Did I buy a lemon 97lx 450 (1 Viewer)

[thunderturd]

I bought yesterday a 97 lx450 triple locked and it would notstart when pulling away and on the 45 minute drive home 10 minutes in the oil pressure dropped below the bottom line no light. I freaked out and pulled over and couldn’t shut off because didn’t have a jump box and didn’t want to get stranded so just added oil while running worried it was very low on oil. Got home it wasn’t low and drove 40 minutes with an extra two quarts.
Needs a starter for sure.
Lockers and diff lock not engaging.
Oil gauge reading very low.

Guy “rebuilt” the motor during Covid looks super clean doesn’t leak oil.

 

[cbmontgo]

The oil pressure gauges aren't exactly accurate on these engines. I'd swap out that starter, top off the oil, and make some short drives around town and get to know the rig.

 

[ace10]

Does it start now?
What does the dipstick show?

 

[Tank5]

Not a Lemon, just an old used Land Cruiser.

 

[bhsdriller]

You didn't inspect it at all before buying?

 

[Rusty Marlin]

Is it really tripple locked or did they just install the dial.
What's the K code?

 

[simple]

You dumped some oil in it when seeing low oil pressure and your calling the truck a Lemon? The truck is probably wondering if you might be the Lemon. LOL

Looks like a nice original OLD truck to me. Welcome to IH8MUD, #1 RTFM and #2 read up on baselining for your new project

 

[Landseer]

The dash light indicates low oil level (float sensor in oil pan). The oil gauge indicates oil pressure. If there is plenty of oil according to the dip stick you're probably fine and just need a new oil pressure sender (or wiring is bad somewhere).

Be sure to read the manual (or the FAQs on these forums) on how to engage the differential lockers, putting the transfer case in low is a good start.

Its a 30 year old vehicle from a time when the driver was expected to have some knowledge of how the various systems worked, unlike modern cars where the computers do everything for you. Take some time to learn how the various things work.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

It's a lemon. I will take it off your hands for $1000.00

 

[Bludozer]

A 26 year old lemon...

You just purchased an old car with old car issues.

 

[wagonteeth]

You'll need to play with the lockers. It'll need to be in 4 lo. Drive around in circles and if they don't engage, its not too hard to pull the actuators and clean them up. The instructions on this site are excellent.

 

[JoeCova]

I wonder what he means by “rebuilt?”

OP, don’t take this the wrong way but this is not the car for you.

 

[vipergrhd]

Is it really tripple locked or did they just install the dial.
What's the K code?

A friend of mine nearly got taken by one of the wannabe lockers, he look at the diff. and walked away.

 

[vipergrhd]

It's a lemon. I will take it off your hands for $1000.00

I will give you $1250 cash in American dollars with Benjamin's picture on it.

 

[tmxmotorsports]

Triple locked where is the cdl button

 

[bhsdriller]

^ They didn't come with one from factory

 

[cahill]

They don't come with a cdl button in this year/model even if 3x locked. You can add it though as the wiring harness has the plug.

 

[cahill]

Beat me to it.

 

[tmxmotorsports]

^ They didn't come with one from factory

My 94 is triple locked and came with cdl button my buddies 94 no lockers came with cdl button my 95 had lockers no cdl button and yes the wiring is there for that. Eas just saying op said triple locked so that would mean lockers and button....

 

[Kernal]

@thunderturd : focus on these questions first:

"it would not start when pulling away"
Can you be more specific what that means??

"10 minutes in the oil pressure dropped below the bottom line---"
Did the needle come back up or is it still below the bottom line?

Does the needle move at all when you start the engine, or is it completely dead?

Where was the needle before; above the 1st line, 2nd line, 3rd line ??

As already mentioned, the Oil pressure gauge (needle) is not very accurate and can vary between vehicles, but if it was somewhere above the first (bottom) line then dropped to well below the bottom line, then either the connection is bad (wiring), the gauge is bad, or you've lost all oil pressure.

To be clear; the vehicle has two oil gauges or sensors with independent functions: one is for the engine OIL LEVEL only (not related to pressure) that is the orange light on the dash. The needle gauge (left upper instrument cluster) is for OIL PRESSURE only (not related to oil level).