93 1FZ-FE - Rings and Bearings as PM ? (3 Viewers)

[Spdstr280Z]

A few weeks ago I purchased my first Land Cruiser, a 93 with 276 thousand miles. It has a lot of miles, the interior is trashed and it has an unknown service history, but I adopted it anyway. It is not showing any signs of engine issues, clean coolant, clean oil, no condensation under the cap, head gasket not weeping externally, engine actually seems solid. I have not performed a compression test, can't find my old tester, haven't bought a new one. I started doing some basic engine maintenance and clean up, and have a bad case of "while I'm in there" now. Plugs, wires, cap, rotor, filters became a re-seal when I realized the head gasket was about the only seal that wasn't leaking. While looking at the oily undercarriage I realized that included the oil pans (who knew these had 2 ?) and probably a rear main. Once I decided to pull the intake manifolds to replace vacuum lines and service fuel injectors, I decided to go ahead and do the head gasket while I was right there. Figured if I was going to lift the engine to do the pans, it would be a good idea to do the engine mounts while I had it apart, and hey, if I'm going to have the pans and the head off, it would be a good time to pull the timing cover (crank pulley / balancer is going to be off anyway to get to the front seal and oil pump cover seal) to check on those guides that I hear were updated after my very early engine... Now, having said all that. If I'm going to have it this far apart, does it make sense to just go ahead and pull it to do rings and bearings as preventive maintenance ? I hear all the stories of these still showing factory cross hatching in the bores, but read a few stories of spun bearings near my mileage. Ideally the bores and crank would still be in spec and I could have it honed and the crank polished and replace with new "standard" parts. Any gotcha's, or something my ignorance of this motor might be missing that would make this an impractical or bad idea ? If I'm this close, then need work in the block in 20 thousand miles, I will wish I had done it while I was in there. I do plan on making this truck a long term project and expect it to be with me a long time unless something goes horribly wrong.

Thanks for reading all that ! Guess I should have done an intro thread and just asked the question in this one, but...

Jason

 

[baldilocks]

The 1fz will go a long way if maintained and 276k really isn’t that much. You don’t know much maintenance history on your engine if I understand you correctly.

Was the engine smoking at all or ever?
Did you do a compression test prior to tear down?
What did the spark plugs look like?
Did it burn oil that you could notice?
How much of a ridge is there on the cylinder wall up near the deck?
Are there plainly visible cross hatch marks on the cylinder walls?
How did the engine run in general?

You might pull a couple bearing caps for inspection and use some plasti-gauge to determine bear to crank clearance.

Based on what you said about the engine so far, I’d bet that the bottom end is just fine.

What you perceive as a rear main seal leak is probably the oil pan arch. The Toyota FIPG is worth the time and effort to obtain.

 

[Spdstr280Z]

Sorry if I wasn't clear or didn't provide enough detail in my rambling. I don't have the engine apart yet, it is still in the truck. Everything, (manifolds, wiring, hoses, EGR) is free and I'm just trying to decide if I want to pull the whole thing, or just the head at this point. I have put maybe 500 miles on it before I started work. Puff of oil smoke on startup the first time I drove it (I don't know how long it had been sitting exactly, over a week at least) and nothing really after that that I noticed. Tail pipe has lite dry soot, and there is some soot on the floorboards near exhaust leaks. I believe it is running rich though, new O2 sensors and vacuum lines waiting to go in. I'm no expert reading plugs, but I would say they look good on the rich side, but honestly I have not pulled them all yet. I'll see if I can pick up a compression tester to see where I'm starting. Nothing at this point making me think it needs a full rebuild, just wondering if it would be smart since I will be this close to having it apart, and plan to keep it long term. I have read up on the pan arch, and am planning to reseal the pans. While I'm new to 80's, I've been in the Toyota truck family or the last decade. The 80 replaces a 98 4Runner that I drove from 198K to 320K before I totaled it in January. I went through the reseal with it too, and know FIPG well !

Thanks for your input !

Jason

 

[Tools R Us]

... It is not showing any signs of engine issues, clean coolant, clean oil, no condensation under the cap, head gasket not weeping externally, engine actually seems solid. ...

Yep, full overhaul, be true to the Mud mantra, if it aint broke, keep fixin till it is! Or could take it wheelin, but that would be a silly notion?

 

[Mighty690]

And, my $0.02. Without an oil analysis we're playing with half a deck.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Light puff at start up might just be your stem guided need replacing. FYI when I did my head gasket on mine (PM) at 285K, I pulled the head and saw original hone marks on my cylinder bores. Told me these trucks are tough. I stopped at getting head done at machine shop with new valve stem seals. You can ask machine shop if valve guides are in spec before you decide to replace. Mine were in spec. They are not cheap. I bought a full engine gasket kit from @beno and replaced all gaskets and hoses. Redid silicone vacuum lines, new fuel filter, etc. Also checked injectors. Check oil cooler. Also did new water pump and blue fan clutch mod. Heat wrapped wiring harness leading to injectors. I also bought new OEM head bolts. Check if timing chain is good. Mine was off spec so I replaced it and new chain slippers. Some models slipper plastic gets brittle and breaks off.

Sorry for the brain dump.

It is much easier if you pull engine/tranny/transfer. I did mine while in the truck. Tough. If you take the air filter housing and intake hose off, there is enough room for my fat a$$ to fit in there.

 

[baldilocks]

That plug looks good. Depending on the number and location of oil leaks, pulling the engine would make that deal much easier.

Maybe just fixing the leaks and ignoring the seeps for now and putting some time in the driver seat to get more acquainted with your 80 would help.

 

[Wermz]

I fully rebuilt my engine after starting on my oil pump cover seal, it got real, real quick. lots of pictures in my thread. mine had 287k miles and ran great, but the rod bearings were a little rougher than i would have liked. i replaced rings and all the bearings. i have a parts list, ill have to find it for you.

The Big Green Buffalo

 

[Spdstr280Z]

Yep, full overhaul, be true to the Mud mantra, if it aint broke, keep fixin till it is! Or could take it wheelin, but that would be a silly notion?

Well, I should fit in great, because it won't be the first time I've worked on a vehicle until it was good and broken... But it is absolutely going wheeling, half the reason I own it. Just want to do as much as makes sense to so that I can get back out of the woods or desert reliably. Also feel a little bad about dumping oil in the streams and all.

Thanks,

Jason

 

[Spdstr280Z]

Light puff at start up might just be your stem guided need replacing. FYI when I did my head gasket on mine (PM) at 285K, I pulled the head and saw original hone marks on my cylinder bores. Told me these trucks are tough. I stopped at getting head done at machine shop with new valve stem seals. You can ask machine shop if valve guides are in spec before you decide to replace. Mine were in spec. They are not cheap. I bought a full engine gasket kit from @beno and replaced all gaskets and hoses. Redid silicone vacuum lines, new fuel filter, etc. Also checked injectors. Check oil cooler. Also did new water pump and blue fan clutch mod. Heat wrapped wiring harness leading to injectors. I also bought new OEM head bolts. Check if timing chain is good. Mine was off spec so I replaced it and new chain slippers. Some models slipper plastic gets brittle and breaks off.

Sorry for the brain dump.

It is much easier if you pull engine/tranny/transfer. I did mine while in the truck. Tough. If you take the air filter housing and intake hose off, there is enough room for my fat a$$ to fit in there.

Since I'm guilty of the brain dump above, you get a pass on this one. Actually appreciate your experience, no worries ! I have already decided to do the head gasket, and have the OEM full gasket kit. Actually doing most of what you did and trying to decide where to stop. And I'm 6'1 and 300 pounds, I understand completely. Everything is unhooked and it's ready to come out, just deciding if it is head only or entire engine.

Jason

 

[Wermz]

i dont do anything half way, i cant imagine youll needs everything i have here but there is everything you need with part numbers.
this is also employee pricing for me at lexus. i have about $4200 invested in the engine itself and that DOES include $400 for the machine shop to deck the head .004, do a valve job, and install my valve stem seals. i did order some stuff after market, like a waterpump and fan clutch, which i saved $100 on each going AM over OEM.

if you notice i ordered a few extra main bearings because i beat up 3 of them while honing the block. REMOVE MAIN BEARINGS BEFORE HONING!. infact, install the old upper halves and hone with them installed.

Untitled by bill bill
Untitled by bill bill

 

[Spdstr280Z]

Damn... That is a comprehensive list, you're an enabler. I was prepared to be very jealous of your pricing, but looks like I can get fairly close shopping on line. I see you honed the cylinders of course, did you polish the crank / grind or resize or was everything in spec ?

Thanks !

Jason

 

[Wermz]

the crank was in really good shape, it measured within specification, rod and main bearing. i also plasti-gauged everything with the old and the new bearings to be super sure it was in good shape. i polished the crank pins a bit with some emorycloth or americloth or whatever its called... assembled everything with BG Pre-lube. honed with with a 4-1/8th inch "medium" ball hone lubed with engine oil.

 

[ccslider]

I'd drive it till it blew and then just buy a short block..

 

[SmokingRocks]

I've had an 80 with 460k on the clock with the original head gasket... yes it burnt some oil but that wasn't a reason to mess with it. IIRC these engines were designed with a 500k mile overhaul interval in mind.

Are you doing the HG as PM? From what I've seen and delt with first hand the HG's don't typically fail unless the engine has been overheated.

 

[Spdstr280Z]

I'd drive it till it blew and then just buy a short block..

Considering I was just told by a buddy that his brother got a 60,000 KM Japanese import engine for two grand, that seems like a really good idea.

I've had an 80 with 460k on the clock with the original head gasket... yes it burnt some oil but that wasn't a reason to mess with it. IIRC these engines were designed with a 500k mile overhaul interval in mind.

Are you doing the HG as PM? From what I've seen and delt with first hand the HG's don't typically fail unless the engine has been overheated.

That's good to hear. Yes, decided to do the head gasket as PM because I don't know the history, and I'm already going to be so close with replacing vacuum lines, PHH, and all the leaking gaskets / seals. I'm pretty susceptible to "while I'm in there" disease. In my defense, I drove my 98 4Runner (purchased with 198K on the clock) to 320K just daring it to break. I did reseal it when I couldn't leave it in the driveway any longer, and did the timing belt / water pump once. I've also read (mostly from the gurus here) that the 1FZ-FE design life is 300K kilometers per rebuild, up to 3 rebuilds. I do think they have a lot easier life in the US than they are designed for, and will go a lot longer.

Thanks for the input everyone,

Jason

 

[MPolley]

The rabbit hole of "while you're in there" is never ending. Just do what's necessary and keep an eye out for a low miles engine to have on standby. I just had a perfectly good transmission rebuilt mine because "I might as well since the engine is going to be freshly rebuilt."

My $5000 truck is now an $11000 truck and counting

 

[SmokingRocks]

Yup. My “while I was there” disease has turned my truck from a $5,500 set of wheels to a 50+K rig.... tread carefully good sir.

 

[Spdstr280Z]

Yup. My “while I was there” disease has turned my truck from a $5,500 set of wheels to a 50+K rig.... tread carefully good sir.

I'm assuming you have a build thread I need to go read...

 

[Pin_Head]

It depends on what your time is worth, but if you don't like building engines and you want a warranty, you can just drop in a rebuilt engine.
For example:

Toyota 1fz-fe 4.5 L6 comp engine

TOYOTA 1FZ-FE COMP ENGINE 1FZ-E. 1/95-98 LANDCRUISER. 11/95-98 LEXUS LX-450, DOHC. 24 VALVE. CRANK SENSOR IN PAN, FRONT BELOW CRANK GEAR.

www.powertrainproducts.net