A TRUE DIY - Toyota Prado 1990 - 2LTE (Head & Turbo Replacement)

zeelaf (Night Wind) 2020-09-08 14:45:05 +0500 #1

Please subscribe to the thread and stay tuned This is and will be a true story sharing the ground up re-build of my 3 door LC Prado

Let me start of the thread with this picture

This is a TRUE DIY Project - 'the activity of decorating, building, and making repairs at home by oneself rather than employing a professional.' I would like to add

"Smashed Hands, Burn Marks On My Arms, Cracked Fingernails , Split finger tips, sweat , injured knuckles..........."

if you are a newbie like me who want to tinker with cars should first read this

"Working On Cars - Teaches Us Patience & Every Curse Word Imaginable"

But I was and am very determined to fix the Land Cruiser - it comes equipped with the dreaded 2.4 2LTE engine which is known for "Cracking the Head" and OVERHEATING ......

But it is something to do with Land Cruisers a strange kind of love & I quote

'The Land Cruiser can massage organs which no masseur can reach. It is the one remedy for the disorders of the great sympathetic nervous system. '

it is the one car where you buy it for peanuts but end up spending a fortune and are still HAPPY about it ....... Strange ........ Very Strange....

The Patient in Question

Year - 1990
Make : Toyota Land Cruiser Prado
Engine : 2LTE (Factory Stock)
Turbo : CT20 by Toyota

Diagnosis : The most common areas the cylinder head will crack are on the combustion chamber, and hairline cracks in-between the valves. This is due to a poor water chamber design that cannot withstand the fluctuations in temperatures, and the faster speed limits when compared to Japan - Which is where the engines were originally designed for where the speed limits are much slower to the rest of the world.
Toyota recognized this and later sold cylinder heads where the combustion chamber was increased to avoid cylinder head cracking.

This is my first LC, I knew that it is a very reliable and runs forever without any problems and then once you've bought it, you read all this stuff about how it's likely to overheat and crack the head and you think "nah not to me though" and then the next thing you know is you have coolant spraying all over your windscreen and white smoke billowing out of your exhaust!

The task : Remove TURBO

Now toyota wouldn't make this easy for us would they...

Tools: 10mm, 12mm, 14mm spanners. + some skin on the knuckles !!

Time Taken: 3-5 Hours

Difficulty: 3.5 (Fairly fiddly)

zeelaf (Night Wind) 2020-09-09 16:01:51 +0500 #2

Xulfiqar (Xulfiqar) 2020-09-09 20:39:38 +0500 #3

LOL

I hope you never read a Porsche service manual for turbo removal.

step 1 - remove engine from vehicle.
step 2 - procrastinate.

zeelaf (Night Wind) 2020-09-09 20:54:54 +0500 #4

Tools: 10mm, 12mm, 14mm spanners. + some skin on the knuckles !!

Please add - Tons of WD40 - some of the suckers have never been opened and this is a 30 year old truck

Xulfiqar (Xulfiqar) 2020-09-09 21:20:33 +0500 #5

throw away the WD40 - its for children.

mix up a brew of acetone and ATF - apply with brush. - Its called witch's brew. Word is that if a little heat along with ATF+acetone mix doesnt loosen it, its one piece.

zeelaf (Night Wind) 2020-09-09 21:22:26 +0500 #6

Perfect ............ maybe that is what is needed....... I will try that

zeelaf (Night Wind) 2020-09-10 03:44:31 +0500 #7

Got the exhaust connection nuts

1 has been rounded will try Xulfiqar bhai's solution

Xulfiqar (Xulfiqar) 2020-09-10 06:10:09 +0500 #8

What the hell ratchet is that? Ratchet for ants?

My man you need to drive to a tool shop and buy a long handle flexhead ratchet alongside some high quality 6 point sockets

Ideally in 1/2 and also 3/8 drive so you can work easily

That little ratchet is useless and will cause great injury too.

For the rounded bolt buy a extractor socket or a cheap smaller socket and hammer it on along with emery paste inside it so it grips it hard, apply some heat from a torch and smack it with a hammer twice before you reef on it.

Do not try to undo turbo mounting stuff on a cold engine, you need to really cook it with a torch.

zeelaf (Night Wind) 2020-09-10 06:44:06 +0500 #9

Love that "Ratchet for Ants" but as said earlier I am a newbie and I am ready for ""Smashed Hands, Burn Marks On My Arms, Cracked Fingernails , Split finger tips, sweat , injured knuckles..........."
but jokes apart I am going to go shopping tomorrow and get some HEAVY duty tools........ But I am as the French would say "Apprendre sur le tas"

Au revoir

Xulfiqar (Xulfiqar) 2020-09-10 06:44:22 +0500 #10

Btw

Thats not rounded, you need a deep socket for that

zeelaf (Night Wind) 2020-09-10 06:45:02 +0500 #11

There is a rounded one there too, it is on the other side

Xulfiqar (Xulfiqar) 2020-09-10 06:54:46 +0500 #12

Ladies love a warrior and fighter but prefer clean and soft hands for massages, take care of your hands, injured hands increase sailor vocabulary, that may or may not get you the ladies you are looking for.

Btw

Have a look at this

I use all of them as required, rusty pieces of trash get the sparkly wrench (last pic) immediately.

On a serious note

Take it slow, pictures are mandatory for memory joggers, buy torque wrenches and thread chasers to clean nasties and ziploc baggies with marker for nuts n bolts so you dont increase sailor vocabulariy more than necessary, but seems like you are in oz. what we call profanities are freindly words there anyway.

zeelaf (Night Wind) 2020-09-10 07:05:15 +0500 #13

Point taken - I believe these Flame Throwers will be my BEST friend for some time to come, but you will you will be very Surprised @ the NEXT project(s), your help and expertise are always very appreciated....... Thanks again .......

On the question of ladies, for my age I think these OLD toothless babes will be on my LOVE LIST for some time to come !!!