The Toyota Landcruiser Owners Club

[nordic venture]

we really should have a workshop/maintenance section.

for ages i had issues with my 3.0td colorado in that it took a couple of seconds of cranking before the engine would fire. at first i just accepted it as it wasn't too bad.

after a couple of months and having asked questions on various forums i checked and changed the glow\plugs. at first i thought i'd solved the problem. but this thought only lasted a day!

eventually the car took longer and longer to start (over and around 5 seconds)even when hot. i kept asking and most answers went along the lines of 'get your injectors and injection pump serviced'. OK but do you have any idea how much this costs???? well it's ££££££££££££££££££££££££

i changed the fuel filter (it was due anyway) and it made no difference. 2 weeks later and i was at the stage of pumping the priming buttton on top of the fuel filter to help it start a little better.( i'm not sure how i discovered this but it probably started well having changed the filter and pumped the priming button.)

1 week after this and i lost all power and the car wouldn't start atall.

what did i do?

well my first thought was that i was loosing prime in the fuel system (diesels work on vacuum). so i disconnected the rubber fuel hose from the fuel filter to the injection pump. i extended this using a clear poly pipe and held it up high, filled with diesel to 'gravity feed' the injection pump. the car started and ran!

i put the same hose into a jerry-can of derv on the floor. it started and ran.

so it wasn't the injectors or the injection pump.

i re-connected the filter to pump hose. disconnected the filter to fuel tank rubber hose and put the clear pipe from fillter into the jerry can on the ground. the car started, ran and held prime.

so it wasn't the fuel filter.

i re-connected the fuel filter and broke the connection at the rear of the car where teh metal fuel pipes connect to rubber before fixing to the fuel tank. inserted the clear pipe and into the jerry can. the car started and ran and held prime.

so it wasn't the fuel pipes under the car.

this only left the fuel tank.

i checked the fuel tank breather pipe that attaches up onto the chasis and it was fine. (a symptom of it being blocked is the fuel tank hissing when you undo the filler cap having run the car for a while.) you need atmospheric pressure in the tank to 'push' the fuel into the vacuum created by the injection pump.

so this only left the pipes that are fixed to the top of the fuel tank.

so i removed the fuel tank (not difficult) and removed the pipes from the top. this consists of 2 pipes passing through a flange that is bolted to the top of the tank.

a visual inspection showed rust and damp patches but nothing else.

i blocked one end of the pipe and blew through it. nothing. so i thought that being vacuum fed i'd suck it and see. to make it easier i placed the pipes in a bucket of water but left the inlet/outlet above the water line. i sucked and got a mouthful of water. ahha leaky pipe.

so i ordered new pipes and at only £38 it's less than 1hr at the garage. once the part arrived it all went back together and the engine starts within 1 second

all of these checks apart from removing the tank could be done within 1 hour!

what did i learn?

1: milners glow plugs aren't as good as originals (but thats another story)
2: sometimes internet advice is 'worst case scenario'
3: a vacuum leak can cause very minor issues and take months before it becomes really noticable.
4: once diagnosed it can be difficult to detect.
5: apart from the injection pump, the fueling side of our vehicles is very simple.
6: genuine toyota parts don't always break the bank.
7: my car took 6 months to get from taking a little longer to start to complete failure, and i drive it nearly every day!!

if you have a slow starting vehicle i hope this helps.

[Google]

[Landcrusher]

Aaah, you're welcome. All part of the service.




LC

PS, NV only kidding. I live only to serve. Hope your mpg improves. Did you never experience a puddle under the car, by the way?

I have mentioned having known fault and guaranteed fix section for each model several times FAQABAS (Frequently Asked Questions And Best Applied Solutions) This would be one of them. More people are going to be experiencing these wear out failures as the model nears 15 years old. Gets tiring answering the same question over again. We could have 'How to remove your fuel tank'  and 'How to fit a lift kit' for starters.
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HDJ 80 but still a 90 owner at heart (yeah right!)