Going to check out a 1993 Land Cruiser

[kowalski7]

Hey guys, found the forum earlier today while searching for land cruiser info.

Some background info:

I am no stranger to old toyotas. I daily drive a st185 celica all trac (old rally car with plenty of problems)

I found a 1993 Land Cruiser with approximately 164x miles. Spoke with the owner earlier and while they do not have any maintenance receipts, they assured me that the car was running perfectly.

Is there anything in particular I should check or ask for? Any large maintenance items that are specific to this year? Are these engines finicky? How many miles should I expect before a rebuild? Are parts expensive? Does Toyota still produce parts for this year/mode series? Also, the car has Recaro rear leather seats, are these from the factory?

Seller is asking $3000.

 

[freshspecbluegt]

Start here:
http://www.sleeoffroad.com/newbie/newbie100.htm
http://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/should-i-buy-an-80-costs-of-ownership.124556/

I don't beleive there is anything specific to the 93 as far as maintenance

You will read a lot about Head gasket issues with the 1FZ. I personally think that the issue is overblown but you probably want to check under the oil cap to make sure there's not a ton of peanut butter like sludge. The other thing to check is that you don't see bubbles in the radiator over flow tank.

Outside of HG issues guys are pulling down engines with 300K on them and they still look stellar inside.

If you are doing your own maintenance then owning an 80 isn't so bad. If you are paying a shop there are cheaper options out there.

Most mechanical parts are still available but trim and interior parts are starting to disappear from the dealers

Big jobs to tackle. If not owned by an enthusiast, you will need to service the front axle and do a tune up. Year of manufacture should be printed on the spark plug wires ( if they are oem) that will give you an idea of whether it has had a tune up.

Recaros in the rear are not factory. Factory has a split bench in the rear.

For 3k if it is in decent shape you can really go wrong. Hell if you pass it up let me know.

 

[kowalski7]

Thanks for the info.

 

[FinsUp]

I bought a 93 back in December. It has a bit over 241,000 now and runs like a champ. There are things I'm going to do to it but mechanically it's fine. I love it and I paid 3k for it, it's now my daily driver and camp hauler.