Testament to the FJ60 2F engine durability and minimum oil run capacity (1 Viewer)

[HWYTractor]

To start this, I was gifted a 1987 FJ60 from the family with 163,000 miles. Now 184,000 miles currently. The engine was repaired due to a bad head back in the year 2000 with 127,000 miles. My Father, now I was always confused about how adding 5 quarts of oil to the engine had the dip stick sitting about a centimeter above the full line. Ever since the year 2000 all oil changes have been done by replacing the filter and adding 5 quarts of oil. I discovered that the dipstick might have been the wrong one this entire time, and I ordered a Toyota OEM 2F dipstick. After inserting the new dipstick, the oil barely even touched the tip of it. I added 3 more quarts of oil, and it was at the full line. Photos included of the dipsticks next to each other and of the black stone labs oil analysis. For the past 25 years and 57,000 miles, the 2F engine has only had 5 quarts of oil in it. At 181,463 miles, I just got back from a trip to Moab. 23 degrees lean to the left and several steep inclines and declines, and no excess engine wear was noticed in the oil analysis. Even better wear characteristics when compared to Blackstone's history of others' 2F oil inspections. Toyota so overbuilt this engine that it was able to run 3 quarts low for 57,000 miles with 0 excess wear. Bravo.

From looking online, I believe that the dipstick that was misinstalled back onto the engine after the rebuild was from a similar year 4Runner.

 

[CruiserTrash]

Similar, but maybe less dramatic story here:

I got my current 60 in early 2022 with 124k miles on it. The PO had stopped driving it around 2018 and left it in his climate controlled garage. Not a drop of oil on the ground - "that's a good sign" I thought. I bought it, trailered it 20 miles home, and began checking things over that week. No oil on the dipstick. "Hmmm, that's funny" I thought. So I started adding oil a quart at a time and it took six quarts to get to the F line on the dipstick. This guy had been running it on two quarts of oil until he stopped driving it. How long had he been running it that way? That's anybody's guess.

I eventually discovered that the motor had pretty low compression and the #6 rod bearing and rod cap had wear marks where they had been rubbing together. It chewed through probably a quart of oil every week. Was that a result of the PO's low oil condition? That's my best guess, but here's the thing ... that motor gave me 40,000 miles of happy service. It was slower than even a normal 2F and made a weird bottom end noise, but it ran and it ran every time. It did everything I asked of it: 1200 mile drives across the country, daily commuting, 4low crawling for 10 hour days, driving up the big highway passes in the Rockies. Pretty amazing when you think about it.

It never let me down but the low compression and funny noises were enough to spook me. I just fired up a newly rebuilt 2F last night for the first time. The tired old motor sits on the floor of my shop now and I'm not sure what I'll do with it, but I sure appreciate it giving me everything it had to give and laughing in the face of harsh conditions (like two quarts of oil)!

 

[OSS]

The 2F oil pan is exceedingly oversized - which is why running on 5 quarts made no difference. Plenty of oil.

 

[Sethro60]

My old 60 jalopy hates oil and tries to get rid of it any way it can. By the time I check it it's usually at least a quart or more low. Thought this thing would blow up soon after I bought it. That was 15 years ago now.