Broken Heart (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Jul 19, 2018
Threads
4
Messages
8
Location
Colorado Springs
Greetings to all,

Would like to share a story about heart break. I was born and raised knowing nothing but Land Cruisers. My father owns a 1989 FJ62 and is now my daily driver. So just like everyone else on this website I have an unyielding passion for TLCs.

With that being said, I recently started working at used car dealership and they have something called a wholesale lot. The whole sale lot are cars that do not meet their standards, whether that's too high of miles, too old of a car, or too many issues. They have a large variety of vehicles that come from different walks of life that are sold at low prices (except for J**ps which are over priced by a couple thousand). The wholesale lot is then auctioned off to other smaller dealerships and car fanatics. You as an employee are able to call dibs on a vehicle in the whole sale lot and purchase one, Its on a first come first basis.

This is where my sad story begins... on Monday this last week (8/6/18) I had logged into the inventory list to see vehicles that were being shipped to the store and 3 words had caught my eye..Toyota Land Cruiser. A Stock 1996 FZJ80 DK emerald/moonlight with 139,489 miles on it was being sent to my store, I was super excited to say the least. It was going to be sold for roughly $5,500-$6,000. Flash forward a couple days to Wednesday, I was walking around and saw a transporter with the BEAUTIFUL FZJ80 on it. I was freaking out and needed to get my name on that truck. I ran to a computer printed off a sheet got it filled out and gave it to the Transporter driver so I could be the 1st one to have dibs on it. I managed to beat 2 other folks for the 80. I'm pumping out masses of adrenaline at this point and I'm super stoked cause a FZJ80 is going to be apart of the TLC family. I tell my father, who has wanted a 95-97 Green or blue 80 for many many years (at some point was actually going to sell the 62 and get an 80 years earlier but decided not to) was very pleased about the news and was excited as well. His 50th birthday was coming up and I kept thinking how awesome would it be for him to have his dream 80. I'm in the mindset that the 80 is for sure mine, I'm doing research for rock sliders, tires, and a suspension and just dreaming about all of the greatness that will come from this vehicle for the family. Friday rolls around and that's when I have to pay for my safety inspection that had already been done and I'm still smiling cheek to cheek about this vehicle, dreaming and living on cloud 9 knowing that its going to be mine soon. During my 7am break I head over to the truck to check it out again, and in the dash I see that someones paper was on top of mine and in the top left hand corner it said 1st and on mine it said 2nd...I was in shock and disbelief. I scanned the other persons paper and saw that it was someone from another store and I was thinking how on earth did they get it before me?!?! at that point I'm scrambling to the managers office to get answers. Turns out the person who beat me is from another state and its a rare occurrence that someone from another store get their hands on a wholesale from another store. So I'm furious and fuming that this has even happened and I still want more answers so later that morning I go to the purchasing office and ask for some more answers. I get my answers and apparently the fellow from another state had put in a request for an 80 through the purchasing office, they found one and he called the store a day before me and had dibs on it. It was heart breaking and I was very upset and I still am. But the most upsetting part for me was the fact that I felt I had let my father down, his 50th birthday is coming up and I wanted him to have his dream 80. It's very disappointing but it now gives us time and money to focus on the 62 and build her up and still keep a hopeful watch out for another 80. To the gentlemen who is now in possession of that 80 I wish you the very best with that vehicle and that you have many joyous adventures with it.

- J
 
I too would be greatly disappointed. That's a really bummer. However, keep your eyes open, both in and out of work. Another one will come your way. Good luck getting your dream cruiser.
 
I'd say it's time to put YOUR order in for a freshly used 80. Good luck!
 
Welcome to mud Jackson Beale.

Sorry about the events of this past week-terrible story. The dealer I once worked took-in a straight 1968 (?) Corona with blue original interior.

It was a $500 trade.

Some of the techs marveled at the car while the deal cleared the bank.

The used car manager said he would withhold from auction for me, I was stoked. Showed-up to work the next day and a work order had been generated for smog and safety on the Corona.

I freaked; turns out the owner of the store bought the Corona for his house keeper. I was crapped-out for the whole week the Corona sat in service and detail.

Been there.

Word to wise, the next 80 rig that comes onto the radar, you might look at the half moon seals and see what COLOR they are. As you probably know, in the 1990’s Toyota was buying a ton of bad head gaskets across many of their 6cyl platforms. With millions of trucks on the road and their reputation on the line Toyota launched the V06 campaign for the pick ups/4runners but did not start a campaign on the Land Cruiser, their flag ship, for whatever reason.

The failure of the 80’s head gasket is inevitable--which could be good or bad for buyers in the market--anyway, Toyota at the assembly of the land cruiser engines utilized a light grey sealant at the half-moon seals. Meaning, if you’re inspecting under the hood on a potential purchase one can usually determine fairly quickly if the some would say costly original head gasket has been replaced because techs putting heads back on the affected engines do NOT use or have access (?) to the same light grey sealant compound used for the half moon seals.

Just food for thought.

Take care and welcome once more.
 
Last edited:
Welcome to mud Jackson Beale.



Been there.

Word to wise, the next 80 rig that comes onto the radar, you might look at the half moon seals and see what COLOR they are. As you probably know, in the 1990’s Toyota was buying a ton of bad head gaskets across many of their 6cyl platforms. With millions of trucks on the road and their reputation on the line Toyota launched the V06 campaign for the pick ups/4runners but did not start a campaign on the Land Cruiser, their flag ship, for whatever reason.

The failure of the 80’s head gasket is inevitable--which could be good or bad for buyers in the market--anyway, Toyota at the assembly of the land cruiser engines utilized a light grey sealant at the half-moon seals. Meaning, if you’re inspecting under the hood on a potential purchase one can usually determine fairly quickly if the some would say costly original head gasket has been replaced because techs putting heads back on the affected engines do NOT use or have access (?) to the same light grey sealant compound used for the half moon seals.

Just food for thought.

Take care and welcome once more.


Hmmm. I wouldn’t use the presence or absence of the grey sealant around the half moons under the valve cover on the front of the head as any indication that the head gasket has been replaced. Many people replace the sealant around the half moons as part of the valve gasket replacement. On the other side, an ocd mud member could buy the oem grey gasket material from Toyota as part of a replacement head gasket/valve cover gasket repair or both.

Keep up the search.

Documentation is key when determining what’s been mechanically completed. Materials can vary greatly
 
I feel your pain @Jackson Beale . I've previously worked at a Toyota dealership for a number of years (in service) and I've had my heart broken a numvnuof times in a similar fashion - though none involved my dad's birthday.

But when I finally got what I was looking for, it was that much more rewarding. Hang in there!!
 
Welcome to mud Jackson Beale.

Sorry about the events of this past week-terrible story. The dealer I once worked took-in a straight 1968 (?) Corona with blue original interior.

It was a $500 trade.

Some of the techs marveled at the car while the deal cleared the bank.

The used car manager said he would withhold from auction for me, I was stoked. Showed-up to work the next day and a work order had been generated for smog and safety on the Corona.

I freaked; turns out the owner of the store bought the Corona for his house keeper. I was crapped-out for the whole week the Corona sat in service and detail.

Been there.

Word to wise, the next 80 rig that comes onto the radar, you might look at the half moon seals and see what COLOR they are. As you probably know, in the 1990’s Toyota was buying a ton of bad head gaskets across many of their 6cyl platforms. With millions of trucks on the road and their reputation on the line Toyota launched the V06 campaign for the pick ups/4runners but did not start a campaign on the Land Cruiser, their flag ship, for whatever reason.

The failure of the 80’s head gasket is inevitable--which could be good or bad for buyers in the market--anyway, Toyota at the assembly of the land cruiser engines utilized a light grey sealant at the half-moon seals. Meaning, if you’re inspecting under the hood on a potential purchase one can usually determine fairly quickly if the some would say costly original head gasket has been replaced because techs putting heads back on the affected engines do NOT use or have access (?) to the same light grey sealant compound used for the half moon seals.

Just food for thought.

Take care and welcome once more.
Thank you for the insight on the seals. I will most definitely keep that in mind for any other 80s that I look at in the future.
 

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