Find or Sell Used Cars, Trucks, and SUVs in USA

'88 Toyota Fj62 Land Cruiser - 3fe 6cyl, 4spdauto, 4x4, Turn Key on 2040-cars

US $3,500.00
Year:1988 Mileage:276600
Location:

Mount Airy, Maryland, United States

Mount Airy, Maryland, United States

1988 Toyota Land Cruiser, FJ62 body style, 4x4, 6cyl, 4 spd auto
276,300 MILES (My only other vehicle is a motorcycle, listing the truck with higher than actual mileage in case I may need it to drive on a rainy day. Truck will have less miles than listed)
Not taken off-road by myself or previous owner.
I am (at least) the fourth owner.

BODY
the bad
Old trucks have issues with rust. This Land Cruiser has held up surprisingly well over the years. There is some surface rust around the bottom of the right quarter panel and tail gate, and the left side quarter panel has rust that's broken through and would need to patch panel to be repaired. Those are the worst spots on the entire truck. The other spot of rust is on the roof where there is a hole over the left rear corner, roughly about 1-inch wide. One section of the driver's door has been squished flat, but is not very obvious. Flat section is roughly 14-inch long x 3-inch high, on bottom of the door. Almost blends in with the body lines. Missing chrome rocker trim piece on driver's side. Passenger door lock will not unlock from outside with key, must lock/unlock from inside. Driver's side mirror was cracked, so previous owner used a stick-on replacement to cover the stock mirror, replacement has a crack but shouldn't be an issue.
the good
Original Paint, Never been in an accident. Still has some cool stickers from 1988 in both front door jambs. Gas cap works, gas door opens with pull lever under the dash or with the key. All locks work (with exception of previously mentioned), all door handles work. All windows are in good condition, no chips, no cracks, no dings. Windshield and front door windows are clear, rear passenger door windows, quarter glass (both sides), and rear window all have window tint. Paint is original single-stage but shines nicely when washed, would buff well. Chrome on bumpers is in excellent shape, mirror chrome is in good shape with small wear spot. Grill is chrome over plastic and still looks okay, but it is flaked off around most edges, face is still shiny though. Both headlights on the passenger side are new Sylvania Halogen lamps, one is low/high beam, and the other is high beam only. New antenna, which works great.
Frame rails and cross members look great, spotting scattered throughout where the undercoating had peeled away and surface rust has started but nothing is actually damaged from rust.
Floor pans look great, no rust until the back towards the tail pipe, but around that area it is very minimal.

ENGINE and TRANSMISSION
the bad
Small oil leak from the oil filter housing, but between oil changes (3k-5k miles) the loss is still within the safe area on the dip stick.
During the winter (in my area the low temp was around -10* farenheit) the engine will take forever to become warm. It is an old truck, and the engine cooling system is very efficient, but in brutally cold temps, it will take it's sweet time getting warm.
The exhaust had a couple of broken hangers after the muffler, so two new hangers have been made to replace the old ones. The tailpipe and muffler are rusty and the heatshield above the muffler is totally rusted.
the good
During the winter this truck would still start faster than many of my neighbors cars and trucks, which are all newer Ford, Chevy, Lexus, GMC, etc etc. The solution for the slow warm up was to block off half the radiator. This decreased airflow, which made the truck heat up faster, which provided heat to the interior. Since it was so cold outside, the truck still had enough cooling efficiency that it ran at a totally normal operating temp. The radiator block off was removed when Mother Nature brought the high 30s back. Cooling system and Antifreeze are great. Engine will not overheat.
276k miles with these trucks is still well within the normal operating range. FJ62 Land Cruisers that are well maintained are capable of traveling more than 400k miles easily. The engine itself has had a throttle body and intake cleaning service, as well as an injector cleaning service within the last 5,000 miles. The previous owner also had a new air filter, belts, cap, rotor, spark plugs and plug wires, and a refurbished Denso alternator installed prior to my purchasing the truck (~6,000 miles ago). I checked the air filter and belts 1,000 miles ago and they are still looking new. The battery was replaced in May 2013, and the starter motor replaced a few months later. Since my ownership of the vehicle, the engine oil and filter have been changed every 3,000 miles using 15w-40 engine oil. Last oil change was August 15, 2014.
The engine and transmission have both behaved perfectly normal without any sputtering or hesitation. The transmission is a 4 speed automatic and shifts smoothly, if you floor the gas accelerating to the highway, it holds gears a little longer and has a good kick when it upshifts. This is good. Around town the transmission shifts smoothly and is hardly noticeable, under hard acceleration it shifts much stronger and with enthusiasm.
Engine is still running strong, never hesitates. These trucks were never fast, but the acceleration is good and there is still a lot of torque at low rpms. Cruising down the highway between 60-65 mph, the engine speed settles at ~2,000 rpm. Around 70-75 mph the engine speed increases to ~2,500 rpm. Good running engine, in the year-and-a-few-months that I've owned it, I've driven it about 6,000-6,500 miles. 

BRAKES, WHEELS, TIRES
the bad
Tires are not new, three are white letter and one is black letter. Tire rotations are going to be a chore because the rear wheels and front wheels are not interchangeable, so the tires would have to be dismounted from each wheel, remounted on the new wheel, and then balanced for a proper rotation. Front wheels have black and brown spotting from brake dust and road grime. I've cleaned the wheels with brushes, cloths, scuff pads, soap and water, and wheel cleaner, the spotting is there to stay. There are also several different sizes of lug nuts on the truck, this is from the shell falling off of some (making them one size smaller than normal) or the replacement nuts being a different size. Also, the left rear tire has a REMA combination patch-plug repair where a lag bolt somehow had punctured the tire. The repair was made by a professional and has not leaked since. Not really a down side, just something to make a note of if another repair is needed for the same tire.
the good
Tires may not have matching letters all the way around but they are all BF Goodrich All-Terrain T/As. They are not wearing in any way that would be abnormal. The tread is pretty even between the four of them, the tread pattern is the same, they are all 31-inch tall x 10.5-inch wide. Plenty of life left in the tires. They ride very well around town and are comfortable enough over normal bumps that many driver's don't notice a difference. On the highway they produce very little noise, again, not many people would notice it. Tires have always been inflated to 40 psi as per Toyota spec recommends.
The front brakes are disc. The rotors are still thick and have life left, the pads are still thick and have quite a few miles left in them. They were checked at the second-to-last oil change service and were still at 9/32" thick all across the front. The rear brakes are drums and still have plenty of life left. They were serviced by the previous owners mechanic and have acted fine with no odd behavior or squeaks.
The front wheels still look nice even with the spotting. The rear wheels clean up great with wheel cleaner and a soft scuff pad, they actually will still look new. The wheels themselves are also all in good shape and balanced well when I had put on the BFGs. They didn't need an excessive amount of weight, and none of them are out-of-round, no dings, no marring around the beads, no flat spots.

4 WHEEL DRIVE
the bad
The H4 button on the dash works fine, but the solenoid that the button controls does not. In order to engage the 4WD properly, the two vacuum lines on the solenoid much be switched in their positions. Solenoid is located on the firewall under the hood. This adds an extra step in turning on the 4 wheel drive.
the good
New Warn locking hubs. I ordered them and installed them about a month ago. The hubs work great, are easy to use, and clearly marked so there is no confusion between where 4x4 and 4x2 are located. You'll have to get out of the truck to set them anyways, so really the swapping of two vacuum hoses under the hood should be no big deal. Plus it makes you look cool, and it's marked with color coded instructions right next to it. Those solenoids are known for going bad on FJ62s, and many people on the TLC or ih8mud forums have figured out tricky ways of getting around it. I just swap lines, no big deal.
This past winter in Maryland, we had several good snow storms and a few overnight freezes. Several times leaving work for my lunchbreak or on my commute home I was driving through cold temperatures down to -10* farenheit, while snowing sideways. I never needed to use 4 wheel drive last winter. The truck handles like a dream in inclement weather and is 100% predictable. Driving in scary weather is suddenly fun and your friends will think you're a superhero.

INTERIOR
the bad
When it's cold outside, the windows will not want to roll down. They are manual crank windows, so you can't force them down, or they will break somewhere. If you have to roll the window down in the freezing cold, you'll have to wait until the engine is warm enough to use the defogger and point the vents at the window glass.
The driver's seat is dirty from use and has three tears in it (two on the side and one on the front) and what looks like a cigarette burn right in the middle of the seat.
Driver's floor mat is ragged from use.
Dimmer for dashlights does not work
The vent selector or the linkage in the dash may be broken somewhere. The dash vents seem to blow air slightly no matter which setting is chosen.
The window tint was once beautiful, however it has since turned slightly purple and is beginning to bubble, although it has not started to peel of flake.
Air conditioning is front and rear. Front works okay, but A/C could use a charge. Rear A/C lines are rusty and since I haven't had that many passengers, I've never been interested in checking them.
the good
When it's warm outside, the windows all crank fine, no issues. 
Headliner is in excellent shape, no tears or sagging.
All gauges, lights, and horn work.
Dash is clean, console is clean, cargo area is clean.
All passenger seats are in great shape, no tears, no discoloration.
All seat belts work
All door locks, handles, latches etc work from inside
Kenwood Audio 6 station radio with CD player and removable face, comes with remote and manual
Shifter and gear indicator work well
Other than the radio, everything in the interior is all original

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE LAND CRUISER
I have a ridiculous schedule juggling work and college Monday through Wednesday from 8am until 10pm EST. Thursday and Friday I am out of work by 5pm EST. I will try to answer questions and add additional information or photos as quickly as I can but please be patient with me. I've tried to be as descriptive and thorough as possible.

Some questions you may have...
q: How easy is it to find parts?
a: Some parts are available from regular retailers like Pep Boys, Advanced, Napa, Track Auto, etc. Other parts may be more difficult to find and would require researching online or checking out different forums. The most helpful sites have been TLC4X4 and IH8MUD. These are forums dedicated to people who love old trucks and off-road vehicles with plenty of Land Cruiser enthusiasts regularly using those boards.

q: Gas mileage?
a: Land Cruisers of the FJ62 body style like this were only made for a few years, so they're ALL old now. Gas mileage will vary from one to another. This one in particular gets 10-12 mpg in the city and 12-13 highway. I'm estimating that pretty roughly. The fuel gauge works well, and the trip meter does also. From a Full tank to a near Empty tank, I would usually clock 200 miles on the trip and start looking for gas. This may sound worse than it really is because most of my driving is only on country roads and through small towns in traffic. Very little highway.

q:Has the truck ever been off-road?
a: I would guess not. I, myself, have never been off-roading with this truck, and I know the previous owner had never taken it out either. For any previous owners beyond that, I have no idea as I have never contacted them and have never known them in any way.

q: Why did the previous owner sell / Why are you selling? What's the story?
a: For those who are interested in this little tidbit... A wealthy man's son wanted something fun to drive to college and back, so the wealthy man purchased this truck used and sent it to a shop for mechanical work to make it safe for the boy. The boy used the truck for a few semesters away from home, driving mainly to-and-from home and school when holidays came up. Eventually the boy fell in love with some other new SUV crossover and the truck was sold to the roofer that repaired the wealthy man's house. The roofer bought it for his wife, and thought it might be a fun project truck to put knobby tires and tube bumpers on. He never got around to it and the wife never drove it, so it again went up for sale. I saw it, I called the roofer, I bought it a few months later after he agreed to keep the truck at his house for me until I had the money for it. (Seriously, nicest business man ever). Now I'm about to start college full-time, while working full-time, and I'm moving to a new city. I'm tripling my weekly commute in less than a month. The truck has to go to a new home so that it can do things that are more fun than sitting in the driveway. Lo and Behold, the eBay auction! So there you go, the quick and easy version. Between myself, the roofer (most previous owner), and the wealthy man (second-most previous owner), everybody had the same idea of maintaining the truck and doing services here and there to fix her up, it's a good, solid truck.

q: Will it pass inspection?
a: I have no idea what state you're from, let's keep it that way. Being from Maryland, I was able to tag the Land Cruiser with Historic tags. Historic tags in Maryland allow the owner to skip inspection, also handy because historic vehicles never get called for emissions testing. If you have something similar in your state, I suggest you do that. Much easier, less stress, and chances are you'll walk out of the MVA or DMV with tags and registration in hand, and the new title would be mailed to you (or whatever your DMV does in your state).

q: Does it have a spare?
a: Short answer - Yes. Long answer - The spare looks original so the spare wheel is very rusty and the tire that's on it is questionable at best. I've always driven locally and only ventured to the city with the truck a few times. If you plan on doing any long distance driving, replace the spare.

q: Anything else I should know off hand?
a: There are a couple of road flares in the back. I didn't know that when I bought it, but that was a nice surprise when I found them. Unfortunately I can't think of any logical reason for using a road flare that wouldn't get me in trouble, so they'll stay with the truck and maybe you can play with them. 

That's all for now, thanks for looking and Good Luck :)


 

   

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