My new obsession 94 FZJ80 (1 Viewer)

[DevWin]

Ummm, yeah. It will explain a lot of things.

Do the block test but I would bet money against the HG being blown.

I would bet money that there are a lot of little things that have been neglected and will need attention. Don’t panic, all of them have been experienced by many of us on the forum. You won’t be a “first” for any of these things. Do a google search, if you don’t find it, ask. People may give you sh!t for not searching, ignore them, some people are d!cks.

These aren’t your “normal” vehicles. They don’t grenade without ridiculous abuse and neglect. There are countless of us that have had neglected 80s that given a little love they are now reliable and will run for many years to come.

Keep oil in it, keep your coolant system in good working order, wash her once a week in the winter to keep her from rotting away, spray Fluid Film all over underneath her, buy stock in a gas company. Drive the sh!t out of it!

Fortunately this isn’t my first rodeo with other people’s neglect, just a new platform. The not running is the biggest issue at the moment. I will pick away at all the other issues. And I love the advice, exactly why I am falling in love with this thing, even in it’s current state.

Worked all day, but my current thought is that a gasket between a manifold and downpipe went that could be throwing off the O2 and causing the lean/rich codes. Could that throw the idle off to the point of barely running?

I am going to grab the block tester to rule out the head gasket and throw two new gaskets in to stop that particular leak.

 

[LS1FJ40]

I'm not an expert by any means. I leave that to @Tools R Us @inkpot @jonheld @beno and many others. What I do know is that you need fuel+spark+oxygen for your truck to run. In order for it to run "normal" it needs the right amount of fuel+the right amount of spark+the right amount of oxygen. If you are getting a lean or rich condition you are getting too much fuel or not enough fuel. If I'm not mistaken (and one of the people I mentioned before will correct me) if you are throwing codes it definitely could be the issue.

 

[graham5david]

I'm not an expert by any means. I leave that to @Tools R Us @inkpot @jonheld @beno and many others. What I do know is that you need fuel+spark+oxygen for your truck to run. In order for it to run "normal" it needs the right amount of fuel+the right amount of spark+the right amount of oxygen. If you are getting a lean or rich condition you are getting too much fuel or not enough fuel. If I'm not mistaken (and one of the people I mentioned before will correct me) if you are throwing codes it definitely could be the issue.

don't forget about compression as well.

 

[DevWin]

Quick update. Haven’t had much time to work on it, but did check the intake tube and could not see any cracks, it is super stiff though. Also messed with plug wires while it was idling(trying to). When I pulled the #6 wire there was no change in the idle, same with #5. The others I could feel it get worse.

Going to do the block test this evening or tomorrow morning. Hopefully that gives me some clue. I also need to get to storage and get a load of my tools.

 

[rc51kid]

Thanks for all the info. @dogfishlake ’s rack looks sweet, but we have a family owned kayak shop that I am the main guide and instructor for. I also do a lot of kayak fishing on my own time. We are a Thule, Yakima, and Malone dealer as well. I am going to run 4 of the regular height Thule towers and install my Hullavator on the middle two bars.
Here is my pathfinder loaded for a day out.

Good info on the suspension. Reconfirmed my thoughts. I will pick up the fusible links as well. Fluids will happen when I do the axle.






Radiator was done by the previous owner. I will do a flush and check out the hoses as well.



I have been doing tons of reading and come across a wealth of info.


I think it had to do with his wife. Which is funny because my wife didn’t like the pathfinder either, but likes the LC.
Her 4runner

Nice truck.
Not trying to be a dick but there is nothing to check on the hoses. They are 25 years old. They need to be replaced.all new oem hoses will only be around $200. Cheap.

 

[DevWin]

Well I got to pull plugs and do a compression test today. I decided to dig some of my tools out of storage rather than buy the block tester.

Not looking good.
Here is what I came up with. Plugs are 1-6 from left to right. #6 is obviously very wet.

And #5 and 6 look a bit low.

I am leaning toward the headgasket.

 

[DevWin]

And there are two different plugs in it. Least of my worries right now.

 

[DevWin]

Haven’t had time to work on this with the holidays and house projects. But I did get a big chunk of the parts including the valve grind kit and I made space in the garage to start tearing it down.

 

[DevWin]

Finally got to start tearing into this. Found some rust I need to address.


Throttle body and intake are pretty cruddy.



Some previous owner problem.
Different lugs nuts and one O2 sensor was not bolted in. Just sitting in place.

 

[DevWin]

Think I found the problem. At first glance everything else looks pretty good though.

 

[DevWin]

Making some progress. Got the head back from the machine shop. Overall it was in decent shape, other than someone trying to resurface it with a belt sander. Machinist said there was still plenty of material left though. Valve seals were crispy, but now new. Had them hot tank the intake manifolds as well.

I got the block and pistons cleaned up. All look good.

Also sent the injectors our for a cleaning and flow test. Turned out great and before and after flow was an improvement.

Old tires are off and wheels are being stripped this week. Waiting on some more parts to arrive and should be good to start reassembling.

 

[Red Merle]

How does someone with enough skill to remove and replace the head get it in their mind that they can plane the head with a belt sander? People never cease to amaze me...

Great work on your part! Love seeing someone take the time to bring one of these back from the dead!

 

[DevWin]

How does someone with enough skill to remove and replace the head get it in their mind that they can plane the head with a belt sander? People never cease to amaze me...

Great work on your part! Love seeing someone take the time to bring one of these back from the dead!

Yeah, it is a good thing the body and interior are so clean on this, because as I dig into the mechanical it was definitely neglected or half assed. Plus I have a hard time working on something and not doing it all. Looking forward to having a overall solid vehicle.

 

[Rifleman]

because as I dig into the mechanical it was definitely neglected or half assed

That's seems to be a common mistake first time buyers of these trucks make. They think that since it's a Toyota, It'll last for ever, and won't be that expensive to keep, or maintain. Problem with that line of thought, they never stopped to check what the cost of replacement parts are for these trucks. Or the level of owner commitment, tools, and experience to do the required maintenance on these trucks correctly.

 

[DevWin]

That's seems to be a common mistake first time buyers of these trucks make. They think that since it's a Toyota, It'll last for ever, and won't be that expensive to keep, or maintain. Problem with that line of thought, they never stopped to check what the cost of replacement parts are for these trucks. Or the level of owner commitment, tools, and experience to do the required maintenance on these trucks correctly.

I think that is a common problem across the board. Coming from the world of old VWs I am very used to this problem. Driving them into the ground, then complain when something goes wrong. Owning almost 30 vehicles, most old VWs, I have corrected PO's lack of maintenance many times.

A couple other things I picked away at that have nothing to do with getting it running.

Installed a new mirror to replace the one that was broken when purchased. Also played around with roof rack setups. Not sure if this is the final configuration, but will work for now.

 

[COYS]

Awesome pics of the remediation work - thank you!

 

[DevWin]

Wheels are back from being blasted. Some pitting, but turned out good.

 

[DevWin]

About ready to reassemble. Most parts cleaned up and resurfaced the matting surfaces. Cleaned the throttle body. Valve cover refinished.

 

[Red Merle]

About ready to reassemble. Most parts cleaned up and resurfaced the matting surfaces. Cleaned the throttle body. Valve cover refinished.

Nice! What paint did you use on your valve cover? I went with the same motif. I sanded the letters and numbers down by hand.

 

[DevWin]

same

I used a wrinkle black. I just hit the letters with a scotch-brite disc. Took seconds. First time using the wrinkle paint though, that took a few touch ups.