Catching Up

Well, its been too long since my last post so its time to catch up on things. I’ll start with the Land Cruiser, since Mountain Rendezvous 2013 is coming up in just a few weeks.

Like many 80-series owners, I had the common P0401 error code show up. Fortunately, this is a pretty minor thing but it can take some effort to square away. There are a lot of threads (like this one) on ih8mud about this code and how to go about correcting it, so doing that research was my first step.

So in the Land Cruiser’s exhaust recirculation system is something called an EGR control. valve, Because it uses a thin rubber membrane to keep carbon dust and such from entering the engine, and because of its location in one of the hotter spots in the engine bay, the rubber membrane will tear and fail over time. Carbon passes through and can cause a number of issues, including blocking the gas port it passes through, or jamming the VSV valve in the open position.

In my case, I cleaned out a couple of small air hoses and replaced the EGR valve with the current replacement, which is apparently the style used on the 60 series trucks. This version doesn’t fail like the 80 series version, apparently. So far so good and the error code has not come up again. I’m hoping that’s all there is to it. If it does come up again, I’ll probably need to take off the upper intake plenum (no I didn’t just make that up!) and clean out any carbon build-up.

Moving on, the driver seat belt had frayed in one spot. Not too badly but I don’t like frayed webbing. As a precaution, I swapped it out for a replacement belt assembly. I was able to do it myself pretty easily. It would have gone quicker if I’d taken more photos when I took the original assembly out, but luckily I had the passenger=side assembly to refer to. Overall a simple job and being a safety system, I was sure to torque everything to exact factory specs and verify proper function. It’s a good feeling to know the job was done just right.

I did my first oil change on the 80 as well. Previous oil changes I’d had done at the shop. It’s a little trickier than on the Jeep but not much. I found that marking a witness line on the filter was a good idea, since the method of correctly tightening the filter is to make contact with the engine body and then tighten a further 3/4th turn.

I had the tires rotated and balanced, and had the alignment done. Now at about 225,000 miles, the front wheel bearings need to be repacked, so that’s next on the list.

The vaunted compressor on my Engel MT45 freezer/fridge appears to have died. That was the conclusion of the Engel USA rep I spoke to about the problem. It’s pricey to replace, unfortunately, and Engel USA was out of stock when we spoke. They’re supposed to call and/or email when they are available again.

I think that pretty much covers all the maintenance and other issues for the past several months. Other than the fridge (which is probably beyond my limited budget for the moment), hopefully everything will be in order and ready for MR13.