When to rebuild an engine (2 Viewers)

[Pebble Pup]

I was wonder what kind of life we should expect on a stock '97 engine? To my knowledge, we are the second owner, the engine has never been rebuilt, and we have around 250,000 miles on the engine. I am trying to plan our future car usage/care/replacement, though it is my wish not to get rid of our LC and just rebuild or swap out engines in the future (hopefully distant).

 

[ZackR]

You are going to get a lot of answers for this one, and the truth is "it varies". Can you provide some more background on the current status of the engine, why you are considering a rebuild, etc... For comparison I have 302k on mine and don't see a rebuild anytime in my near future.

From what I've gleaned on this forum a lot of people open up the engine to find it looks just fine, especially the bottom end.

 

[2fpower]

I thought the manual said 300k is normal service life before rebuild recommended.

 

[midfat]

If it’s rust free and the axles have been rebuilt, and the cooling system works well, and it has factory locking diffs, and it’s not green, it’s likely to catastrophically blow up much sooner than you think. I’d unload it cheap and fast. Where are you located? I can be there tomorrow.

 

[greentruck]

Yeah, I've heard the 300k mileage figure a lot of places and it seems to fit with what people document here, YMMV of course.

Does that mean when the clock turns over, the truck goes into the shop? I wouldn't. But then I've run a tired 2F that was bleeding oil at about 250 miles/quart for what I remember being several years. Not sure I'd be that slow to do something these days, but no more Chebby motors, please, in my Land Cruiser anyway. I like 'em on other stuff, but Mr. T got this pretty right and makes little sense to me to mess with success. Fix it when the omens are right and the night auspicious.

 

[scottryana]

300k km was the spec, but the engine is very unstressed and often goes much much further

 

[ajax1]

When compression is lower then 15 percent between cylinders or lower then 145, and when you burn more then 1 quart per 1000 miles
I would look at doing the head by 300k if you do anything and bottom end will prob be fine for long time before it needs anything, if you do basic oil changes run good filter. Most of all just drive it and fix things keep good eye on coolant and hoses and radiator. Change coolant every couple years don't overheat it

 

[Irish Reiver]

Wasn't the Land Cruiser "concept" that it would last for 25 years with only routine maintenance? If so 25 years at the normal average of 12k miles per year gets you to a design life of 300K miles.

 

[scottryana]

No the design life for the 1FZ-FE engine is that it is rebuildable 3 times each at 300k km, so the engine total life is 900k km or 562,500 miles. Many people go much further than the 300k km mark before their engines need any work. But I would imagine if you wanted to guarantee reliability, say in remote places where reliability is paramount, you would rebuild at 300k.

Wasn't the Land Cruiser "concept" that it would last for 25 years with only routine maintenance? If so 25 years at the normal average of 12k miles per year gets you to a design life of 300K miles.

 

[greentruck]

SNIP...when you burn more then 1 quart per 1000 miles...SNIP

Yes, this brings up one of the tricky parts of timing Land Cruiser maintenance...determining what amount of oil is actually being burned vs the less immediately worrisome simply being leaked. It seems the designers of the 80 helped guide generations of technicians by leaking different types of fluids in modest quantities in many places as a sort of map legend to provide some guidance on intercepting the newly discovered oil flows.

 

[satchel]

Wouldn't that be a total engine life of 1.2M km? First 300k, then rebuild and run another 300k, then rebuild and run another 300k, then rebuild the third and last time and run the last 300k for 1.2M? Not that I care really, was just curious if it was meant to be 2 rebuilds to 900k or 3 to 1.2. I'm getting down that same path of wondering if I should do a rebuild at 230k before I look at your turbo kit, and if I should up the bore a little.

No the design life for the 1FZ-FE engine is that it is rebuildable 3 times each at 300k km, so the engine total life is 900k km or 562,500 miles. Many people go much further than the 300k km mark before their engines need any work. But I would imagine if you wanted to guarantee reliability, say in remote places where reliability is paramount, you would rebuild at 300k.

 

[scottryana]

No, I don't think so, stock bore is 100mm, Toyota has 100.5mm and 101mm pistons but I don't believe they have a 101.5, so yes I guess technically 2 rebuilds, 3 lifespans of 300k km.

Wouldn't that be a total engine life of 1.2M km? First 300k, then rebuild and run another 300k, then rebuild and run another 300k, then rebuild the third and last time and run the last 300k for 1.2M? Not that I care really, was just curious if it was meant to be 2 rebuilds to 900k or 3 to 1.2. I'm getting down that same path of wondering if I should do a rebuild at 230k before I look at your turbo kit, and if I should up the bore a little.

 

[TossYoda]

I talked to Slee guy and asked this question, a year ago or so, he said excessive oil consumption and/or compression to low (forgot the number).

 

[Kaninja]

I have 430k km's on mine. Runs like a top, burns barely any oil (less than a quart per 5k). It leaked lots when I got it, but that is all fixed.

Maybe at 500k I will rebuild. I suppose that 300k service life between rebuilds was a loose guideline......remember these things were sold into some markets with high temperatures, dirty fuel, extremely dusty environments, etc. If it sees a paved highway in North America I think you can consider that being babied. Biggest worry is the original OEM headgasket.

 

[DirtaddictLC80]

I have almost 200K miles on my truck/engine. I was thinking that I would rebuild once the HG needs replacing. Hopefully this doesn't need to happen to me for awhile. But anything over 200K miles, seems like a good time to at least consider rebuilding the engine, if you are already in there a good amount for the HG.

 

[Bludozer]

It will let you know when it is time for a rebuild.

No need to overthink it. I have seen people on here rebuilding at 150k. I have also seen people on here with nearly 400k debating whether or not its time.

Every truck has had a different life and will require a different answer.

 

[SteamerF18]

Conduct a Blackstone oil analysis at each oil change to identify trends such as wear metals &/ or coolant migration to proactively determine when the motor needs a refresh or HG repair.

 

[toyofan]

I think about this all the time as well. Mine has 285k miles on it. HG was done at 200k miles (because it leaked)

I use my Cruiser for long road trips, and my biggest fear is that something blows catastrophically far from home (shipping the cruiser back home will be expensive). Preventive maintenance is high on my list

I agree with most of the comments, I watch for oil consumption (almost none on mine), and also take compression readings every 15k miles or so.

So far I am within specs, and try to not think about much.

The debate is always valid, do it now as maintenance vs. wait until it goes. My approach is usually do preventive maintenance and have the peace of mind, but engine rebuild is major and costly

Another risk on waiting until it blows is that you could potentially create more costly damage for repair vs doing as preventive that basically you'll be just 'freshing' things up - again I am still on the fence on what to do myself

 

[bhsdriller]

I use up like a quart every 750 miles or so?.....will just keep running it and add as needed. Still runs good

 

[ZackR]

It will let you know when it is time for a rebuild.

No need to overthink it. I have seen people on here rebuilding at 150k. I have also seen people on here with nearly 400k debating whether or not its time.

Every truck has had a different life and will require a different answer.

100% agree. The engine on any vehicle has a way of telling you when it needs something, all you need to do is pay attention and listen and feel for clues. I personally worry more about the stuff attached to the engine rather than the internals themselves.

The combo of OCD maintenance many mud folks put their cruisers through combined with a durable platform to start with is a good one for long life.