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Hilux buying advice for female friend

Grimbo

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A good friend is looking to buy a 3 Litre Hilux to replace a VW Toureg as a horse box tow vehicle .
She is well aware that it's not going to be as comfortable etc , etc but needs must .
Anyone a Hilux expert on here that can give a few pointers on what to look for and known faults on Hilux as it's a good few decades since I owned one .

She has one in mind that has been remapped to 190 hp , done 86,000 kilometres , is manual with full service history . Not sure if the distance is actually K's or should be miles .

Thanks in advance
 
Need to know more than that really. They are on Mk8 Hilux now and the 3.0 spans quite a few years. Really better asking this on HPOC Hilux Pick up Owns Club. But in truth, HL's are like LCs. Pretty much fault free. Mine is a 15 plate with nearly 60k on it and it's been almost faultless other than an failed injector which was replaced under warranty. There is a reason why the HL is legendary.
 
Need to know more than that really. They are on Mk8 Hilux now and the 3.0 spans quite a few years. Really better asking this on HPOC Hilux Pick up Owns Club. But in truth, HL's are like LCs. Pretty much fault free. Mine is a 15 plate with nearly 60k on it and it's been almost faultless other than an failed injector which was replaced under warranty. There is a reason why the HL is legendary.
It's a 2012 Double cab with the 3.0 D4D engine ....did they suffer from injector seals ?
I know they are good just wondered if anyone had any specifics to check ....she can't afford to buy a duff one
 
Well that's why I pointed you toward the Hilux forum Grimbo. They are THE source for the Lux like this is for the Cruiser. There really aren't any huge common issues with any of the Hiluxes ever made. Like buying any second had car, you can get a duff one. If you avoid the Izusu, the Mitsubishi, the Ford, the Nissan and pick a Hilux, you have already narrowed the potential of buying something flawed. Mine has the D4D. Many Colorados had the D4D, the 120 had the D4D. If it's got 86 whatevers on it and it's a 2012 and it drives well, I really think that the question has been answered.
 
Make sure its an Auto... A Women can 'stuff' a clutch In the blink of an eye... (Ask my Missus):lol:
Best not show this to my other half, she is on her 7th manual Audi from new and never done a clutch yet
 
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It was just a bit of Fun, No offence or harm meant....
 
Make sure its an Auto... A Women can 'stuff' a clutch In the blink of an eye... (Ask my Missus):lol:
In the belgian hilux scene, 3l manuals are avoided because of problems with the box.
Autos are ok.
2,5 manuals ok too.
Don't know any details but I asked the head mechanic of a toyota dealer and he confirmed.
 
Only had mine 6 months or so, its a 3.0 D4D manual - no issues with the gearbox at all - feels very solid and shifts nicely. They're a nice truck and feel extremely well built (especially compared with L200s and the like). Ride is choppy unladen is my only gripe really - but only to be expected I guess.
 
Seems to be an Airbag related Recall and also load liner related recall on 2012 model year ....it has one of these outstanding but without the Vin I can't see which one .
Is mapping to 190 bhp and another 80nm torque going to cause issues as this has been done .
She's a mega Petrol Head so manual not an issue ..... although given it's likely use with Dobbin in the trailer I wonder if auto wouldn't be a good call .
Thanks all
 
Hey Grimbo - not sure the chipping would add much - think its 170 bhp as stock anyway (or around that) so I can't see another 20 bhp impacting anything really. Be interested what the on board mpg is showing (I get 28 on mine in pretty much all circumstances over a few thousand miles).

Jan likes driving mine, she's a petrol head though and she uses the 80 as a DD now.
 
Tell her if she can find a 20+ year old Hilux in good condition and looks after it then her grandchildren might use it to collect their pensions at the post office when electricity runs out :lol:
 
Tell her if she can find a 20+ year old Hilux in good condition and looks after it then her grandchildren might use it to collect their pensions at the post office when electricity runs out :lol:
;-) ;-)
That's what my grandson is going to to in the 80 series ....... and he has a 75 year old Armoured IHC Halftrack for when the zombie apocalypse happens :)
 
Should be no injector seal issues after 2008 manufacture, thats when they went over to copper seals.
I had a 3 litre auto 2007 new, sold it 3.5 years later as no longer needed, absolutely brilliant truck, more comfortable than people imagine and the auto box is a gem.
Good tyres are a must though, they can be tail happy otherwise.

Doh, i should of course had said, went from the previous copper seals, troublesome, to alumium seals in 2008.
 
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Well she is now the proud owner of a very smart 2012 Invincible Hilux .
Seems to go very well , manual box changes very sweetly and it drives nicely .
Seems to be a slight whine in 1st 2nd and 3rd gears but that may be normal ....it's 30 years since I last owned a Hilux .
 
Should be no injector seal issues after 2008 manufacture, thats when they went over to copper seals.
I had a 3 litre auto 2007 new, sold it 3.5 years later as no longer needed, absolutely brilliant truck, more comfortable than people imagine and the auto box is a gem.
Good tyres are a must though, they can be tail happy otherwise.

Doh, i should of course had said, went from the previous copper seals, troublesome, to alumium seals in 2008.
In what way we're they troublesome?
Oddly enough, replacement diesel powered 80 series injector washers are aluminium.
I pressumed it was a cost thing.
 
In what way we're they troublesome?
Oddly enough, replacement diesel powered 80 series injector washers are aluminium.
I pressumed it was a cost thing.

Copper seals were too hard, and after a while they could leak allowing blow by which caused carbon to form in the oil which would find its way down to the oil pick, eventually blocking the oil pick filter causing engine destruction in extreme cases, obviously not helped when people insist on leaving engine oil in too long believing all this modern long life servicing bollocks, i learned long ago when i worked for one of the best maintained lorry fleets in the country, that oil is cheap and engines gearboxes and axles are not.

The alloy seals being softer crush down to form a perfect seal.
Many vehicles were re-fitted by Toyota with alloy seals, and certainly any early 3.0 litre engines (i'm unsure if the 2.5 litre Hilux engine had or has this problem) that needed new injectors were fitted with alloy seals, they could rattle after a while, mine did and were replaced FOC by Toyota just before i sold the vehicle.

Toyota in the UK raised the warranty on affected engines to 100k and 7 years if this issue caused engine failure, whatever people think of Toyota its impossible to dispute they regard their customers and their own reputation as important, and stand by their products, obviously if an engine hadn't seen any new oil for 50k miles they wouldn't be so keen to pick the tab up and i wouldn't blame them.

You can check VIN to see if your engine is one of the affected vehicles, but the recall is now long past, so anyone worried would be advised to get the seals changed anyway, or do as i do and inspect the pick up every oil change.

On 120 series with this engine you can see the oil pick up which is directly above the sump drain plug, so its good practice to let the oil drain overnight and have a good butchers at the filter before refilling, i do this when the weather is warmish...must admit i slipped in a quick oil change just before Christmas on a rare dry day but didn't bother looking this time, well i did look but not for too long due to oil drips.
As i recall the sump isn't the same design on Hilux so pick up not visible, whether an endoscope could be used to inspect the pick up i don't know.

Personally, and this is just me, i've shifted over to using Diesel specific engine oil, EXOL 10w40 for anyone interested, due to the higher detergent content of DEO, to me thats belt and braces that if an injector seal was to spring a leak then my twice yearly oil change regime using DEO would (hopefully) help prevent the oil becoming too carbonised to cause issues.
In practice, since i've been using this oil i notice the oil is staying cleaner for longer after changing, getting on for 1000 miles now before turning black on a 107k mile engine, even at 1000 miles i can still see through to the dipstick markings...yes i know this is hardly a scientific control test, but it suggests to me that DEO has cleaned up the engine internals during its use.

There's a brilliant Youtuber well worth watching, Fourby4Diesel is a mechanic who specialises in Prados with the 1kd engine, there's literally nothing he doesn't know about these engines, well worth a peruse on his channel for anyone interested in learning more, wish we had a go to guru like this in Britain, and if there ios i'd be obliged for someone to pass on details, i'd like diagnostics done on mine to see what condition my own injectors are in.

Sorry about all the waffle, its not a one sentence issue.
 
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Well she is now the proud owner of a very smart 2012 Invincible Hilux .
Seems to go very well , manual box changes very sweetly and it drives nicely .
Seems to be a slight whine in 1st 2nd and 3rd gears but that may be normal ....it's 30 years since I last owned a Hilux .

Nice, good for her, often wish we'd never sold ours, Invincible of that year probably has proper traction/stability control, so won't be quite so tail happy as our Invincible was on OE Pirellis...which i removed before they'd covered 1000 miles due to being utterly useless in the wet, and not a lot better in the dry to be honest.

Earlier Invincibles came with a limited slip rear diff, which was so limited in its slip it might as well have been semi locked, hence why instead of lifting one rear wheel and spinning that on a wet corner (as HL2/3 would), it would fling the back end much too easily, we were going to buy the dealer demo but one of their people lost control on a roundabout and wrote the thing off, hence why ours was new, but they did us a good deal and treated us well aftersale, no complaints.

Haven't driven a manual modern Hilux (well apart from when i drove transporters and delivered new Toyotas) so can't comment on the box, presumably if its been under Mr T's service regime the box oil has been changed at least once since the vehicle was new? If no record of such i'd get the oil changed anyway.
 
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