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[Diplodocus]

Prologue

Years ago I moved to Zimbabwe and built a truck named “Matterhorn” – see the build thread here.

I went away for a few years, and now I’m back, a little further North, in Zambia. I learned some lessons after having to part ways with our beloved Matterhorn at the end of my Zimbabwe assignment. First and foremost, I wanted to be able to bring my next 100 series back with me when I returned to the U.S.

My assignment in Zambia is 3 years, so I could potentially be headed back to the U.S. as early as 2024. That means the newest foreign-market 100 series I could get would be a 1999. This would allow me to import it easily under the 25 year rule.

So early this year, the search began. I once again used Get Cars Japan as my broker for the Japanese vehicle auctions. I spent months scouring their online auction results to see how rare my desired specifications would be, as well as the current prices.

After months of pouring through auction results, looking at every 100 series that crossed the block anywhere in Japan, I estimated that on average only one vehicle meeting my specifications would come across the block each month. I was specifically looking for a 1999 Cygnus trim level (LX470 equivelent) with third row, without navigation, and at grade 3.5 or 4.

That is why, once the time came and I was ready to purchase, I jumped at the very first opportunity and put in a high bid that I knew would get me the truck, even if I needed to overpay a bit. The truck in my sights did not have a lot of photos and the auction sheet noted “rust underneath,” but I decided to take a chance. Here is what I could see when I played my bid:

It was a grade 4, with 90K miles on the clock. I won it for $9K, a fair price considering auction histories for similar vehicles, but a steal as far as I was concerned.

To my absolute astonishment, when my broker sent me more detailed pictures of the truck after it was delivered to the port in Japan, I saw the factory rear locker switch!

I had never seen this on any Cygnus trim level truck in all my research and had just assumed that the situation was the same as in the U.S. – the ’99 LX470 models were offered only with an LSD. However, in Japan, customers actually had the ability to option their Landcruiser as they wanted. Of course, none of the other bidders knew about the switch either. I don’t know if it would have substantially increased the final price, but it made me even more giddy over my winning bid (even considering the additional $4K cost for transportation to Zambia).

 

[Diplodocus]

A Rough Landing

When the truck arrived at the port in Durban, I got a cryptic message from the receiving agent:

“Kindly note your vehicle is not starting it had to be towed out of the vessel.”

I assumed a dead battery (it had been four months since I bought the truck at auction, after all), so I asked if he could charge it or replace it.

He responded with “not battery, immobilizer issue.”

I asked him to put it on a truck “as is,” because I could deal with the immobilizer issue when I picked it up at the Zambian border. In the meantime, I ordered Medtro’s EFI Relay Bypass Kit and planned to have an EFI fuse circuit re-routing be my first project in the border parking lot.

Unfortunately, the next message I got was:

“Got an electrician yesterday to attend to your car. Fixed now.”

(we’ll come back to this later).

When the truck arrived at the Zambian border a couple weeks later, I was there to greet it. Of course, the battery was dead, so I needed to source a replacement at the border ($$$). As the truck was stuck in customs, we removed the battery and brought it to the shop. They swore up and down that a battery they had in stock would fit, even though it was clearly a different size from the factory battery. Sure enough, it didn’t fit…but with some cardboard stuffing, it fit “well enough” to get home. The tires had also been deflated by the car carrier, so I also needed to pay another $10 to a helpful gentleman who just happened to have a small Chinese air pump for just such an occasion.

As we were running the truck to power the air pump, the truck ran out of gas. Another $20 for enough fuel to get the 300 feet to the gas station…

Finally, after another couple hours waiting around for the customs officers to attend to us, we had our paperwork and were ready to hit the road.

As soon as I pulled forward, I could feel the AHC was in pogo-stick mode. I knew it was going to be a rough ride home through the winding mountain passes and pot-hole riddled roads of Zambia. My colleague, who was following behind me, said the pogo-sticking was so bad that my rear tires were coming off the ground. For the next three hours, my kidneys were not happy. But we eventually made it home safe, just as the sun was setting.

 

[Diplodocus]

Investigations

Back at home, I had time to fully investigate what I had gotten myself into. The interior was in very good shape and the undercarriage had some, but minimal, rust. In addition to the obvious blown AHC globe(s), the driver side CV boot was slinging grease, the steering rack had a noticeable leak, and the fan bracket bearing was loose. The worst of it, though, was the wiring. This is the stuff nightmares are made of; cut wires everywhere, scotch locks used with abandon – at the ignition switch, ECU…everywhere. Electrical tape loosely draped around potentially live wires. No fuses on additional circuits. Mystery on/off switches that lead to nowhere. It was bad…real bad.

It turns out that when the auto electrician “fixed” the immobilizer “problem” what he actually did was hotwire the truck. I don’t understand how, but he completely bypassed the immobilizer ECU. There is no security light, a non-chip key I had cut locally starts the truck without issue, and Techstream is completely unable to connect to the immobilizer ECU.

I don’t even know how to begin rectifying this immobilizer mess, so for now it will be on the back burner.

On a related note,I love the factory key, it has a single button lock/unlock integrated into a much smaller profile than our U.S. market two or three button keys.

I wanted to get another transponder key like this. It looked like mid-90’s Lexus cars in the U.S. used this same style key / fob, so I ordered a blank from ebay and had it cut locally.

It starts the truck up just fine, but I’m not sure if the FOB can communicate with the truck or not. My factory key has no FCC Id (why would it, I suppose, it was a JDM key, so no FCC id required).

Additionally, all of the directions I can find online about programming fobs describe how to program a fob with two or more buttons (e.g. “hold down both the lock and unlock button…”). I can get the truck itself into programming mode, but I have not had any luck with it recognizing this FOB. I don’t know if it’s on a different frequency, or if I’m not doing the programming steps correctly, or what.

After going over the truck with a fine-toothed comb, I put together a huge (and I mean huge) Partsouq order. Timing belt kit, steering rack, new CV, lots of rubber hoses, etc. It turns out the order was so big that U.S. Customs has spent two weeks so far holding the shipment and crunching the numbers on how much I owe in duty and fees. I blew way past the $800 personal purchase exemption with this one. Oh well.

Because I plan to tow an off-road camping trailer with this truck, I was super excited to purchase Cruiser Garage’s ash tray Scanguage II mount and start getting a baseline for tranny and coolant temps. The install was quick and easy.

Unfortunately, I had to uninstall it a few minutes later, since the Scanguage didn’t work at all. I have since learned that this truck does not utilize the OBDII protocol. JDM vehicles typically use the JOBD protocol in their domestic market cars. Looks like I will need to go old-school with separate probes and gauges if I want real-time temperature data.

 

[Diplodocus]

History, Real and Imagined

The service records for this truck date back to the very first oil change that took place at 919 miles, on December 1, 1999. They are incredibly detailed. We know, for example, that this truck’s parking brake clicked 5 times when it was tested at its second service on February 25, 2000. We also know that the timing belt was replaced in 2012 at 70K miles. It seems the truck was sold shortly thereafter, to the second owner, Yukio. I know his name is Yukio, because the poor stereo is still trying in vain to connect to his iPhone.

I have to imagine Yukio was in his teens or early 20’s in 2012. He paid to have a lift installed (to include an adjustable panhard bar, sensor lift brackets for the AHC, diff drop, extended rear sway bar links, and aftermarket rear springs), big chunky tires (33 X 12.5 Mud Terrains) and stick-on “Luxus” chrome pedal pads. He tricked out the headlights with HID retrofits and replaced every single interior light with 10,000K LEDs. He dropped in a fancy stereo, complete with backup camera, navigation, and Bluetooth, driving at least one extra subwoofer.

Cruising the streets of Tokyo with his blue-lighted black-tinted, pearl-white lifted Landcruiser on chunky tires, booming out bass late into the night…he was the envy of his friends.

Time goes by. He gets older. The truck’s appeal starts to wane. He takes the truck in for its annual servicing in late June or early July every year where the fluids are changed and a 115 point inspection is completed, but he doesn’t invest much – he doesn’t need to. He drives less than 2,500 miles per year. Because each brake pad was measured to the ½ millimeter at every visit, we know that Yukio never even had to do a brake job on this truck during his ownership. But as long as the truck remained a low-cost status symbol, it seems it was worth keeping around.

Then 2021 rolled around and along with all the other craziness in the world, a rear AHC globe blew. He was 9 years older. The allure of big tires, blue lights, and heavy bass had faded. He needed something more practical now, he needed to grow up. He traded in the Land Cruiser for a Yaris and never looked back. He never thought twice about that Pioneer head unit pining for just one more connection with his iPhone.

 

[Diplodocus]

Drivability Achieved

Even before I actually bought the truck I went on a bit of a shopping spree, since I knew I would be buying a 100 series and I knew how I wanted to build it. I got plenty of upgrade goodies in the pipeline, like a set of Dissent bumpers, new Engel fridge, and the like, but I also got some maintenance items ready for the big day when I would actually meet the truck in person. Some of the upgrades I will ultimately need to sell, like the Slee Diff drop and King Springs, since the truck unexpectedly has those (or equivalents) already.

I also purchased a full set of AHC globes from Impex Japan. I was planning on replacing them as preventative maintenance, but as mentioned above, it turned into an immediate repair issue as soon as I picked up the truck.

The issue is that all of my goodies have been sitting in a garage America waiting for the final piece of the puzzle - a Long Range America 40 gallon auxiliary gas tank that I purchased back in March. Their (read: the world's) supply chain issues have pushed back the original delivery date of August until....well frankly no one knows when. So all of my stuff waits...and waits...until that tank gets delivered.

But thankfully I have a really good friend who dug into my big pile of stuff taking up valuable space in his garage and pulled out my AHC globes and mailed them to me. It still took about 3 weeks to receive them in Zambia, which meant 3 weeks of driving on pogo-stick mode to work and back, but I was thankful to be driving my own truck, regardless.

(Prior owner-installed diff drop)

A local mechanic who assisted me with the install told me a week prior to our appointment that he had a 36mm fan clutch wrench. "Perfect!" I thought.

Of course, when the day came to do the actual install, he was an hour and a half late, totally forgot about / couldn't find the wrench, and frankly wasn't that much help at all. It did give me access to a lift, which was great, and he did help me out when I had a freak out moment and couldn't figure out what was going on when I couldn't manage to screw a globe onto the front mount (he asked if the rears might be larger than the fronts and was I trying to screw a rear globe on a front mount....I was). I also had him make the 13 full turns of the front torsion bars that were required to get the front pressures in spec. I removed the globes via the chisel method and he ground down an adjustable wrench for the tightening duties. Fresh fluid was procured (in the 2.5 liter container) from the local dealership.

(22 year old AHC globes)

I had also incorrectly assumed that the truck would have the factory wheels on it, which are 16inch. It turns out a prior owner changed them to 18 inch wheels. So those 4 Yokohama Geolander GO15 LT285/75 R16 tires in my shipment weren't doing me much good. So I ordered 5 new GO15's in LT275/70 R18 and had them shipped direct to me in Zambia.

(out with the old M/T's and in with the new A/Ts; mounted / balanced / installed for a grand total of $25)

I then discovered that the prior owner never considered the spare...it was still the original, on a 16 inch wheel. Unable to find a match for my aluminum wheels, I ordered a steel 18" tundra wheel off of eBay for $70 and will mount my 5th tire on that.

With the new globes and the new tires the ride is smooth as butter. Seriously, amazingly smooth, especially on the comfort setting - wow. I love it. I will definitely keep the AHC, even though we will be running heavy and towing. We'll find a way.

 

[CBdeJ]

I left my 99 in Seattle when we moved to Addis. With the supply chain as bad as it is, and the resulting costs, I just couldn't justify bringing the truck over (we aren't with the USG anymore). Not having the pouch or a consumables shipment hurts a bit as well when it comes to parts and modding. That said, you're lucky that Zam is still letting older vehicles into the country. More and more are limiting imports to vehicles less than 5 years old or less (even for dips). Back in the day, Namibia changed the rule while a friends car was at sea. He ended up selling it in Bots and had to eat the shipping. Now Ethiopia has a five year rule and others are pushing for at least EuroIV emissions. Which, lets face it, will actually solve a lot of the problems with most of the cars on the roads in much of Sub Saharan Africa. I just wish they'd kill the market for surplus buses from Asia.

 

[AlpineAccess]

Very nice, quite the saga so far. Would be really interested to see how they bypassed the immobilizer at the port.

The 16" wheels will allow a lot more sidewall which I'm sure you know stiffens the ride up some; but it also has one of the nicest looking set of 18"s for that model in my opinion.

 

[D21FJ60]

...you're lucky that Zam is still letting older vehicles into the country. More and more are limiting imports to vehicles less than 5 years old or less (even for dips). Back in the day, Namibia changed the rule while a friends car was at sea. He ended up selling it in Bots and had to eat the shipping. Now Ethiopia has a five year rule and others are pushing for at least EuroIV emissions. Which, lets face it, will actually solve a lot of the problems with most of the cars on the roads in much of Sub Saharan Africa...

Not to go too far OT, however this is interesting- but I am curious if the local income in these locations rising, none the less to meet the increased cost of newer vehicles?

 

[CBdeJ]

Private cars are just getting smaller. Ethiopia taxes the hell out of imports, and the limited local manufacturing (assembly) isn't completely trusted yet. The end result is the roads are filled with 30 year old Ladas (taxi's) and every used Toyota Vitz and Platz folks can find in Dubai and export. The exception to the trend is Landcruiserst (most of these have come in duty and tax free via NGOS, the UN and others). For example, on one street near me one morning there were over 100 LCs of various types and vintages. It was a rare vehicle that wasn't an LC (almost all on special licence plates.) Africa, the ME and Aus are the reason Toyota doesn't care about the US market for LCs.

 

[Diplodocus]

I left my 99 in Seattle when we moved to Addis. With the supply chain as bad as it is, and the resulting costs, I just couldn't justify bringing the truck over (we aren't with the USG anymore). Not having the pouch or a consumables shipment hurts a bit as well when it comes to parts and modding. That said, you're lucky that Zam is still letting older vehicles into the country. More and more are limiting imports to vehicles less than 5 years old or less (even for dips). Back in the day, Namibia changed the rule while a friends car was at sea. He ended up selling it in Bots and had to eat the shipping. Now Ethiopia has a five year rule and others are pushing for at least EuroIV emissions. Which, lets face it, will actually solve a lot of the problems with most of the cars on the roads in much of Sub Saharan Africa. I just wish they'd kill the market for surplus buses from Asia.

Oh, believe me, I'm aware that there is a quickly diminishing list of countries that allow vehicles over 5 years old to be imported. A lot of people in my profession focus on a particular region of the world and keep returning again and again. If you look at my assignment history you see Nepal, Lithuania, Zimbabwe, Zambia. Aside from the last two, you might ask what the heck is going on here. I'm happy to tell anyone who asks that my assignment decisions have always included one red line - there has to be no restrictions on the import of vehicles (for dips, anyways). We'll see how much longer I'll be able to pull this off. At least I know I'll be able to keep this LC forever, since I can get it back to the U.S. at the end of this tour, no matter where I'm headed in the future.

 

[Diplodocus]

Procrastination and Progress

As I procrastinate taking on the timing belt, steering rack, CV, and rear control arm projects, I knocked out a simple little project: getting some in-cabin filtration installed.

As far as I can tell, even though these early RHD 100 series were provisioned for in-cabin air filters, no filters were ever produced to actually fit the design of the heater box. Thankfully, I caught this post, which explained a simple "hack" to get some filtration in these trucks.

Start with Part number 8856860010 and gather a measuring tape, hacksaw and vice. Then start cutting.

These early trucks have a much shorter slot when compared to later trucks, but the other design elements of the filter slot are essentially the same.

I cut the filter "in half" (you actually take off more material than just cutting it in half, you want each "half" to be roughly 5+3/4 inches long). And then you just drop them in as you would with the later model years, one on top of the other, with the pinched bit on bottom.

Voila, filtered cabin air.

 

[Diplodocus]

Communication Breakdown

Who would have thought you should go for a test-drive after replacing (or in the case, placing) an in-cabin air filter?

Well, I should have.

The afternoon following my last post, my wife called me to tell me the truck was surging while she was sitting at a stop light.

I dug around mud and found this thread: Low RPM surging and stalling - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/low-rpm-surging-and-stalling.1212451/

While our surging issue was never quite as severe, everything else sounded exactly the same. The Throttle Control Motor was running 100% of the time (clutch only engaging when throttle depressed) and the surging was really noticeable at idle. My going theory was that by shifting the wires over enough to insert the filter cartridge, I must have broken a connection…probably the specific green and white wire referenced as the solution to 87Warrior’s problem.

Even though wiggling the wires didn’t make any difference, I was still convinced 87Warrior had done all the hard work of diagnosing and resolving the problem of an idle / low speed surge / throttle motor running continuously. I started my search for a pin removal tool, but no one in Lusaka had heard of such a thing, let alone sold any. I tried making my own, but failed to get a tip that was both small enough and strong enough to accomplish the job.

I ultimately broke down and ordered a kit (Lisle 71750) from the States. It took another 5 weeks before it reached me here in Lusaka.

In the meantime, I cleaned the throttle body and tested the throttle motor, TPS and APPS via the service manual instructions for “without a scan tool.” The throttle motor tested good, but the TPS and APPS were out of range…same as 87Warrior.

When the Lisle tool set arrived, I immediately jumped in, de-pinned the wire referenced in the thread above, crimped it a bit tighter, and re-installed.

Unfortunately, no change in symptoms.

If I could only see the live data…

I have never been able to connect to this truck’s engine ECU. I can connect to everything EXCEPT the engine, the immobilizer, and cruise control by using my techstream laptop and selecting 1999 Lexus LX470 as the vehicle.

I figured the auto electrician in Durban, as part of his hot-wiring, had disconnected the DCL3 from the engine ECU as part of that process.

I was therefore shocked yesterday when the locksmith I brought it to simply plugged in his universal OBDII tablet and pulled up the DTCs. I didn’t get a picture of them before he cleared them all, but there were 4 codes, all related to the mass air flow sensor. He wanted to clear everything and see what would come back.

I returned today, after several more hours of driving, and not a single code has re-appeared. Of course, the behavior of the truck hasn’t changed – still surging, still less power throughout the entire range, still the continuously running throttle control motor.

I had brought the diagnostic chart for the mass air flow sensor with me – I wanted him to start testing each piece of the circuit, but once he realized how much work that would be, he said, “why don’t you just borrow my tablet, see what you can do tonight, and bring it back tomorrow.”

So that’s what I’ve done. I have his $2,000 tablet, and I have about 10 hours before I need to give it back.

If you see anything I should chase by looking at the following screens, let me know. I don’t want to waste an opportunity to get more data that could help resolve this, but not sure where to go from here.

 

[Diplodocus]

At idle:

At light throttle:

 

[Diplodocus]

Learning and Making Do

Ok, so the forum doesn't appreciate real time help requests buried in a build thread - noted.

In playing around with the scan tool, I found a graphing function that may have provided the clue I need. With the engine off, the APPS and TPS test within specs and have steady increases and decreases in voltage as the accelerator is pushed and released - all within specs. However, after the engine is turned on, the TPS signal jumps around a bit.

I don't know if the TPS signal jumping around is the cause or a symptom of the surging / rough idle, but in either case I think it will be prudent at this point to replace the TPS and see what happens. If it still jumps around I may still be looking at a loose connection somewhere between the sensor and ECU, which would track with my understanding of when and perhaps how the problem started. For now, fingers crossed it was just a coincidence that the TPS started faltering the day after I moved the ECU wires around the get the cabin air filter installed.

BUT WHO CARES...this is a build thread! Back to the regularly scheduled program...

Even though I have a Dissent rear bumper on the way (4+ months out) and even though I ordered a temporary hitch from eTrailer to bridge the gap (shipped in November, MIA in the postal system since Dec 11), I ended up buying a hitch locally.

I needed a hitch FAST (same-day, in order to pick up my trailer), so I made a compromise and had a local shop that specializes in Land Cruisers (called Auto Cruiser) cut up and bolt on an 80-series hitch they had lying around.

The four center holes bolted up well enough, but the outriggers to the frame needed to be cut off - they weren't even close. The hack job on the bumper cover is my own handiwork.

I figure the trailer I'll be towing is only about 1,500 pounds, so the rear crossmember alone should be sufficient.

Here's the new toy, an Echo4x4 "EchoTEC 2" trailer

As I was setting it up in the driveway to check it all out, it started pouring rain (true camping experience, I guess), but that resulted in this photo:

My own little pot of gold

I specifically declined the fridge option (but kept the slide), for one specific purpose....I present to you...a pizza oven slide!

Got it up to about 840 degrees Fahrenheit during the initial firing / curing process. Haven't cooked anything on it yet, but looking forward to being the only glamper with a pizza oven in the Arican bush.

 

[Africaster]

Aaaaahhhhh …. barbed wire and electric fencing on top of 8’ walls … weird the things one misses

 

[Diplodocus]

All Things Come to Those Who Wait

It took nearly 4 months, but I finally cracked the code! The surging / stumbling problem was caused by a failing coil on cylinder 8. The coil has been replaced and the buttery smooth 2UZ-FE is back in full force.

As noted above, I was tracking a potentially faulty TPS as a potential cause. After reading on the forums the number of people who have replaced the entire throttle body, I opted to just go for it. I replaced the TB, PCV valve, and several nearby hoses. To round out the day, I also replaced the differential bushings to get rid of that driveline clunk.

The new TB improved the surging / stumbling situation, but didn't resolve it. I then ordered a single coil and went one by one around the cylinders until I found (at long last) the offending coil on cylinder 8.

We took the camping trailer out for a shakedown run, which went reasonably well! On the shores of Lake Kariba...

Then last week I went back to the States and my wife stayed with the kids. Then I got the dreaded call from my wife's cell phone number waking me up on the other side of the world. My wife was asking "ummm, how do we get the spare tire down?" Ok...not as bas as it could have been. Ours and another family had gone on a self drive safari and a bolt had punctured one of our rear tires. The father from the other family was going to do all the hard work and I talked him through how to lower the spare tire.

What I didn't talk him through (and they didn't call me back to find out) was taking the jack out of it's holder. When I got home from the trip and was getting ready to repair the tire, I saw this...

Huh. I asked my wife if they had some trouble getting the jack out. "Oh, yeah, he couldn't figure it out at first and started unbolting the bracket. When he finally figured it out, he was like 'OH!'"

This was actually a good thing, because it made me do a full once-over of the truck. I found that a front brake pad retaining pin had walked out, struck the wheel, and bent.

I straightened it out and reinstalled, using little cotter pins to secure both pins, since the original retaining clip was long gone.

So, for the moment the truck is running great and feeling great (except for loose steering feel due to shot steering rack bushings). I have a brand new steering rack ready to install (along with Dobinson upper control arms and a CV). Just need to find the time...

 

[LXJake93]

Did you replace vacuum lines?

 

[e9999]

It's interesting to read you making things sound just as easy as if you were in the middle of the US and showing off all those glam toys. (Pizza oven in Zambia??). At that point I'm thinking "man, Africa has come a long way"...
And then I see the razor wire on the fence wall...

 

[araco100]

Awesome thread, keep posting your progress please!

 

[Diplodocus]

Did you replace vacuum lines?

Yes, as many as were available at the time I placed my big order with Partsouq.