New User in NJ (1 Viewer)

[logicbyondreaso]

Hello! I am a new registered user but have been lurking in the background for some time. Reading up the 80's before I purchased one. A lot of good information from all users.
I am a Marine Engineer. I've worked on ships, oil rigs, power plants, and for Uncle Sam. Tinkering is a hobby of mine. I love to bring vehicles back to their glory. I come from the German car world. An enthusiast of Audi's. Specifically the B5 S4. I have restored a handful of those vehicles. I have also owned and worked on a number of Hummer H1's before that. I have wrenched on my fathers 4Runner a few times and decided to get a Toyota of my own.
Using this forum I found a vehicle for sale, contacted the seller, made a trip to look at the truck, and pulled the trigger. 1996 LX450 triple locked with 140k miles. The seller was really easy to work with and answered all my questions a best as he could. We worked out a deal and I ended up driving the truck home 1,500 miles non stop. It ran the entire time without any issues. After I got it home I uncovered a few additional items that need attention. With the help of this organization I will get this vehicle to my standard.

Known issues:
Head gasket failed a day after the long trip. #6 cylinder.
- Loss of coolant from radiator.
- Expansion tank not functioning. I put the expansion tank "straw" into a bottle of water and saw bubbles indicating exhaust gas.
- I scoped the cylinders and #6 was really clean and the next morning had a pool of water. A clean cylinder indicates steam cleaning.
No power steering cooler. Bypassed with a hose. Fluid was found to be not ATF.
Steering gear box leaking.
Front crank seal leaking. Time for new seal.
Coolant pipe (engine block to pump) leaking. Needs new oring + inspection.
Heater core leaking. Smell of coolant with heat on. Windows start to fog.
New belts needed.
Locker maintenance. They function but to prolong life I will service them.
HVAC only functions in full hot or full cold. Need to read into this issue. The mixing valve operates to full open and close.
Rear heater lines were cut and capped. I will do the bypass mod under the hood.
Exhaust leak at Y pipe for #4,5,6 cylinders.
No exhaust heat shield.
Lots of play in the steering.
Center console arm rest needs new leather.
Both front seat motors need new gears. They do not move forward and backwards.
No engine guard.

Enough chatter. Here are some photos.

Steering cooler bypass hose. Not sure why this was done.

Radiator. Exhaust gas + coolant + water.

Leaking steering gearbox. Photo does not show all the oil. It's like a river of oil from it.

Scope of #6 cylinder. Puddle of coolant and a clean piston.

 

[cbpeck]

Wow, you'll have your hands full. There's typically a bit of baseline maintenance to get caught up on when buying one of these, but you have a pretty extensive list. Sounds like you're up to the task though!

 

[logicbyondreaso]

CBPECK - After all the work i've done on the H1's and Audi's I should be able to tackle these tasks quickly. Will need to source some parts from Toyota and maybe the classifieds.

Anyone have OEM power steering coolers they are no longer using? Else, I will go after market.

 

[surfpig]

CBPECK - After all the work i've done on the H1's and Audi's I should be able to tackle these tasks quickly. Will need to source some parts from Toyota and maybe the classifieds.

Anyone have OEM power steering coolers they are no longer using? Else, I will go after market.

I would go aftermarket on that, the OEM "paperclip" is kind of silly.

 

[logicbyondreaso]

SURFPIG - thanks for the suggestion. I was thinking that as well.

Another item that I have been trying to track down are the upper radiator support mounts. The rubber ones. Missing on both sides. Any after market options or sites to purchase from?

 

[cbpeck]

A lot of folks on here are OEM fanatics, and generally for good reason. There are several good vendors to support you including Cruiser Outfitters. I would probably start there, and for structural stuff like radiator mounts, maybe try one of the cruiser salvage yards. There are a few in the country and they are happy to ship.

 

[logicbyondreaso]

CBPECK - I am a fanatic of OEM as well but to a limitation. Some parts need to be upgraded with aftermarket.

Once I get the truck in the garage I will start posting some progress photos of all the jobs. The job I am not looking forward to is the heater core.

 

[redeye]

Welcome @logicbyondreaso from a fellow NJ resident. What part are you from? I live in Upper Freehold Twp.

 

[logicbyondreaso]

@redeye I am from along the shore by Long Branch, Sea Bright area. Very close to you.

 

[JZelnick]

I'm in Princeton. A central Jersey meetup would be cool!

 

[redeye]

@JZelnick - yes! That would be very cool. Maybe even a "wrenching weekend" or something.....

 

[mingles]

@JZelnick - yes! That would be very cool. Maybe even a "wrenching weekend" or something.....

I'd be up for that. I am in Titusville/Pennington area.

 

[logicbyondreaso]

Great to know there are users in close vicinity!

 

[logicbyondreaso]

Anyone have knowledge of why the oil cooler would have been bypassed?

 

[clx16]

I have read on here that it is known for getting pretty gunked up and at this age/miles it is prudent to remove clean out and put a new gasket in. maybe someone didn't want to do that?

I wanted to tell you that my seats didn't move when i got my 80 also but i just needed to find a way to keep the plastic end caps from being spun out/in to extremes. I ended up getting them adjusted and once the cap was adjusted properly i drilled a small hole and put a little metal screw in to keep it from spinning. Seats work great and the gears don't need changing. I know that i a miner thing in comparison to your other things you have to do.

You may also know this but since you are taking the head off, valve seals and a valve job might really be worth it. I was told by the previous owner of my 80 that the headgasket was changed (not sure i believe it) but i can tell you the head wasn't rebuilt as It needs new valve seals. Just an idea for you to consider.

 

[bigredmachine]

Anyone have knowledge of why the oil cooler would have been bypassed?

engine oil cooler or trans oil cooler? engine oil cooler is mounted to the block under the exhaust manifolds so the only sort of bypass would be to loop the coolant lines together, could have been leaking coolant into the oil maybe.

as for the ps cooler I would just cut out he paperclip and go with a generic trans cooler, I got one from napa for 30 or so when mine started leaking

 

[bigredmachine]

if you think that youll need a machine shop to clean up the head I can find out where we send them out to at work

 

[Pipewhiner]

Since you're in NJ, your first call should be to Onur. He's near Kingston NY now. Goes by beno on here or Google land cruiser parts and consulting

 

[logicbyondreaso]

@clx16 - Nice tip! I will see if that works for me. If not I will take a closer look at the gears and report back my findings.

@bigredmachine - That would be great if you could provide some information about the machine shop. It's the power steering cooler. Paperclip cooler was removed at some point and a rubber hose installed as a jumper. Not sure why. Trans cooler will be my choice.

@Pipewhiner - I will try to make contact with @beno if more questions come up. I did reach out via PM but he might have passed along my message since I am a new user with not much history on this forum. Looking forward to changing that.

I'm using a few hours per day after work to prep the garage space. My plan is to get the truck in this weekend and start the repairs. The more I read about the heater core the less I want to do it.

 

[Cass007]

The PS paperclip likely sprung a leak and was bypassed because it's pricey to replace. At least that is my recollection when one of my did that. The trans cooler is integrated into the bottom of the radiator.

I would get the FSM and watch the OTRAMM YouTube videos on the head gasket and lots of other small repairs and maint you can do while in there. Def send a message or email to @beno in regards to parts. The amount of time it saves me to just let him know what I need and have it show up is well worth it.

Also, based on the pic of your radiator cap, it seems the PO may have used BARS stop leak to cure the head gasket. Enjoy that .... it's everywhere and never seems to go away. The PO of my wheeling rig did the same thing and I've drained the system probably a dozen times, ran it with a hose on one end and draining out of the other for hours and put in a new radiator and most all of the other cooling system parts and it is still everywhere.