Looking to become a Prado owner - engine life?

[evlrx4 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close evlrx4]

Hi guys, looking for a bit of advice - due to the growing family we are looking at getting an 07 Prado GLX D4D - has 251k on the clock but has a full service history and appears to be in excellent condition. Just want to see if anyone has any info on the life of these engines as I have never owned a diesel before.
Thanks guys
Dave

[Hutch Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hutch]

Search engine life pradopoint, how many kilometres pradopoint, I am sure this has been covered a few times. Works better though google.

Hutch- Prado 2012 petrol with the TJM Catologue.

[Anth120playdo Banned Find all posts View Profile Close Anth120playdo]

Have a good search/read, the d4d well arguably is a time bomb.
Don't worry it implodes.
The odds are ok. But if you not going offroad or towing get the petrol.
250k is nothing if its it full service history.

[ondaboat Coopers Pale Ale Find all posts View Profile Close ondaboat]

Mine lasted for 100k then died @ the Bungle Bungles at the start of a 6 week trip. But thanks to Toyota extended new car warranty I'm getting a new motor installed @ Kununurra (If only they would pay the $5K bill for the ire car). Personally don't really know what more to say.

Regards Adam

[karlmagoo Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close karlmagoo]

Google the diesel motor, then google the petrol, then drive both, lots of noise being made about the diesels both in the prado,s and hilux,s. Broke my own rule of thumb 6 mrhs ago and bought a high klm vehicle, 200 000klms on a 4L v6 prado, researched it pretty well and Im confident Ill get a few more out of her, diesel motor with high kays is a purchase i would never make, unless i witnessed an absolutely flawless service book with reciepts, and it was absolutely pristine..........and cheap.







Cheers

[jss Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close jss]

IMO the net is a double edged sword, yes it's great for getting info BUT you also get an "info overload" you can google anything and get a hundred opinions on either side of the same story.
So you're looking at a prado diesel, so you google prado diesel and find 50 different horror stories so it turns you off, what you don't see is the thousands and thousands of people who are happy with their diesels.
My honest opinion on them is that they are a bit underpowered if you want to be towing. My mate has a few vehicles in his work fleet, his prado is a 2006 diesel and has 360,000 kms on the clock and in 4 weeks time will be close to 370,000. This car is a work vehicle and goes on site and gets the utter crap abused out of it. For it to go 20 or 30,000 without a servive is a regular occurrence and the car while looking beaten up (and rightly so) is still going strong.
Buying a used car is always a gamble but if I had to pick diesel with 300kms or petrol with 300kms i'd go diesel every time regardless of make or model. There's a reason that Trucks, trains, ships, and large machinery are all diesel. because it's reliable and it lasts.

Cheers
James

[macaroon1 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close macaroon1]

I think the main worry issue is the early KD- FTV models (06 -08ish?) with the early style injectors and injector seats. The new 150's have the newer style seats so I'd be fine with one of these. This would be well out of your budget. I'd only buy one of the earlier one's if I knew all the mods had been done and then I'd want it at a reasonable price, not we've done all this work so I'm asking more than others on the market! There is a thread about all of this but as I've the 1KZ-TE I'm not going into that thread. Most of the KZ's are now approaching @ 10 years of age although you can still find low kay one's? I'm going to second post#2, I also see a lot more around and after seeing SteveM post..I wish I'd bought one!

[cfryback Find all posts View Profile Close cfryback]

Well the voice of experience here, if it is D4D - I don't think there is much wrong. I bought mine with a "service history", but the thing that Toyota doesn't have in their scheduled maintenance is changing out the injectors - mostly for the seats. At over 251K I would have at least seen it done once, if not twice.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

There are some posts in the Diesel section that are essential reading. These refer to the injector problem and seal problem. Read these. In a nutshell there were three injectors fitted to the 120 D4D over its life. The two early versions suffered from wear so can leak and cause engine problems (noisy cold idle due to severe fuel detonation). If not repaired this will get to the point where engine failure is a real possibility. As with any diesel injectors are a consumable and the consensus here is to change the injectors every 130,000km provided the fuel system is kept healthy, more on that later. There are several options - Toyota packaged genuine items for lots of $, Denso packaged genuine items for maybe $2,500 plus fitting, genuine Toyota from Rick in NZ for less than $2k plus fitting or reconditioned injectors from the Bailey group for similar $ ish. Second issue is the seals for the injectors, these were originally bare copper from the factory and can distort and leak causing blowby to enter the tappet space where it carbonises the oil. This results in burnt lumps which return to the sump and ultimately block the oil pump suction screen which again will ultimately result in engine failure. Later gaskets are coated to reflect heat and these seem to be successful.

So bad news aside the engine is fine. In my opinion. In my opinion also resist the temptation to chip it though there are good reports here on the Steinlager version. Bigger exhaust seems fine.

Fuel system cleanliness in any common rail diesel is really important. Fuel up at reputable stations and change out the factory filters at least as often as Toyota recommends, there are two, one between the fuel tanks and one in the engine bay. You can also a secondary filter in the engine bay. Again plenty of posts about that in the diesel section.

When you are buying get the injector feedback values checked and do not buy if these are outside specs. Similarly check the oil pickup screen for build up. You will have to make a noise to get this done since it involves dropping the oil. I would insist on having the injectors changed which would get you the new seals but if this has been done not such an issue. Fit a catch can to 'filter' blowby and reduce any oil misting in the intercooler. Again posts are here. I would recommend the genuine Provent 200 that i fitted to mine. Keep the fuel system clean.

Hmmm. After all that the V6 is good too but it will use more fuel and is a different driving experience off road.

Are you thinking manual or auto?

[Hutch Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hutch]

Just to clarify I have had 2 V6's now and at no time have I found them lacking offroad compared to thr diesel. The other part of the argument is the Price, generally the petrol is quite a few thousand cheaper.. if u r talking 5k+ which can easily happen it will buy u a lot of petrol without having to worry about injectors. The 4lt V6 will last just as long as any diesel it is a very reliable motor. Try and find a thread on V6 reliability, u won't find one for that exact reason they r good.

Hutch- Prado 2012 petrol with the TJM Catologue.

[AussieTDM Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close AussieTDM]

Hi, 1GRFE 4 litre V6 Petrol in a Hilux but the same engine have one in my fleet that we retired as it takes about 3 months usually has 713,000k on the clock and is fairly quite and uses no oil between changes, have another serviced today that just hit 600,000k service, all original engines and transmissions (Auto) replaced with another new Hilux with a 1GRFE - why would I bother with a D4D, this was behind my decision to purchase a petrol 4litre Prado for myself!

As we have purchased a replacement Hilux the current vehicle is being retired with 713,089km on the clock -pretty impressive as it still goes great and when we put it up on the hoist today it has "0" oil leaks and no oil consumed between changes! very impressed and if we were not faced with a 3 month wait to replace a Hilux we would have run it on longer -mighty engine that 1GRFE. :-D

[butane8 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close butane8]

Have a good search/read, the d4d well arguably is a time bomb.
Don't worry it implodes.
The odds are ok. But if you not going offroad or towing get the petrol.
250k is nothing if its it full service history.

just another point , i only use my rig as a tow vehicle.. it's its purpose.. hense the V6 , 6 speed manual
the fuel consumption is heavy, around town... as a run about

but towing, and the power..fuel burn , no complaints on the hills or flat stuff
if i wasn't taking the V6 prado "off road" , i would be driving a V6 camry... nothing wrong with the 1GR-FE..and the reliability is excellent for this motor

the link below, is my V6 Prado. negotiating a diesel , car park.... just click it if you think a V6 doesn't cut it

good luck with your choice, either way hope you buy a prado.. with a few simple mods are a nice vehicle
cheers butane

[macaroon1 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close macaroon1]

post #171
http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...1KD-FTV/page18
Guy just bought an 07 but with a lot less k's than yours! The money involved in repair is phenomenal! I think a lot of the early D4D's could be entering the market now as people are generally trading up after @5years and they are seeing the cost of major servicing at this point in the cars life! Be very diligent with your purchase!

[evlrx4 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close evlrx4]

Thanks for all the advice guys. And its an auto.

Took it for a test drive this arvo and here is what happened - I got to Toyota before they had moved it so I got to test it from a cold start. Started fine (with some white smoke) then I took it for a drive while it was still fairly cold - the motor was making a tinny noise- hard to describe and plenty of white smoke out the arse end. Once it got up to temp it was fine, the noise went away and so did the smoke. As I have never owned a diesel before Im not sure if this is normal or not. Checked the log books and on the dot every 10k from day one up to the 160k - 180k where the pages were torn out but no stamps on the butts. after that to the end of the book all good. I mentioned the injector problem that I have read about but they had no idea as they were just the sales blokes.

Then took a 2005 model diesel for a spin, very similar kms but full log book. Not a sound and not a hint of smoke.

In the end they both drove extremely well but the 2007 model seems the pick due to fuel economy, power and torque. Just unsure about the noise and the smoke.....Any thoughts??

[Hutch Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hutch]

Smoke not good.....

Hutch- Prado 2012 petrol with the TJM Catologue.