left over from the new oil and that gets me through 5K comfortably. I have never heard/thought of using a heat gun to pick up hot spots. What would this indicate/be a sign of in terms of oil consumption?

 

[roscoFJ73]

Rosco,

We are very confident that the mileage is authentic. There is enough paperwork from the original owner to support that. It was imported by a very experienced team of people (not myself). I guess there is always the off chance that it is not though... but I would rather not have to consider that lol...

As crushers says , there are some very low klm jobs from Japan. I guess they use public transport a bit more than we do.
One other thing is that engines with very low klms often spend their whole life being driven very short distances and as they say,most of the wear and tear on an engine happens on start up and when its cold.

This is the opposite of taxi cabs which never get cold and do 800000 klms+ before rebuilds.

Have you taken it on a long trip at highway speeds,sometimes that can bed the rings in and make them run better?

I would also get someone else to drive it and follow them and see exactly how much smoke there is. If its burning 2L every 5000klm , there would be some blue smoke.

I think its excessive,my 1HZ with 220000(and the previous one ) did not burn any noticeable oil between changes.
The sad thing is it may get worse.

And are you checking the oil when its cold or hot? If you check it when its hot and then check it when its cold ,there can be a big difference due to the expansion from heat and foaming of the oil.