The Toyota Landcruiser Owners Club

[Animal Mother]

Having read, primarily through Australian Prado/Toyota fora, the 3.0 diesel Colorado, in both 1KZTE and 1KDFTE (D4D) flavours, are said to be both unreliable.

The 1KZTE regularly cracking their heads with; "it's only a matter of time..." and "they all do it..." type comments. Admittedly, I had a surf with this motor and the head was like cheese.

The 1KDFTE with their constant cold start issues, lumpy running, noisy injectors, leaking injector seals, poor fuel system and sludging oil causing catastrophic early failures. How true is this in UK vehicles and does it affect the J90?

Also, there's claims of the rear diffs going, steering racks needing to be replaced and seizing brakes. The trouble is, UK Colorado's may experience these issues or a completely different set of issues and I'm wondering who to believe.

[Google]

[diggerdave]

It may well be a case of only hearing more about the problems than the vehicles that don't have problems.

From what I have read of others experiences, head failure is usually (always?) the result of overheating; either the cooling system has been neglected or the vehicle is used for heavy towing.  Usual advice is to change radiator (the Roughtrax unit seems most popular) and always use Toyota red (although the latter may be more about corrosion resistance than anything else).  Many owners have taken additional measures such as lower temperatire thermostat and refilling the viscous fan hub with oil.

Although it's a bit of a weak spot, if you keep on top of the cooling it may not ever arise.  It's certainly not enough to make you want to avoid the car and is far from being 'made of cheese' or just a matter of time.  I wonder if the climate makes a difference in Oz?

Back axles, again its a weak spot but you can keep on top of it.  EVERYTHING rusts in the UK and the back axle is the only special weak point for rust on the 90.  It can be managed by keeping it clean, keeping the drain holes at the base of the upper suspension arm turrets clear and waxoyl.

At the end of the day, these cars are getting on now.  Point me in the direction of anything of similar age/price/off-road ability bracket that doesn't have worse issues and I'll snap your hand off
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1997 KZJ90 3.0d, 2" suspension lift, 235/85/16 Cooper STT Pros. 217k hard miles

[Animal Mother]

[diggerdave]

Sorry, no direct experience of one.  But I'll definitely consider one when mine eventually gives up the ghost.
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1997 KZJ90 3.0d, 2" suspension lift, 235/85/16 Cooper STT Pros. 217k hard miles