New Vehicle Questions

[Jon S]

Hi, I have recently bought a 2.4L SSR-G (LN130 I believe?) after reading a lot about them on this website. I am very happy with what I have bought but I have a few questions that I am hoping some of you may be able to help with.

Fuel economy. My measured fuel economy started at 16.8mpg, then rose to 19.89mpg after putting in some Millers Diesel something-or-other on the advice of people on this website. This seems to be a long way from what people here are reporting. These figures are for long journeys. I have a K&N air filter that was fitted when I bought it. Could this be the problem?

Cold start smoking. There is currently a thread that is dealing with this topic that I shall keep my eye on.

Servicing. I want to do most of the servicing myself, can anyone recomend a decent haynes manual type book that I should buy for this vehicle?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Jon.

[Guest]

Hi, I have recently bought a 2.4L SSR-G (LN130 I believe?) after reading a lot about them on this website. I am very happy with what I have bought but I have a few questions that I am hoping some of you may be able to help with.

Fuel economy. My measured fuel economy started at 16.8mpg, then rose to 19.89mpg after putting in some Millers Diesel something-or-other on the advice of people on this website. This seems to be a long way from what people here are reporting. These figures are for long journeys. I have a K&N air filter that was fitted when I bought it. Could this be the problem?

Cold start smoking. There is currently a thread that is dealing with this topic that I shall keep my eye on.

Servicing. I want to do most of the servicing myself, can anyone recomend a decent haynes manual type book that I should buy for this vehicle?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Jon.

Jon.

Fuel Economy - You may find that this improves with driving it. If it is a new import then it will have been standing for some time and also you need to get used to the car and adjust your driving style accordingly. The K7N air filter will make the engine breath better, the problem with that is that it will also be able to burn more fuel. The ECU on the 2LTE engine learns the engine requirements and adjusts accordingly. You can reset the ECU to default by disconnecting the battery for over 15 minutes. This may help the fuel economy. However this being said I only now get about 21mpg on a run and 15-16 around town in mine, however I have packed out the turbo wastegate on mine so I expected to lose some economy. Another good economy trick is to remove the vent visors if you have them and the bull bar if you have one of those. They both make a vehicle that is brick shaped even less aerodynamic.

Cold Start smoking - may be glow plugs needing replacement if it is black smoke, or injectors on the way out - or also the fuel filter. Just changed mine and the engine is like a new one, didn't realise how bad it had got.

Servicing - Milners (www.milneroffroad.co.uk) do a Haynes manual for the surf which covers most things. I have a Max Ellery one (EPTH4D) which also covers most things. In an ideal world buy both as you will get one decent manual out of the two.

Cheers and welcome

[Jon S]

Thanks for that,

The smoking is white smoke, perhaps I need to check/replace the glow plugs.

The economy does seem to be slowly rising. If I could get 24mpg I would be happy. I only seem to be able to get 40mph on moderately steep hills, and 20mph on a very steep hill. Is this normal?

Is packing out the turbo waste gate a sensible thing to do? I have read the other post and no one seems to have engines that have blown up. Would I lose even more economy or would it stay the same?

All in all I am really impressed with the vehicle as a whole. I delivered a large (200Kg) cast iron and aluminium machine about 100 miles the other day with no discernable loss in pulling power. There is no way I would have even got that in my car before. What a great idea having tie-downs in the back.

Thanks again for your help,

Jon.

[Guest]

Thanks for that,

The smoking is white smoke, perhaps I need to check/replace the glow plugs.

The economy does seem to be slowly rising. If I could get 24mpg I would be happy. I only seem to be able to get 40mph on moderately steep hills, and 20mph on a very steep hill. Is this normal?

Is packing out the turbo waste gate a sensible thing to do? I have read the other post and no one seems to have engines that have blown up. Would I lose even more economy or would it stay the same?

All in all I am really impressed with the vehicle as a whole. I delivered a large (200Kg) cast iron and aluminium machine about 100 miles the other day with no discernable loss in pulling power. There is no way I would have even got that in my car before. What a great idea having tie-downs in the back.

Thanks again for your help,

Jon.

Jon.

I don't want to worry you but white smoke means water in the combustion chamber - normally a sign of a blown head gasket or more commonly on a 2.4 a cracked head.

Are you using any water, is it overheating?.

Glow plugs would cause black smoke due to the fuel not burning properly. Black smoke is unburnt fuel, blue smoke is burning oil, white smoke is water in the combustion and is basically steam mixed in with the normal exhaust gases.

There is a difference of opinion on packing the watergate - any increase in turbo boost has a possible impact on engine life as more power puts the engine under more stress. However I have not so far had any problems with mine since I did it however the fuel economy suffered heavily. I used to get around 24 - 25 on a run and 22 around town.

Cheers

[Jon S]

Just had a mate look at it and he thinks that it is definately burning water. It does it for about 15 seconds and then goes away.

I guess in Hilux land this is a really bad thing. Not sure if I am losing water because I overfilled it and it vented a lot of it out, but I must be if it is burning it. I have only had the vehicle for about a month so I am still covered under warranty I hope.

Thanks again for your help,

Jon.

[Guest]

Just had a mate look at it and he thinks that it is definately burning water. It does it for about 15 seconds and then goes away.

I guess in Hilux land this is a really bad thing. Not sure if I am losing water because I overfilled it and it vented a lot of it out, but I must be if it is burning it. I have only had the vehicle for about a month so I am still covered under warranty I hope.

Thanks again for your help,

Jon.

If you only do short journeys then it is probably condensation because the engine never gets hot enough. I would worry more if it did it more than just for 15 seconds, however I would get it pressure tested just to be sure.

Cheers