My LJ 78 Prado

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Postoy said:
Ok so I worked through the night and by 11:45pm I was finally able to fire this thing up!

Sitrep - The engine smoked and missed a lot when I first started it, this has been a pretty typical characteristic for my truck if it sits for an extended period of time without running. When I fired it up this morning it was about 6° out. I allowed the glow plugs to heat for about 10-15 seconds and it fired right up. Missed and smoked for about 2 sec (huge improvement). I was in a bit of a rush to get to work so I didn't have a long time to let it warm up but it seemed to perform much better than before. In the past if I did not allow it to warm up I had zero and I mean zero power and it would smoke like a mother.

I think I still need to look into an injector service in the future or possible injection pump rebuild. My other thought is possibly the fuel system is getting a bit of air in it over night?

On my drive to work I noticed I no longer get the little puff of smoke from taking off at a light and I no longer have the miss/smoke after applying throttle after coasting like I was having in the past. The truck builds boost WAY faster now. I am still running 7 psi but plan to bump that up to 10. Once I get my intercooler installed I will go a little higher but will also have to source a bleed off(?) for the boost sensor.

EGT's - These readings are pre turbo, in town I am any ware from 6-800°F. If I hit a hill it does hit 1000°F but I did rag on it a bit and I cannot seem to get it much past that... Maybe 1050°F. I am not certain of not it these are good readings? It does cool down very fast if I let off the throttle.

I cannot say that I have noticed a rough shut down (common characteristic if you remove the throttle plates) so I was happy with that.

After these few mods (complete EGR delete & throttle plate removal) the truck seems to be a lot happier. I also think that the throttle plate removal is easier on the turbo, reason for this is I have noticed that if I am at full boost and quickly let off the throttle I no longer get the shutter sound from the turbo (I did not have a BOV).

I will update with a few pix soon. Next on my list is my super cheap OBA.
Click to expand...

Nice work! Thanks for the pics. Will be helpful to others I'm sure. Sounds like all that work has been a big improvement for your engine.

Sounds for sure like you are getting air into your fuel system somehow. Check the filter is sealing properly, and check the seal on the filter drain. Check all the fuel lines to make sure they are not leaking and are well clamped/torqued. Check that your injection pump is not seeping/leaking anywhere. These rotary pumps do seem to need new seals every 20 years or 200,000kms. Just did mine recently.

Your EGTs are great! Less than I would have thought. When I had done all the work you've done, I was getting those temps AFTER the turbo! Could be your fuel has been turned down a bit. When you boost up to 10psi, the computer will add more fuel automatically. If you did want to manually add a bit more fuel, you can remove the cap from the spill control valve, release the lock nut, and turn the screw clock wise a bit. Probably a 1/4 turn would be perfect for where your engine is at now. Just don't go more than 7/8s turn, or you'll have a run away diesel the first time you rev it up (been there...haha).

How does the off idle torque feel now without the throttle plate?

My engine is also low on power until it starts warm up a bit after a couple minutes driving. I think that is typical for diesels. They are most efficient at 88C I hear. Also there is a coolant temp sensor under the intake manifold which tells the computer how warm the engine is. I've found this sensor is critical for cold start advance and injection timing control. The cold start advance is critical for clean easy cold starts. I replaced my sensor early on, and it did seem to improve a number of things. Sensor can be bought at any Toyota dealer; part number is on the web somewhere, I could find it if you want.

Great to see that truck getting all tuned up; nice work! :beer: And very nice shop/projects.
 
Thanks guys!

GTS - Ok good to know about the EGTs... I have tried finding online what acceptable temps were but all I have been able to find is post turbo temps.

I do plan to mess around with the fuel once I get my intercooler set up. You noticed better MPG with the raised fuel pressure? I am interested to see if my MPG gets any better. The best fuel consumption I've seen before these mods was 13.03l/100km but an average of 14.94l/100km.

Ill have to see if I can find that part number for that sensor. Sounds like its worth changing.
 
Postoy said:
Thanks guys!

GTS - Ok good to know about the EGTs... I have tried finding online what acceptable temps were but all I have been able to find is post turbo temps.

I do plan to mess around with the fuel once I get my intercooler set up. You noticed better MPG with the raised fuel pressure? I am interested to see if my MPG gets any better. The best fuel consumption I've seen before these mods was 13.03l/100km but an average of 14.94l/100km.

Ill have to see if I can find that part number for that sensor. Sounds like its worth changing.
Click to expand...

Acceptable EGT's are pretty much the same for all diesel engines, so you don't specifically need to look at the 2LTE. Just do a general EGT search and you'll learn what people feel is acceptable. Diesel's with piston oil coolers (like ours) can take a little more heat.

Basically the more I've improved my engine, the better MPG it has achieved. I've turned up the fuel in conjunction with other mods as well, so I wouldn't say turning up the fuel alone is going to yield better economy. However, increasing boost and fuel together can yield better economy from what I've seen. Maybe because it makes more power at lower RPM, which is where diesels are more thermally efficient. Don't have to rev the engine as much to get the same power. You'll definitely see an increase in fuel economy from where you were at though. Should be able to achieve 11-12l/100km on the highway even at high speeds with a load and hills etc. City seems to always be 14-15l/100km in my experience no matter what; but I do bag on my truck pretty hard.

Just a though, when you calculate your economy are you accounting for your big tires? Stock tires are only 28" if I remember right. Use a GPS to know your economy for sure. Or correct for the difference in circumference of stock to larger tires.
 
He ^^ is the true LJ78 master, and is a career mechanic too. Much of what I learned is from his posts. He also has the most bad ass wheeling Prado that I've ever heard about. Custom linked suspension front and back, and locked front and back! Plus many other improvements... Nice to see you back pradocruzer.
 
Thanks Pradocruzer!

So it has been a couple days and the truck is still running great. Only issue is I notice some oil in my driveway last night. I crawled underneath and it looks like the back of the valve cover is leaking. I did not remove the cam plug at the back as it seemed to be fairly well installed and I figured why mess with it but I might have to take the time to remove and reseal it. And maybe add a thin coat of form a gasket on the head before I put the valve cover back on.
 
Postoy said:
Thanks Pradocruzer!

So it has been a couple days and the truck is still running great. Only issue is I notice some oil in my driveway last night. I crawled underneath and it looks like the back of the valve cover is leaking. I did not remove the cam plug at the back as it seemed to be fairly well installed and I figured why mess with it but I might have to take the time to remove and reseal it. And maybe add a thin coat of form a gasket on the head before I put the valve cover back on.
Click to expand...

You don't have to pull that plug if you don't want, just put a touch of silicone between it and the valve cover gasket at the corners (you should see the residual factory silicone there).
seal.webp
 
Postoy said:
Well isn't that a handy thing to have! Do you have the entire manual in pdf form?
Click to expand...

Its manual for the 2L-T/3L, it's different than the 2LTE, but some things are the same so it does have its uses. It's for free online: http://www.toyota4wd.dk/Teknik/J70/Toyota Motor Manual 2Lt.pdf

I do also have the manual for the entire truck (covers EVERYTHING minus the engine). Too big to email or attach, but you can buy it here for just a few dollars (totally worth it, trust me!): http://www.landcruiserparts.co.uk/t...ion=com_virtuemart&Itemid=7&vmcchk=1&Itemid=7

There is also an injection pump manual that completely explains the entire engine operation really well as well as info on the pump. It used to be online, but I can't find it now. So I attached it as a pdf to this post.

I also have the owners manual...in french, haha. It's 12MB, so I can't attach it. Could email if you or anyone else is interested.
 

Attachments

GTSSportCoupe said:
Its manual for the 2L-T/3L, it's different than the 2LTE, but some things are the same so it does have its uses. It's for free online: http://www.toyota4wd.dk/Teknik/J70/Toyota Motor Manual 2Lt.pdf

I do also have the manual for the entire truck (covers EVERYTHING minus the engine). Too big to email or attach, but you can buy it here for just a few dollars (totally worth it, trust me!): http://www.landcruiserparts.co.uk/t...ion=com_virtuemart&Itemid=7&vmcchk=1&Itemid=7

There is also an injection pump manual that completely explains the entire engine operation really well as well as info on the pump. It used to be online, but I can't find it now. So I attached it as a pdf to this post.

I also have the owners manual...in french, haha. It's 12MB, so I can't attach it. Could email if you or anyone else is interested.
Click to expand...

Nice! That 70 series shop manual covers the winch as well. I am going to buy it, My winch needs a service soon. I used it to pull a holly tree out at my in laws place awhile ago and it has been leaking since. I think it had been awhile since it was last used and the seals maybe were dried up.
 
Started a small project to hopefully help the stock crappy headlights.
I picked up a pair of cheap used h4 conversion headlights


They had these crappy wannabe projectors. I split the housings to remove them


And replaced them with these





these take a d2s bulb (factory bmw, Lexus etc) and should help to brighten up the roads at night without blinding other drivers.

I need to gain about a 1 1/4" depth for these to work... I have a few ideas. Will update once I'm done.
 
Very nice. Can't wait to see how that turns out. Been meaning to do something similar myself.
 
Added a cheap eBay boost controller over the weekend. There seems to be little to no information on how these are to be installed and they come with no instructions. Now to some it might be quite simple how they go on but to others not so here is a pic on how I plumbed mine! Works like a charm!

 
Yes still alive and well as you know :P but thank you for the reminder that I need to update this.

Its been awhile and even though I have not got as much done on the truck as I would have liked I have finished a few things.
Biggest one being manual hub conversion (Without adapters). I will get some pictures together and do a write up on that when I get a moment. New job, new home and first kid (14 months old) have been consuming my life these days but I will get back at er this winter.

Can look forward to a injection pump rebuild for sure.

Nick and I have been going back and forth about whether or not this ole engine needs a rebuild. I did a compression test recently and found my rear 2 cylinders were about 100 PSI lower than the fronts. Nick has some great ideas that I need to look into before I commit to rebuilding.

Stay tuned!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom