Hi all,
I owe a debt of gratitude to all of the members of this forum. I just got a 2004 LX470 and have been doing some baselining. Over last few months I've gained a tremendous amount by reading thousands of posts here. I'll give a brief intro to my rig, where I am with it (maybe cathartic for me!) and post the question in separate paragraphs so you can skip to the question if you like.
History:
I am a youtube certified wrencher only. The most I've done before is valve covers in my '02 tundra 2UZ-FE, altenaters, and most basic mileage based service items on a variety of cars. My family grew late in 2019 and the access cab Tundra wouldn't do any longer for the two carseats. So I looked to upgrade and purchased a 2004 LX-470 w/ 150k on the odo late in 2019. I did get a pre-purchase inspection but I now wish I had not relied on the shop so much and done more of my own investigation on this particular rig (it was a land cruiser specialty shop that is local to me). Their assessment was that it was a good rig for the asking price but needed a few things: valve cover gaskets, heater-T's, power steering rack looked like it was weeping, PS lines looked in poor condition, front wheel bearings were in need of service. All of that has been taken care of by either the shop or myself (PS rack was worse than they thought). The steering wheel telescoping motor went out as soon as I got it. This is minor but turned out to be a problem because the instrument cluster malfunctioned one month after I purchased it and I could not get it out where the telescoping motor died. So I replaced the telescoping motor and I'm still dealing with the cluster malfunction, ~$1200 for a new one. The last thing done was the PS rack and the shop said I was good to go after that. I figured I'd do some last baselining and be off to some wilderness camping ASAP. Unfortunately, I went to do my oil change and standard tune ups (I've only put ~400 hundred miles on it so far) I found some concerning faults. The coolant was alarmingly low (after just getting back from the shop BTW but my fault for not keeping a closer eye). I put ~1/2 gallon in it this week and I know it was full 200 miles ago (when I did the heater T's). Coolant pressure test (@ 11psi as I could not find the psi rating and it was not on the cap) held for 10 min with no clear sign of the leak. Combustion gas test was normal with the liquid staying blue (does not rule out user error as I had never done it). Next were the oil leaks: when doing the oil change there was clearly an active oil leak coming from the junction of the block and the bell housing (rear main seal?). There were three formed drops here when I got there and with the engine running two more showed up. There were several other concerning spots for leaks around the upper and lower oil pans which I have cleaned and will monitor. So... I was disappointed to say the least. I'm sure there will be more questions as I chase down these leaks but I'm gathering the info about the leaks before posting direct questions.
Today's question:
Today's job was greasing the propeller shaft. I've not decided if I want to drop them for the slip yolk or just put grease in and remove the zerk to get the excess out over a few speed bumps. All the U-joints had not been greased in a long time by the looks of it but when I got to the last one in the rear of the vehicle I found this:
The zerk is MIA and I can't even see that there would be threads to put a new one in. It looks like this has been missing for a while.
So the question is: Should I try to put in a new zerk or is it likely that running without one for so long has killed the U-joint? I have no experience with U-joints and I'm not sure I would have the prerequisite feel to know if it was too worn beyond repair. Is there any harm to the rear diff / axle from a really worn U-joint? Or is the potential damage limited to the U-joint itself?
Thanks for any advice and I appreciate your time.
I owe a debt of gratitude to all of the members of this forum. I just got a 2004 LX470 and have been doing some baselining. Over last few months I've gained a tremendous amount by reading thousands of posts here. I'll give a brief intro to my rig, where I am with it (maybe cathartic for me!) and post the question in separate paragraphs so you can skip to the question if you like.
History:
I am a youtube certified wrencher only. The most I've done before is valve covers in my '02 tundra 2UZ-FE, altenaters, and most basic mileage based service items on a variety of cars. My family grew late in 2019 and the access cab Tundra wouldn't do any longer for the two carseats. So I looked to upgrade and purchased a 2004 LX-470 w/ 150k on the odo late in 2019. I did get a pre-purchase inspection but I now wish I had not relied on the shop so much and done more of my own investigation on this particular rig (it was a land cruiser specialty shop that is local to me). Their assessment was that it was a good rig for the asking price but needed a few things: valve cover gaskets, heater-T's, power steering rack looked like it was weeping, PS lines looked in poor condition, front wheel bearings were in need of service. All of that has been taken care of by either the shop or myself (PS rack was worse than they thought). The steering wheel telescoping motor went out as soon as I got it. This is minor but turned out to be a problem because the instrument cluster malfunctioned one month after I purchased it and I could not get it out where the telescoping motor died. So I replaced the telescoping motor and I'm still dealing with the cluster malfunction, ~$1200 for a new one. The last thing done was the PS rack and the shop said I was good to go after that. I figured I'd do some last baselining and be off to some wilderness camping ASAP. Unfortunately, I went to do my oil change and standard tune ups (I've only put ~400 hundred miles on it so far) I found some concerning faults. The coolant was alarmingly low (after just getting back from the shop BTW but my fault for not keeping a closer eye). I put ~1/2 gallon in it this week and I know it was full 200 miles ago (when I did the heater T's). Coolant pressure test (@ 11psi as I could not find the psi rating and it was not on the cap) held for 10 min with no clear sign of the leak. Combustion gas test was normal with the liquid staying blue (does not rule out user error as I had never done it). Next were the oil leaks: when doing the oil change there was clearly an active oil leak coming from the junction of the block and the bell housing (rear main seal?). There were three formed drops here when I got there and with the engine running two more showed up. There were several other concerning spots for leaks around the upper and lower oil pans which I have cleaned and will monitor. So... I was disappointed to say the least. I'm sure there will be more questions as I chase down these leaks but I'm gathering the info about the leaks before posting direct questions.
Today's question:
Today's job was greasing the propeller shaft. I've not decided if I want to drop them for the slip yolk or just put grease in and remove the zerk to get the excess out over a few speed bumps. All the U-joints had not been greased in a long time by the looks of it but when I got to the last one in the rear of the vehicle I found this:
The zerk is MIA and I can't even see that there would be threads to put a new one in. It looks like this has been missing for a while.
So the question is: Should I try to put in a new zerk or is it likely that running without one for so long has killed the U-joint? I have no experience with U-joints and I'm not sure I would have the prerequisite feel to know if it was too worn beyond repair. Is there any harm to the rear diff / axle from a really worn U-joint? Or is the potential damage limited to the U-joint itself?
Thanks for any advice and I appreciate your time.
