HELP! Prado broken down in Red Deer....

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endless

endless

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Aug 5, 2006
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Location
Kootenays, BC
Anybody around here who can direct me to someone knowledgeable about this type of vehicle? We've had it towed to the Toyota dealership for now,but would like to get some help from someone who knows something about the 2LT engine.

It started making a strange noise that seemed to mirror the engine noise in speed, and all of a sudden when the noise stopped, the vehicle lost power and started blowing black smoke out of the exhaust. The turbo light is off, as well. The head was replaced in the spring and the temp gauge never climbed. Any thoughts or help appreciated!
 
Sounds like turbo to me. It may be as simple as a tear in the hose that leads to the inlet manifold. Have a good look at the cross-over pipe (the piece that goes over the valve cover), to make sure it's in place and the hoses at either end are not torn.

The black smoke indicates you're getting fuel but not enough air to burn it.
 
Also check for other sources of air leakage between the turbo and intake manifold - look for loose connections, bolts that have loosened off, etc. If possible, take the intake hose off the turbo and do a visual inspection. Does it spin freely?

edit: the fact that you were getting a strange sound that mirrored the engine rpm suggests to me that your turbo was in its death throes, but I really hope I'm wrong.
 
At what rpm does it blow black smoke?
Those sound like the syptoms of my truck when my turbo siezed.
I remeber someone saying (Harvey from England) that it happened it his 2LT before. (CT20 turbo)

When mine happened:
I stoppped to fuel up, all was running normally.
Got back in and started driving.
Turbo light never came back on, and started blowing lots of black smoke around 2000rpm.
It runs fine until over 1500-2000rpm, but has no power (above 1500-2000), and makes lots of smoke.
I drove mine home at low rpm and going around 70kph.
But I was also only 50km's away.


Pull the air hose, and see if you can turn the shaft with your finger.
If it is siezed, pull the turbo and see if you can't find out why.
Just don't open the turbo.
My jam fell right out. It was a piece of metal.
Take the (piece out casuing the jam) and see how it feels. You should be able to move the shaft back and forth, but not side to side. Then you could put it back in the truck. I think Harvey did this, and never had an issue again.

If it was making lots of noise before it failed, it could be the bearings.
If so, you need to have it rebuilt. You are a little far away to drive it home.
You are actaully worse off than a NA diesel right now, because your exhuast is constricted.
Maybe someone has a turbo you could borrow.

If it is your turbo, I would have it rebuilt.
I had mine done here: www.adpdist.com
Good price. Friendly service.

Usually they rebuild yours, but maybe the have a reman in stock.
You could by it, and ship yours back as an exchange.


Hope this helps,
Cheers,
Nick

By the way. Here was my CT26 turbo from my 1HD-T and the peice that jammed it.

old_turbo_piece.jpg
 
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Thanks Robin,
I hope it's as simple as that. They haven't looked at it yet, but I'm trying to figure out where to get parts around here so we don't end up stuck here for days!

Going to grab a bite to eat and will check back here later to see if anyone can enlighten me.
 
That sounds like what happened, Nick. I'll pass this info on to the tech at Toyota and hope that they'll check that first. I don't know if we can have it rebuilt NOW, since we're on the road....I guess the turbo is necessary to drive it home from here? (I have to get to Nelson).
 
Toyota could probably get you a part, as there were 2L-T trucks sold in Canada back in the day. But it's going to be $$ and there's no way they'll have one in stock. You might want to get in touch with Wayne Smith at Luxury Imports in Calgary. A while ago he had a complete 2L-T head with turbo that he was thinking of selling. You could also check 4 Wheel Auto in Edmonton - they may have a used turbo off a Surf that they could Greyhound to you overnight. Installing a new turbo is pretty straighforward for any mechanic, I would think.

I would go check the turbo yourself and inspect the intake manifold and cross-over pipe - I doubt the Toyota people will be of much help as they do not know these engines, for the most part.
 
Thanks for the contact info, I'll definitely check that out. Apparently the Toyota dealer here has one tech who has some experience with these, but I relayed all the info you suggested here to them as well so they'll check it. I also left Wayne's contact info with them so hopefully they'll call him if they need a part. I can't check it out myself till tomorrow anyway.
 
Say, when are you heading to Nelson? I'm heading to Gray Creek on Thursday or Friday - it would be cool to convoy at least to Creston...

Anyway, what a pain in the ass for you! I hope you get it sorted tomorrow.

Robin
 
Just spoke to Wayne about his turbo and hopefully I WONT need it but if I do at least he's got one! Still hoping that it's something less painful like a cracked hose or something......
 
it was nice chatting with you but i wish it was under better circumstances (and over a pizza....)
best of luck but as i mentioned, i am in Northern Ontario at teh ferry terminal so i won't be much help... sorry.
cheers
 
No worries, Wayne. You've been a great help already and your old turbo will soon be cozily installed in a new home. Pascal was great and we even got to check out your favorite vietnamese food.

Unfortunately, there seems to be additional problems since we now have a dead cylinder as well:frown: . We won't know till tomorrow what that means in terms of $$$$, but for the moment we're still stranded in Red Deer.

And there are NO good movies playing here, either:mad:
 
Wait a minute...what does "dead cylinder" mean? Zero compression? Not firing? What exactly did they say to you?

(As you can tell, I'm a little wary of mechanics that don't know turbo diesels providing conclusive diagnoses of a problem that could have many causes.)
 
They said it had no compression. The suspicion is that something flew out of the turbo and caused some further damage.....

He said they would check the injector first and go from there. Damn it, I wish there was someone else around here that i could consult!
 
How does the truck run when cold?
How does it run when warm?

How is your coolant levels? Full? Down at all?
Any white smoke?
It could be a cracked head.
Sometimes the head cracks and burns coolant, which can result in overheating (no coolant pressure), and bad pressure in the effect cylinder.

What was the PSI on the dead cylinder?

If the coolant is low, you probably want to have them check for a coolant pressure.

I don't think it could be a damaged valve from something breaking off the turbo. The truck would have to be running, and if the turbo blew, you should hear it. Plus, how would the piece make it past the injector?

I am no expert here. Just thinking.

By the way, I remember reading that you can still buy a Brand new 2LT from Toyota for around $4500.
If things on your engine hit the roof, you might want to consider that.
Could be cheaper. Then you can sell or keep your engine for parts.


Cheers,
Nick
 
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I don't know, Nick. The truck was running fine both cold and warm, not overheating or anything. We drove from Nelson to Edmonton last week and took it very easy on the salmo-creston and in the parks, staying below 2500rpm on the long climbs. The temp never went over 1/3 of the way up the (stock) gauge. We don't have a pyro yet.

It WAS running when the turbo blew (or whatever it was that happened). The head was replaced with a stronger model in May. I haven't noticed any white smoke as apparently there should be when the coolant is burning off:confused:

I don't know what the PSI is in that cylinder....but he did say that there was lots of pressure.
 
endless said:
I don't know, Nick. The truck was running fine both cold and warm, not overheating or anything. We drove from Nelson to Edmonton last week and took it very easy on the salmo-creston and in the parks, staying below 2500rpm on the long climbs. The temp never went over 1/3 of the way up the (stock) gauge. We don't have a pyro yet.

It WAS running when the turbo blew (or whatever it was that happened). The head was replaced with a stronger model in May. I haven't noticed any white smoke as apparently there should be when the coolant is burning off:confused:

I don't know what the PSI is in that cylinder....but he did say that there was lots of pressure.
Click to expand...


If it's not overheating and not loosing coolant, it might not be the head.
Not sure when a turbo blowing could take out.
It very well could kill and injector.

I am very interested finding out what exactly happened.


I would also like to say I feel really bad all this is happening.
It sucks when this stuff happens.

Not sure if you still want a pyro and boost guage (or can afford one), but if you do, cruiser_guy or I could help you install it. We live in Cranbrook, and you will probably pass through. We both have the tap needed. Or we could always help in the coming months. Just wanted to offer some help if you need. We both love meeting new cruiser people.

It's a pity your truck did not break down at a fellow cruiserheads town.
We could of towed you and given you a place to stay when it all happened.
I am not the best diesel mechanic, but I probably could of figured it out.
Charles (cruiser_guy) on the other had has rebuilt a few toyota diesels now.

Cheers,
Nick
 
Well, sounds like they're starting at the right place - the injector. Zero compression is not a good sign. It suppose it is possible that something came off the turbo and jammed a valve open, but I doubt you'd see any significant damage to rings or the cylinder wall from a piece of flying turbo - I doubt it would make it into the combustion chamber. Since your head is new, a dropped precup can pretty much be ruled out.

If the compression is zero, I'd wager on a stuck or jammed valve. A head crack would not cause such a drastic drop in compression. If Toyota seems unable to help, most towns the size of Red Deer should have a reputable independent diesel shop that could probably take a look at it. Of course that means another tow. I'm surprised it's taken the Toy techs this long to figure out what's going on - I hope you get some satisfaction soon!

Robin

Edit: I was just thinking what else would cause total compression loss - only really significant engine damage like a broken conrod, which you would definitely hear as it shattered your engine block. It would say get the valve train apart and see what's happening under the camshaft. Did they mention which cylinder is reading no compression?
 
Thanks for the offer, Nick. I may well take you up on it after all this is figured out...I definitely DO want a boost and pyro installed, just haven'y done it yet due to a lack of knowledge on my part and no faith in my local mechanics!

Robin~ They said it was the #4 cylinder. Actually it's not that it's taken them that long to figure it out, just that they are short-staffed, overbooked, and not too accomodating as far as squeezing us in goes. Apparently they will be looking into it further in the morning,as today was just a cursory look.
 
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