New to 4x4s, buying a 95 prado

[crembz Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close crembz]

Hi all, I've been searching the internet for tips on buying an old Prado, mainly to ferry kids and their bikes around the dandenong ranges during the weekends. I'll also be using it to tow trailers with garden supplies. I've never driven a large 4x4 before so please ignore my ignorance.

I'm looking at older models, 97-2000 petrol with between 250-300,000 ks.

I test drove one today, body looks solid, few stone chips with surface rust, interior clean except for a few marks on the roof liner. Engine idles smooth, loud induction noise ... Not sure if that's normal. Transmission changes smoothly, steering seems solid.

I did notice it would wobble at cruising speed, not so much during acceleration but at cruising or decelerating. Not the steering, the whole car. Seemed to get better the more we drove so I'm thinking flat spot in the tyres.

There was heaps of road noise, not sure if it's the tyres or wheel bearings. Braking at speed (100km/h) made the whole vehicle shudder. I'm not sure whether these are big fixes or not.

Any thpughts or advice? Mainly worried about the wobble and tyre/bearing noise. It still needs a roady, but from experience that doesn't resolve anything.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

If its been sitting for a while flat spots in the tyres is a real possibility, we get that in trucks that have been sitting loaded over a weekend, they are horrible to drive until the tyres warm up and get round again.

As for noise, hard to say as one mans loud in another mans not too bad.

Brakes shuddering could be warped discs, but could also be tyre and flat spot related. Its pretty hard to diagnose these things remotely.



Cheers Andrew

[crembz Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close crembz]

Thanks Andrew, pretty much what I was thinking. The noise is a rotating whoop,whomp,whomp sound that increases with speed. Either tyres or bearings. It's got at tyres on it.

I test drove another lpg Prado last night, with ht tyres. It was much quieter, more like a car. I noticed a similar wobble over some road surfaces, I'm thinking that may be the way the suspension reacts over certain road irregularities. Like I said I've never driven a 4x4 before so I'm comparing to a passenger car which is a different beast entirely.

Strange thing, the lpg Prado I test drove seemed more responsive on gas than on petrol. Is this normal? From experience, dual duel vehicles tend to run worse not better on gas.

[crembz Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close crembz]

OK so I took the plunge, bought a 99 glx snowy with 250ks on it. One owner on ht tyres apparently never been off-road.

Apart from the antenna motor not working and the front armrest cup holder thing being broken, I'm pretty happy with it. Rwc being done tomorrow, hopefully nothing much wrong with it.

Oh and ht tyres on it are great on the road, really quite, but rubbish on anything else. Lost traction on the gravel up my driveway, even my 208 gti can handle that lol.

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

Regarding the antenna, if you can hear the motor running but the antenna doesn't move, it's a common failure of a wound plastic strap, and that plastic alone can be replaced rather than the entire motor unit.

[crembz Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close crembz]

Nah no motor running. You can hear the relays go when you press the up and down buttons but nothing else. Could just be a dud connection, won't know until I get under there at some point. Not a real biggie but my ocd won't let it go haha.

[hawks667 Member Find all posts View Profile Close hawks667]

250k on the clock, its just run in....

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

OK so I took the plunge, bought a 99 glx snowy with 250ks on it. One owner on ht tyres apparently never been off-road.

Apart from the antenna motor not working and the front armrest cup holder thing being broken, I'm pretty happy with it. Rwc being done tomorrow, hopefully nothing much wrong with it.

Oh and ht tyres on it are great on the road, really quite, but rubbish on anything else. Lost traction on the gravel up my driveway, even my 208 gti can handle that lol.

Good purchase dependant upon price. But you'll be happy with it. I live in the dandy ranges myself and drive my 90 with 380 on the clock everywhere.

If i can make any suggestions... when it comes time to do the front brakes, consider swapping to slotted front rotors as I've experienced brake fade coming down some of our hills and the gears just couldn't slow me down enough without hitting red line.

Not sure what part of the mountains you're in but if you know Terry's Ave in Belgrave which starts up near the Sherbrooke school and finishes at the roundabout besides Safeway and the Belgrave Police Station. My wife came down that hill once using the brakes the entire way without gears and She just sailed straight through the roundabout as the brakes had overheated and couldn't stop her and the fully loaded rig.

Since the swap to slotted, I've tried it myself with a trailer and I could stop fairly well.

[crembz Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close crembz]

Thanks for the tip ranj. I'm out near emerald so the hills aren't so bad but thanks for the tip! I know the Mrs would have done the same, foot on the brakes the whole way down. What pad/rotor combo did you go for?

Picked her up for $6.7k with almost one year reg but no rwc. Just got a call from the mechanic, leaky rocker cover but everything else is a tick. Pretty happy about that.

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

Bendix 4x4 pads and DBA rotors.

[crembz Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close crembz]

Watching in eBay now. Do you get any squeals using the Bendix pads? I've only ever had squealing brakes on my cars with Bendix. I'd normally use ebc, qfm or ferodo.

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

No noise at all. All my cars get Bendix. even the mercedes