- Thread starter
- #461
Thanks for the offer! I might have to take you up on it at some point, not sure how long my e-hubs will last (or how long I'll put up with them).
Builds Another Prado in Montana (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter AirheadNut
- Start date
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- Thread starter
- #462
Overdue for an update here. On Christmas eve I hit the road, 300 miles home through the mountains. A couple hours in I started noticing odd behavior in the windshield wipers and the voltmeter: the wipers would occasionally halt mid-wipe, and the voltmeter needle would dive way down. Not long after the same would happen if I used a turn signal. I pulled off at a truck stop to investigate, but didn't see anything amiss in the engine bay or fuse panel. Then I found that the power locks and windows weren't working any more, nor were the dome lights. The gauges still came on with ignition and the voltmeter read normal, but everything died when I went to start the engine.
I didn't have any electrical troubleshooting equipment with me, but fortunately the truck stop had a cheap test light on the shelf. After poking around a bunch I discovered that the fusible link coming off the battery was shorted. Luckily, the glow system fusible link was sill present, but unused, so I just swapped the terminal over and everything was back up and running.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, apart from 80 miles of freezing rain and black ice. Not much fun, but I ran in 4wd and chugged along at 55-70km/h.
In mid-January I went and hung out with the local Cruiser club. Turnout was pretty good with 19 rigs present and examples from every series except 55.
This evening I was finally able to pull in to a warm shop and check out my sometimes-locking hubs. Everything looked good inside, apart from some accelerated wear on the brushes and slip ring on the LH side. Pretty sure that was due to inadequate grease last time I pulled it apart, so I put on plenty this time. Both motors operate as they should, and seem healthy. I think the issues I've been having stem are from cold weather operation: the grease gets sticky and the splines don't engage as they should. If I press the button, then slowly rotate the front drive shaft I can feel the spline teeth skipping for a bit until they fall into place.
While underneath I did a quick inspection and found one of the rear driveshaft u-joints in need of replacement. Hope to get to that fairly soon.
I didn't have any electrical troubleshooting equipment with me, but fortunately the truck stop had a cheap test light on the shelf. After poking around a bunch I discovered that the fusible link coming off the battery was shorted. Luckily, the glow system fusible link was sill present, but unused, so I just swapped the terminal over and everything was back up and running.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, apart from 80 miles of freezing rain and black ice. Not much fun, but I ran in 4wd and chugged along at 55-70km/h.
In mid-January I went and hung out with the local Cruiser club. Turnout was pretty good with 19 rigs present and examples from every series except 55.
This evening I was finally able to pull in to a warm shop and check out my sometimes-locking hubs. Everything looked good inside, apart from some accelerated wear on the brushes and slip ring on the LH side. Pretty sure that was due to inadequate grease last time I pulled it apart, so I put on plenty this time. Both motors operate as they should, and seem healthy. I think the issues I've been having stem are from cold weather operation: the grease gets sticky and the splines don't engage as they should. If I press the button, then slowly rotate the front drive shaft I can feel the spline teeth skipping for a bit until they fall into place.
While underneath I did a quick inspection and found one of the rear driveshaft u-joints in need of replacement. Hope to get to that fairly soon.
JDM Journeys
Moderator
Nice troubleshooting! Esp in a parking lot. That's the worst kind. Was it the one behind the battery with what looks like three terminals coming off of it? If so the 77 series uses the something similar, on the one by the firewall behind battery number 2. I have an extra just in case...
- Thread starter
- #464
Here are the fusible links. There are four total, two go into a connector and two have ring terminals that go on little studs. The AM1 is what burnt out, and since I no longer have the original glow system the Glow link was empty, so I just swapped the wire over.
Looking at those photos reminds me how horribly cluttered my positive battery terminal is, I should really clean that up! I am currently using the VW fuse/junction block that sits on top of the battery, I'm thinking I should probably migrate all the Toyota harnesses and fusible links to that junction block and just have the main starter cable and junction block cable attached to the battery terminal.
- Thread starter
- #465
Pulled into a warm, dry shop this evening for another round of light maintenance. First up I pulled the rear driveshaft to replace the u-joint, but when I got it out on the bench I couldn't feel any slop in it at all, so I pumped both u-joints full of grease and reinstalled the driveshaft.
Next I installed a new emergency brake equalizer; the original pivot bolt broke off when I had to remove it to work on the rear axle a while ago. I retapped the threads in the bracket on the axle and put on a new pivot bolt, bushings, and equalizer brackets. The handbrake feels much better now.
Finally I moved to the engine bay to test the glow plugs, as it has been starting a little harder than normal. Unfortunately I was using a borrowed multimeter, and the ohm readings I was getting made no sense at all, so I don't think the multimeter was working. I'll have to try again with a known good meter.
With everything buttoned up I took it for a test drive to see if the vibration was still there, but there's a snowstorm going on right now and I didn't feel like barreling along at highway speed on nasty roads. I have no idea at this point if there's still a driveline vibration, but I was able to test out the hub locks and they seem to be working just fine.
Next I installed a new emergency brake equalizer; the original pivot bolt broke off when I had to remove it to work on the rear axle a while ago. I retapped the threads in the bracket on the axle and put on a new pivot bolt, bushings, and equalizer brackets. The handbrake feels much better now.
Finally I moved to the engine bay to test the glow plugs, as it has been starting a little harder than normal. Unfortunately I was using a borrowed multimeter, and the ohm readings I was getting made no sense at all, so I don't think the multimeter was working. I'll have to try again with a known good meter.
With everything buttoned up I took it for a test drive to see if the vibration was still there, but there's a snowstorm going on right now and I didn't feel like barreling along at highway speed on nasty roads. I have no idea at this point if there's still a driveline vibration, but I was able to test out the hub locks and they seem to be working just fine.
I *hate* my positive battery terminal, and would very much like to swap it all over to a fuse/relay box, but all the ones I see on amazon seem kind of crappy.
I left the factory harness (so in essence the fusible links and starter) on the positive post and moved all additional wiring to a big fuse-holder, which I placed outside on the bracket that holds the battery tray. It needs to be close by the battery to minimize the unfused distance. (For the same reason I kept the fusible links straight on the post). These fuse-holders have nice big and long M5mm terminal studs that can easily accommodate some more ring terminals for additional wiring. I put a 20A fuse there as 'main fuse' (the rating is calculated to match the max load that my accessories may draw in total). From there I ran only one (now fused) single cable through the dash to my cubby box. (Or any other location that you find convenient).
In the lower compartment of the cubby box sits my main accessory power distribution: A fusebox for distribution and separate fusing of the accessories, a battery protector (I don't have a dual battery system yet) and a switch panel: I replaced the factory lower rear cover by a panel with some switches, voltmeter a dual USB and a socket. Switches control additional lighting and another dual USB and socket in the rear.
That's what I used for the fusing:
https://amzn.eu/d/5KfDLCi
Cheers Ralf
In the lower compartment of the cubby box sits my main accessory power distribution: A fusebox for distribution and separate fusing of the accessories, a battery protector (I don't have a dual battery system yet) and a switch panel: I replaced the factory lower rear cover by a panel with some switches, voltmeter a dual USB and a socket. Switches control additional lighting and another dual USB and socket in the rear.
That's what I used for the fusing:
https://amzn.eu/d/5KfDLCi
Cheers Ralf
- Thread starter
- #468
We had a sudden cold snap again, with a low of -11ºF on Sunday morning the Prado refused to start. After a couple of hours on a battery charger and with the daytime high up to 0ºF, I finally got it going and took it for a drive to get everything warmed up. That evening I was able to park in my landlord's equipment shed for the night. Even through it is uninsulated and has a couple of open windows, it was surprising how much difference it made. Early Monday morning saw a low of -27ºF, but inside it was a balmy 1ºF. The Prado was able to start without aid.
I figured it was also a good time to excavate my old Mercedes 300D and pull the battery out so it wouldn't get damaged by the cold.
I figured it was also a good time to excavate my old Mercedes 300D and pull the battery out so it wouldn't get damaged by the cold.
Can that TDI of yours take an oil heater? I've been thinking about running an oil heater and battery blanket on mine when I'm up there, but I'm not sure the 13-bt has an oil-heater slot either
- Thread starter
- #470
It has an aluminum oil pan, so it would have to be an adhesive heat pad rather than one of the magnetic ones. Most of the time people put circulating coolant heaters on them, but I’ve been waiting and saving up to get a Webasto, since most of the time I’m not near enough to an outlet to plug in.
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ah yeah I'd totally forgotten about those things
- Thread starter
- #472
Pretty sure you should be able to get a freeze plug coolant heater for your 13B-T as well, and if not then an inline radiator hose heater would do the trick. Thats what my brother has on his HDJ81 and it works great.
the freeze plug heater was the one I've been thinking about. The inline coolent ones look cool too though, and super cheap.
Hell all. I have a problem. I bought a 1997 Colorado (UK version of Prado) off ebay, sight unseen. My lights in the bumper work fine, but all of the wires to the tail lights, brake lights and reverse lights were apparently cut with scissors and removed. Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can find or build a replacement harness for both sides? I need everything, pin connector, wires, sockets and bulbs. All I have is the plastic casings that house the bulbs.
GTSSportCoupe
2LTE abuser
Dude, start your own thread.
- Thread starter
- #476
Corsa-Technic carries a lot of the factory plugs and terminals for our Cruisers, including the ones for the tail light harness (at least for a 1991 LJ78, I don't know about a 1997). If you can find the appropriate plugs and a wiring diagram, it should be easy to match up which wires are supposed to be connected together. Otherwise, try using a voltmeter or test light on the wires coming from the front of the vehicle to figure out which one is brake, indicator, reverse, etc.
- Thread starter
- #477
New glow plugs arrived in the mail today, and with sub-zero temperatures predicted for this week I lost no time getting them installed. It was a fairly quick job, but by the end of it my fingers were starting to get stiff in the 10ºF weather. #4 plug was a little stubborn but with some penetrating oil and patience it came out fine. Really hoping the new glow plugs make a difference in the cold.
Planning on getting a 1.8kW "cold weather" starter from a 4Runner this coming weekend to try out; with fresh glow plugs and faster cranking I should be getting similar cold starting performance to a stock TDI.
Planning on getting a 1.8kW "cold weather" starter from a 4Runner this coming weekend to try out; with fresh glow plugs and faster cranking I should be getting similar cold starting performance to a stock TDI.
- Thread starter
- #478
Went snow wheeling last weekend with @ttFJC, @CCRider and @MTsoul. (Thanks for the photos!) Had a great time and got lots of practice with kinetic recovery and winching 
.
During one of the winching sessions my winch started leaking fluid, and then stalling under moderate load and not spooling out when under tension. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who has ever used this winch, so it hasn't had much use at all but I think that seals and gaskets are probably just aging out. The plan is for a light refresh of all the seals and gaskets, as well as replacing the main positive stud and associated hardware. Thanks to @Rigster for a lead on parts for that, I have a parts request in to Dave @Japan4X4.
.During one of the winching sessions my winch started leaking fluid, and then stalling under moderate load and not spooling out when under tension. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who has ever used this winch, so it hasn't had much use at all but I think that seals and gaskets are probably just aging out. The plan is for a light refresh of all the seals and gaskets, as well as replacing the main positive stud and associated hardware. Thanks to @Rigster for a lead on parts for that, I have a parts request in to Dave @Japan4X4.
JDM Journeys
Moderator
Oohhh that looks like good fun!
Dave, he be good people... he should get you squared away.Went snow wheeling last weekend with @ttFJC, @CCRider and @MTsoul. (Thanks for the photos!) Had a great time and got lots of practice with kinetic recovery and winching
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During one of the winching sessions my winch started leaking fluid, and then stalling under moderate load and not spooling out when under tension. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who has ever used this winch, so it hasn't had much use at all but I think that seals and gaskets are probably just aging out. The plan is for a light refresh of all the seals and gaskets, as well as replacing the main positive stud and associated hardware. Thanks to @Rigster for a lead on parts for that, I have a parts request in to Dave @Japan4X4.
Like yours, mine had never been unwound. I could still see the factory oil/light grease after spooling out a couple of wraps. When I changed out the ATF, it was still bright red. I did not have any leaks (yet) but then, you were really putting it through the paces by the looks of it. I miss a little snow wheeling! Looks like you fellers had a great time, and a beautiful day for it. Happy valentine's indeed!!
