2006 Toyota Land Cruiser - GONE!

[St.Jude]

Bit of fun.

Santa swapped Rudolph for a Land Cruiser, obviously.

[St.Jude]

-4c here this morning. As I have done forever, I will let the car idle and turn on the aux heater (which is an electric pump/heating element) and warms the car up quickly. Dropped my lad off at his granny’s this morning, got stuck in school traffic. The thermostat needle registered just a bit under halfway meaning I could turned off the aux heater and be warm from the engines own heat.

Except in traffic I noticed it started blowing cold. No more heat. I wont lie, it did annoy me. But i carried on driving to work, the thermostat needle went half way, but then dipped as i drove.

After a few minutes the heating returned.

Had a quick Google and there are 3 possibilities:

- air lock in the cooling system
- stuck thermostat
- blocked heater matrix

Tomorrow lunchtime im working from home so i will burp the car and see if that sorts it. i have read on another forum someone fitted a 12v pump to the heater circuit so it forces the heater to work which solved this issue for them.

But I am fairly sure its an air lock or the matrix is blocked.

[lesapandre]

Some of these have a rear heating outlet - people cut them out of the loop so the water is not circulating all that way and remains warmer.

Sounds like a thermostat element somewhere tho. 

I don't know these modern ones but an auxiliary pump sounds an excellent idea. I must try that. 🤗👍

[St.Jude]

I had it running for 15 minutes this morning in 3c temperatures. I left the aux heater off.

The temperature gauge didn’t budge really.

Kept checking the top heater hose to the radiator and it was getting a little bit warm over the 15 minutes. The heater gave off some heat.

So I’m looking at a failed thermostat that’s stuck open I think. 

[grogee]

Sounds like a stuck stat. Did Toyota put it in an accessible place? 

[St.Jude]

4 hours ago, grogee said:

Sounds like a stuck stat. Did Toyota put it in an accessible place? 

From a brief Google the answer is - not really.

It's located in the housing the bottom hose goes in to. One said to remove (but not disconnect) the air con pump, another said they didn't need to but had to move the alternator to do it. No chance of minimising coolant loss either, so need to avail of 12 litres(!) for the job.

Will have a look this week at it but it doesn't seem too bad.

[St.Jude]

Awaiting a thermostat from Japan which will be here before the end of the month hopefully.

I looked at the odometer and realised it's nearly done 10,000 miles since I last done the oil. I could also do the front brake discs as the wife was a bit concerned by that when she drove it while I was having an operation on my arm. So need to change those too.

It also does this weird vibration thing when it's on. It's more pronounced in D, but its like the car is rocking forward and back on the spot. If I put it in N it still does it slightly but not as bad as it is in D. So I don't think it's engine mounts, but I think the gearbox could now do with an oil change (which I mentioned previously).

So a lot of oils and fluids to order! When the thermostat comes it's going to get a big ol' service.

[Supernaut]

[Wanders into thread after not having a look for a couple of months]

You still haven't sold it?!

Stockholm syndrome comes to mind.

[lesapandre]

These are too useful to sell. They have their problems - but worth hanging onto.

2nd hand prices remain high for that reason.

[St.Jude]

42 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

Stockholm syndrome comes to mind.

It's a lot of this mixed in with me having spunked a lot of money on it in maintenance and the fact that it is working. If I'm trying to be sensible, future plans sort of dictate that I need a vehicle like this that can haul a heavy load and pull a trailer.

And to be fair if you go through the thread, the last 18/24 months have been relatively quiet. Other than an MOT fail on rot which was sorted.

A thermostat is quite a cheap failure point for once!

[artdjones]

With all your travails, I wouldn't rely on any of the Land Cruiser's competitors to do even that well.

[St.Jude]

Thermostat arrived today.

All the way from Osaka. Quite, quite cool.

Saturday morning I’ll swap it over, along with with oil, filter and fuel filter changes.

[St.Jude]

I’ve had to bring it to a garage. Well, book it in for Friday.

I went at it, and I thought I’d start by taking the air box off as that should give you some better access. I couldn’t shift 3 of the 4 bolts.

I have been struggling a bit with my arm since I had the op on it in November. But I have no power in it at all. Can barely lift my boy up.

But I genuinely thought I could at least unscrew a bolt. Not even breaking it, just turning it. But no, either had no power or the pain was extreme.

Ironically the garage I use has a problem as their owner broke his arm yesterday so they’re a mechanic down.

Oh well! Moral of the story: dont go private for healthcare.

[St.Jude]

So like I said, it was booked in to the garage for work today. I'm not particularly well (some flu thing, I dunno) but dragged my sorry arse out of bed to bring it there. They called yesterday asking what the job was and I told them change the thermostat, oil/filter and fuel filter. Absolutely fine they say. Even this morning, everything fine.

They've just called to say they can't do the thermostat because it's 3 hours work and I don't have the gasket for it which is a Toyota only part. Except I do, I checked it in the box this morning.

I have told them, politely, to think about it and call me back. But I'm likely to pull the car away from them with that sort of bullshit.

FWIW - the job entails the removal of either the air con pump (but not the lines, so it doesn't get de-gassed) or the alternator to provide access to the thermostat housing at the bottom of the engine. It's 2 10mm nuts and a lot of fluid. Assembly is the reverse of removal.

Where is the 3 hours labour there?

[St.Jude]

So attacked this today. Up from underneath so it involved removal of the alternator.

The alternator is held on by two bolts.

Even with my brand spanking new DeWalt wrench, and ACdelco ratchet, I got quite far in to it. I removed the two alternator bolts. And 2 pulley/tensioner things to get the drive belt off.

Behind the alternator is the thermostat.

But the alternator is stuck. Won’t budge. At all. Doesn’t help my pry bar is a bit fucked, but yeah I can’t for the life of me move the alternator.

Putting a pin in this until Monday where I can ask a mate if he can help me. I asked him this weekend but I forgot it was valentines and he’s on a promise.

[St.Jude]

I feel a bit better after watching this guy, who explicitly says he nearly gave up trying to get it out as well until he had a friend help.

 

[grogee]

I think you just found the 3 hours labour. 

But well done tackling it yourself, and fuck the garage that strung you along. 

I can't picture the access but can you fit any sort of wedge between block and alternator (eg chisel) that you can then 'tap' with a BFH? 

I've done a few alternators and air con compressors where the aluminium 'grows' through corrosion and makes it a really tight fit in the 'ears' of the block. 

Even twatting it with a hammer might get it 'on the move' enough that it can eventually be persuaded to move. 

Good luck 

[St.Jude]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

I think you just found the 3 hours labour. 

But well done tackling it yourself, and fuck the garage that strung you along. 

I can't picture the access but can you fit any sort of wedge between block and alternator (eg chisel) that you can then 'tap' with a BFH? 

I've done a few alternators and air con compressors where the aluminium 'grows' through corrosion and makes it a really tight fit in the 'ears' of the block. 

Even twatting it with a hammer might get it 'on the move' enough that it can eventually be persuaded to move. 

Good luck 

Possibly, I’m an hour in to it roughly.

The access is really poor. Above the alternator is the air con pump. Behind it is the air intake to the intercooler. There is an access panel behind the wheel which gives you direct access to the alternator but side on. There is underneath which gives you more access but copious amounts of tubes and pipes pass all around. Most of them are air con pipes, not all flexible either.

I am going to soak the ears in oil over the next few days then get a prybar to it. Spoke to a mate who’s coming Sunday to help be the brawn for me.

Silly really as when the alternator comes off the thermostat is accessible. We will get there.

[St.Jude]

Weather was awful today but my mate came and we have changed the thermostat.

Fucking hell. What a job. He turned up, half the size of me, had the alternator moved in 2 minutes. Genuinely. That is how bad my arms are really.

The thermostat while hidden by the alternator is a cunt to get to. It’s held by 2x 10mm bolts. One is easy to get to but the other is a bitch. You end up with a CV joint on the socket which fowls itself on the intake elbow to the turbo. We very nearly went about removing the elbow from the turbo, but haven’t a gasket for that. Ended up cutting a 10mm socket in half near enough to give enough room to get it off.

The alternator removal I had done wrong too. With the breaker bar I should’ve lifted it up to slacken the tension on the pulley. Not removal.

Anyway, got it all back together, not a lot of coolant came out. But put more in, went to burp it and… nothing. Car won’t start. One of the batteries is kaput. So I’m off to Halfrauds in the morning to buy one while the other battery charges.

It won’t be until then when I find out if we were diligent in our workmanship.

I can tell you now it’s a cunt of a job. It really is. I don’t even think the garage could’ve done it in 3 hours. We got to 3 hours when we fitted the thermostat.

Access is just terrible. Can’t stress that enough. I doubt a tool exists to do it. Well I proved that - I had to make one!

[Dyslexic Viking]

It really does sound like a terrible job so well done getting it done.

[St.Jude]

1 hour ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

It really does sound like a terrible job so well done getting it done.

I can’t get over how bad of a job it is.

I will say too that for the size of the vehicle the turbo is fairly puney. I swear the turbo in my 1.6 HDi 3008 was bigger than the one in this.

If I was remotely bothered or interested in this being a forever car or what, I would definitely put a bigger turbo in it. 

[St.Jude]

Whatever the Rover caught it’s spread to the Land Cruiser.

One battery is deffo chooched. The battery charger would not charge it. Went to Halfrauds who relieved me of £150 for a new Yuasa with a 5 year warranty. It’s the same as the good one, so I’ve two batteries of plenty of power in there.

Plug it in, plug it up - nothing. Then it started to rain.

So I am now waiting for the RAC to turn up as I’m fairly confident/sure it’s throwing a code over something. I’ve not got a laptop together or cable to read it myself. So might as well use the membership!

[lesapandre]

The batteries are in series on this to give the 24v power.  The connections take a lot of punishment because of this. Check the earth and the connections between the two batteries and then on to the ignition and starter motor. 👍

On my 80's one it's not fused - these later ones may be fused somewhere.

[St.Jude]

So the RAC man got a bit stumped as when he plugged the OBD2 in it wouldn’t work. Fuck all power to it. Fuck all power to the windows.

He found this.

That is a 140A fuse I’ve managed to blow.

And it looks like that because we couldn’t get it off. Having a read of it now, to remove it you need to take the fuse board out completely apparently.

[St.Jude]

I think its a Toyota only part and its about £30.

I've had a Google and it seems to be yet another cunt job with the fuse box out. But I'm still reading.

I am also hoping nothing else has gone bang!!!

Edit: Rush order, will be here tomorrow.

[St.Jude]

Lets go through the list of jobs I've done on here shall we?

• Injectors
• Rear shock abosorbers
• Oil change
• Air bags/rear suspension
• Thermostat
• 140A fuse replacement

I'm sat here thinking there is not one of the above jobs that have been straight forward. Every job has been a cunt. Oil changes are a cunt. But though not as big of a cunt of a job as the thermostat. I can't think of an easy job on this car that makes it easy to do. Can you? I can't.

But I'm writing this on the back of changing the 140A fuse in the fuse box. Guess what type of job it is? What's that Danny Dyer? Did you say cunt? Then you're right mukka. It is indeed a cunt of a job. I have, maybe, broke the fuse box case in an attempt to free it off but that is all irrelevant. The fuse is in place. Helpfully two (not one) two bolts go through the fuse. Even more helpful is that the one facing the outside towards the fuse box case is a 10mm head, the inboard one? 8mm. Took a few minutes to work that out.

Outboard 10mm.

Inboard 8mm.

Space.

The fuse was replaced, started first time. Kept an eye on the engine as amazingly we've not burped it yet (although it has already swallowed one 5 litre jug). Little sticker on the cowling saying get the engine warm, then let it cool down and make sure the coolant is between low and full. I drove it around, it is slow to warm up so gave it a blast of the auxiliary heater first but then took it for a spin. Temp gauge got to half way without the heater on. I put the heater on and it dipped a little, turned the heater off just to make sure it didn't go north of half way (it didn't). Put the heater on MAX HEAT and drove a little bit. It's kicking out time for schools here so I was sat in traffic, heat was still hot. Got home and left it for a bit, heat was still hot at a stand still.

Currently waiting for the car to cool down now to check the coolant has dropped. Not really sure what I'm meant to do if it don't. But fuck it.

It really, really is a hateful car. It was nice driving it but it's awful to work on.

[St.Jude]

Took my lad to nursery this morning. Pissing down rain it is.

I am not 300 yards from the house and the lights come on, wipers stop. Car is still running but can’t see shit. I pull over, turn it off and on again - no good. Dead again.

Fuse has blown again.

Currently waiting to pay £70 to someone to recover it to the house, and in fairness to him he says “mate it’s a minimum £70 even though it’s so close” as much to say he feels sorry for me. Fucker must be a member here.

I don’t care now. Ran up the road with my boy in my arm in the driving rain to get in the wife’s car. I go to my lad “we are going in mommy’s car” and he goes “yeah, it’s a better car. It’s not broke”.

The 3 year old has spoken.

[grogee]

My condolences for your shitty-to-work-on car. I can't remember your situation but do you need a giant off-roader?

If not, might your mental health benefit from offloading it and buying a less ungrateful car? 

[St.Jude]

5 minutes ago, grogee said:

My condolences for your shitty-to-work-on car. I can't remember your situation but do you need a giant off-roader?

If not, might your mental health benefit from offloading it and buying a less ungrateful car? 

I mean there is a want and a need. Needed a car for when the boy was born, and I always wanted a Land Cruiser. Got it, wish I hadn't etc. Only real requirement from me is something I can haul shit in when I need to. So if we go on holiday, if I go to the tip, if/when I go to the unit to transfer stuff for the Lada. The fact it could tow was a good thing. But it was the most money I've spent on a car and I don't think it's for me. I'd sooner a car that is cheap and needs attention but if something gets too big it can just be scrapped. Or a Berlingo.

I am already there though, it is going now. Yes we have been here before but I re-read what I said above about all the jobs I've done and they've all been awful and it just throws another fucking thing at me. I'm not made of money.

The choices I have:

• Punt it to one of these boys you see on Faceache saying "WE buy any Land Cruiser" as is
• Punt it to eBay as spares/repairs as is
• Take the alternator off and have it tested to see if that's shorting out and causing the problem, then punt it on
• Change the fuse again and sell it on a dry day
• Keep getting shafted by it.

Can tell you now I am swinging towards option 3 of getting the alternator tested, or option 1 of getting it sold on as is. With the two duff batteries in it and then sell the new ones on somewhere.

[Tickman]

11 minutes ago, St.Jude said:

Punt it to one of these boys you see on Faceache saying "WE buy any Land Cruiser" as is

This is the option I would be looking at first.

No hassle, yes or no straight away and money sorted when collected.