The Toyota Landcruiser Owners Club

[VXnotforsale]

Hello Everyone,

Am I glad to have found this site! I'm the very proud owner of a 1993 Landcruiser 4.2TD VX which beleive it or not I've had since it was 6 months old. It was bought for me by my ex in much more affluent days and when we parted our ways the one thing I made sure I kept was the Toyota, in fact I even signed the house over in order to keep the peace and keep the car - stupid I know but hey ho. (could also do with the money from the house to mend my Toyota!)

The Toyota is now a sprightly 14 years old and counting and until 4 years ago was alwas garaged and hardly even went out in the rain, unfortunately nowadays it has to be kept outside and has gained one or two scratches which absolutely do my head in, along with it getting dirty simply from being out in the open. It was also only ever serviced by Toyota until four years ago but the ex having grabbed all the money means I've had to use local garages and mechanics but so far I'm really pleased with anything they've done, and amazed at the prices compared to Toyota.

I'm now having to do as much as possible to the car myself to save funds and I've worked out that most things are bolted on and that things like an oil change really aren't that hard to do. Some of you may have guess that I'm actually a girl but this is a girl who's not afraid of oil and grease and is up for fixing things myself and saving a few pennies into the bargain.

As you can probably tell I'm completely in love with my car and honestly would not want to change it for anything else (well maybe a new one to the same spec but I'm still not even sure about that) I've taken it all over England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland and into France where you can fit an enormous amount of booze in the very capatious bootspace.

Oh and the reason for my username is that everywhere I go people want to buy my Toyota which should be taken as a compliment I suppose but it drives me mad and also un-nerves me as my new OH would sell it at the drop of a hat and have me drive round in something far more small and girly and of course less expensive to fill up as he tends to foot the diesel bills in our house.

[Google]

[Wandering Willy]

I hope your love affair(s) go on for a long time! If you have the patience to check what to do first (rather than panic when it all goes wrong - then check) there's no real reason for you not to do a lot of the routine maintenance yourself.

If you can get a set of Toyota manuals for your car they cover the main components pretty well. They tend to use special tools more than is essential but at least they cover most things pretty well. Max Ellery or Haines are better than nothing but can leave you scratching your head at times. The other aspect of looking after your lc is a good set of tools. Over time I have accumulated a couple of sets of sockets, open ended and ring spanners, etc and would not be without them. Recently I bought a set of impact sockets (very strong ones for stubborn nuts and bolts) and the longest breaker bar I could get to use with them. That's because shear muscle power has its limits and a long bar makes the impossible easy. As a female, you may find wheel nuts and similar a problem but this approach would solve that.

I am pleased (and a bit proud) to say that I taught my kids the basics of looking after a car. My daughter (now late 20s) can do and does do most or the routine stuff on her car (a VW). BUT, if it goes to the garage,  she knows when the garage man is bullshitting her and isn't put off complaining. So she gets what she wants done herself or isn't afraid of the garage when she has to use it.

Long may your wheels turn

Willy

[VXnotforsale]

Thanks for replying Willy and also for the tips. I've been on the look out for a workshop manual for ages now and they seem to be very rare indeed although there seem to be some interestingly good ones on e bay - I've used Haynes for other cars in the past and while they are good they don't cover much more than the basics.

I've always been into fixing cars, my Dad and brother saw to it that I knew even more than how to change a wheel and at one point I remember getting very hacked off at having to replace a broken belt and really not wanting to do it as I was off out and wanted to look girly and not covered in grease and so I did much moaning about all my friends having their Dads fix their cars for them and the only response I got was that I'd be thankfull that I could fix my car myself at some point in the future and low and behold that time has come!

I seem to be very fortunate in that my car has been so well looked after for most of it's life and that I know everything about it, I've read lots of things that have gone wrong on other peoples 80's and so far the worst I've had was the ignition staying on after I switched it off, the exhuast went (NEVER replace with a non toyta one as it's never been as quiet since) and some very niggly things like the windows coming off their rubbers and falling into the doors which has currently happened to all four but it's happened at least twice to every window and is more of a faff to do than anything else. Oh and the lights problem which I now know how to sort out. There are one or two other niggles but it seems to be holding up well for 168,000 miles.

It's by far the best vehicle I've ever owned and I'd like to think is in really good shape for it's age. It's also never been through a car wash and is always polished when it's washed and I am the only person to wash it - no kids are allowed anywhere near it with a bucket and sponge!

I did do a rather silly thing this afternoon and used it to help move some cows, half way through I realised some of them had very big horns and could do some real damage to the body work but thankfully nothing happened and the cows were more afraid of the LC - I'm really scared of cows so needed the protection of the car!

Amazingly when it was new I used to wonder who would be driving my LC when it was ten years old, I never imagined it would be me, but I honestly wouldn't want to drive anything else - besides, anything else is too small and girly!