Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Gday fellas,

Ive recently bought a 1995 gas/petrol 80 series auto, i know its had a hard life but there has been sooo many fuckups since i bought it, had to replace all oils, battery, break pads, tires, handbreak shoes, alternator and starter...just to name a few.
But recently theres been a loud low whirring noise whenever i even slightly accelerate, im thinking its the gearbox, but have read many other things it could be (like wheel bearings). The gas system is beyond shit and am thinking of just converting to TD, I bought a 4" lift off user Familybus (harv) could it be the lift too? Theres also no pressure in the breaks, full of fluid, havnt changed anything so i doubt theres air in there, this thing is my daily so im hoping its something i can fix myself...

Cheers, Fidz.

Definitely sucks doing all the overdue maintenance, but most of the things you mention are often part and parcel of buying a car that is 16years old. If it hasn't been well looked after, it's all to be expected.

The 4" lift can cause vibrations in the front drive shaft sometimes, but I wouldn't expect ti to be a whirring noise, more so a vibration you would feel and you would feel it when accelerating or decelerating. it would be worth checking the uni joints for wear

Do you remember what was the last thing you did to it before the noises started? But without even seeing it, im putting my money on front driveshaft making noises (caused by lift)

mine all of a sudden starterd making a whirring noise. turned out it was play in my pinion bearing on the rear diff. but as was said. its very common to get front shaft vibs with 4" lift

isn't the guy you bought the lift kit off into datsuns though ?

Yeah all that maintenance sucks but i really like having the cruiser... I was driving home this arvo and thought it really could be the wheel bearings, the last thing i did was go through a large puddle, the car was hot and the water was about 7-8 degrees, maybe that could have done some damage? But after that the whirring started, it kinda sounds like if you have big muddies on, the noise of them on the road but more metaly, if that makes sense...Ive been driving it for a good 3-4 weeks with no noise after the lift, im going to have to go to a wreckers for a LPG nozzle part soon, so i might have to pick up something...but it does sound like a rotating mechanical thing, was the pinion bearing hard to fix?

Familybus? When i saw talking to him he had a nice patrol wagon converted to a short tray'd ute....looked sweet! didnt see any dato's tho...?

Cheers Fidz.

Is the speed of the whirring related to road speed, is the speed of the whirring different in different gears @ same road speed? Do you think it's frequency is related to the revolution of the tyres or around 4x the speed of the tyres? Is it a metallic scraping or grinding noise?

These observations will help to determine where it's coming from along the driveline.

Welcome to the club... All the things you mentioned are common to replace when you go wheeling.
Oils need changing.
Mud and rocks = Tyres and pads.
Water = new alternator/ starter, bearings.
And ofcourse OLD AGE....

I decided to do a full rebuild of my truck, just the way I want it. Ill let you know what the bill comes to when I have finished. Its getting up there.

The good news is being a cruiser its fairly easy to source parts and to work on yourself.

it's not the cluch fan cutting in or fully sized is it? it will make a whurring noise on accelleration

Dents LN65 wrote:it's not the cluch fan cutting in or fully sized is it? it will make a whurring noise on accelleration

Or touching up the cowling...

What about the old idler being noisy pretty much every 80 we have bought sold or traded has needed the idler changed or was making noise.

Your problems seem pretty simple albeit frustrating...

the power steering pump in mine was whirring with revs, not with vehicle speed. Was worse in the cold mornings. There was a bit of fuid on the chassis rail from a leaking box that ran the fluid down. Lots of new fluid and the problem went away obviously the pump was more happy with some fluid in it. I started using that ps steering no more leaks instead of ps fluid and after about 3 top ups it stopped leaking at all.

Turns out that with a 4" lift the breathers for the diffs are way too short and slid off, when i went through the puddle they filled up with water and thats what the grinding/whirring noise was, changed the oil and it was disgusting, put some thickener in it and it still whirrs, but not as much anymore, the oil is still very dirty and im going to do another change and thicken. I went for a drive to Wee Japser and found out, in the middle of a state forest at 9:30pm, that i had a radiator leak and couldnt go 20m without overheating!!! that was fun!!! Not too much left to do, got some BF muddies and probly just need a new steel bullbar...OH and new gas system...

PS, anyone got a good solution for the diff breathers? What to extend them with and to where? Cheers.

Extend the diff breathers up as high as you like.
Most people move them to the firewall area.

You can use just about anything for the breather tubes.
I am still running clear irrigation hose on my Lux, which has been going fine for the last year or so.

Some people use fuel hose, some use the expensive kits sold on ebay for the 100dollar mark.

Just remember to leave enough slack in the hose to compensate for suspension travel and movement, and dont have it somewhere it can get caught up on moving parts.

DUDELUX wrote: I am still running clear irrigation hose on my Lux, which has been going fine for the last year or so.

Yep. the poly tube stuff you get from bunnings? Nice and cheap. only other thing you might want is a couple of jubilee clamps for the axle end.

On the front i raised mine right up to about the top center of the firewall. The box thing bolted onto the fire wall. on one of the brackets there

For the rear, you can run them into the rear quarter panels, or a bit easier is to run it up behind the tail gate. There is enough of a gap next to the tailgate seals, and you can get it almost as high as the truck.

Yep the clear tube, cost me about 12-15bucks for a big roll of it, more than enough to make more breathers if I need to.
I just used the original diff breathers, I took the caps off them, then hose clamped the hose on, ran them along the chassis rails to a spot between the cab and the tray headboard, where I have a piece of alloy angle bolted, with some more breathers hose clamped there.

All good, safe and dry and out of the way.

And cheap as too.

What about running the breathers into the airbox on a diesel?
Mine have cheap fuel filters on the ends mounted up high. But doing some for a mate
on a patrol and he wants to put them into the airbox.

Matt

I would think in the airbox would be fine... if there's water in there, he's got more to worry about than water in the diffs...

I would think running them into the airbox would create a vacuum in your axle. That would put pressure on the seals and they would be more likely to suck in water/mud

Thats what i was thinking oldmate.
Will just mount them high up in the engine bay.

Thanks Matt

oldmate wrote:I would think running them into the airbox would create a vacuum in your axle. That would put pressure on the seals and they would be more likely to suck in water/mud

i think you will find the vacuum is negligible.

From a professional point of view, if you were unfamiliar with what to look for in a certain 4x4 pre purchase..i can only say it comes down to buyer beware and you probly should have taken someone with you to inform you of the issues that might arise and costs associated with just bringing the truck up to a servicable standard ..even before modifying it
An informed ear and eye may have heard and seen some of the faults you encountered prior to purchase...this is what experienced 4x4 mechanics and workshops are for !!!!

Converting it to diesel would not be economical for that model of 4x4 given good units can be found and gotten for a cheap in diesel already. If you paid bugger all for the 4x4 you have, well it comes to say the age old proverb, you get what you pay for,,,, springs to mind... 2k saved against market value might bite you for 5k in repairs else where if you get my drift

Thing is tho no matter what you buy , it can all be fixed...its just a matter if its going to be econmically sound to do so..do your math first..If it doesnt add up..get yours parts out, and flick the truck.. get a better unit to start with and save yourself a ton of $$ and problems to begin with..

just my humble opinion

Mate you need to change the title of your thread .. you can't call a 16 year old car with unknown kilometres (although you said it's had a hard life in your post) and history on it a LEMON. And anyway the items you list are basic maintenance aside form the whirring which you caused by lifting and not lengthening the breathers

Not that I'm biased or anything but my well maintained TD 80 that has just clicked over 300,000kms is running like a new one .... definately the best 4WD I've ever owned by far.

Do the maintenance, look after the car and it will look after you. Either that or destroy it and go buy a Nissan ... you might be happier with one of those

Simo63 wrote:Mate you need to change the title of your thread .. you can't call a 16 year old car with unknown kilometres (although you said it's had a hard life in your post) and history on it a LEMON. And anyway the items you list are basic maintenance aside form the whirring which you caused by lifting and not lengthening the breathers

Not that I'm biased or anything but my well maintained TD 80 that has just clicked over 300,000kms is running like a new one .... definately the best 4WD I've ever owned by far.

Do the maintenance, look after the car and it will look after you. Either that or destroy it and go buy a Nissan ... you might be happier with one of those

A rather ironic post , since the TD 80s would be most fitting of the title of Lemon.

oldmate wrote:

Simo63 wrote:Mate you need to change the title of your thread .. you can't call a 16 year old car with unknown kilometres (although you said it's had a hard life in your post) and history on it a LEMON. And anyway the items you list are basic maintenance aside form the whirring which you caused by lifting and not lengthening the breathers

Not that I'm biased or anything but my well maintained TD 80 that has just clicked over 300,000kms is running like a new one .... definately the best 4WD I've ever owned by far.

Do the maintenance, look after the car and it will look after you. Either that or destroy it and go buy a Nissan ... you might be happier with one of those

A rather ironic post , since the TD 80s would be most fitting of the title of Lemon.

Spoken like a true Nissan owner ... maybe he should sell the Lemon 80 and go and buy a 3 lire GU then??

Simo63 wrote:

oldmate wrote:

Simo63 wrote:Mate you need to change the title of your thread .. you can't call a 16 year old car with unknown kilometres (although you said it's had a hard life in your post) and history on it a LEMON. And anyway the items you list are basic maintenance aside form the whirring which you caused by lifting and not lengthening the breathers

Not that I'm biased or anything but my well maintained TD 80 that has just clicked over 300,000kms is running like a new one .... definately the best 4WD I've ever owned by far.

Do the maintenance, look after the car and it will look after you. Either that or destroy it and go buy a Nissan ... you might be happier with one of those

A rather ironic post , since the TD 80s would be most fitting of the title of Lemon.

Spoken like a true Nissan owner ... maybe he should sell the Lemon 80 and go and buy a 3 lire GU then??

You aren't looking at my avatar are you? That's an 80 series.

The only other person to confuse it with a nissan was buttlux.

But seriously, even though I love my fzj80, and have had a 1hz 80, I would never by a td 80. That is unless it cost 1000 dollars and already had a blown motor.

oldmate wrote:

You aren't looking at my avatar are you? That's an 80 series.

But seriously, even though I love my fzj80, and have had a 1hz 80, I would never by a td 80. That is unless it cost 1000 dollars and already had a blown motor.

OMG I need to get my eyesight checked .. guilty as charged officer ... thought it was a GU Pootrol

Any TD80 that cost $1000 is gunna have a very blown motor and probably more problems than you could poke a stick at

Mate I sincerely love my TD80 and wouldn't have any other fourby ... never let me down, did the mains at 250K and still going like a new one ..... thought about upgrading many times but just can't bring myself to upgrading to a TD hungy so the 80 gotta do me for a long while longer

oldmate wrote:

Simo63 wrote:

oldmate wrote:

Simo63 wrote:Mate you need to change the title of your thread .. you can't call a 16 year old car with unknown kilometres (although you said it's had a hard life in your post) and history on it a LEMON. And anyway the items you list are basic maintenance aside form the whirring which you caused by lifting and not lengthening the breathers

Not that I'm biased or anything but my well maintained TD 80 that has just clicked over 300,000kms is running like a new one .... definately the best 4WD I've ever owned by far.

Do the maintenance, look after the car and it will look after you. Either that or destroy it and go buy a Nissan ... you might be happier with one of those

A rather ironic post , since the TD 80s would be most fitting of the title of Lemon.

Spoken like a true Nissan owner ... maybe he should sell the Lemon 80 and go and buy a 3 lire GU then??

You aren't looking at my avatar are you? That's an 80 series.

The only other person to confuse it with a nissan was buttlux.

But seriously, even though I love my fzj80, and have had a 1hz 80, I would never by a td 80. That is unless it cost 1000 dollars and already had a blown motor.

Ah your just jeleous because you cant afford 1 . I know youve had a go at the 1HDT's before because they had to have the crank bearings changed. But for the record. The guy who had mine before me took it to 550 000k's before a full rebuild and never changed the bearings. He just kept up the services.

TheBigBoy wrote:
Ah your just jeleous because you cant afford 1 . I know youve had a go at the 1HDT's before because they had to have the crank bearings changed. But for the record. The guy who had mine before me took it to 550 000k's before a full rebuild and never changed the bearings. He just kept up the services.

Yeah. I must admit 15g for a TD 80, and another 10g for an engine rebuild is out of my budget

But seriously I know the TD's are awesome when they are going, and i know it's not all models, but my preference isn't to spend that kind of money on a truck i will beat up. I'd prefer to look at a 1vd conversion on a petrol model, but again, it's alot of coin for a truck i will beat up.

I do like to remind people about the problems, because if they are looking for a new 80 (a position i've been in many times) it's not good advice to neglect the problem especially since some td 80s for sale are for sale because it's had major engine work, and might have been done to a budget.

Where? who? They arent like the nissan 3 litre problem. Only a fraction of them have had problems. Not most. Its recomended that the crank bearings be changed. But you will find they are so old now they are going to be up for a rebuild soon anyway, wether they have changed the bearing or not. If you choose an old model you have to expect that. I chose an 80 and to bight the bullet and just rebuild the lot. So it comes down to $$$. You want a good 1 dirt cheap . There is no such thing.