How much life can you expect out of the 4.5 & 4.0 US Cruiser motors? (1 Viewer)

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crazy canuck

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and If I was to buy a high mile cruiser, and the motor conked out--what am I looking @ to replace that 4.5, or could I throw in a 4.7 V8 from the 100 series??
 
Approximately 146k miles out of the 1fzfe :'(.
 
I've got 250K miles on my 91 4.0L, it's just starting to break in, I can do 0-60 in about 20 seconds now as opposed to 30 new..... :D
 
This question is right up there with "How much does a hen weigh?"

It depends. I know of 1FZ engines with over a quarter million miles on them and they have not been apart. Cruiserman's engine (well maintained, BTW) had a failure at 146k that resulted in a rebuild. I lost an oil galley plug at 116k that I was able to fix without opening up the long block. The components I inspected looked VERY GOOD for the mileage.
Head gaskets tend to be a potential weak link in the 1FZ. Some later engines have been known to suffer head gasket failure at mileage as low as 50k +/-. The cooling systems on 60,62,80 series Cruisers, in my experience, demand attention. They do not like to go ignored for 2-3 years at a time. Annual attention is essential to long term operation.
I expect that my engine should be good til 200k at least (supercharged, tow vehicle) as long as the original head gasket holds.

A "complete" rebuild of a 1FZ, using OEM components and paying someone to do it, could easily run 5,000 dollars.
 
Looks like I just joined the Head Gasket Club at 117k miles. If I didnt have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. Just bought the thing a month ago.
 
Larry,

Man, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you find it's something else but keep us posted. Was it the water jacket around #6?

-B-
 
Mine was the water jacket on the number 6, dumped into the cylinder :-[ I settled on this truck cause it was one owner, had all the records, and was in great shape. It busted 78days into ownership, should have it back tomorrow though...
 
Steve - what do you think the bill will be?

dealer did the work?
 
I had a local shop do the work as the dealers around here were not going to be able get it in anytime soon. The bill is going to be about 2100 which bucks, but we milled the head and did a valve job on it too. I think labor was about 1100 of that which was about 500 cheaper than the 4 dealers I talked to. All in all I am happy with the cost, could have been worse I guess ::)
 
Can't tell much from mine (only ~73K so far), but I've never had any head gasket problem prior to 200K (original engine) - Here'a a few stats:

. '83 Supra (5MGE) - 180K (sold to a friend - now has more than 250K)
. '83 Cressida (5MGE) - gave away @ ~345K
. '87 Supra Turbo (7MGTE) - 207K (practically gave away to a relative - pronouced dead @ 245K)
. '89 Cressida (7MGE) - sold @ 187K

These engines are all inline 6; so my expectations are high :)

Frank.
 
hopefully mine will run at least another 4 yrs when i pay it off or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first...
 
Only a couple of one owner truck have I seen, most trucks have previous owners, even with reciepts you really do not have a full history. I beleve these engine can live to 300k miles and over if things are done. Yearly changing of the coolant, constant oil changes or synthetic oil. good filters, (both oil and air) 50-60k mile chnages on fuel filters. Fuel pump changes at or around 150k miles, fuel injectors pulled and cleaned on a bench at or about150 k miles or before a forced induction being put on. Some things that I have mentioned are not on any service interval and I reccomend from what we have seen here at the shop over the past 3 years. Trucks of varing milage with various problems and the best guess we can come up with as to why a problem is and what we can do about it. later robbie
 
Well c dan is spot on,
it will all vary on how it was treated, my 92 has 175k on the clock iwth good compression and running great at last check about 6 weeks ago. still ran great yesterday. the head gasket failure club seems to be endemic of the 1fze block the 3fe (3FE POWA for Kunz) seems to be a bit more freindly to work on and a used block running around $6-800 dollars. used 1fzes were around $1500 last time I looked. I will start the planning for the engine swap around 230k just so I can have all of the peices ready to go before I need them.
as far as swapping an I force in I believe its doable and I recall a topic on the same a few weeks ago. search the archives and you should find it.
Dave
 
[quote author=Beowulf link=board=2;threadid=9816;start=msg86661#msg86661 date=1073539671]
Larry,

Man, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you find it's something else but keep us posted. Was it the water jacket around #6?

-B-
[/quote]

Yeah I'm a little bummed. I havent torn into it yet. It now smokes(white) for minutes after startup, produces bubbles in the overflow tank and idles rough. I can see what appears to be deposits between the head and block (as demonstrated on Slee's site).

I'm going to do a compression test this weekend and also inspect the radiator. I'll start a new thread then with the results. I'm going to do the work myself. As soon as I get the FSM from Cdan, I will read everything I can on the gasket replacement. Also, I'll search the archives on the 80scool lists as well as here and SOR. I've already talked to Robbie at Slee. I'm gonna need lots of tech and morale support I'm afraid. :(

Ivan,
It's a 93.
 
It's not a difficult job, Larry, assuming all you need to do is replace the gasket and possibly surface the head. Attend to the radiator as well.
 
Thanks Cruiserman. Thats what I need to hear.

I'm going to have the radiator serviced or replaced if needed. I'm also going to have the injectors sent out to be cleaned and any other PM type stuff I can think of while I'm in there. That reminds me, the 'pesky heater hose' too.

I plan on documenting everything on a webpage with pictures and as much detail as I can capture. Has someone already done this?

I'm not looking forward to this procedure at all but it will allow me to become intiment with this engine since I have no current knowledge. I'll gain a little peace of mind from it as well........ I hope. It's not my every day driver so I can take my time.
 

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