Engine locked up 00 land cruiser build up (1 Viewer)

[roma042987]

Engine locked up on my 1999 land cruiser last night and I’m looking at replacement engines online. Interchange shows 98-4/2000 and then 5/2000-2005. later ones being incompatible with earlier years. I know the 2006 and 2007 engines got vvti but was unaware of the non vvti engines not being interchangeable. The only thing I’ve been able to conclude is the later non vvti engines got drive by wire. So can one just install the non drive by wire throttle body or even entire intake from the earlier engine?

 

[Spike555]

What happend to yours? How many miles were on it?

I see no reason why you couldn't just swap the intake and everything attached to it and drop in a newer engine.
It would be easier keeping your intake with everything attached to it and putting it on the new engine rather than swapping everything from the old intake to the new. IMO

 

[roma042987]

What happend to yours? How many miles were on it?

I see no reason why you couldn't just swap the intake and everything attached to it and drop in a newer engine.
It would be easier keeping your intake with everything attached to it and putting it on the new engine rather than swapping everything from the old intake to the new. IMO

Mine had some excessive blow by and then seized up. The truck had 193k on it but the engine in it was a replacement so who knows. I put less than 3k miles on it in my ownership.

 

[Spike555]

Man that sucks. Sorry to hear that.

 

[roma042987]

Not a big deal. I got it right....would have even paid double knowing it needed an engine.

 

[Somebodyelse5]

have you considered a swap? Might be worth considering if you have the ability and the time... a 100 with a 24valve cummins would make me almost as happy as a 80 with a 24valve

 

[roma042987]

have you considered a swap? Might be worth considering if you have the ability and the time... a 100 with a 24valve cummins would make me almost as happy as a 80 with a 24valve

I have three other diesel cruisers so not so much. A 1hdft would be sweet with 5speed but your talking at least 8k when I can pick up a 2uz for a grand. It’s just not practical. They run awesome with the 4.7 this is my 3rd 100 series.

 

[Somebodyelse5]

I have three other diesel cruisers so not so much. A 1hdft would be sweet with 5speed but your talking at least 8k when I can pick up a 2uz for a grand. It’s just not practical. They run awesome with the 4.7 this is my 3rd 100 series.

fair enough, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I didn't encourage at least SOMEONE everyday to do something irresponsible

 

[dogdaysindurham]

Some good info here and some posters with experience doing the swap.

 

[roma042987]

Might as well turn this into a fix up thread to keep track of all the work on this truck. I have an engine on the way from a 124k mile lx470 that belonged to Jim Falk Lexus of Beverly Hills. The carfax shows the donor appeared to have been a loaner vehicle for the service department and has extensive service records up until 93k miles. I'm doing all the preventative maintenance on this thing prior to installing it. Timing belt kit and everything for the front side of the engine has arrived. I'm going to place an order for a new rack, tie rods, starter, and rear main and go ahead and knock those out as well when i do the swap.

A little back story, I actually live in Alabama but, the truck is located in Arizona. I started a new job about a year ago and am spending about 6 months of the year out here working. I typically have a rental at my disposal but my first few trips out exploring I pinstriped a couple of the rentals and got one stuck out in Glamis sand dunes. I decided i either had to bring one of my trucks out here or find one locally to leave out here. In June i came across this truck over in Phoenix and it was priced too cheap to believe. The guy couldn't get it to start and it had been parked for nearly two years. It seemed too good to be true and was advertised to only have 160k miles. I sent the guy a deposit and told him i'd be out that way in a week to pick it up. He asked me if i was going to get it towed or if i'd like for him to tow it for me. I told him i was just going to drive over first and try to fire it up. He advised that i at least bring a battery and some starting fluid.

couple of pictures of the cruiser from the for sale listing

I picked up a battery at Walmart and couple of wrenches to change it out. When i got to the guys house i popped the hood and proceeded to install the battery and give it a once over. I noticed that the engine had "land cruiser graham" written on the intake manifold and that some of the wiring harness clips were broken and the fuel feed line had been cut in two and clamped back together with a brass barb fitting. I was also a bit disappointed to find that the rear spoiler and a wheel center cap was missing from the truck. It was obviously there in the photos he had sent me. When I asked the guy about that he said that he sold those parts before he spoke to me but after he had taken the photos. While I was putting the battery in he went in and got the key and put it in the ignition. He asked "did you bring some starting fluid?" I said I didn't and was going to try to diagnose it first. A fuel injected engine shouldn't need starting fluid to start. I hopped in to turn the key and instantly noticed that the key was just a metal key blank and not the factory remote key. I said "hey you know this thing wont start without the right key because of the immobilizer." He gave me a puzzled look, right about that moment i noticed the old broken key fob laying up on the dash. I picked it up and put it against the key in the ignition and turned it over. She instantly fired right up!

I asked the guy if he would be willing to take some off the price since the parts were missing and since the truck actually had 190k miles on it and not the 160k that he advertised. He responded with an **** no! and reminded me of what kind of deal i was getting since i was able to get it start.

I couldn't disagree with that so after writing up a bill of sale and getting the title I hopped in the truck and drove it back to Yuma grinning the whole way.

 

[roma042987]

Before heading out of Phoenix I stopped at Walmart and picked up some fluids and a filter to change the oil. I noticed it had some smoke coming from under the hood and an oil burning smell when i parked and, my friends that rode out with me told me the truck was blowing white smoke out of the tailpipe for the first few miles. I concluded the smoke under the hood was coming from seeping valve cover gaskets so i pulled the air cleaner and tightened the valve cover bolts in the parking lot. The valve cover bolts tend to get loose on these trucks as the rubber for the valve cover gaskets deteriorates and shrinks and tightening them allows you to put off doing those valve cover gaskets for quiet a while. When I went to reinstall the air cleaner tube i noticed it had made an oily mess on the ground where i had laid it down. Apparently it was full of engine oil. A bit perplexed I reinstalled it and got back on the road.

Now summers in Yuma are pretty miserable so I was just happy to find out the ac was blowing ice cold with the outside temp hovering around 120 degrees. I made it back to Yuma on the super sketchy dry rotted tires without incident and went straight to a buddies house to change the oil and pull off the ugly ass running boards. When I checked the oil prior to draining it i noticed it had lost close to a quart and a half of oil on the drive back. I pulled the air cleaner again and once again it had probably a 1/4 of a quart of oil in the air chamber over the passenger side valve cover. It appeared that the engine had too much crank pressure so i took a closer look at the pcv valve and noticed that it was an aftermarket unit. That evening i ordered a new pcv valve from Toyota and kept my fingers crossed.

Back at the hotel sans the running boards. already looking better

 

[dchilds]

I can’t help but ask what you paid for it. Tell me to mind my own business if you wish.

 

[roma042987]

At this point I was starting to wonder a bit about the history of this engine. It appeared to obviously be a junk yard motor but who knows at what point it was changed and what the mileage was on the engine. A few days later the pcv valve arrived and i installed it. It was time for another test drive. I took it out on Kofa wildlife refuge for a test run and had a flat about 30 miles from the nearest paved road. Fortunately the spare albeit dry rotted was sufficient enough to get me back home. I put another 500 or so miles on it with no oil loss issues so i thought all the engine problems were behind me. In my mind i concluded a cheap pcv valve was installed when the engine was replaced and didn't allow for enough crank pressure relief.

 

[roma042987]

I've had two other 100 series trucks previously, the first was a white 99 that i tragically rolled and the second was a black 98 that i'd purchased in March with a bad engine. I kept my rolled truck for parts so, i had everything on hand to fix the black truck. I did a quick build up thread on it and actually sold it because i didn't really have a need for it at the time.
new life for a 98 land cruiser

I also kept the lift kit off the white truck so i brought it out to Yuma with me. The kit consists of BDS torsion bars, OME rear springs, Slee diff drop, Slee upper control arms, and OME shocks all around. I stay in a hotel when I'm out here so I didn't initially have a place to work on my junk but this last trip out i found out that i have access to the automotive skills center on main post. On my first day off i used the shop to install the lift, flush the trans and change the front diff fluid. I didn't change the rear diff because I'm planning on putting my elocker rear axle out of my rolled truck under this one. I also fixed the seized tcase shifter. This truck hasn't ever really been off road as far as I'm aware so it was stuck in 4hi. This would be a terrible job to do without a lift.

black 98 i put an engine in.

 

[roma042987]

Here is how bad the tcase shifter looked. This is a common problem on the 100 series if it's not shifted periodically. This truck has ZERO rust on it and it was that corroded. I pressed the shifter out of the aluminum, wire wheeled the shifter and ran a brake caliper hone through the aluminum housing before greasing it up and pressing it back together. It shifts as smooth as butter now.

Anyway getting along with the story... my next trip out to the desert last weekend i left the truck idling for about 30 min while I scouted for the trail that had washed away. When i got back to the truck i noticed it was smoking out of the tail pipe. It cleared up after i started driving again but at that point I knew there was something going on with the engine. A few days later I went to change the plugs in it and noticed all of the spark plug tubes where about half way full of oil. I cleaned them out and decided to moniter it for a few days before installing the new denso coil packs i had also purchased for it. The oil could have been from bad tube seals but my fear was that possibly the increased crank pressure could be pushing oil passed those seals.

A few days later I was leaving work and i heard an odd noise from the engine, a few seconds later the power steering was gone and the battery light came on. I pulled over to find the fan pulley bracket had seized and torn the belt in two. I had enough battery to make it the 25 or so miles back into town and to my hotel. Fortunately the 4.7 is a common enough engine that the local oreillys had a dorman brand fan pulley bracket in stock so the next night i replaced it in the hotel parking lot after work. I also went ahead and ordered an aisin timing belt kit, another aisin brand fan pulley bracket, oe cam seals, new bando serpentine belt, and new oe front crank seal. My intention was to fully get to the bottom of the engine issues before installing all the new parts.

I monitored the oil the next week or so and concluded it was pushing about 3/4 of a quart every thousand miles. A few days later i had planned a camping trip up to Schnebly hill road up in Sedona. I made it about 80 miles out of Yuma Saturday night when the check engine light came on with a steady misfire. My scan tool indicated a cylinder one misfire so i pulled off the highway and pulled the coil pack thinking maybe it had just become saturated with oil and wasn't getting a good enough contact with the plug to fire. It didn't appear to be oil soaked so i put it back in and made the decision to head back to Yuma. I made it about 20 miles or so before the engine started sounding like something was binding, as i pulled to the shoulder it shut off. Attempting to restart just yielded a clicking noise so she's locked up good.

I think that kind of brings everything up to where I'm at now. I think the only thing I've left out so far is the 02 sensor i replaced in the hotel parking lot to get the check engine light off.

lift installed and playing around in the desert

 

[2001LC]

Hotel parking lot fan bracket, impressive. You must have been carrying nice assortment of tools.

You didn't mention coolant, did you see any issues?

If the VIN # is still on the RH head would be interesting to get some history!

 

[roma042987]

Hotel parking lot fan bracket, impressive. You must have been carrying nice assortment of tools.

You didn't mention coolant, did you see any issues?

If the VIN # is still on the RH head would be interesting to get some history!

Yeah i carry a full assortment of tools with me...if it can be fixed on the side of the road then i have everything to do it. I checked for the vin on the cylinder head when i first noticed the junk yard writing thinking the same thing about history but it was missing. Zero issues with coolant, level hasn't fluctuated in the reservoir, no contamination, and no over heating. I'm a bit stumped as to what really happened to that engine. It’s as if the rings had some sort of issue and came apart but with that i would have also suspected to see misfiring from uneven compression, power loss, and smoke while driving none of which it exhibited. I know when it finally died that it didn't sound like a knock from a bearing failure which is what normally happens when an engine locks up.

That fan bracket is a piece of cake now. I actually pulled the junk dorman bracket Tuesday and returned it to oreilly's lol, came off in 25 min.

 

[2001LC]

Coolant in reservoir should fluctuate. I assume you mean did not need to add in it or radiator after 8 hour cool down.

25 minutes has to be a world record for fan bracket removal.

 

[roma042987]

Got alot done last week so going to try to get this thread up to date. I had to fly back home on the 6th and didn’t get back out west to where I have the truck until last week.

I searched high and low for a low mileage engine that had some sort of evidence of its advertised mileage. It’s a bit tricky to do but, some junk yards actually have photos of odometers and can provide a vin number to verify miles. I was holding out for such a seller and after a few days came across a 98 lx470 engine with 124k miles. The seller actually had a full walk around video of the lightly hit truck idling and showing the vin number. I did a carfax which confirmed two owners and the advertised mileage. I also ran the vin through the lexus drivers website and came to find out it actually belonged to Jim Falk Lexus of Beverly Hills and had a very extensive service history including the 90k service. I clicked the button and the engine was on its way to Yuma. It arrived to the local fedex hub in two days but I was back in Alabama, they were however gracious enough to hold it for me another week until I could pick it up on the 12th.


I picked the engine up from fedex in my rental truck and took it straight to a friends garage where I was planning on working on it and storing it for a few days prior to doing the actual install at the skills center. I will say the hardest part of this whole ordeal was coordinating everything and finding a place to work on it and have parts shipped to while staying at a hotel 2000 miles from home.
Here it is after I pulled all the Saran Wrap off. Sorry for the crappy picture.

I decide to do all of the preventative maintenance on it while it was out so apart it went.
I was very pleased to see Toyota red coolant in it and a new oem water pump, timing belt, and hydraulic tensioner. I was a bit tempted to leave it alone but my ocd got the best of me and I went ahead and pulled it apart.

 

[roma042987]

New aisin timing belt set with hydraulic tensioner and aisin thermostat and gasket and fipg.

Not doing a belt without the cam seals and front crank seal.

My favorite way to pull the cam seals