I didn't even know Toyota sold diesel pickups in the US
- Thread starter Lynn
- Start date
Dave Bennett
Adventurist
Interesting...
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Yup, got the 1L diesel for a few years in the early 1980s and the 2L for 1984 & 1985. I've only personally seen the 2L a couple of times and they were both 4WD 1985 trucks. I dunno much more, but I sort of assumed the 2WD got the 1L engine. In any case, they weren't exactly big sellers and quite slow from what I hear. Even compared to a 20R and 22R...
24HOURSOFNEVADA
Expedition Leader
Ive only seen a 2wd diesel before. This is really cool. I wonder how many are left out there?
HongerVenture
Adventurer
Wow... I'd give up the T100 in a heartbeat for that beauty. Outstanding!
lowenbrau
Explorer
My buddy's dad had one when we were in High school. My pal would trick people (me included) by telling us that it could do a brake stand but didn't have enough back pressure to do it without help. I think he would actually call it a "smoke show" A volunteer would have to block the exhaust with his foot. Since we all had a insatiable desire to see our parents tires turn into black marks on the school parking lot there was always a foolish (like me) volunteer. He would hit the throttle, the little diesel would spew an ungodly amount of soot out the pipe and every body would laugh at the goof who now had a black leg right up to his underwear.
cruiseroutfit
Supporting Sponsor: Cruiser Outfitters
They pop up from time to time here in SLC, though most of them seem to be 2WD, still a cool rig though 
preacherman
Explorer
a 4x4 4runner one came up a few years ago in Kansas City. It was in ok shape.
dieselcruiserhead
16 Years on ExPo. Whoa!!
It is a great little truck of course, basically a '85 mini with a little turbo diesel. There are 2L and 2L-T diesels. Both share the same injection pump that is nutoriously unreliable. I found a non turbo 2L truck about a year ago in decent shape. The truck was nice but the engine issues were massive. I could have bought it for $350, the injection pump was blown. We have a slew of really good injection pump rebuilders in Salt Lake City (about a half dozen). No one would touch it. This *is* a big issue especially for rural relability issues. Even with the turbo also unfortunately the engine is also a little underpowered. And finally they are known for head and head gaket issues. One of those, again, early 80's unreliable old school diesels. So, looking at the auction looking at what's rebuild, doesn't surprize me a bit but is it odd or representive of that engine, at such low mileage?
I would have someone check it out, you can probably get 50K miles out of it pretty safely if it was done right, but you may face those issues again. It is not something I would pay that amount of money for personally.
I would have someone check it out, you can probably get 50K miles out of it pretty safely if it was done right, but you may face those issues again. It is not something I would pay that amount of money for personally.
Martinjmpr
Wiffleball Batter
There were quite a few diesels in the mid-80's on quite a few vehicles including the Ford Ranger, the Isuzu Trooper and the Mazda B2000 pickup. Most of them were smoky, loud and hideously underpowered.
When we complain about the lack of diesels in the US market, what we have to understand is that many manufacturers got badly burned by diesels in the mid 80's. Their reluctance to introduce diesels into the US is based on an understandable disinclination to stick their hands back into that hot stove.
The problem here is lag time. Until recently, when gas prices finally hit a high relative to income, the highest fuel prices were in about 1980-81. With gas prices so high, many people were clamoring for diesel engines. So, the manufacturers responded, but there is always lag time between the decision to make a vehicle and when that vehicle appears. The first imported diesels didn't start hitting the US market until around 1982-84, IIRC, and by then fuel prices had fallen.
So, the manufacturers were stuck with vehicles that were poor performing (because they were made for 3rd world countries with bad road systems where 50hp and 45mph is perfectly acceptable), smoky, and noisy. Nobody wanted them and the dealers ended up selling them at a loss.
When we complain about the lack of diesels in the US market, what we have to understand is that many manufacturers got badly burned by diesels in the mid 80's. Their reluctance to introduce diesels into the US is based on an understandable disinclination to stick their hands back into that hot stove.
The problem here is lag time. Until recently, when gas prices finally hit a high relative to income, the highest fuel prices were in about 1980-81. With gas prices so high, many people were clamoring for diesel engines. So, the manufacturers responded, but there is always lag time between the decision to make a vehicle and when that vehicle appears. The first imported diesels didn't start hitting the US market until around 1982-84, IIRC, and by then fuel prices had fallen.
So, the manufacturers were stuck with vehicles that were poor performing (because they were made for 3rd world countries with bad road systems where 50hp and 45mph is perfectly acceptable), smoky, and noisy. Nobody wanted them and the dealers ended up selling them at a loss.