As seen in Toyota Trails!
Various articles written here have been published in TLCA's Toyota Trails magazine and on their website. After roaming around our site, click on the magazines to visit TLCA.
Diesel Engines
Air Filters, Paper or Cotton
By Tony K
If you really want to drive yourself crazy take a quick search on the internet. You will find tests and studies that all point out that your chosen filter is the best at what it does. So in the end much of it comes down to just what you prefer to run in your rig. Mainly paper or cotton along with a few variables thrown in to make things truly confusing. Or throw in the fact that what we call paper filters are not really paper… I am just going to call them paper to differentiate them from reusable filters.
Antifreeze Simplified
By Tony K
If like me you thought the differences between antifreeze was simply a choice between green or red you would be mistaken… First of all, color means nothing. The base component of antifreeze is clear. Red, green, blue, purple, orange and pink are all just dyes added to differentiate ones own brand. And sadly there is no industry standard for the color of each type of mix. And I also had no idea how different the mixes really are.
Changing the Diaphragm on a 3B
By Tony K
And just why is this diaphragm so important? Believe it or not (and some of the diesel mechs I work with are still amazed) there is no mechanical connection to the throttle on our 3B’s. Acceleration is controlled by vacuum pressure through this diaphragm. On most diesels the throttle actually moves the rack inside the injection pump, on our 3B’s the pedal just moves the butterfly in the intake which controls how much vacuum is applied to the injection pump which in turn moves the rack in the pump and hence, acceleration.
Leaking Head Gasket
By Tony K
Well the rumor of aftermarket headgaskets (for the 3B) being less than desirable has come true on my wagon. Saw some anti-freeze dripping off the crossmember that required a closer look. Started up the motor and crawled underneath. Thought I should be able to see a leaking hose but that turned out to not be the case at all. Being that winter is upon us it’s pretty cold out so lucky for me as I looked up I could see steam coming off the back of the head.
A Better Oil Filter
By Tony K
One of the great things about Land Cruiser engines is the amount of oil they hold, even my little 3B holds almost 2 gallons. I really believe this plays a major part in the longevity of their engines. But I have never been thrilled with how black the oil seems to be when its time to change the oil. Not that this is always bad, all that gunk could be hanging out inside your engine and just piling up until it clogs something. But rather than just sit on my duff I decided to do something about it.