Builds '94 FZJ80 "Cotton"

[izzyandsue]

Cotton on Dutch John Trail, Uwharrie National Forest:

Dave, do you remember what tire pressure you where running then?

 

[roadstr6]

Dave, do you remember what tire pressure you where running then?

Believe it or not I was at 18 psi. Tires barely look aired down in the video but they actually were.

 

[roadstr6]

Cotton blew the head gasket in mid-December. Happened in the driveway. Best possible place to fail. I noticed the exhaust was a little steamier than usual on a 40 degree cold start-up. Engine had a slight skip that went away under load. I drove it to the grocery store (about three miles round trip) and popped the radiator cap and saw bubbles. Typical #6 failure. Notice the steam cleaned #6 cylinder. Here we sit, waiting on parts.

 

[jpoole]

Too bad but going in the drive was very nice of her and saved money on towing/etc. goes a long way to the total costs of the job and "while you are in there" items.

Out of curiosity do you have any ideas on what lead to it's failure? My running assumption is that running these hotter than the normal/acceptable range leads to excessive movement differences between head (aluminum) and block (iron) and eventually causes HG failure. Did you have a lot of high-temp cycling in recent months that support my theory or do you see other indicators for why this let go on you?

Hope it all goes back together smoothly for you.

 

[roadstr6]

Too bad but going in the drive was very nice of her and saved money on towing/etc. goes a long way to the total costs of the job and "while you are in there" items.

Out of curiosity do you have any ideas on what lead to it's failure? My running assumption is that running these hotter than the normal/acceptable range leads to excessive movement differences between head (aluminum) and block (iron) and eventually causes HG failure. Did you have a lot of high-temp cycling in recent months that support my theory or do you see other indicators for why this let go on you?

Hope it all goes back together smoothly for you.

The truck never overheated or showed any signs of HG failure. My first indication was a slight miss at idle. Then I noticed more steamy exhaust than usual. It was down a smidge in coolant but only maybe a quart. No real warning. Pretty scary, huh? If I had been driving, I imagine the coolant would have run lower and the temps would have started to climb. Truck has 190k miles and it decided that it needed a freshen-up. I guess it will get one!

 

[roadstr6]

Head came back from the machine shop all nice and clean. Shop checked for cracks, re-surfaced (8 thousandths) new stem seals, re-cut the valve seats, tipped the stems to the correct lifter spec. Ready to install.

 

[bcomnes]

Way to roll with the punches! You make it sound so easy :V

 

[roadstr6]

While I was waiting for parts I took care of alot of "while you're in there" items. Sent the injectors off for a refurb, deleted the EGR, replaced all the coolant hoses, replaced heater valve, rebuilt the power steering pump and cleaning. I scrubbed a ton of grimy parts. I also had to replace several broken connectors in the harness. Every single injector clip broke upon removal. Busted #2 knock sensor replaced. I decided to go ahead and replace all the steering rod ends too, just because I had put the job off for so long and I was dead in the water waiting on the HG kit. I wanted to do the oil pump job, but I was afraid I would knock the timing chain off the gear trying to get the crank pulley off. I have the parts to replace the oil pump seal, but I guess that job will have to wait until the head gasket is buttoned up. It's not leaking much. It'll be fine.

 

[roadstr6]

Here's a link to the ONSC Wrenching Thread where a couple of pics were uploaded of the work in progress:

TWT -- The Wrenching Thread

forum.ih8mud.com

I got the timing dialed in. Cotton is rolling down the road again! The truck drives great. Acceleration is a bit snappier than before, but I don't expect I will win any drag races. Cotton had been taking Bucky's spot in the shop during the head gasket work. Last night I jockeyed the two trucks around to their proper locations and took a couple of pics while they were out in the driveway.

 

[roadstr6]

Here’s the engine bay all buttoned up and ready to go another 200k miles.

 

[roadstr6]

400 miles after replacing the head gasket on Cotton, and after sending all my injectors to RC Fuel Injection for cleaning and flow testing, I had an injector to fail. The truck went from hero to zero on my ride home from work and limped along on five cylinders. No magic happening in #2 cylinder. Spark is good. Compression is good on #2 (190 psi) Injector is getting 12v from the ECM. Ohm test shows that the #2 injector is open inside. Coil must have broken so no connectivity. So here we are again:

I’ve done a little research and apparently I’m not the only one who has had injector failure shortly after service. Damned if you do. Damned if you don’t. Oh well...new injector on its way.

 

[roadstr6]

Prior to the COVID-19 lock-down, Nathan and I took the 80 to do a little mountain biking at Sherman Branch.

 

[landcruisertx]

The truck never overheated or showed any signs of HG failure. My first indication was a slight miss at idle. Then I noticed more steamy exhaust than usual. It was down a smidge in coolant but only maybe a quart. No real warning. Pretty scary, huh? If I had been driving, I imagine the coolant would have run lower and the temps would have started to climb. Truck has 190k miles and it decided that it needed a freshen-up. I guess it will get one!

Ohh gosh my cruiser has every sign you just mentioned

 

[roadstr6]

Ohh gosh my cruiser has every sign you just mentioned

It may be worth the time and effort to pull the plugs and run a bore scope down the plug holes to see if you have one cylinder that is steam cleaned (usually the HG fails on #6). If you think you may have a HG issue, be very careful that you don't hydrolock the engine. On the day that I pulled my truck into the shop to tear it down, when I hit the key, it hesitated before it actually spun over. I fully believe there was enough coolant in that cylinder to almost hydrolock it. A little more and I would likely be looking at a full rebuild. Be careful.

 

[roadstr6]

One thing that has always nagged me about the 80 series is the lack of a decent console arm rest. The factory arm rest is too low and too far away from the driver's seat to be truly worthwhile. I looked around hereon MUD and found that a few folks have had good luck with this one:

Amazon product ASIN B06XKX6NL2
At $37.00 I was willing to take a chance on it. I did not like the flimsy plastic "legs" that came with it, so I did a quick fab job with some pieces of 14 gauge sheet metal and made a sturdy bracket that attaches where the old square cup holder used to be. The whole armrest does hinge upward and the lid hinges up to expose a small storage compartment for sunglasses, etc. The gray color match is pretty good. It is a cheaply-made piece but a decent solution to add a little driving comfort to the 80. Overall I am happy with it.

 

[roadstr6]

Cotton Spring 2020 pic dump:

 

[roadstr6]

More Cotton:

 

[izzyandsue]

Forget Cotton, that pork butt!!!!!!

 

[77CruiserDog]

I just saw your greener NW cousin... same bumper and top rack too. I just got done reading this thread so when I saw it as I was walking out of the grocery store I had to snap a picture.

 

[Zantier]

I just saw your greener NW cousin... same bumper and top rack too. I just got done reading this thread so when I saw it as I was walking out of the grocery store I had to snap a picture.

GREEN '94 FZJ80s rock.