2004 Cruiser; Introduction & Log

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CSMcruiser12

CSMcruiser12

Joined
Dec 6, 2016
Threads
6
Messages
71
Location
Houston, Tx
Website
forum.ih8mud.com
Hello everyone!

I've just got my hands on a 2004 Land Cruiser with only...240,000 miles!

The knowledge and information on this site is what made me interested in the LC, and ultimately what convinced me to jump on this opportunity. I have to admit though, it was a bit of an impulse buy. After driving a Scion FR-S for 2 years (basically the exact opposite of the LC) I was ready for a change. I knew that a bigger car was in my future, I just wanted to take care of the sports car itch before we started a family.

Well, the next thing I know, I've got a couple trade-in quotes from dealers for the Scion and I was shocked. Even if I decided to sell privately, I figure my car has dropped about $6k over 2 years. Wow. Thats the silent killer-depreciation. So...hello land cruiser!

I would say the goal of my LC purchase is to provide a reliable, bad-ass, do everything, family hauler for the next 5 years, and do it all at a lower cost than buying a comparable late model Ford/Chevy/Toyota etc. Basically, maintenance vs. depreciation.

So, this will be an experiment of sorts. I'll be keeping track here for fun and for advice. Here we go!
Here she is...



 
Welcome, and nice research! Its always good to see other people obsessive about researching before purchasing.

One factor missing that will influence price is the vvti engine in the 2006 and 2007 years, on top of typical increase due to newer years.
 
Ramathorn15 said:
Welcome, and nice research! Its always good to see other people obsessive about researching before purchasing.

One factor missing that will influence price is the vvti engine in the 2006 and 2007 years, on top of typical increase due to newer years.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I wanted to keep it as simple as possible, just to get an idea. I felt like the 03' updates were the biggest influence. There's a pretty big price difference based on condition as well. I looked at a couple LX's in person and threw out the data points b/c the condition was very suspect. (I had a separate chart for LX's lol).
 
Purchased on Monday 12/5/16. First things first, into my mechanic to get "baselined"

12/8/16
-Power steering fluid flush
-Brake fluid flush
-Coolant flush
-Clean fuel injectors
-New front shocks
-New front CV axels

Question: I asked them to see if they could find any sign of the timing belt service being performed recently. (No stickers or records I could find). Manager said they "took the cover off and the belt was in good shape"...is this even possible? I guess if they had dumped the coolant it wouldn't too much more work to get to the cover?
 
Passenger side cover comes off in 2 minutes for a quick look at the belt condition.

The timing belt I pulled off my newly aquired LX this year was cracked and dry rotted something fierce. Amazing it didn't snap. If yours looks good and you can't swing the job right now, it's not a big deal. New TB is every 90k. In theory, yours should be 60k into the second belt. Should be safe for a while.

Congrats. Good lookin rig for the miles.
 
Nice looking truck. I have the same year and color -- liking the ride?
 
Couvi said:
Nice looking truck. I have the same year and color -- liking the ride?
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Overall I'm very happy with the truck so far. It's only been 5 days though lol.

I was most impressed by the build quality which is evident in all of the mechanisms. Tail gate and hatch feel sooo solid. Doors, rear seats when they lock into place, etc; it feels like a Glock.

The new shocks made a huge difference in the ride. New rear ones will be in order shortly.
 
CSMcruiser12 said:
Overall I'm very happy with the truck so far. It's only been 5 days though lol.

I was most impressed by the build quality which is evident in all of the mechanisms. Tail gate and hatch feel sooo solid. Doors, rear seats when they lock into place, etc; it feels like a Glock.

The new shocks made a huge difference in the ride. New rear ones will be in order shortly.
Click to expand...
Good to hear. Did you replace with OEM shocks? I'm still amazed at how solid this thing is.
 
Did a couple small things yesterday. Cleaned my old car really well and took pictures for the listing.

On the Cruiser, I had picked up a Turtle Wax headlight restoration kit. So I went to work on the fog lights.

Before:


After:


Drove the truck to the in-laws for dinner. FIL was pretty impressed with it. Like most people I've talked to, he didn't know a whole lot about the truck, be he knew it was different than other cars or even other Toyotas. I think most people come across it car shopping, see that its 85K new, think "thats crazy", and move on. He couldn't believe how nice it looked and how solid it drove for 240k.
 
As far as preventative maintenance goes, I've read all about the key barrel assembly snapping ("Busted Ignition")- I'm going to order that new beefed up one this week.

I've also seen the heater hose T pipe failures. But looking back over the dealer service history I have, it appears that 1 of them failed 1.5 yrs ago @ 197K miles. Dealer "replaced engine valve cover gasket, resealed the half moons, and washed the engine." for $660.

I wonder if they replaced both of them though...I'll have to look tomorrow and see if I can tell.

Is there anything else that could leave me stranded?
 
Welcome, I hear you on the concept of buying something solid with cash that will last if you put in the proper maintenance. I did the exact same thing as you with a '14 Subaru XV, fortunately for me the hit was about 2K after 2 years. I have had my '02 bought with 135K for 14 months now. I have spread out the baseline so I didn't get hit all at once with it (Previous own didn't do s***e) and will being getting the TB/WP done soon. Unfortunately, the '12 Odyssey has been eating into my car maintenance budget, so the TB/WP is taking longer to save up for than I like. I hope to do that in 2 months.

As far as broken parts needing fixed, I had a tie rod link break, which was around $15 for the part, easy fix. Also, she stalled on me and wouldn't run well and that was fixed for $10 worth of MFAS and throttle body cleaner.
 
My "dot" is second from the right. $10500 with 240k miles. 2004 model.

I offered $9500 initially, seller declined. Said he had a $9250 offer over the phone without the buyer even seeing it. Seller had others in line so he was firm on getting full asking price. I figured what the hell, not going to get hung up on a relatively small sum.

I would say if you have a good maintenance log, that would really help your price. So as I go forward and keep records, that should help maintain my value.
 
Another week down.

Things I did;

Today we finally had some sunshine so I gave her a good wash. Got familiar with all the dings and scratches I need to repair. I'll need to find some factory color touch up paint. No luck at the auto parts stores.



-Also picked up my first grease gun and some Valvoline Moly-Fortified Multi-Purpose Grease and got to work on the front and rear u-joints and shafts. The truck definitely has "the clunk". I couldn't access the front u-joint b/c the way the shaft was facing (tried moving the truck 3 times, oh well I'll get it next week). I did 4 pumps each. I didn't feel much resistance and I didn't notice any grease coming out past the seals. I'm going with the strategy of doing a few pumps each week and see how it improves. I don't want to over-do it and stress the seals. We shall see!

-Conditioned the leather twice this week. It seems to soak it up. Some of the leather is pretty dry and hard feeling. I think I'll do 1 more wipe down this next week and then let it be.

-Used a 3M eraser wheel with the intent of taking off the pinstriping. It was somewhat successful. It took off the portions which had faded from the dark accent color to white, but left the pinstripe in most areas. Hard to explain, didn't take pictures. It was like there was a film on top that just faded and dried out. That is gone now. It does look much better so I'm happy.
 
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Use moly grease on slider only, don't do U-joints with it. Long subject, simple things sometimes can confuse more.
In fact, you can use a regular grease on all six driveshaft zerks, moly is of 'desirable' category for the slider. Source: Toyota failure analysis engineer. Petrochemical marketing folks may say what they want, and they do.
Enjoy your ride.
 
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