Rear Mains a problem in 4.5L?

[BRnPA]

Cruisers:

I took a look at a '94 Cruiser today that a guy at work has for sale. 150,000 miles and he was asking $7,500. I took it to a dealer and had them look it over for two hours. This is what they found:

Front axles were leaking and needed rebuild;
Back brakes need rotors (brake job);
Valve cover and distributor seal leaking oil;
May be leaking at rear main but can't tell due to oil from above leak covering everything;
Radiator fluid was low and the mechanic couldn't figure out where it could have gone;
Front tires were pretty shot;

The dealer estimate for the work was over $2000.00 and with that many miles there are bound to be other things that need to be done (shocks and springs, all fluids, drive belts, etc...). I countered his offer in light of the work that needs to be done and I'm waiting. Regarding the possibility of a rear main seal leaking, with the 4.5L, how often is this a problem?

Thanks,

BRnPA

 

[brent]

I looked at a '93 a couple months ago when I was searching and it had a small leak from the rear main as well, it had 126k on it, I only looked at three before I found my '97 and the '93 was the only one to have that, I have a leak from one of my oil pans but nothing that even drips so am not worried about it yet. I guess I would assume it typically goes in the 125k to 175k mile range???? Good luck......

 

[cruiserdan]

The rear main is usually not leaking. More often it is the upper oil pan rear arch that is leaking.

7,500 sounds OK IF the vehicle has diff locks.If not, I would pass. What contition is the body and interior in?


The coolant could be going into the #6 cylinder and it will need a head gasket in that case.


A proper front alxe service, done by a professional shop, using OEM parts will easily pass 1000 dollars. A head gasket job would pass 2000 dollars. The pan arch is a big job too.

If you were into working on it your self you could get the rear brake parts, front axle parts, and the stuff for the head gasket job for less than a thousand dollars.

 

[brent]

Thanks for the correction Dan, and I would agree that the cost of any vehicle with over 100k comes down to condition, I my experience for everyone problem you see there is at least one you don't???? My cruiser thus far has been the only exception, go figure....

Dan wouldn't he be able to see the coolant in his oil if it was leaking into the head????

 

[BRnPA]

Regarding the coolant, he checked the oil and there was no mixing of the two liquids in the oil pan or radiator bottle. The paint and interior are in good but not great shape. Needs a good weekend cleaning. According to door stickers, it does not have lockers. If I'm not going to hard core off road the cruiser, does not having lockers make a huge difference? Does that mean that only the rear right and front left tires are getting traction?

 

[brent]

If it had lockers you would have a control just left of the steering wheel, if the rig is stock, when you put it in low it locks both drive lines so the front and rear diffs are getting the same power, having locks then will allow you to lock at the diffs so all wheels are getting the same amount of power, or at least this is how I understand it, if it going to be a city car I won;t worry too much about lockers, I wanted them for added traction in the snow but found a clean rig without em and think if you are not taking you cruiser out on extreme trails its not needed, nows the time to figure out what you want and do the researcg though cause it is expensive and a lot of work to get them on a rig later, or at least thats what I have read.......

 

[cruiserdan]

Dan wouldn't he be able to see the coolant in his oil if it was leaking into the head????

The failure area I have seen in all the sample head gaskets guys have been sending me is in the compression ring around #6. The coolant goes into the combustion chamber and is either burned if there isn't too much or it looks like you are driving a steam locomotive..... Generally no oil/coolant mixing. Robbie could elaborate as his experience is 20-fold mine in this repair.

 

[brent]

My rig was also low on coolant when I purchased it but have put about 3k to 4k miles on it and have not noticed losing any so who knows, I weekly check the oil and have found no mixture that I can tell so your guess is as good as mine........

 

[brent]

Mine does smoke, maybe it is just burning it off, thanks, I'll keep a closer eye on the coolant level and see at what rate I am losing it if any

 

[GeoRoss]

Thanks CDan for the upper oil pan rear arch info. 3 out of the 4 FJZ's I have looked at the past month (all with +100K) appeared to have rear main seal leaks. Big ugly mess between the tranny and engine, with big drops at the seal. I just assumed it was the rear seal.

I only know enough about cars mechanics to be dangerous and since none of them had lockers I didn't look any farther. I do know that either of those leaks are beyond my skills.

Thread hijack: Should I consider a FJZ if it is advertised as "needs pinion repair". What are the implications of that breakdown and are there any other words to use in a search?

Ross

 

[Lars]

I dont know if this is always the case but below is a simple head gasket leak test you can perform. (as mentioned on sleeoffroad)

Remove the cap from the radiator overflow bottle. With the tube still submerged in the coolant and the engine running.... you should not see bubbles.

Mine had bubbles and the head gasket was toast.

 

[BRnPA]

Thanks for the info on the lockers and head gasket. I'll do the bubble test and see what happens. Regarding the rear main, there was not a substatial amount of oil down there and the mechanic did point out the drip from the distributor 0-ring and the valve cover gasket was providing a viewable ( I saw the drip ) drip onto the block and down to where the tranny meets the block. The owner said that it didn't use oil so I'm assuming it's a slow leak. The lockers are not too much of an issue for me: it will be better than my Cherokee I'm wheeling in now, which doesn't have trac-lock and hasn't let me down yet. On the '94 there is no factory switch for the lockers, but I did see the little plastic insert so I know where it would go if I could installl it. I was talking the wife about the cruiser tonight and said something like, "of course I'd want it to ride better so I'd replace the springs and shocks..." She said "that would be a good idea." So, I've gone from "I don't want a Land Cruiser" to "that's a good idea" in two weeks. I'll let everyone know if I get it. Can't wait to start spending some $$!

BRnPA

 

[turbocruiser]

Thanks for the info on the lockers and head gasket. I'll do the bubble test and see what happens. Regarding the rear main, there was not a substatial amount of oil down there and the mechanic did point out the drip from the distributor 0-ring and the valve cover gasket was providing a viewable ( I saw the drip ) drip onto the block and down to where the tranny meets the block. The owner said that it didn't use oil so I'm assuming it's a slow leak. The lockers are not too much of an issue for me: it will be better than my Cherokee I'm wheeling in now, which doesn't have trac-lock and hasn't let me down yet. On the '94 there is no factory switch for the lockers, but I did see the little plastic insert so I know where it would go if I could installl it. I was talking the wife about the cruiser tonight and said something like, "of course I'd want it to ride better so I'd replace the springs and shocks..." She said "that would be a good idea." So, I've gone from "I don't want a Land Cruiser" to "that's a good idea" in two weeks. I'll let everyone know if I get it. Can't wait to start spending some $$!

BRnPA

BR, just some info for your info, as far as I know, the bubble test is done at about 3K rpm, not at idle. I just mention this so that you test the thing properly. Have your wife hold the throttle at about 3K and observe the overflow tank to see the tiny bubbles, hopefully you have none. Also, the factory locker option involves much more than the switch on the dash. There are some here who have retrofitted factory lockers but it is indeed a several banana job from what I have heard. Just hoping that helps some.

 

[BRnPA]

Thanks turbocruiser. Yeah, I don't think I'll worry about the lockers at this point. I just want to get it and make sure it's mechanically sound. I'll do the bubble test as well. Does anyone have a pointer to the URL on Slee that talks about this?

 

[landtoy80]

There is a dye that you can put in the coolant to see if you have a head gasket leak.
You put a special light at the tail pipe, when running and see if you can see the dye?
I heard it on a carshow si I don't know much about it though.

The retainer for the rearmain is most likely the leak point.
If you have a real tranny jack, it seams that dropping the tranny seams easier than doing alll the work to remove both oil pans and sealing the retainer. PLUS if the rear main IS leaking you will have to drop the tranny.

How do you check the oil to see if it has coolant in it, without draining it?

 

[turbocruiser]

There is a dye that you can put in the coolant to see if you have a head gasket leak.
You put a special light at the tail pipe, when running and see if you can see the dye?
I heard it on a carshow si I don't know much about it though.

This may be one method but the method I have heard helps is the test for the presence of exhaust gases in the coolant. There is an agent added to the coolant and then a tester verifies whether or not exhaust gas has made its way into the coolant. I have never heard of this other method although it seems to make sense. HTH

 

[brent]

Landtoy

I could actually see dilluted oil on the dip stick of an older Toyota truck, then as you though I drained the oil and it was pretty obvious that it had coolant in it.