Offroad-Express

Hi there,

I've recently purchased a 94 Hilux SSR-G with 135000kms on the clock. I am unsure of its service history, and am wanting to get people's advice as to what I should do before driving it too much. I was thinking along the lines of the following:

Cambelt, oil and oil filter change, diesel and air filter.

Is there anything else that you think i should do to it while I'm doing this?

Thanks for the help, Ryan.

What motor, 1KZ-TE or 2L-TE? And auto or manual?

1 kz-te and it's an auto - thanks

Grease points all the way down the drive line need a few pumps of grease, probably never been done.
Oil and filter, gear box, transfer, and difs all need new oil.

search 1kz cracked head. will come up with a list on ways to reduce the chances of it happening and some of the things will give you more power.
off top of my head without thinking hard:
external trans cooler
rod the radiator and clean fins (check airflow through ac rad too)
full coolant flush and change thermostat
main sure viscous fan working properly
highly recommend egt and water temp gauges (not cheap trademe ones either)
turbo dump pipe (and full exhaust if budget allows)

Most of the above is regarded maintenance when it comes to a 1kz

Yep good suggestions. start with these three if budget is limited.
dump pipe and larger diameter exhaust.
remove radiator and have it cleaned.
water temp gauge.

Hi guys,

Thanks very much for the help. I've talked to a fella at work and he's going to give me a hand with the oil changes and some of the easier stuff, which is great as I'll learn a bit as I get into it. I've done a bit of reading about the heads cracking, etc, and have learnt a bit through that, so will look to get a few of those things mentioned above done. Is there anyone that knows approx cost of what has been mentioned, and also whether you can do them yourself, or whether you need to get a mechanic to do most of them?

Also, a local 4wd specialist advised me to remove the factory radiator and put in a 5 core radiator, and he said this should lessen the chances of having the head crack. Has anyone had this done, or know how effective this is?

Thanks all for the help, appreciate it.

Cheers, Ryan.

+1 for dump pipe and exhaust, also consider intercooling and adding a trans cooler (and not using the radiator's factory cooler at all) if you are going to tow with it. Get an Auber egt gauge and fit it pre turbo. Get rad recored (or at least rodded) and make sure viscous fan is working properly (common cause of failures). Plenty of info around about how to refill yourself and save some dolleros.

They are a good truck, but their cooling system was never designed to tow with, and the earlier short valve heads are prone to cracking. Just lifted one a couple of days ago with visible cracks between valves.

Never run a 1kz without a corrosion inhibitor in the cooling system, and using decent water (pure dew from wharehouse $7 for 10L) extends coolant life when mixed.

Just my 2c

Ditch the EGR and clean the inlet manifold as well.

Yep dump egr and put pcv to a breather