Toyota Faults.

Landcruiser 80-series Front diff'

Have heard one or two annecdotes of full-time-4WD versions of the 80-series breaking front differentials in hard four wheel drive situations; maybe the diff is a bit light. [c1998]

Landcruiser 80-series Turbo Diesels

There have been several emails about 80-series turbo-diesel bearing problems, e.g.:

All Toyota Landcruiser - Turbo Diesel 1HZ - 80 Series - 1991 through 1994. If you own the above model Landcruiser, then you are more than certain to have a problem with your Big End Bearings.
As at 14 November 1997, South Coast 4WD Centre - Wollongong have now removed and documented fourteen (14) sets of Big End Bearings from these vehicles. two (2) of these engines had actually stopped working as a result of bearing failure. The others were saved as the bearings were changed out before a failure. In all fourteen (14) cases, the bearings removed showed signs of cracking, with portions of the bearing flaking away.
Toyota has not officially acknowledged that there is a problem. The management of South Coast 4WD Centre are organising Laboratory test and reports from two independent metallurgical labs.

We have had two or three message to this effect [12/1998]:

Having recently bought an 80-series Turbo diesel (1992 model), I read with interest the comments Re. big end problems. I went to my local dealer to ask what they knew of the problem and lo and behold was told to leave the car and Toyota would foot the bill for parts and labour to fit a full set of new bearing to rectify the matter. The vehicle was bought by me 2nd hand and had 140,000km on the odometer. It seems Toyota to their credit had finally acknowledged a fault and had sent a notice to all dealers setting out the proceedures for rectifying the fault. However while they are willing to pay for new bearings, they are not keen to advertise the fact - Regards TK

And still from time to time [9/1999]:

Toyota has admitted there is a problem. They will pay for the cost of the new bearings and for half the labour costs of the repairs. - Paul rev oppum bigpond com -->

And [7/2000]:

[...] I have a bearing slipper (the next worst) from my company's 1992 80-series cruiser with 186,000km's, sitting on my desk. The engine failed within 20km from the first 'sound' of trouble. It started as a slight tapping evident on a smooth road. After 5km the driver rang me to let me know. I told him to drive back slowly to the office as we had just had the alternator replaced, yet another problem, and I thought it may be the belt from his description. He rang me 10 mins later, not game to go any further. When the engine was removed, number 6 big-end top slipper had ground out to the crankshaft and conrod. I hope to pick it up today, I don't know the cost yet but I'm told it's going to be many $K's. Toyota said they have been 'helping' on a case by case basis with parts and labour but no guarantee that they will. Apparently they have done so until recently with engines up to November 1992. The day after ours, another 80-series with 250,000km was towed into the same repairer with number 5 big-end gone. In both cases a new crank, conrod, bearings, one piston (they hit the valves), rings, new oil cooler and a full flush out was required. [...] - Andrew rev snaed.werdna ntla com au -->

And [9/2000]:

[...] the most likely cause of cracked bearings is that the owners fail to wait 2 to 5 minutes for the turbo unit to cool down. I have an 80 series turbo diesel (VX-Sahara) and it has travelled 400,000km without any major mechanical problems. If you fail to wait for the turbocharger to cool down (especially after towing, or racing the engine) damage related to rapid cooling will result. - Andrew M'

Turbo-chargers should indeed be given a minute or two to cool after hard work, before shutting the engine off (which stops the flows of cooling air and oil, although some makers fit electric oil pumps to continue circulating the oil for a while). However such damage would be to the turbo' not the main engine bearings.

LandCruiser 75 Problem

Can anyone help with the following problem, model: 75-series Toyota Land Cruiser Diesel 4.2LT 1993 with 1 H motor. Timing-belt adjuster has a locating dowel pin which is right behind the timing-belt. Having seen the damage done when the dowel pin works loose and breaks the timing belt, $7000 later, has anyone had this problem or information on how to stop this problem ocurring in the future?
- Tom
Every Good [?] Deed Should be Severally Punished....

70 Series Radiator Hoses

Some Toyota Troopies - have experienced overheating without obvious cause. The trouble has been traced to radiator hoses with collapsing walls which reduce water flow to a trickle. The remedy is buy a hose with an internal steel spiral fitted, or else use a universal type hose which has strong ribbing to prevent collapse. (The snag is that when you get out of the car and look about when overheating occurs, with the engine at idle, the hose hardly collapses!) Toyota won't admit fault. - Lloyd Junor [12/1998]

70 Series radiator

The radiators tend to crack the solder at the header and bottom tanks after a few years - an annoying problem but not expensive to fix provided that you look out for it and catch the problem before you loose all the water, warp a head..... Some believe that the vibration from the diesel engine makes the problem worse than on a petrol LandCruiser but it can happen with either motor.

Go to the Toyota and general 4WD faults pages