Bought an FJ62...

[John E]

now what?

Picking it up on Monday, needs very little in the way of obvious repairs.

Going to have a complete fluid change done, transfer and differentials serviced and the engine steam cleaned.

Tiny bit of rust around the windshield frame on the upper front fenders and the hood is in pretty rough shape paintwise, thinking I'll have the rust taken care of and the hood repainted in black rather than try to match the old paint.

I need to get a new drivers side window switch, other than that, it just needs some cleaning up although I'm sure I'll find more stuff to fix as I get into it.

[fowldarr]

well first thing to do is to post pictures.

[esh]

Rodney flush for the trans- search it out on ih8mud

[cruiseroutfit]

Congrats!

[John E]

no pics as of yet, the FJ is at a local repair shop. It wouldn't pass the smog test that is required to get it registered. Long, boring account of what transpired in the Fireside Chat forum.

On another note, is there an approved method or procedure to fix the rust under the windshield trim issue? I'm guessing that it simply involves having the glass removed and the metal either treated or replaced somehow.

Also noticed that the front end tends to wander a bit, thinking it's a tie rod issue, does that make sense?

The dash is in great shape, not a crack in it but man oh man does it have a lot of rattles and such, will have to fix it as I'm also planning on doing some soundproofing and the dash noise will just seem worse once I kill some of the outside noise.

[John E]

The FJ62 has failed me...well technically it's only failed the CA smog test but I'm taking it personally.

Had it tested a total of 3 times now, it's gotten closer each time but still hasn't made it.

Turns out it's going to need more work than was immediately apparent when I bought it.

The previous owner(s) seem to have found an absolute idiot to "fix" the exhaust system, they managed to break or bend all but one of the stock exhaust pipe hangers, they ruined both of the O2 sensors by using the wrong type and then welding them in place instead of using the threaded bungs that they should have used and in one case so badly installing a piece of pipe that it caused the wires leading from the sensor to rub against the underside of the frame and breaking them.

3 hours and $450 later at my new favorite muffler shop I now have working O2 sensors, one still needs to be re-installed but I'm leaving it alone for now, a lot of new exhaust pipe, hangers that actually hold the pipe where it's supposed to be, a tailpipe that isn't bouncing against the frame and no more leaks. Oh, and a new catalytic convertor to replace the 11 year old one that was hanging on in relatively quiet desperation.

Unfortunately, even with a technician who seemed to really want it to pass, it failed the smog test, twice in fact. The NO levels are too high at the 25 mph level of the test. The new "cat" got the HC and CO2 levels where they need to be but not the NO. Apparently the problem may be a fouled EGR valve.

Going to try and either clean it out or have it cleaned out tomorrow and then try another test. On a somewhat brighter side, the seller has agreed to pay me back $400 towards the repairs after I threatened to sue him in small claims court for the entire purchase price. I'm going to keep after it, I could spend what I paid for the thing over again and still have less in it than most people put into a running vehicle and in the end, I'll have a nice FJ62.

And so it goes...

[redthies]

Keep the faith John, it'll be worth it in the end!

[John E]

faith in the mechanical world is what keeps us all going, at least here on the Portal.

I'm constantly reminded of Phaedrus in "Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance" and his writing about actual mechanical issues, which contrary to the disclaimers made by the author is a very practical repair guide. So long as we remember that it's us that's also being repaired. All mechanical things can be repaired, some how, some way with enough knowledge and patience and applications of logic, it will be fixed.

Today went well, my son spent the weekend with us and I got him to help me with some repairs on the Cruiser. We tackled some missing bushings in the shift lever, an oil and filter change, some rust neutrilization, and some other minor stuff. The shift lever is almost like new, I saw a post on "Ih8Mud" about replacing the stock bushings with some bronze ones, took some minor metal work and making my small drill press into a poorman's vertical mill but in the end it all came together. It shifts like it oughta now.

The oil and filter change was unremarkable other than me being stymied by the idea of a filter being mounted upside down being a good idea. What were those engineers at Toyoda thinking? I drained as much oil out as I could, took the filler cap off to help with any sort of vacuum effect and still managed to spill a couple of ozs of oil on the Cruiser. Luckily we put down some packaging material to act as a shield of sorts so none of it actually hit the concrete, just the engine and various frame parts....sigh...

We also started de-chroming the thing, the "snake blinder" chrome strips were hiding some rust on the rocker panels so they came off to be eventually replaced with a bedliner paint job. I treated and sanded the rust as best I could but will need to do something to patch a few very small holes that made it all the way thru. The chrome trim on the rain gutters is also gone now and eventually the trim around the windows will be as well.

Tomorrow I get an EGR gasket and the EGR valve will be removed for cleaning, hoping that it will then pass the smog test and also fix an annoying hesitation while accelerating that's cropped up. If not, it's off to a recommended shop out in the San Fernando Valley for some more paid work.

Oh wait, there's a broken front spring to be dealt with too.

So it goes...

[redthies]

Maybe a remote mount oil filter to ease future changes? The filter on our 01 Taco had me thinking that the Toyota engineers must have said "good luck with this one, baka gaijin!"

[pskhaat]

stymied by the idea of a filter being mounted upside down being a good idea. What were those engineers at Toyoda thinking?

Gotta just let her sit for a few hours or overnight to let all the oil drain out. The benefit of a filter like that is that you can add very large capacity filters as well as I've found to be LESS messy.

As per NOx. Is the truck having any lean conditions? Have you tried getting it tested in cooler weather/location? Some Cruisers can reduce NOx with high-test fuel and some octane booster to help retard the burn.