New HJ61VX Owners

[elmariachi]

Well after seven 80 Series, one 60 and one 40, I am an HJ61 owner. I bought this truck:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/fj60-fj62-bj60-hj61/760683-1988-hj61vx-12ht-pto-winch-clean-co.html

I made a risky decision to herd it home without doing any thorough checkup (did check the lug nuts, ha) and it had only been off the boat a week. Seller changed the oil, we checked all fluid levels and I set sail from Colorado to Houston. It made it with only some weirdness in the tranny shifting and a broken AC belt (which I should have cut off before starting because I knew it was on its last leg.)

Truck seemed a bit sluggish leaving Durango (though I have no point of reference) so I kept it down around 55-60 mph. I rolled into Albuquerque about 8PM and refueled and added some Howe's. As the outdoor nighttime temps dropped I began to increase speed and by the time I reached Amarillo it was running smooth and effortless at 70. I averaged 26 mpg from Durango to Amarillo at that speed. The run home to Houston yesterday was around 70-75mph and it was 100F outside. Added a small amount of Howe's at each refuel 1100 miles, 47 gallons, 23 mpg. No oil consumption noticed.

I have ordered a whole slug of baselining parts....hoses, belts, filters, service manuals etc. I plan on changing all fluids and giving it the once-over as soon as all that arrives.

Now a ton of questions:

1. Truck has 160k miles on it and I suspect that is correct based on condition. Truck blows "some" black smoke on 50%+ acceleration. Not horrible but you can see it. Truck idles and runs well.

1. I don't know squat about these engines, yet. What should I do initially beyond the maintenance baselining to ensure its tuned and running right? I assume I need to install a pyrometer. Anyone have pics of how those are installed at the exhaust?

2. Sitting at idle, upon a quick blip of the throttle pedal, its stumbles a bit as the needle drops back below and to idle. So if I blip it and release, it bumps up a hundred or so then drops down to about 400 with a little roughness and then resumes to idle smoothly at 600-650. Thoughts/concerns?

3. Is a compression test a must? Oil is not sooty, no sign of gasses out of the oil cap. No blue smoke or vapor. Advice.

4. Preferred oil brand and weight for this engine and these miles? Operating at sea level here and its hot as hell.

5. The fuel gauge is whacky. Fill the tank and it goes to just above. Burn off about 2-3 gallons and the needle starts to drop normally. Burn off another 3-4 gallons and then the needle goes with it, but then at about 10 gallons use it drops to around half, but only for a few minutes and then just sinks on out of sight. Once its below E (though the tank is still better than half full), if I let off the truck and coast.....the needle tries to come up slowly just above E. Give it some pedal and it drops. Voltage issue? Where to look? Sender? Anyone have sender part #?

6. Some clunkiness in the shifting from takeoff in first.....I am sure the tranny needs to be douched. Any advice here other than that and checking downshift cable position (I think that's what the cable is called)? No slippage or temp light (better check that bulb.)

7. Any "mods" worth doing?

Think that's it for now, thanks in advance for advice/responses.

Jim

 

[Wheelingnoob]

EGT guage is a good mod to have. When you do a service on the trans also install a trans cooler at the same time, this will help it survive the Tx heat.

Looks like a nice clean truck.

 

[Tapage]

I would add a trans temp gauge if you are planning to keep it auto ..

I would like to have oil press and pyro gauge as you have in your plans already ..

Pyro probe in my 1HD-T not the same engine but you get the idea ...

Your truck probably needs injector / nozzle service down the road ..

About your fuel gauge .. the first thing I would do it's pulling the in tank part .. in my case it was rusty ( coil ) and it won't allow free movement ..

 

[Dieseler]

The stumbling idle issue could be A/C related mine runs flawlessly without the A/C on... this year was the first year I used the A/C and noticed when rolling up to red lights the idle would stumble almost to a pint of stalling same observations as you blurping the gas pedal and idle dropping down to 400ish then up to normal.
Check your driveshafts for play may be the cause of the clunking.
When I first had mine at the same mileage I had some quirky gauge issues that eventually turned out to be the Alt brushes they were worn on one side completely.
Compression test is always a good thing to see what going on in each cylinder but since you don't have glow plugs you have to pull the injectors and if you are going to pull the injectors it is a good time to have them tested and rebuilt.

 

[elmariachi]

AC isn't charged/functioning so it can't be that. Driveshafts are tight, noise is more of a hard shift like you'd get after a shift kit install in a turbo 400 GM tranny.

Thanks.

 

[maat]

man thats a beautiful truck get some more photos up!

 

[wongtsenhin]

Wow! Neat truck.

 

[blis]

I use mobil rally formula, 5w-50 on my hj61... Change it every 10 000km/s or twice a year whichever comes first... The smoke issue will probaply sort out by itself, just give it enough throttle for a while and dont drive like a granny...

ps. If you can bother to wait till friday/weekend I can get you a pic of my egt sensor install...

 

[Tapage]

I use mobil rally formula, 5w-50 on my hj61...

that's not a " gasser " oil .?

 

[Wheelingnoob]

AC isn't charged/functioning so it can't be that. Driveshafts are tight, noise is more of a hard shift like you'd get after a shift kit install in a turbo 400 GM tranny.

Thanks.

Search "McNamara gear" Its probably worn splines on the transmission output.

 

[langsen]

I've been using Rotella 5w40 in my HJ60 here in Phoenix, Delo 15w40 or Rotella 15w40 are also popular. There are a ton of oil threads on here, but make sure to disregard any that are more than a year or two old since the oil formulations change.

If you averaged 22 mpg U.S. (26.4 imperial) on your drive back to Texas, that is pretty awesome. That's after compensating for the odometer error due to tire size? I would double check your fan clutch to make sure it's engaging.

If you have service history, check for valve adjustment, as it is often neglected.

 

[Tim-HJ61]

Nice looker. Is it direct from Japan?

Black smoke under power is an over fueling issue. Either someone has increased the main fuel screw too much, or the injectors are needing servicing. Don't push it too hard blowing black smoke, it's possible your EGT are too high.

The stumble on a blimp on idle might be resolved with injector work. It's probably the longest run the vehicle has ever had, so will have done it the world of good. Yes, replacing belts and oils is a good idea, and a tranny flush never hurts. You may find the biggest issues are seal related through deterioration over time. Brake and clutch cylinders etc. Mine had been in water and the front hub bearings were shot. These hold the whole front hub assembly onto the axle, important to not fail!

Nothing else you've stated is anything to be concerned about. Tuning these diesels is generally a matter of leaving things exactly as standard and leaving it there.
If you want more power, that's a different thing. I've done a few things, www.peoplehelp.com.au/landcruiser will show you.

Tim

 

[elmariachi]

Good stuff guys, thanks for the posts. The truck is getting a good douching...steam cleaning seats and headliner, peeling off old window tint etc while I am waiting for the tune-up stuff to arrive. There are signs of good maintenance and care. The steering knuckles are super clean, diff fluids clean, no fluid leaks anywhere, and aside from the oil change in Colorado, it's fresh off the boat direct from Japan as-is. There are some decals under the hood from service facilities and it appears to have been well-maintained....couple of new hoses, all vacuum lines are fresh and in their correct spots, brake and power steering fluids are fresh.

I agree the 1100 mile trip from CO was probably it's longest in a while, maybe ever. So I am going to baseline it, set the engine up to spec and see what happens.

If anyone has any parts, I'm looking for the stuff here in this thread.. I can't wait to get it lifted and outfitted.

Jim

 

[Greg_B]

- Valve Adjustment
- Run a can of Lubro-Moly Diesel purge through
- Fluids/Belts/Baseline as you are doing
- Maybe the Macnamara gear...don't know unless you split the case and look (Is there a clunk when you go from neutral to D or R)?.
- Certainly, do the rodney flush or similar (add Lubegard Red)
- If this a long term truck for you I'd look at a new TC and reworked VB (lock up in 3rd) in the distant future
- Bump the idle adjust screw up just a tad to help with the bounce off the bottom - Are there two springs on the fuel lever linkage at the pump?
- Oils as mentioned...Delo and Rotella are popular..Delvac as well
- Gauges (boost, pyro, trans temp at a minimum, and oil pressure if you want). When that's done and you've driven around a while watching things...if your boost is 5-7 psi then either shim behind the wastegate with washers or install a boost control valve and bump to 10 psi or so and check out the difference with your EGT's.
- then install a 2.5" flow through exhaust and watch the difference.

- Is the engine oil staying clean for a while after a change?

Congrats on a cool rig!

gb

EDIT: Oh, and the fuel sender is 83320-69015 which crosses the bj/hj/fj60 lines. But 1st access the sender through the rear floor access hatch and clean up the connection on your existing sender.

 

[elmariachi]

- Is the engine oil staying clean for a while after a change?

EDIT: Oh, and the fuel sender is 83320-69015 which crosses the bj/hj/fj60 lines. But 1st access the sender through the rear floor access hatch and clean up the connection on your existing sender.

Thanks for the detailed post Greg. Oil was clean and fresh when I left Colorado (not sure what brand) and its starting to turn darker as I approach 1500 miles, 1100 of which were hard pounding back to TX and 350-400 around this last week, all above 95F. I am going to put Rotella in it and see how it does.

Thanks for the fuel sender PN. I pulled it tonight and a couple of the tiny wires on the resistor are broken, and that's right where it stops reading ohms and goes open. Will be getting that ordered this week.

 

[Slowerthanu]

Old mechanical diesels will get dirty oil, no matter how mechanically sound they are, the fuel control just isn't that exact.

You will get some venting through the valve cover breather, it is totally normal.

I recommend a catch can as these engines will dump oil into the combustion track which affects cetane and EGT's.

Have the injectors serviced, there is no telling how long old diesel fuel may have sat in that vehicle and you may notice a big change in drive ability, then again, 23mpg is awesome (my 2H will do that, albeit VERY slowly). If anything do the compression test for piece of mind.

These older diesels are nothing like the new tech diesels in our full size trucks, they are much dirtier.

Best of luck, welcome to the "be really careful parking with that PTO bumper" club. Don't hit any parked cars lol.

 

[warpdriv]

Here is some motivation for you. Gary's rig from RU 06.

 

[elmariachi]

JB whasssuuppp???

Yep, that's motivational for sure. OME on order, going through and resolving all the issues now. It will be looking good in another month. Jim

 

[warpdriv]

Nada mucho mi amigo. Jones'n on the 61!

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