Athertons 2010 Prado 150 GXL D4D Build

[calorific Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close calorific]

-Kenwood unit works with patch lead that connects it to the factory wiring harness- I'm pretty sure you can get a plug and play kit for the stereo to steering wheel controls, however I just cut and joined them into the headunits wiring.

-Runva winch bolted in but you have to tell them you intend on putting it into an ARB bar so they can give you the correct offset fairlead. The bracket kit to hide the winch is also sold separately (and like anything ARB it isn't cheap).

-No idea on the frequency of autobarn sales, but I have seen several since I last purchased my rack so it mustn't be all that rare. I did go the 2128mm rack, I don't think there is a 2100mm flat option- you either go the 1900 and something or the 2128. I've also made up some of my own channel nuts because as you say RR charge an arm and a leg for them. I'd rather not post a photo of my lightbar mounts as they are really rough haha- They're literally 2 bits of flat steel with a channel nut holding them to the rack and a hole drilled in the other end to mount the bracket that kings sell with the light. I'll have a look at measuring the height of the backbone when I get home- Not currently with my car at the minute.

Thanks for the reply mate. I thought the Runva winch would mount directly to the bull bar (no winch bracket required). Also I didnt get an offset fairlead hmmm. Might need to source one.

[Atherton Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Atherton]

Thanks for the reply mate. I thought the Runva winch would mount directly to the bull bar (no winch bracket required). Also I didnt get an offset fairlead hmmm. Might need to source one.

It does bolt straight to the bar- You don't need a bracket. I was referring to the bracket kit that hides the winch by having the flip down number plate in front of it. See how you go with the standard fairlead- The guys that sold me the winch (Wolf 4x4 brisbane) told me that I'd need it to ensure it spooled the rope correctly.

[Atherton Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Atherton]

Chasing information on fitting larger tyres (285/70/17) My Ko2's are nearly at half way with around 30K (drive high speeds on dirt roads almost every day and rotate the tyres myself every 10K). I've poured through some of the older threads on here but I'm unwilling to fit a different offset rim to the car (as I'm partial to the stock ones). Is anyone aware if it is possible to fit the larger tyres on with a slimmer profile set of upper control arms- as fouling these seems to be the reason that people go for different rims with these larger tyres.

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

Rims are getting too narrow for 285s and I reckon you might have cvlearance issues but vvould be wrong. 265/75? Same diameter near enough.

[Atherton Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Atherton]

Had a quick look and it doesn't seem like you can get a 265/75 on a 17 inch rim- I did see a lot available for 16 and some on 18 inch rims however (tyre sizes are nearly the only example I can think of where the metric system is more of a pain in the arse than the imperial one). I did see some results come back from US sellers on Ebay so maybe that size is more common over there?

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

You are correct! I didn't check because we had run 75 profile in 16s. Maybe 275/70 as a compromise?

As an aside I parked next to a 200 yesterday. Big lift and 70 profile tyres.

[Atherton Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Atherton]

Yeah, thinking 275/70's are going to be the go. I might even get away with not changing the UCA's as such a small increase in width hopefully shouldn't give me any grief (although I'd love to hear if anyone has had experience with this size).

Have seen a few 200's getting around with big lifts and tyres on them- some done well some not so much. If they're anything like a prado it can start getting pretty expensive when you want to start putting lifts of 3 inch and upwards in them as well as large tyres...

[Atherton Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Atherton]

Fairly bad news today, was taking off from a side road onto the highway near home when while under heavy load I heard a horrible "whooshing noise". I pulled over hoping it was a blown boost hose, but alas I wasn't that lucky. Looks like at 220K my turbo has kicked the bucket. Pretty disappointed in this lifespan, haven't had a chance to remove the sump yet but I'm fairly sure oil starvation was not the cause. Will post some pics when we get deeper into the autopsy.

[juz Member Find all posts View Profile Close juz]

Fairly bad news today, was taking off from a side road onto the highway near home when while under heavy load I heard a horrible "whooshing noise". I pulled over hoping it was a blown boost hose, but alas I wasn't that lucky. Looks like at 220K my turbo has kicked the bucket. Pretty disappointed in this lifespan, haven't had a chance to remove the sump yet but I'm fairly sure oil starvation was not the cause. Will post some pics when we get deeper into the autopsy.

Damn son

[Atherton Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Atherton]

Have done an autopsy on my turbo after pulling it off. Looks like a piece of the turbine decided it didn't want to identify as a turbo anymore. The good news is this means my intake track is clean of impeller bits as I caught it pretty early and pulled straight over. Bad news is that I'm still up for a new turbo. After dropping the oil on the donkey the pickup is squeaky clean- meaning that oil starvation wasn't the issue.

I've ordered a new turbo (and injectors, since it's time) from Tony from Motivated Performance and Turbo in Toowoomba. I've been recommended him by a mate and so far in his dealings with me he's been very professional and been happy to accommodate a lot of questions and queries from me regarding the D4D- he also correctly identified the problem with the separation of the turbine blade before I'd pulled it apart saying he'd seen a few do it.

I've got to confess being dissapointed in the turbo failing so early, to my mind those sort of miles aren't a lot to have the engine suffer major component failure- I think a major reason all of us here have purchased Toyota's is their bulletproof reliability. I'm less convinced than I used to be that Toyota's reliability reputation is what it used to be. I've owned several older Toyota vehicles and my family have several more on the farm- a 40 series, 80 series, 70 series and 100 series Landcruiser. All of these vehicles have well in excess of 400K kilometers on them and the only one that has had any work on it is the 80 which needed a rebuild after almost 500K and 20 something years of service (it also used to tow a truly massive boat around which might have had something to do with it). Seeing the issues that the newer Prados and Hilux's have been having with DPF's make me think that my next vehicle may well be a petrol- The newer emissions controls that are being fitted to erode in my mind many of the advantages that traditional diesels had over petrols- They're certainly more complicated and require a far more sophisticated electronic control system to manage than my old 1HDT did in the 80 series. Realistically you can put a lot of petrol in a v6 petty Prado before you get to the costs of new injectors, turbochargers, dodgy pistons and dpf's. The power is miles ahead, and the torque isn't far off either.

I love my 150, I think it's an excellent, well built vehicle for the most part. The archillies heel seem to be the D4D- The rest of the driveline seems to perform whatever tasks are asked of it. I can't help but feel a diesel that wasn't working as hard as the 1KD is in the Prado would have been a better choice- Either a v6 diesel like a newer Amarok (except reliable), or a larger displacement 4 cylinder (3.2 liters probably would be the ticket although I appreciate there are balancing issues with something that large).

[Charlie2072 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Charlie2072]

Awesome build!! Just wondering if the 9 inch kings spotlights fit flush with the front of the bull bar using the factory holes in the bull bar or did you need to drill your own holes in it?

['Dan' Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 'Dan']

Have done an autopsy on my turbo after pulling it off. Looks like a piece of the turbine decided it didn't want to identify as a turbo anymore. The good news is this means my intake track is clean of impeller bits as I caught it pretty early and pulled straight over. Bad news is that I'm still up for a new turbo. After dropping the oil on the donkey the pickup is squeaky clean- meaning that oil starvation wasn't the issue.

I've ordered a new turbo (and injectors, since it's time) from Tony from Motivated Performance and Turbo in Toowoomba. I've been recommended him by a mate and so far in his dealings with me he's been very professional and been happy to accommodate a lot of questions and queries from me regarding the D4D- he also correctly identified the problem with the separation of the turbine blade before I'd pulled it apart saying he'd seen a few do it.

I've got to confess being dissapointed in the turbo failing so early, to my mind those sort of miles aren't a lot to have the engine suffer major component failure- I think a major reason all of us here have purchased Toyota's is their bulletproof reliability. I'm less convinced than I used to be that Toyota's reliability reputation is what it used to be. I've owned several older Toyota vehicles and my family have several more on the farm- a 40 series, 80 series, 70 series and 100 series Landcruiser. All of these vehicles have well in excess of 400K kilometers on them and the only one that has had any work on it is the 80 which needed a rebuild after almost 500K and 20 something years of service (it also used to tow a truly massive boat around which might have had something to do with it). Seeing the issues that the newer Prados and Hilux's have been having with DPF's make me think that my next vehicle may well be a petrol- The newer emissions controls that are being fitted to erode in my mind many of the advantages that traditional diesels had over petrols- They're certainly more complicated and require a far more sophisticated electronic control system to manage than my old 1HDT did in the 80 series. Realistically you can put a lot of petrol in a v6 petty Prado before you get to the costs of new injectors, turbochargers, dodgy pistons and dpf's. The power is miles ahead, and the torque isn't far off either.

I love my 150, I think it's an excellent, well built vehicle for the most part. The archillies heel seem to be the D4D- The rest of the driveline seems to perform whatever tasks are asked of it. I can't help but feel a diesel that wasn't working as hard as the 1KD is in the Prado would have been a better choice- Either a v6 diesel like a newer Amarok (except reliable), or a larger displacement 4 cylinder (3.2 liters probably would be the ticket although I appreciate there are balancing issues with something that large).

I just bought a Petrol for that reason.

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

I love my 150, I think it's an excellent, well built vehicle for the most part. The archillies heel seem to be the D4D- The rest of the driveline seems to perform whatever tasks are asked of it. I can't help but feel a diesel that wasn't working as hard as the 1KD is in the Prado would have been a better choice- Either a v6 diesel like a newer Amarok (except reliable), or a larger displacement 4 cylinder (3.2 liters probably would be the ticket although I appreciate there are balancing issues with something that large).

If it puts your mind at ease, the ten or so Hilux's we run at work are all 1Kds and not one has done a turbo, and we are talking over 400,000kms here and very slack maintenance after warrenty (missed plenty of oil changes, some even have done 30,000kms without a change, no problems).

[Atherton Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Atherton]

Yeah, I do think they are a decently solid engine, but they're out of place in a Prado in my opinion- They're well underpowered and when people do try and give them a bit of a tune up they blow holes in pistons :/ The 1GR's don't seem to have any dramas with them provided maintenance is kept up to them and they've got a lot of power and torque.

['Dan' Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 'Dan']

I dont feel like the car has a lot of power or torque, in either engine config.

Drive a Territory Petrol and you will feel the difference, more peak torque and sooner for the same capacity engine plus 1 extra gear and less kerb weight.

I wish Toyota had gone gone for a straight six, as they traditionally make better low down torque. Perhaps if they'd continued developing the 1FZ like Ford did.

I'm hoping a basic exhaust and a tune will free it up a bit.