Just Bought A Prado.

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

Hi All,

just bought a Prado - '97 GXL Manual - not my first Toyota & my 9th 4WD (10th if you count Wifey's AWD Territory) but my first "modern-tech" 4WD, again unless you count the Terri. We took a few for a drive yesterday, all autos & this 1 manual GXL. The manual stood out from the rest & apart from a couple of blemishes like a missing antenna switch is in very good nick for it's age & miles - 250 000-odd km.

There's no obvious mechanical issues or leaks that I can see, the tyres are Coopers with plenty of tread so the main question I have is: is there anything in particular I need to watch out for? It's bog-stock-standard apart from an after-market CD/Tuner & will probably be used as Wifey's Taxi (unless we keep the Terri. - still deciding on that) for our 4 kids & shopping trolley plus weekend day-trips & holidays. We've done 2 trips to Fraser Island in the last 4 years in my old GQ Patrol & the kids just love the place. Places like Lightning Ridge & Carnarvon Gorge are also on the long-term list.

Q2 regards LPG. Any tricks or traps to watch out for? Again, I've had 7 LPG vehicles so far & I'm quite happy with the traditional "draw-through" mixer system as a reliable, proven system. All replies welcome & thanks in advance.

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

is there anything in particular I need to watch out for?

There aren't too many mechanical weaknesses with the 90 series V6. Be diligent with maintenance and you will be fine. The only points of interest I can think of are the small oil capacity of the front diff and fact that the hand brake doesn't last too long before it needs to be adjusted again.

If you plan to use it off road I would be changing the front diff oil more often than the service log book recommends and I would also extend the rear diff breather either into the cabin or into the engine bay. That's just for starters. How far you want to go off road will dictate what other mods you should get.

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

As declan pointed out, regularly change all the oils and filters as per the specified service intervals or sooner and the car should be problem free for a long time yet as the 3.4L V6 is a very good engine. As he also pointed out with the handbrake, I realised that applying the handbrake when the rear wheels are heavily articulated when off-road is not a good thing to do and will require more adjustments than usual. To get around this, try to only apply it when they're not articulated if possible or you risk stretching the cable through far enough to render the handbrake useless until the next adjustment.

I've also heard from some people on here to change the front diff oil every 20,000km if possible to maximise its life instead of the recommended 40,000km as per the service schedule due to its small 1.1L capacity. I've got magnetic sump bolts for everything under my car and they work well with removing tiny little metal fragments from the oils in between services.

It may be a bit hard to tell, but if you still have the original fitted radiator I'd keep an eye on it too as they tend to form blockages in the horizontal fins after approx 10 or so years which leads to overheating. Keep an ear out for signs of worn bushes for a car at that age too incase they might not have ever been replaced during the car's life. Those things aside, you'll be a very happy Prado owner and the dual fuel tanks as standard will come in handy for long trips.

My Prado has nearly notched up 250,000km and it's in excellent condition with no oil leaks or visible signs of surface corrosion except for some parts of the exhaust which is normal for any exhaust anyway and parts of the bash plate which scrape at times when 4wding. I just sand the surface rust off when it forms and spray over it. I'll be keeping my car for a long time yet so I'm meticulous with it.

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

Thanks guys. Handy to know about the front diff. I'll be putting it up on ramps first chance & crawling around underneath. I'll change all the oils & engine oil/filters of course. This is only the second constant AWD I've had after the Terri. which is all electronically controlled so it took me quite a while to get used to the "feel" of it as I could feel the different wheels doing different things at different times IYKWIM? In contrast, the Prado felt "familiar" straight away. I gather (in general) that it has a basic 50/50 torque split with a lockable centre diff & LSD rear? During the test drive I found some nearby dirt tracks & checked out high & low range & everything worked so it's so far so good. Keep those hints coming.

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

Ok, had a crawl around underneath & it looks like there's heavy-duty, slightly raised springs on the back with Tough-Dog shocks. Front springs also look after-market but looks like standard shocks there. I can't decide if the humming I can hear is wheel-bearing noise or the Coopers - never had them before. Drives really well & the driver's seat is pretty comfy. MAJOR "sticker-shock" - I just put 133 litres of ULP into it - $183-00!!! My Patrol was on LPG, I think we'll be heading that way with "Swampy" (it's green) too. In the meantime, Wifey & I are swapping back & forth so we both get the feel of it & the kids are in love - it's the novelty. Looks like long-term it'll be "my" car as Wifey loves her Territory & it has much better safety credentials for the kids. Program for this weekend is to spend Saturday servicing it & Sunday going bush!

[Snaga Wishing I was lost Find all posts View Profile Close Snaga]

At 250k I'd be double checking the timing belt has been done... I had my harmonic balancer come loose which was a scare but was all fixed by Toyota at Kingaroy while away on a trip.
I've just clocked 250000k's in my 1998 V6 VX and all is running well

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

Ok, spent the morning under "Swampy". All the oils & filters are new (Dealers here are supposed to do a full service before sale but sometimes don't), no leaks to speak of, just a bit of a seep between the gearbox & transfer case & from the passenger-side rocker-cover. The only thing I couldn't check was that front diff. I found the drain-plug no probs but not the filler. Is it a smallish plug on top? Bit of a pig to get to. I see what you guys mean about the oil-filter too, annoying spot to put it. That's the problem with a compact V6 I s'pose - everythings packed into a smaller area than a straight-six. Good news on the back diff leak. It was leaking slightly because the filler-plug was only finger-tight! All fixed now. The only thing to do urgently is drain & flush the radiator - the coolant is brown. Are there any tricks to refilling afterwards - bleeding & such? I'll keep you all updated.
Oh, first battle. Under the spare-wheel cover, the spare had a locknut on it - conventional key sort. We don't have the key, nor does the dealer. 1 1/2 hours later with screw-drivers, drill, hammer & vice-grips & it's finally off. Great fun in 32 degrees!

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

Hi Esses,
The filler plug for front diff is a 10mm hex/allen bolt on the front face of the diff next to the passenger side mounting bracket.

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

Thanks for that. I'll check it out. Embarressment: brown coolant turned out to be that heavy-duty RED coolant. Only realised as it drained & I got a good look at it. Oh well, it has nice, new, bright GREEN Castrol coolant in it now.

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

Took "Swampy" bush last weekend, along some of my favourite test-tracks. Went pretty good, as well as I expected whilst not having quite the torque of my old 4.2 Patrol. Eg: we needed low-range for some hills where the Patrol would slog up them in high-range, but the Prado has way more interior room & comfort than the ol' GQ.

Next question: how do the dual-tanks work? After filling up last weekend I set it to Sub-Tank (green light lit & switch to "on") but 190 km later the sub-tank gauge hasn't moved & the main has dropped to 3/4. Conclusion: it's drawing from the main tank or the main is filling the sub before the petrol heads off to the engine. Or is it just stuffed-up? No Owner's Manual with it, of course.

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

Next question: how do the dual-tanks work? After filling up last weekend I set it to Sub-Tank (green light lit & switch to "on") but 190 km later the sub-tank gauge hasn't moved & the main has dropped to 3/4. Conclusion: it's drawing from the main tank or the main is filling the sub before the petrol heads off to the engine. Or is it just stuffed-up? No Owner's Manual with it, of course.

It sounds like the fuel change over solenoid is faulty. Unlike the 120 series, each tank has its own fuel pump so it wont transfer from the main tank to the sub tank in the same way 120's do. You definitely shouldn't see the main tank gauge dropping while running on the sub tank. In some cases you may see the opposite, i.e. the needle for the tank not being used will rise slightly.

Try flicking the change over switch on and off, with key in the ignition set to ON without the engine started. You should hear some clicking coming from behind the dash but more importantly, you should also hear a "click" from the fuel change over solenoid under the passenger seat. You may need someone to stick their head under the car directly under the passenger door to hear it. If they can't hear anything, the solenoid could have seized or there may be an electrical fault somewhere.

That's where I would start anyway.

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

Thanks, that's more or less what I figured. I tried flicking the switch from the passenger side today whilst hanging out the door but couldn't hear anything. Another complication is that the little green indicator light won't go on or off unless the motor is actually running. I need to try it with Wifey in the driver's seat. I didn't quite trust my 11 or 13yo sons with a running 4WD THAT much this afternoon & Herself was off at a Baby Shower. It's not a huge concern atm as we still have our little Rio as my commuter but I would like to get it working properly as the Rio's on the market. Oh well, something else to do next weekend. I hope those solenoids are accessible!

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

Its normal for the sub tank led to be illuminated when the key is in the ON position and the engine not running. Access to the change over solenoid is good but I would leave it to a mechanic to fix unless you've got a haynes/gregories service manual as a reference.

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

Got underneath on the weekend & had a look around the solenoids. Found 2 with a 3-way fuel junction on both. One is obviously "outlet" to the engine & the other the return lines. I can definitely feel one solenoid clunking, but not the other. Looking at the fuel lines gave me pause, remembering that it's a pressurised fuel-system, so if it needs fixing I'll hand it over to my favourite mechanic when I get him to look at the wheel-bearings.
On the up side, after recording a first-fill mileage figure of 17.5 mpg (not great as the ol' 4.2 Nissan did 16 mpg) though this did include some pretty steep low-range off-roading, the second fill on Sunday came up with 24.5 mpg - all round-town stuff. Not too bad for a 2-tonne 8-seat 4WD.

[mark2859 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mark2859]

I too have an issue in that I need to constantly re-adjust my handbrake. I need to do it every two months.

Apart from that I love my 90 series.