My Bro in law has been visiting here with his wife and daughter. He drove his '93 Cruiser and we've done some work together on it while he was here. Nothing needed, really - they're in the middle of a cross country trip but he asked me to look it over and then we'd fix what I found since he's here for a while and we had plenty of time.
First off, here's an observation I almost, almost hate to fess up to. I've driven this high mileage beast many times over the years, and also over the last few weeks here and the dang thing is actually indistinguishable to mine from a feel perspective. Understand how that pains me to say because mine has almost exactly half the miles and you all know mine's been used like a Cruiser but pampered to the nines from a mechanical perspective (synthetics, constant attention from my wrench, OEM everything, blah blah). Yes, my gears are all a tad quieter, but....that's it. His actually has better tranny shift quality than mine and his stops with markedly less brake pressure. His actually rides smoother (a complete mystery as we both have recent shocks). It idles perfecty smooth, all the gauges and switches work, all the electric windows, locks and such work, no rattles, dead silent, etc. He's owned it since new also, and has taken average care of it with a few periods of neglect.
Here's what I found when I looked it over:
Bent antenna mast
PHH was original (!) as were ALL other hoses (!!)
Corrugated rubber intake tube cracked (suddenly idled poorly last month after a quick change lube place kid checked his air cleaner when he'd asked them to touch nothing).
Couple switch bulbs out, and a few other minor bulbs
Coolant old
Original spark plug wires
2 qts low on tranny fluid (no leaks, just underfilled along the way)
Original PCV valve
Filthy air filter
Completely original exhaust
So we called CDan (thanks for the prompt service, Dan!) and ordered an antenna mast, bulbs, intake tube, PCV valve/grommet, air filter, and new floor mats (his driver's was worn clear through). Everything went on fine, but I got busy and we put off the PHH and PCV valve until today.
Wow, his PHH was a true pain in the ass. The hose clamp next to the block on his was pointed at the 3 0'clock position and was exquisitely placed to elude my pliers. I tried literally every pair of pliers and clamping/prying device I own. I was reduced to jamming a 40 year old brake adjuster in to hook it (didn't work), getting the LandCruiser's toolkit pliers out to see if they'd give that smidgeon better angle (nope), and even tried the chintzy pliers out of my fishing tacklebox (almost, but nope). Finally, I cut off the portion of the PHH away from the block, and it gave me that elusive smidgeon of better angle so I could get to the clamp. Slapped on a chunk of the NAPA green silicone.
Then the PCV. Developed a technique that worked perfectly. Take vice grips and grip them firmly on the PCV's metal nipple. Lay the vice grips down on the nearby engine lift eye. Place a length of metal pipe over the vice grip handle for greater leverage and pry VERY hard while just slightly wiggling back and forth. Using the lift eye like this gave tremendous leverage and force and it came out in 5 seconds. The best part? The grommet came out all at once! That thing was so hard, it literally felt like hard plastic. It cracked in a couple places, but I think because it was pulled out uniformly there was no tendancy to crumble it with lateral force. It crumbled easily in our hands. Kinda like pulling a weed perfectly straight up and all the roots come out unexpectedly, ya know? Anyhow, I was expecting a war with that thing. Slapped the new grommet in, spit on the PCV and wiggled it back in with less than 60 seconds elapsed. That felt so good I literally started looking around for something else to do under the hood, startled that I had it done with so much time left. I listened to the bearings in the engine, the A/C compressor, the alternator, and the PS pump with a metal rod. Could hear nothing going, except the alternator was a tad loud and might be the next item. Remarkable.
This truck is living proof of what service a LandCruiser can provide. More importantly, I wish many of you with "issues" like vibration and the like were there to take it for a spin. If you have something like that wrong with your 80, don't just pass it off as the symptoms of an aging vehicle and put up with it until the truck dies, because the rest of it's not going to die. This truck has been neglected for some of its life, yet it runs as smooth as mine. So if there's a problem - fix it secure in the knowledge that you'll be rewarded with quiet undemanding service for 400,000 miles or more and a vehicle that's a joy to own and drive.
Regards,
DougM
First off, here's an observation I almost, almost hate to fess up to. I've driven this high mileage beast many times over the years, and also over the last few weeks here and the dang thing is actually indistinguishable to mine from a feel perspective. Understand how that pains me to say because mine has almost exactly half the miles and you all know mine's been used like a Cruiser but pampered to the nines from a mechanical perspective (synthetics, constant attention from my wrench, OEM everything, blah blah). Yes, my gears are all a tad quieter, but....that's it. His actually has better tranny shift quality than mine and his stops with markedly less brake pressure. His actually rides smoother (a complete mystery as we both have recent shocks). It idles perfecty smooth, all the gauges and switches work, all the electric windows, locks and such work, no rattles, dead silent, etc. He's owned it since new also, and has taken average care of it with a few periods of neglect.
Here's what I found when I looked it over:
Bent antenna mast
PHH was original (!) as were ALL other hoses (!!)
Corrugated rubber intake tube cracked (suddenly idled poorly last month after a quick change lube place kid checked his air cleaner when he'd asked them to touch nothing).
Couple switch bulbs out, and a few other minor bulbs
Coolant old
Original spark plug wires
2 qts low on tranny fluid (no leaks, just underfilled along the way)
Original PCV valve
Filthy air filter
Completely original exhaust
So we called CDan (thanks for the prompt service, Dan!) and ordered an antenna mast, bulbs, intake tube, PCV valve/grommet, air filter, and new floor mats (his driver's was worn clear through). Everything went on fine, but I got busy and we put off the PHH and PCV valve until today.
Wow, his PHH was a true pain in the ass. The hose clamp next to the block on his was pointed at the 3 0'clock position and was exquisitely placed to elude my pliers. I tried literally every pair of pliers and clamping/prying device I own. I was reduced to jamming a 40 year old brake adjuster in to hook it (didn't work), getting the LandCruiser's toolkit pliers out to see if they'd give that smidgeon better angle (nope), and even tried the chintzy pliers out of my fishing tacklebox (almost, but nope). Finally, I cut off the portion of the PHH away from the block, and it gave me that elusive smidgeon of better angle so I could get to the clamp. Slapped on a chunk of the NAPA green silicone.
Then the PCV. Developed a technique that worked perfectly. Take vice grips and grip them firmly on the PCV's metal nipple. Lay the vice grips down on the nearby engine lift eye. Place a length of metal pipe over the vice grip handle for greater leverage and pry VERY hard while just slightly wiggling back and forth. Using the lift eye like this gave tremendous leverage and force and it came out in 5 seconds. The best part? The grommet came out all at once! That thing was so hard, it literally felt like hard plastic. It cracked in a couple places, but I think because it was pulled out uniformly there was no tendancy to crumble it with lateral force. It crumbled easily in our hands. Kinda like pulling a weed perfectly straight up and all the roots come out unexpectedly, ya know? Anyhow, I was expecting a war with that thing. Slapped the new grommet in, spit on the PCV and wiggled it back in with less than 60 seconds elapsed. That felt so good I literally started looking around for something else to do under the hood, startled that I had it done with so much time left. I listened to the bearings in the engine, the A/C compressor, the alternator, and the PS pump with a metal rod. Could hear nothing going, except the alternator was a tad loud and might be the next item. Remarkable.
This truck is living proof of what service a LandCruiser can provide. More importantly, I wish many of you with "issues" like vibration and the like were there to take it for a spin. If you have something like that wrong with your 80, don't just pass it off as the symptoms of an aging vehicle and put up with it until the truck dies, because the rest of it's not going to die. This truck has been neglected for some of its life, yet it runs as smooth as mine. So if there's a problem - fix it secure in the knowledge that you'll be rewarded with quiet undemanding service for 400,000 miles or more and a vehicle that's a joy to own and drive.
Regards,
DougM
