I know they had a problem with cracking heads, was it 1992?
What years should i stay away from? TIA :)
intrade,
Apr 8, 6:25pm
na its 1988 onwards with bucket and shimmed heads the rocker and roller type non turbo where indistructable like seen on topgear that was a 2.4 d ute non turbo 1987 on top gear. My one has the 1982 2.2 diesel ute engine boted under the bonnet . also its registered as tractor my one and i will be selling it on here soon .
ralphdog1,
Apr 8, 6:38pm
Petrol or Diesel?
intrade,
Apr 8, 6:43pm
diesel petrol are all ok solong as it is 4 cilinder only v6 crack the bank 2
nzoomed,
Apr 8, 6:51pm
Sorry, yes i was assuming it was the diesel models that had the problem. I thought it was rectified by 1994, from what i understand they were too underpowered with a small engine that would be overloaded leading to cracked heads.
intrade,
Apr 8, 7:11pm
no they changed the head design on the same old block and a coolant restriction in the head rear part was the result , the heads cracked if the coolant was not exchanged correctly with corrosion and debrie blocking the flow in the head and so they cooked the head without overheating signs, only poor rough running and water consumption was the sign it had cracked. Plus the old engine had not got egr. but emission laws changed so they just slapped on a egr valve on to the poor designed head . If you have been reading my threads about egr problems on diesel then you know what will happen to the head if its not deleted or cleaned correctly befor it becomes a problem. That is about all plus to small a mufflers on turbo japanese turbo diesel was also a issue and the fact where they plastered the turbo was another bad designe idea. So turbo timer where fitted to try and combat the bad turbo positioning. If serviced and used correctly they could get high milage without cracking heads .
same goes for the 1kd i think its called engines also crack heads then commonrail d4d came and they also nuked them selfs for different reasons one of em again poor design once more the shimms under the injectors would wear out, because commonrail is extreem high pressure and injectors bounce in the head bashing the shims so the shim had play and then hot combstion gas would travel up along the side of the injector and bend and seeze the injector caus it to malfunction along with harsh engine noises from d4d engines = busted ecu coolant temp sender causing havoc to the engine if not fixed toyota upgraded the shim design and installed as replacment ulsd save injectors with a ecu remapping as ultra low sulfur resistant injectors react faster then the other injectors = the reason why they needed a reflash with injectors. all these problems are more or less spread over all commonrails and it shows how toyota is just another pile of crap as all other car makes are.
rob_man,
Apr 8, 7:15pm
They are terribly underpowered, especially the first of the 2LT motors. They seem to run out of compression faster than they should and end up working even harder as they get older. This can only end badly when the cooling system begins to age as well. Having said that, if you find a good one and you can tolerate the lack of power while keeping up maintenance, you should get a good run out of it. They don't break in a hurry.
nzoomed,
Apr 8, 7:37pm
OK, thanks for the advice, maybe i will stay clear of them, dunno what else i should look at getting. I was looking at possibly getting a bighorn.
mephismeltdown,
Apr 8, 7:50pm
deisel discovery.
mrfxit,
Apr 8, 7:53pm
There is NO BAD MODEL, only bad owners who bring out the weak spots by neglecting or abusing the vehicle beyond reasonable reason.
intrade,
Apr 8, 7:54pm
the problem is its all getting old and the good stuff is rotting away with rust. i dont want to tell you what to get as i am hunting my self for a good 4x4 if you can live with petrol you could run lpg on it as i cant run a petrol when i am a diesel guy or i would have a 4 pot manual transmission surf petrol 2.7 my self.
mrfxit,
Apr 8, 7:55pm
Yep more or less if we correct some typo's
mrfxit,
Apr 8, 7:56pm
THAT ^ ^ ^ is the current problem apart from neglect & abuse.
mrfxit,
Apr 8, 8:01pm
Diesel engines run very very high compression ratios compared to petrol engines, typically petrol run around 130psi & diesels start at around 450psi.
This combined with abuse/ neglect & age causes diesel engines to suffer badly when things go wrong such as overheating.
Eg: Recently heard of a brand new diesel ute that had been filled with 91 grade petrol (on a half tank to full now) & traveled from Hamilton to Huntly. The motor was well stuffed by the time they got there. Put diesel in a petrol motor like that & it's simply going to be really gutless or not run at all, & with NO damage done.
nzoomed,
Apr 8, 8:03pm
Well thats hard when buying used to now how well its been serviced over its life.
Lots of them on the road, if they are underpowered its not ideal, but i was told they put a bigger engine in the later models.
mrfxit,
Apr 8, 8:09pm
Most of the problems were confined to abused/neglected turbo models 1982 to 1988 had the stronger head (adjustable tappets/rollar rocker head). 1989 the changed to shim tappets & a different head. The 1st Hilux & Surf imports direct from Japan had a small front exhaust pipe which caused overheating of the head on long trips if the cooling system was not 100% clean. In japan it was a short cut idea to reach emission stds on the day because of short trips.
Toyota's trick in the early days of cracked turbo heads was to fit the head from the non turbo 2.8 2L models & refit the turbo.
mrfxit,
Apr 8, 8:14pm
Engines were . 2.2 non turbo 2.4 non turbo 2.4 Turbo (roller rocker head) 2.4 turbo (shim tappet head) 2.8 non turbo 3ltr turbo 3ltr petrol v6
Some early Surf's & Hilux's had the 2ltr or 2.2 petrol motor.
Yes later models had bigger OR higher performance motors but the bodys were heavier & they drink a lot more fuel.
mrfxit,
Apr 8, 8:19pm
I used to get between 8.9L/100kms to just on 10L/100kms in my 2.4Turbo 1988 Surf. The later versions average around 11L/100kms to 14L/100kms
gsimpson,
Apr 8, 8:24pm
We looked after ours very well. 2.8 Hiaces. Serviced properly and owner/driver. We used them for short running though and the diesels gave constant head problems. My conclusion was that we did a lot of short runs and the thermal cycling of the engines is what killed them. The petrol ones actually ended up cheaper to run. If the engine is hot all day like a courier they are fine. They didn't seem underpowered so that was unlikely to be the issue.
mrfxit,
Apr 8, 9:15pm
A lot of ppl talked about the older diesels being underpowered. A lot of the time those same ppl were used to driving petrol vehicles & simply didn't understand about learning where the torque curve was at it's best. A lot of the others talked about them breaking all the time but were found to be abusing them or neglecting them or caught with neglected vehicles The older diesels mostly had their best power around 2000 to 3000rpm
rob_man,
Apr 8, 10:18pm
The 2.8 N/A engine is surprisingly powerful compared to the 2LT, the 3L even more so while having the comfort of knowing the head is still cast iron and fairly bulletproof. My ideal would be the first of the Surfs with a 2.8 or 3L transplant, solid front axle and hopefully, but alas impossibly, rust free.
car27,
Apr 8, 10:30pm
Go Nissan petrol or diesel
mrfxit,
Apr 8, 11:05pm
90's Nissan diesels, great for chewing up gearbox's both manual & auto
mrfxit,
Apr 8, 11:10pm
My pick would be the late 80's (like my 88 Surf) with a Nissan TD27 turbo transplant. Solid truck with IFS front suspension + leaf spring rear end. TD27 is a far more reliable engine then any of the Surfs up to the late 90's. The 88 Surf can be legally converted to a ute tray by removing the canopy but just have to make a removable back wall (with window) for the cabin.
nzoomed,
Apr 8, 11:54pm
Lots of people are doing that because its cheaper than running a ute. lol
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