Scored Big on a 1985 Diesel 4x4

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wallybanger

10 Year 15 Year
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Sep 17, 2007
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So I was browsing around the Castanet.net vehicle classifieds and found this:

Diesel.jpg


The add didn't really say much but I thought it was worth investigating.

Turned out it was a 1985 Toyota 4x4 with a 2.4L 2L-T turbo diesel and the guy was only asking $1750. I almost crapped my pants. It's hard finding ANY 4x4 out here for under $2500 so I went out to Vernon to take a look at it.

He was an old fella with a European accent (sounded german). Said that he has owned the truck since brand new and had spent a s**t tonne of money on it. He handed me a plastic bag STUFFED with receipts.

Right around 2004/05 he had:
the entire engine rebuilt $6000
the injection pump rebuilt and all the fuel lines replaced $700
the timing belt replaced $300
the injectors serviced $250
the turbo serviced $611
Another receipt for a bunch of injection related stuff $450
New wheel cylinder $50
New steering stabilizer $75
New Muffler $75
New Brake shoes $50
Springs Re-Arced $700
Monroe shocks and brake drums $250
New radiator $300
Misc oil seals $250
New custom box which is fabbed out of 1/8" steel $2200
Said he put a $250 fuel filter on it (but no receipt)
and pained it!!!

So in 04/05 he invested just over $12,000 and then sold it to me 5 years later for $1625 :D

Only issue is that is starts hard when it's cold but I think that should be easy to solve. It even says on one of the receipts that they found the glow plugs were only getting 6V instead of 12V & I was reading in another thread that there's an injector rpm sensor that f**ks up when it's cold.

Pulling up the hills outside of Vernon my speed dropped to 90kph but there was no black smoke. First thing I'm gonna do is install a boost and oil pressure gauge on the dash and run a bottle of Howe's injector cleaner through it. Think I might throw compression tester on it too.

I'm pretty happy. The thing runs and drives great. I'll post some pictures tomorrow when I have light.

Anyway, if you guys have any insight (based on this limited information) please feel free to post it in here but I think I'll start a thread in the Diesel tech forum after taking the multimeter to the glow plugs. At least then I can say I've done something proactive ;)

Anyone know where I can find a tech manual for the truck and the 2L-T?

:clap:
 
You know, that 2L-T's really no good, I'm sorry to say. I'll trade you my reliable, trustworthy 22R for it straight over :D
 
2ndGenToyotaFan said:
You have to find a stock bed for it...
Click to expand...

X a billion!!!!

Whoever did that current bed did a good job overall, but it just doesn't look "right". You really can't beat the stock lines of a 2nd Gen pickup!
 
Thanks for the comments guys (I think) :p A stock bed would be sweet but how hard are they to find? The bed is SUPER overbuilt so it would be nice to get 1000lbs of steel off the back end.

I just started it up. It's getting 12V at the glow plugs but it only runs on 2-3 cylinders until it warms up. Any ideas why that would be?
 
injectors, or fuel pressure come to mind. That's really a question for the diesel section folks.
 
?

Is that the same type of diesel 4x4 toy truck that they beat up on TopGear?
 
I've seen their fiberglass beds in action, and I'd take one over a steel bed anyday. They're lighter, quieter, and rust-free. I may look into their fenders and hood for The Mule in the future.
 
If you do go see him, Ask Corey to have a look at the Trekker he is building.
 
baxter650 said:
If you do go see him, Ask Corey to have a look at the Trekker he is building.
Click to expand...
and tell him if he needs a prototype field tested, there's a crazy in California who would do it for free.
 
Congrats on the diesel find - that is certainly a score and a half. I know this should be in the diesel forum, but since you asked here, I'm answering...

I'm no diesel genius that's for sure, but I do have an 89 2lt-II in a 4runner - it's basically a newer version of your engine, still mechanical. After the 2lt-II they switched to the 2lt-E - the electronic version of the same engine.

Yours does look to have some different widgetry to mine, but is pretty similar overall. If the glow plug system is the same as mine and other 2lt,s then you've got some issues. Again, assuming yours is the same system as everybody else's, the way it works is this: your glow plugs are 6v plugs - when you turn the ignition switch on, but not yet turning over, they get 6v. When you turn it all the way and turn your engine over, they get delivered a full 12v, which superheats them, and in theory makes your truck start easier. When you let the key back, it drops the voltage back to 6v for a period of time, I forget how long, 30 seconds maybe? and then shuts them completely off. This system is notorious for failing.

First of all, check your plugs. The only way to do this is to take them completely out - if you check for voltage to the plugs, it will always tell you they're getting voltage, even if your checking a dead one, because of the common rail system. Even if you check it in such a way that you should be getting the reading of one plug only, and not the common rail to all of them, ie from the terminal of a plug, to ground, you can still get a wrong reading. Same goes for measuring their resistance while still in the block - they're basically resistors designed to heat up real hot, and they're finicky. The only way to test them, is to pull them out of your engine, and test them one by one. You can hook up some jumper cables to the battery, grab the threads with the negative jumper, and the terminal with the hot cable, and the tip of the glow plug should heat up FAST, because you're issuing 12v instead of 6 to it - you don't want to do it for very long - just long enough to see if it heats up.

After you've figured out if you have good glow plugs or not, move onto the relay. Use a multimeter to check if it operates as I described above. The relay can die in several ways - it can just plain die - it can die in a way that they get 12v all the time and your plugs just burn up, it can die such that you never get 12v, it can die such that it always lets power through and hence they burn up, etc. etc. etc. So, there are several solutions - one, is to try to find a replacement stock relay, which can be real tricky.

Most people rewire the glow plug circuit for a manual switch on the dash. If you have a working stock relay, you can use that - have a 12v switch to activate it, and once activated it gives power to your plugs until you let off the switch (a momentary switch is best, that way you can never accidentally leave it on or bump it, and burn out your plugs). This is a nice way to wire it, because the stock relay is also a resistor, which drops the voltage to the correct 6v. If your relay's dead, and you're not replacing it with a stock one, you can use a solenoid from any old thing, but then have to come up with a resistor, or set of resistors, to drop the voltage to the correct 6v. There are some write ups on this - I went with this method for a while, but it's still finicky, unless you can find a better resistor than I could. Your best bet, which I have finally switched to, is to replace your 6v plugs with 12v ones - hands down the best method, but, it's hard to track down those plugs. If you want I can dig up the part numbers for the ones I have, and you can have a go at finding them - otherwise, start searching the net - there's a bunch of different brands - they're just hard to get over here. Lemme know if you have any questions,

Spruce
(And yes, I've battled these damn glow plugs for a while now, so I'm getting pretty damn familiar with the system...). Oh, and congrats on the rig - you will quickly become obsessed:)
 
Well, welcome to the sickness. As somebody as already said ... go away. You have balls coming over here waving your uber-cool diesel under our noses. JK of course. :flipoff2:

I'm surprised DieselDan has not chimed in. He transplanted a 2LT into his FauxLux and knows the engine well. He spends a lot of time in the air, so I guess he hasn't been on MUD due to work.

The bed. Jerk it off and flat bed the truck.
 
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