I really need some advice...

[spencertron]

There's no harm in having a local Mud member take a listen. There are a lot of good mechanics out there that know cars in general but might not know some of the unique issues that come upon an 80 series. The Honda example you posted doesn't necessarily mean your 80 has a spun rod bearing. Hondas are known to spin rod bearings when their oil gets low, 80 series cruiser are not (as far as I know). Another perk of getting to know your local cruiser heads is that, if used parts are out there, you'll hear about it. Maybe there's a unique combination of your mechanic being willing to put in free labor and your local cruiser guys (with ideas, spare parts, or knowledge) that can get your rig back out on the road.


All that being said, if you're set on just unloading it (and it sounds that way to me), just pull the band-aid quickly to get it over with as little pain as possible.

I think you're right. How do I go about finding the local cruiser head?

Wait a second, are you saying that the second motor is making the same noise as the first one?

Dude, it ain't the motor, i'ts in the truck somewhere. Or did I misunderstand?

So when I bought the truck (back) I knew it had a blown head gasket and was going to do a rebuild. When I called my mechanic that's when he said "If I were you, I'd throw this engine in instead. It already had the head gasket done and a top end rebuild."

When I dropped it off he called me and said good thing we're going this route cuz that engine has a pretty bad knock.

When I had started it up in the sellers driveway earlier the fan was hitting the fan shroud and there was all kinds of noises going on. Plus I'm a noob and probably wouldn't have noticed a knock anyway.

So to answer your question - first engine was making a noise, but different from the one they swapped in.

 

[spencertron]

Nevermind @Lumpskie , found it.

by the way, the mechanic is Mario. He's the owner at Top Line Performance in Huntington Beach and I have nothing but great things to say about them.

 

[LS1FJ40]

I don't understand why you are scrapping this truck. If you are honest with people you will get a fraction of what you paid for it. Why not get the second opinion and drive it until she blows (which is probably a very long time).

First step: Take a dee breath.
Second step: Relax.
Third step: You are near LA. There are dozens of knowledgeable Mud members near you that would listen to your rig and give you their opinion.
Fourth step: The 1FZ-FE is a very strong motor (albeit not as strong as the Mighty 3FE!!). It is built for abuse in third world countries. If you drove it a couple of hundred miles from Utah it probably isn't an imminent threat for exploding.

 

[gandrimp]

Torque convertor bolts?

 

[JeepinPete]

Cracked flexplate can make all kinds of interesting noises. Can't say whether than is common or unheard of in an 80...

 

[baldilocks]

So, you are planning to rebuild an engine, install it and then sell the rig?

 

[spencertron]

So, you are planning to rebuild an engine, install it and then sell the rig?

Here's the plan as of today:

I'll pick up the rig hopefully this afternoon. As soon as someone on the socal club page gets back to me I'll make plans to drive it over there and get a second opinion.

In the meantime, Top Line is taking my original engine that's still lying around, rebuilding it, and when it's all done, swapping it in to the truck.

This is, of course, assuming that I don't call them in the next few days and say "Hey never mind. I took it to a mud members' house and they did xyz and it's fixed".

The rebuild and the swap will be 3 grand. Once that's done, I'll sell it.

Who knows? Maybe I'll pick up a few killer accounts here in the next few weeks and we won't have to sell it.

I get the "why not just drive it till it dies" mentality and part of me really wants to do that. The problem is that what if in 1, 5, 10 thousand miles it finally grenades? Well then it's not going to cost me 3 grand to do a rebuild. At that point it's going to be a lot more because I'm not getting free labor or at cost parts.

I don't know what locked 80s are SELLING for in sourthern california, but completely stock 200k+ rigs are ASKING 10 grand. Built triple locked 80's with 200k are asking 14 to 19. That blows my mind. I sold mine for 6 back when it was running like a top and had never given me an issue with 237k on the clock. Should have done some market research first I guess haha. I bought it a few years earlier for $6,700 in Utah. Everything is more expensive here! Anyway, I think that one with a fresh rebuild should be able to get 11 in this market.

My wife is going back to work soon. She took a year off for the baby but lately (even before the cruiser) she's been talking about how she wants to go back. And she was making more money than I am. My hope of all hopes is that by the time I get the cruiser back, and it's running like a dream, I've been able to come up with some money (anyone in so cal want some surfboards or guns?) and she says "well, I'm working again and we're doing better. Let's keep it"

That's wishful thinking, but that's what's going through my brain right now. I kind of feel like my head is going to explode after running through so many different scenarios over the last couple days. Thank you to everyone for chiming in. Even if I haven't responded to your post I have taken every one in to consideration.

 

[jpoole]

I'm in a similar situation with our first child, house and 80 coming within the last few years. The 80 comes last to everything in terms of time and $$ so progress on the truck is slow but it will be a fun family truck when it's road worthy one of these days (or years!).

I don't know if or how it would work for you guys but I'll throw out the idea of you working to move the 80 out of the "urgent stuff " category. This can give you a chance to shift your energies to the family, credit card or whatever and help drop the stress for your wife. You seem to be in a lose lose (sell as is or $ to fix then sell) situation currently which can justify holding off until you assess what y'all want for your family and the 80 long term. It sounds like the mech. that did the work is a straight shooter so you should be able to explain your need to defer any decisions without losing the chance of his low cost rebuild and he may even be able to help with storage for a while to give you a break from it altogether? If after some time you and your wife decide you'd like to have an 80 long term fixing the one you have will probably be the cheapest/best way to get there and after a few years life does start to get easier with a new house and kid, making it possible. If after thinking it over for a while you no longer want an 80 then you can figure out the best way to sell.

 

[midfat]

Yotamasters is in Corona. Nothing against your current mechanic, but if you are looking for a second opinion, you would be hard pressed to find a more qualified 80 specialist anywhere in the northern hemisphere. Yotamasters - Quality parts and service

 

[BILT4ME]

I was thinking both of those things!

Torque convertor bolts?

Cracked flexplate can make all kinds of interesting noises. Can't say whether than is common or unheard of in an 80...

 

[spencertron]

Yotamasters is in Corona. Nothing against your current mechanic, but if you are looking for a second opinion, you would be hard pressed to find a more qualified 80 specialist anywhere in the northern hemisphere. Yotamasters - Quality parts and service

That's who I origanaly called but I guess he doesn't do rebuilds anymore. Kind of forgot about him. I'll give him a call. Thanks!

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

I hear torque converter/ bands, torque converter bolts, cracked flexplate, and mechanic can't pinpoint the noise.... my response. Torque converter...had this same noise and experience in an f350 and a Mazda car. The stator was flopping around inside a bad torque converter. Bands, probably not. Torque converter bolts, well, the engine had been removed, Crank or TC bolts could definitely be a culprit. Cracked flexplate, only experienced this on Chrysler vehicles oddly enough, but sure. Mechanic can't pinpoint the noise....find a better mechanic. It's not difficult to figure out where a noise in the engine is coming from if you're using a mechanics Stethoscope, it's seriously a process of elimination. If ignoring were a spin bearing you'd have oil pressure issues, over heating issues a very audible knock after that kind of distance and abuse. It could be the timin chain tensioner is loosening up due to loss of oil pressure froma worn oil pump...or worn tensioner or too much slack in the chain set, or bad guides. None of these issues are a sell the rig situation.

 

[tominboise]

I hear torque converter/ bands, torque converter bolts, cracked flexplate, and mechanic can't pinpoint the noise.... my response. Torque converter...had this same noise and experience in an f350 and a Mazda car. The stator was flopping around inside a bad torque converter. Bands, probably not. Torque converter bolts, well, the engine had been removed, Crank or TC bolts could definitely be a culprit. Cracked flexplate, only experienced this on Chrysler vehicles oddly enough, but sure. Mechanic can't pinpoint the noise....find a better mechanic. It's not difficult to figure out where a noise in the engine is coming from if you're using a mechanics Stethoscope, it's seriously a process of elimination. If ignoring were a spin bearing you'd have oil pressure issues, over heating issues a very audible knock after that kind of distance and abuse. It could be the timin chain tensioner is loosening up due to loss of oil pressure froma worn oil pump...or worn tensioner or too much slack in the chain set, or bad guides. None of these issues are a sell the rig situation.

This is great advice right here.

 

[ZackR]

This is great advice right here.

I agree, this is good advice. It would suck to pay $3k for a rebuild (even with it being a good deal) and still have the noise since it wasn't engine related to begin with. As others have said I'd recommend pinpointing the actual cause of the noise before going down the road of unneeded repairs.

I bet you are able to get this truck back on the road with less effort than you think. I would imagine there are a handful of local mud members who would come by and give a second opinion or help you narrow down the noise.

 

[ihatecrashing]

Well that all sucks.

Like @LS1FJ40 said, take a step back for a minute. Stop the bleeding (of money) for now and figure out a time frame for decision making.

I feel for you and hope you can find a solution soon.

 

[spencertron]

Taking it to yotamasters on Thursday for a second opinion. Hopefully it's easy for the lead technician there to diagnose. If it's something he actually has to tear in to to diagnose, it's by appointment only and they are 3 weeks out.

 

[ALX4X4]

Sell the Prius and fix the 80, painless decision

 

[crikeymike]

I agree with all the opinions of getting deeper into it to figure out what's really happening.

Also, I think $11k is a good price for where you live.

If you already own the truck outright, then you're only paying insurance. Changing to another toy may require payments or money out of pocket again, plus insurance. So all it's really costing you to keep it is the insurance. I'd have kept several of my old 4x4's forever if I'd have had the yard or garage space for them, since I owned them all, but oh well... I'm currently paying about $400 a month for my 4Runner plus the $115 for insurance. If I still had my LX, it would be $0 a month plus $115 or similar for insurance.

 

[spencertron]

here are a couple videos. Kind of hard to hear in the videos but have a listen if you'd like! I noticed after picking it up that it does seem to be doing it a little more often than I remember. Here are a couple notes:

If I'm accelerating uphill OR downhill from a stop it doesn't seem to make the noise when changing gears

On the freeway, it tends to make it not so much with certain rpms, but if I'm cruising or kind of getting up to speed and then slightly let off the gas (not completely, just a little) then it will do it and i need to adjust the gas pedal pressure more or less to make it go away.



need the volume up pretty loud for this one but i say "there" right after it happens shifting in to 2nd and 3rd. Also note the oil pressure. Normal to be that low?

 

[ZackR]

Although I can't personally identify the noise those videos are helpful in showing that it only occurs occasionally, which is good news for the engine. Lets see what others come back with...