Help 2LT Engine issues FJ70, 1990 (1 Viewer)

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Hello,

im Ian and have an issue with an FJ70 I recently bought, its a 1990 2.4L turbo 2LT engine - round headlights 250,000kms, Im hoping someone can point me in the right direction. Im not by any means a mechanic, so please bear with if any of my descriptions sound novice.

Last weekend I drove approx 70kms and it started to lose power on the motorway, the turbo then kicked in I assume to compensate, I did not accelerate and not climbing, prior to losing power turbo wasnt on - at least the dash indicator was off, I was doing around 80kms-hr, i tend not to drive it beyond that.

T-Belt light and both turbo green and red came on, I shut the engine off and rolled to a stop on the slip road, opened the bonnet and she was cooking, to the degree that oïl build up on the gear box behind the engine was smoking a bit. Left it some time to cool and the rad was effectively empty, topped it up, fired it up and all seemingly OK for 20kms more, until it split the main rad hose and dumped everything on the tarmac, it split the hose on the lower section at the bottom of the rad.

Long story short I didnt drive it thereafter, and got home quite a few hours later on the back of a tow truck.

Theres 2 rad caps, one on the rad and a secondary a little higher to the right , Ive topped the rad up at home and the second higher cap is bubbling and the water dropping at a speed that is visual. There is a significant water leak coming from behind the pulley Wheel that drives the main engine fan behind the rad.

Ive not stripped the engine yet to ascertain any internal issues.

Let me know if you need any pics, and thanks in advance for any help or advice you can throw my way

All the best,

Ian
 
Hello,

im Ian and have an issue with an FJ70 I recently bought, its a 1990 2.4L turbo 2LT engine - round headlights 250,000kms, Im hoping someone can point me in the right direction. Im not by any means a mechanic, so please bear with if any of my descriptions sound novice.

Last weekend I drove approx 70kms and it started to lose power on the motorway, the turbo then kicked in I assume to compensate, I did not accelerate and not climbing, prior to losing power turbo wasnt on - at least the dash indicator was off, I was doing around 80kms-hr, i tend not to drive it beyond that.

T-Belt light and both turbo green and red came on, I shut the engine off and rolled to a stop on the slip road, opened the bonnet and she was cooking, to the degree that oïl build up on the gear box behind the engine was smoking a bit. Left it some time to cool and the rad was effectively empty, topped it up, fired it up and all seemingly OK for 20kms more, until it split the main rad hose and dumped everything on the tarmac, it split the hose on the lower section at the bottom of the rad.

Long story short I didnt drive it thereafter, and got home quite a few hours later on the back of a tow truck.

Theres 2 rad caps, one on the rad and a secondary a little higher to the right , Ive topped the rad up at home and the second higher cap is bubbling and the water dropping at a speed that is visual. There is a significant water leak coming from behind the pulley Wheel that drives the main engine fan behind the rad.

Ive not stripped the engine yet to ascertain any internal issues.

Let me know if you need any pics, and thanks in advance for any help or advice you can throw my way

All the best,

Ian

Sounds like your water pump failed and you overheated. Possibly blew the head gasket and more.

for sure you need a water pump.
 
So its really an LJ70? I think you are in for an expensive repair, maybe a cracked head. The "secondary rad cap" is probably the overflow bottle. Do you have steam or white smoke coming from the exhaust? Is the oil milky?
 
Agreed. I would bet money on the head being cracked if you got it that hot with the 2LT. While not as prone to cracking as the 2LTE the head got unbelievably hot if you had no water in it. And, your power loss was likely cause by the extreme overheating, not the turbo not spooling. If you were already doing 80KPH the turbo would have been spooled up if it was going to, it wouldn't have tried to spool up at 80KPH suddenly.

Overheated engines feel as though they are losing power because of pre ignition. The cylinder head is so hot it ignites the fuel as soon as it enters the combustion chamber, not giving the rising piston time to compress it. So, it produces no power on the ignition stroke.
 
thanks for your feedback, I guessed it wasn't going to be a pretty diagnosis.

I'll let you know how the autopsy goes when i get it stripped.

one other thing if the engine is shot, I've read on the forums here that it's probably better putting a 3L replacement rather than a 2LT?

thanks again,

ian
 
Good luck. It's a rough thing to have happen.
I personally have no input on swapping in the 3L in place of it, I am sure someone will chime in that might have some experience with that swap.
 
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thanks for your feedback, I guessed it wasn't going to be a pretty diagnosis.

I'll let you know how the autopsy goes when i get it stripped.

one other thing if the engine is shot, I've read on the forums here that it's probably better putting a 3L replacement rather than a 2LT?

thanks again,

ian

I don't know much about the 3L swap but I'd imagine it'd be easy & the 3L is definitely a much more reliable motor than the 2L-T. Another relatively easy swap & improvement is the 1KZ-TE 3 litre turbo as fitted to the KZJ71 & KZJ78 & various other Toyotas.

Cheers
Clint
 
ok, I've got as far as the timing belt cover to replace the pump, but how on earth does the bottom pulley wheel come off?

I've taken the bolt from the centre but it won't budge!

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Harmonic balancer puller. Don't beat on it, you will damage it.
Sometimes you can put a prybar behind it and apply a little outward pressure and lightly tap it with a deadblow and it will come loose. But, if it's really stuck, a puller is the only way you will budge it.
 
Does the pulley have any holes with thread inside? Usually they have so you can bolt a puller to them
 
The 3L is considered reliable but wasn't sold with a turbo. There is also a 5L.
I think the 3L is an easy swap
 
All the L series engines wihtout turbo are super reliable and long lasting. It's the turbo that puts extra stress and heat into the system and causes issues. You probably don't need the extra power to get around where you are I'm guessing? Go for the 3L as it's probably the easiest drop in replacement.
 
thanks for the feedback all. Much appreciated.

I've had the water pump off and it looks ok, spins well with little effort but doesn't coast. I believe the thermostat had seized shut, definitely seen better days and there's also a seized pulley wheel bearing. There's no oil in the water and no water in the oil, so I'm hoping with a bit of luck the head is ok. I'll put the rad, fan etc back on tomorrow and try it before stripping the head.

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hello again, lazylfarm you were right, water pump had failed, put a new one in and all seemingly good so far, can't get hold of a thermostat so took the old one out, its 35deg plus here currently so not too much of an issue.

I've another query regards the turbo, it doesn't seem to kick in until you are over 2k rpm, and generally not until your foot is down down if you know what I mean, should it spool under normal acceleration and noticeably so, just seems sluggish for having a turbo?
 
not quite sure car should run without termostat. Ive done a test driving from cold without thermostat on the same engine and I could not get the temperature at the optimal operational temperature.

however difficult is to find a thermostat, probaby its worth the effort.

most guys with 2lt installed an australian produced thermostat named tridon, which has 30% bigger flow. I also run an 81 deg one instad of the factory 88.
 

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