Just gave the 1HD-T a bit of a hard time - Have I stuffed it? (1 Viewer)

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AussieHJCruza

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New South Wales, Australia
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www.completecruisers.com.au
So, last weekend I towed a 12x6x7 trailer on a 1900 km round trip to NSW and back again. All went well on the way there...

However, while we were there, we went out for a bit of a drive, and due to a lack of traction on a sideways slope, ended up in a sloppy mess which took about 15 minutes to get out of, a fair bit of which was at about 4500 rpm.

After we got out I headed to the car wash and washed her down thoroughly. On the way home I heard what sounded like a bad boost leak, which turned out to be a blown gasket on intake runner #2. I replaced all the intake gaskets with genuine and changed all the oils except engine and gearbox (they didn't have water in them) before we headed home. About 30 minutes out of town I glanced at the temperature gauge, and it was just below the red, so I dropped back to third and ran along at 3500ish rpm for a bit until it returned to about normal again, and when I accelerated back up to 100 km/h and shifted to 4th, up the needle went again, so we limped along to the first shop we came across (probably 5 minutes or so) and bought them out of water bottles which we used to wash out the radiator, which seemed, despite my efforts with the pressure washer, to be blocked with mud. Having done this, we continued on, and the same thing happened, so we pulled in at a farm, where we found a farmer who turned on his bore and let us wash out the radiator. We did this, which got the temperature gauge to sit slightly above normal, where we continued on, the gauge moving between normal to about 3/4 for the next 10 hours or so. On one of the fuel stops, I noticed a few drips of oil underneath the truck, but as it was dark I couldn't see the source. I was a bit concerned, because the oil pressure seemed to be sitting a bit lower on the gauge than it had previously (just below the first mark at idle, about the middle of the gauge at 2500-3000, whereas it had previously (if I remember correctly, this could be purely imagination) sat above the first line, and about at the third line I think. The oil didn't drop on the dipstick though, so I presumed we weren't losing too much and tried not to worry about it.

The day after we got home, I changed the oil and oil filter (was done before we left, probably about 2500 km total on the oil, which was Penrite 15W50 semi-synthetic) with Shell Rimula 15W40, which conforms to JASCO (JACO?) DH-1 which seems to be what the 1HD-T wants. Oil pressure appears to still be a bit lower, on the first mark at idle, although it may not be lower at all - why do you not take account of things like this until something goes wrong? Upon inspection, the oil leaks are twofold - 1 is what I presume to be the rear main, oil coming out where the engine mates to the bellhousing, and the second is at the rear output of the transfer case.

I would like someone to preferably alleviate my fears, or confirm them, that I have stuffed something up somewhere, and should get ready for some major repairs? Am I overthinking this/worrying about nothing? I'm a young guy who's blown my savings on a Land Cruiser, I want to look after it to the best of my ability but, given that this is my first year of work, I am not particularly flush with cash. I have ordered a set of springs to replace the knackered stock springs that she currently sits on. I haven't paid for them yet. Do I spend this on fixing the oil leaks? Does the oil pressure drop (If it is one, could what I describe cause a loss of oil pressure?) suggest BEBs? Do I budget for a rebuild because it's likely I've caused major damage? The conclusion that I want to draw (but fear otherwise) is that the long continual drive, compounded by a heavy load behind and a struggling cooling system caused the oils to thin out a bit, taxing seals that were holding marginally, and making them leak, and my high-rev antics getting out of the puddle pushed a marginal gasket beyond it's limits, and I'm worrying about nothing.

Please help confirm or otherwise my thoughts.

A bit of vehicle info which may be relevant: 10/92 (MY93) HDJ80 manual GXL. Standard boost, fuel, exhaust. 285/75/16 A/Ts Odo reads 294XXX km. Timing belt and water pump were replaced at 270,000. Coolant is clean and green, no change in level throughout the trip. BEBs were subjected to Toyota's 1996 recall and were checked when the timing belt was done and found to be ok, so not replaced. Before we left on the trip, vehicle didn't leak a drop of oil. One thing I will note is that after changing the oil (both times) and the refil, the oil looked sort of greyish, like some of the old oil was left in the sump, so I parked the front higher than the rear the second time around in case this was the case) instead of perfectly clean like an engine with a fresh sump of oil should look. At the second change, the oil was filthy, as in, stain your fingers filthy, after 3000ks max. The first, I didn't really check because I had just got the vehicle and wanted to baseline it. No metal on the sump plug magnet both times.

Look forward to people's replies.
 
Hi there.

Lower oil gauge readings are to be expected when you have higher engine temperatures.

I'm guessing that when you slid into that "sloppy mess" your radiator got dunked into "porridge-like mud" or similar.

Unfortunately the radiator heat can bake that into an almost concrete-like mass that can be very hard to clear. (High pressure blasting will blow the fins to bits so gentle water pressure is what's needed but it can take a long time to loosen it.)

(I hope you didn't damage the fins when you tried pressure-cleaning because if you did that'll make it harder to get good air flow occurring again as you'll need to straighten the fins and/or extract the loose fin-bits.)

I suggest you shine a torch through the radiator at night (while looking through the other side) to see how clear the air passageways are.

If you find the light can't get through in places, then leave a hose running gently into that area for quite some time. (You may even need to try gently poking something through the fins ... and at this point in time ... a short length of thin blue plastic packaging tape comes to mind as being something that might work to gently probe and clear blockages without causing damage.)

Hopefully this will solve your temperature and oil pressure issues.

As for the oil leaks ... Just how bad are they? The odd drip from the bellhousing is a very common thing and should only be considered a problem if your clutch is affected (slipping) or if you can't park on a clean driveway without leaving ugly oil drops/stains.

My diesel engine oil is always a "dirty-black stain-you-fingers colour" and resumes this colour after just a few minutes of running following an oil change. (But I'm not familiar with your engine.)

:beer:
 
From your description, the leaking rear main isn't a big deal, the radiator needs to be cleaned out properly.

The oil being "greyish" is concerning. If water gets into engine oil it will turn it milky and overheating can cause internal coolant leaks. Contaminated engine oil can in turn damage bearings. Need a photo of this old oil to make a decision.

As for engine damage from overheating resulting in low oil pressure...cut your old oil filter open, squeeze the old oil out of it and then gently open the pleats up and look for fine debris that may indicate bearing damage. Just spend some time on google to understand what I mean. Once cut open, show us some photos of the filter and anything inside. There will often be a smattering of metallic fragments but more than that is cause for further investigation.
(A magnet can help distinguish between bearing material and iron in a filter)

Lastly if you want, put a hand held gauge on it to verify oil pressure is within spec.
 
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I'm thinking that I should actually remove the radiator from the truck and thoroughly wash it out with a hose to get all the mud out properly. Thanks for the tip on using a torch @lostmarbles

@dousty The oil definitely hasn't got water in it - the oil that came out was typical diesel oil; filthy and black. I can get a photo of the oil though. My question about the oil was after I change it, it still doesn't appear that clean. Am I not getting all the oil out when I drain or could the engine use a flush? No goop under the oil cap either, so I think the engine is ok in the water area.

How would I go about cutting the filter open without totally destroying it?

The rear main is a fairly bad leak (I think, anyway.) You could see drips sitting on the bell housing and there was a reasonable patch on the driveway.
 
So not grey/milky? Sweet. You will never get all the old oil out so don't worry about that.

I'll post some detail on filter cutting in a few minutes.
 
Here's a filter cutter. These are the safest way to open a filter (you can easily cut your hands wide open for stitching later if you aren't cautious). You can cut them with tin snips etc but don't use a hacksaw as the fillings that get into the filter medium will mislead you
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. Cut the lid off and remove the element.
 
With a sharp knife cut a few inches of medium out and place into a vice.
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Make sure you have plenty of rag under it and then squeeze the oil out. Then open it up and have a look for sparklies. If there are some you can use a magnet to see if it's iron or not and make a decision from there. 6 or so flakes is nothing to be worried about, I'd just cut a filter at next oil change to monitor it. 6-12 sparklies and I'd cut one after a few hundred kilometres to be sure. I'd also verify oil pressure at that point before driving. More than 12 flakes and I'd look further. Let us know how you go.
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Where does one find such a creature at a reasonable price? I looked on eBay and they seemed in the $70-80 mark. Is that the going rate?
 
That's one of the joys of mud driving with all-terrains - gotta keep the tread clear somehow, but I should have been more clear in my description, it wasn't at 4500 constantly for 15 minutes, probably for not much more than 10-15 seconds at a time.
 
Nah, definitely coming from the bellhousing, and I'm pleased to report that the leak has become minimal with a full mineral oil and lighter duty usage. I suspect that the oil got a bit thinner with the extra heat and started to leak past a seal that will need replacement in the medium term future, ie, when I do the clutch, probably later this year.
 
Small zip ties are great for clearing dirt and junk out of radiator and intercooler fins.
My 1hz has had a rear main leak since I first bought my 80 5 years ago, hasn't ever caused me a drama and it has almost 400,000km on it.

If you haven't already, make sure you clean any mud and debris away from your swivel hubs, handbrake system and hubs. Mud does horrible things in these areas, ask me how I know!
 
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Yep, the underbody has been cleaned thoroughly a couple of times since, we had cruisers (HZJ105, HJ47) on the farm that lived in mud for quite a bit of the year and lets just say that it doesn't do the underbody components any favours...
 

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