LandCruiser breaks down too.....sometimes....

[Christian P.]

This French family is traveling through South America - apparently the engine overheated and the engine case cracked.
Not sure what caused the overheating issue and why they did not notice it.


http://www.leszoomeurs.com/

[oryxexpeditions]

Yes. I think just like any vehicle, when they've been pounded on all their lives, maybe without maintenance, they finally give in. I was just watching a Discovery channel video filmed at a game preserve in Kenya and one of the rangers' 70's overheated in the bush just like that one and they had to return to hq. It's actually a great video with several Defender's and Land Cruiser's working in the wild. I'll see if I can find the link. . .

An old hand in South Africa once said of the Land Cruiser that (assuming it’s not an old clap-trap) the probability is a 50% chance of minor trouble, 10% chance of major but repairable trouble and a 1% chance of major, major trouble, while in the bush.

I guess this couple hit the 1 percent. . .

David

[BIGdaddy]

Yes. I think just like any vehicle, when they've been pounded on all their lives, maybe without maintenance, they finally give in.

Yup, I think this is a reasonable conclusion, and the only thing that makes it news, is the fact that fj80's, 70 series rigs, etc had been puffed up to near mythical status with regard to their supposed ability to run forever without failure, and having been designed to last 500,000 or 750,000, (not sure what the myth is up to these days )

People who were otherwise vehicle-savvy, (my dad included) therefore, being convinced of this fact, disregarded the long-since-proven benchmark of maintenence history, overall condition and a pre-purchase inspection, and jumped into a rig that often needed to be significantly rebuilt to be brought back up to snuff.

While certain componants are simply junk - (air sprung land rover rear suspension, Peugeot made Jeep trannies, and toyota 3.0 v6's in particular) most rigs from Land Rover, Jeep, Toyota, Nissan, Mitsu, Izusu, Suzuki, etc do the job just fine.

Too bad about their rig. Hope they get it sorted!

[oryxexpeditions]

Yup, I think this is a reasonable conclusion, and the only thing that makes it news, is the fact that fj80's, 70 series rigs, etc had been puffed up to near mythical status with regard to their supposed ability to run forever without failure, and having been designed to last 500,000 or 750,000, (not sure what the myth is up to these days )

People who were otherwise vehicle-savvy, (my dad included) therefore, being convinced of this fact, disregarded the long-since-proven benchmark of maintenence history, overall condition and a pre-purchase inspection, and jumped into a rig that often needed to be significantly rebuilt to be brought back up to snuff.

Yes. I would be willing to bet that most Toyota's (and some other makes) are not as well maintained as other vehicles because of their owners' reliance on their reputation for reliability. They will keep going to a degree, but suffer a penalty. All my cars are British, so I am naturally well acquainted with their mechanicals. I know they have to be maintained to the letter to be reliable, so I give them that kind of attention for the privilege of driving such great vehicles.

I read an interesting comment by Andrew White of 4xforums, saying that in trans-Africa trip reports by Land Rover drivers, the vehicle often has a name and takes a major role in the story of the journey, whereas in those where the vehicle is a Land Cruiser, the vehicle is hardly ever mentioned, and the focus is just on the trip itself. I guess this also bears some psychological insight into the drivers themselves, and who chooses which vehicle. This resonates with other trip reports as well, such as the London Taxi around the world, where the vehicle itself was a highlight. . .

David

[Ozrockrat]

I have run a lot of Toyota's in the bush over a lot of years. We installed "Murphy" gauges on nearly all our vehicles to run warning lights and buzzer (screamer actually) for low coolant levels and over temp. It was very common for a stick to take out the lower radiator hose and with the way the temp sender is located if there is no coolant flow it reads low. So no coolant = no indication of engine temp = cracked/warped heads. This was true of the early 40 series traybacks and the 75 series trayback and troopies running diesel engines (never had the gas engined ones).

[BIGdaddy]

I have run a lot of Toyota's in the bush over a lot of years. We installed "Murphy" gauges on nearly all our vehicles to run warning lights and buzzer (screamer actually) for low coolant levels and over temp. It was very common for a stick to take out the lower radiator hose and with the way the temp sender is located if there is no coolant flow it reads low. So no coolant = no indication of engine temp = cracked/warped heads. This was true of the early 40 series traybacks and the 75 series trayback and troopies running diesel engines (never had the gas engined ones).

Haha! "Murphy gauges"... I like it!

[oryxexpeditions]

I have run a lot of Toyota's in the bush over a lot of years. We installed "Murphy" gauges on nearly all our vehicles to run warning lights and buzzer (screamer actually) for low coolant levels and over temp.

That kind of setup would be great for oil pressure as well. . .

[Ozrockrat]

That kind of setup would be great for oil pressure as well. . .

The oil pressure ones we used actually operated the diesel solenoid. If it didn't have oil pressure it got no fuel. Used a push button override for starting. These were used on heavy equipment not road going vehicles. Unions would not let us put them in the road vehicles for "Safety" reasons.

Here is an example of the temp gauge with switch. Murphy Switch Gauge

[doug720]

You can buy alarm kits for low low oil pressure and high water temp from any marine store. Cole-Herse makes them and they come with both senders and alarm. Last kit I bought a year or so back was around $32.00. Easy to install and work well.

Doug

[shredwagon]

Not an issue with Toyota -an issue with the operator.