Rust on engine head?

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landcruiser420

landcruiser420

10 Year
Joined
May 27, 2015
Threads
10
Messages
41
Location
Tanzania
I am looking to buy a Landcruiser J70 for my work. I live in Tanzania so everything is a bit dodgey on the second hand market. I found this car, which is a 2005 model with about 115,000kms. It was freshly painted and obviously the guy did some work to make it look as new as possible. I was concerned with this rust though, might be a sign of a warped gasket? Or is it no big deal? The owner said the engine has never been opened, that he knows of.

On a slightly related note, anyone have any idea how many kms these engines are good for? 1HZ, I'm seeing a lot of different cars with varying price points but have no clue how long the engines should last. Engine rebuild is fine, as long as we know it's coming.

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That's the cam cover you're looking at, and while I don't know about engine conditions in Tanzania, it seems worth investigating why rust is forming on such a new model in that spot. The cam cover itself is not hard to remove (it's mostly plastic and not heavily torqued - just have to get the intake components out of the way). If the gasket is intact, you may very well find the rust stops where the gasket seats and it's not a big deal. I'd be more worried if you had significant amounts of oil leaking further down on the motor where the head gasket is.
 
The second picture you posted is hard to see but I outlined where the head and block mate, and while there are a lot of shadows, it looks like a bit of black/sheen there which may be oil leaking from the head gasket. I suggest getting a close picture or a flashlight down in there to tell how much if any. Caveat is it's hard to advise someone as to how much oil leakage from the head gasket is tolerable and indicative of a need for replacement, or how much may bring the possibility of deeper issues or mismanagement.
 
I wouldnt be too concerned about surface rust on a 1HZ. All mine have had rusty patches on them.
Just make sure you see a genuine cold start. By cold I mean no use at all in the previous 12-24hrs.
It should start instantly and idle smoothly with only a flash of grey smoke.

1HZ generally last at least 4-500000klms, but if they are driven long distances and start up warm most of the time, then a million klms is quite possible.
Is this a 78 or 79 series?
 
Thanks for this. A follow up, I've viewed several cars here in Dar es Salaam and the ones that have been here for a while all have a lot of rust, likely due to the seaside environment. I checked for oil leaks in the original car and they are indeed shadows. I took it out for a spin and the engine was very strong. Thank you all again for your input.
 
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