Can I trust my rig on family trips? (1 Viewer)

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Okiegonian

Okiegonian

Joined
Dec 10, 2014
Threads
4
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27
Location
Eugene, OR
I've had my '88 FJ62 since 2014, and use it mostly for camping and snow adventures. The whole family has loved getting to the places we can get to in it.

It's currently at 198k, and I've done my best to stay up on maintenance. I'm not a mechanic, just a confident diy-er. I've had it in shops for new brakes, new radiator, a transmission overhaul, and an A/C overhaul. I've worked on various electrical gremlins myself, plus replacing belts and fluids. For the most part it's been an awesome, reliable ride!

Quick story, though:
Last week while driving mountain passes on I-5 coming home from some great camping at Lassen NP, we had the not-so-fun experience of crazy temp and fuel gauge readings. I hadn't yet read the threads here about this known "quirk," so made the call to have a shop in Medford, OR troubleshoot the cooling system. They said my radiator was in terrible shape, and recommended replacing it. I had them proceed, and now I have a shiny new radiator. I'm pretty sure they were right about the radiator, but of course I still have crazy temp gauge spikes that come back down quickly when I let off the accelerator.

Now that we're back home, I'm re-assessing just how reliable I should consider my 62. In the interest of not getting stranded on the side of the road with a truck full of kids, outside of cell range, here are my questions:

1) What's your checklist before a long trip?

2) What critical systems are most likely to leave us stranded when they fail?

3) What spare parts would you always take with you before heading into the middle of nowhere?

4) Am I insane for taking my family into the wilderness in a truck that's only 7 years younger than I am?
 
What you have replaced is enough, replace all oil and filters, even when they break it is in small steps, so a small water leak, a bit of oil drip.
I carry the old belts as spare, old water hoses to, in the rear wheel arch space.
We came home yesterday from 4500 km trip with boat trailer so heavy weigt: total 3500 kg I think but made it up to 23% slope and 1740 meter highest point.
No problems, the parking brake got stuck when pulled out but was possible to pull it outwards at the rear axle so it was working.
I have a 2 seater extra bench in the back and so the 3 kids have more space when one sits there, they use all the blankets to make a comfortable seat.
Tierips and ductape should do it. I drove in the sahara desert with a small water leak from rad seal breking up, still no problem.
 
More likely a wonky gage than an actual problem. The truck will let you know if it overheats. And as long as the rad hoses are getting hot then you know you have coolant.

The odometer is a much more reliable fuel gage unless you just came from a bombing run and took a round to the tank.
 
Maybe add some manual gauges. Also check the fan clutch and thermostat
 
If you'd said 298K, that would give me a reason to pause, but 198K isn't near being a worn out engine (my 2F had 290K and still ran great).
I think, as others mentioned, once the engine temperature becomes an issue of doubt or concern, the best course of action is to install a mechanical temperature gauge inline in the upper radiator hose. It's simple to do and you get to keep the original sender & gauge for comparison.

If the radiator, thermostat, fan clutch and any suspicious/dodgy hoses or hose clamps are replaced, the engine won't overheat.
 
My temp and fuel gauge spike on a regular basis. First time, it freaked me out, but once I determined that there was no actual overheating, and that both the fuel and temp gauges were spiking at the same time, I wrote it off as a weird electrical quirk and stopped worrying about it. You're sitting behind the wheel of one of the best-built vehicles to ever roll off an assembly line. Enjoy the drive!

(BTW, my '88 is at 325,000km or 200,000 miles. I'd drive it to Alaska tomorrow, no hesitation).
 
So I had the same issue on a trip down to Joshua Tree. Cruisin on the freeway and all of a sudden, within seconds, the temp shoots up and then comes down to normal before I could even get off the freeway. Finally I stopped and did a quick Mud search and there are links around the wiring of the gauges, something about the grounding, that can make this happen. Not a true overheating issue

I will try to find the link and post here. Truck was running fine and haven't had the issue since. Recommendation is to get a reliable temp gauge.
 
It's just preventative maintenance and knowing your rig. You have a new trans and mostly new cooling system, those are the two biggest items right there. If you go over your rig before every trip, lube the driveshafts often, and keep up on your fluid changes then there isn't a whole lot of reason to worry.

Any vehicle can break down. If you keep any vehicle in good shape and stay up on maintenance, you should be fine.

Depending on what I'm doing, I might sometimes bring more tools/spares than others.
-spare alt belt
-some spare hoses in a few sizes
-ujoint
-good spare tire
-fuel filter
-fluids
-zip ties/duct tape/hose clamps.
-random bits of wire and a few connectors
-some spare hardware
-tools.
 
Use of an infra-red thermometer should help verify the actual temps under hood.
 
Thanks everyone. I picked up an infrared thermometer today, and definitely considering a mechanical temp gauge.

@DirtRoads I like that list; I'm only carrying about half that at this point, but I want to be a good Eagle Scout and be prepared!

@diesellibrarian do your gauge spikes happen completely randomly, or do they seem to be triggered by reaching a nice warm temp range? As far as I can remember, my wonky gauge spikes have only happened while climbing hills or otherwise working the engine/transmission hard, and they always come back down to where they were in 4-5 seconds after letting off the gas.
 
Okiegonian said:
@diesellibrarian do your gauge spikes happen completely randomly, or do they seem to be triggered by reaching a nice warm temp range? As far as I can remember, my wonky gauge spikes have only happened while climbing hills or otherwise working the engine/transmission hard, and they always come back down to where they were in 4-5 seconds after letting off the gas.
Click to expand...

I haven't found a clear correlation, except that it happens more often when the tank is more than 3/4 full. Usually they'll spike and then drop back down after a few seconds (whether or not I let off the gas), but every so often they'll stay pinned at the top for several minutes. I've been looking for a pattern, but haven't really found one yet. I assume it's a ground fault somewhere, but haven't had time to dig into it.
 
The temp gauge spike on mine is totally random. At least I have a full fuel tank for the few seconds that it happens. It certainly does give you a pucker moment the first time or two that it happens though. As long as the fuel gauge moves in unison you are golden.

You may not have needed a radiator but it's money well spent as a PM. At 198K you got your moneys worth.

Other than the transmission which I replaced with an H55 manual at about your mileage the most problematic thing has been the alternator. You can't buy a new denso so I run rebuilds. I have a dual battery system so maybe it asks too much.

As others have said, get some hoses, belts, jb weld, bailing wire and a basic tool kit. Armed with that you should be able to get yourself home. At your mileage, I would have NO issues taking a long drive. I've got 320K on mine right now and would have no hesitation driving it to the end of the earth, wherever that is.

Carry on......enjoy!
 
This same thing happened to me on my 60 with the gauge spiking at random times. I found the culprit to be this fuel level gauge in the back of the cargo area on top of the fuel tank. Replaced it (takes 5 mins) and haven’t had the spiking for a few thousand miles.
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New part was relatively inexpensive if you need to replace, and super easy to check if it’s all buggered up. Don’t know if it will solve your issue, but it’s the only thing I did and it solved my spiking gauge issue. Good luck!!
 
If you keep the mechanical bits in reasonable shape, the rest of the truck will fall off before they give out (especially in the rust belt). I'm at 485,000km. Service the front axle, keep the fluids fresh and make sure your radiator/thermostat/fan clutch are all good and your truck is reliable. I drove my 80 series on a 4000 mile roundtrip two summers ago, including 150 miles off-road and it was a peach with 160,000 on it.
 
Can you tell me where you sourced your sending unit? Thanks, Matt

Aloha Jen said:
This same thing happened to me on my 60 with the gauge spiking at random times. I found the culprit to be this fuel level gauge in the back of the cargo area on top of the fuel tank. Replaced it (takes 5 mins) and haven’t had the spiking for a few thousand miles.
View attachment 2056260View attachment 2056261View attachment 2056262View attachment 2056263View attachment 2056265

New part was relatively inexpensive if you need to replace, and super easy to check if it’s all buggered up. Don’t know if it will solve your issue, but it’s the only thing I did and it solved my spiking gauge issue. Good luck!!
Click to expand...
 
Other critical systems that could leave you stranded besides cooling would be electrical and fuel.

Usually auto transmission would be a concern for overheating but since you've had it redone perhaps not. Still may want to add a transmission cooler into the mix if you're doing much climbing in the beast.

Drive it! I wouldn't hesitate to drive mine anywhere. We've had several family trips in it.
 
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I had an 88 FJ62 that I had maintained myself and did all the servicing too.
I did the flush on the tranny and also added an external Trans cooler. I drove it out to the Grand Canyon and all across Arizona and back to Southern California. While driving I would get the same spikes. Yes they are heart stoppers but seems to be an occurring gremlin in these rigs. After awhile when seeing the so called spike I would just watch and listen for anything different for the next minute or so it took to go back to normal.
If your truck is well maintained your all good. There is a repair for this iN MuD somewhere but as @Aloha Jen said replace the sending unit or just check the connections and could be as simple as that.
My 62 series had 200k when I sold it.
And it was only to get a motorcycle! Still drive a 60 series.
 
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