Toyota Problems

Failed axle seals in Toyotas of this vintage are not unknown, but I’m not sure that they’re any more common than in any other make or model. And you’re right, replacing the seals in this model requires an awfully big hydraulic press and some pretty specific tolerances to be observed.

But the bigger question is why the seals keep failing and, more specifically, why two seals would fail simultaneously. Often, an axle seal will fail because of wear or play in the wheel bearing it helps protect. But to have two to fail together (one being a new-ish one) suggests a problem with the rear axle’s breather system. This is designed to allow pressure to escape as the axle unit heats up and internal pressures rise. If the breather isn’t allowing this to happen, the pressure can increase to the point where it will cause the seals to fail. So that’s where I’d start looking. A blocked breather fitting or crimped breather tube could easily be the cause.

It all depends on how you define long and bulky. But no seven-seater is going to be exactly small, is it? That’s because, to accommodate the third row of seats necessary to seat seven a vehicle physically has to be a certain length and there’s just no getting around that.

But I take your point; a lot of the seven-seat SUVs out there do seem pretty big. Again, however, that’s not a bad thing if you plan to fill all three rows of seats and still have some room left for luggage. The smaller seven-seaters aren’t all that good at this as the third row gobbles up the luggage space, making these cars best for those who only need seven seats on an occasional basis. If that’s your situation there are lots of mid-sized seven seaters around, but they’re pretty much all SUVs.

And while it goes against your preference for a smaller vehicle, the very best seven-seaters aren’t SUVs. They’re usually people-mover vans such as the Ford Tourneo, Kia Carnival and VW ID. Buzz. In fact, some of these even seat eight. They’re also a lot better for accessing the rearmost row of seats and they’ll still have lots of luggage space even with all seats occupied. And, yes, they look big, but that’s physics for you.

In the meantime, you could look at slightly less bulky options including the Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorento, Mazda CX-80 and Toyota Kluger. There’s also been speculation recently that Subaru’s seven-seat Tribeca might make a return to the Australian market.

On the surface of it, you have multiple problems across multiple systems and components. But the root problem could be as simple as a poor earth or other electrical connection.

Modern, computer-controlled cars absolutely do not like an incorrect voltage across their electrical systems, so the problem could also be something like a battery in poor health which is forcing the alternator to work too hard and for other systems to go haywire due to incorrect voltage.

A close check of the car’s entire electrical system is probably a good place to start.

The short answer is yes, these are very good vehicles. Obviously, a commercial vehicle like a HiLux may have been worked into the ground by a previous owner, but if the body and chassis are good, then you have a lot less to be concerned about. And that 4.0 V6 engine is an incredible piece of gear, able to clock up, in some cases, half a million kilometres without major work. Perhaps more.

In the case of the HiLux 4X4, the trick is to find one that hasn’t been beaten to death on bush tracks and blazing deserts. But a well-maintained HiLux, especially with this engine fitted (which runs on petrol and has none of the hassles of modern diesels) is a great long-term prospect.

It’s pretty unlikely that a 1987 Toyota van even has a limp-home mode. These were pretty simple engines and shouldn’t really tax a good mechanic too badly. Provided you have spark, fuel and compression, an old Toyota four-cylinder engine is more or less obliged to run.

If you’re happy that the carburettor and ignition are spot on, the next step is to perform a compression test to see if the engine is internally worn out. This is a possibility and would explain the sluggish performance. You should also make sure things like the air filter and fuel filter are clean and not restricting the flow of fuel.

A fault for the pre-crash safety systems on your car is more likely to be centred around the sensors that determine your distance from the car in front, speed, brake application, and forces acting on the car at that moment. Perhaps a faulty fuel sensor could be part of that problem, but possibly not the root cause. It’s hard to imagine that a fuel sensor could be telling the car it’s about to crash. You really need to find out the number of the fault code that’s being thrown and work it out from there.

These safety systems can usually be reset at a dealership or switched-on independent workshop. The cost will vary, but it’s important to have these systems working properly to ensure the car can be legally used on the road and that your insurance company won’t desert you should the unthinkable happen while a major safety system is on the blink.

Meanwhile, the timing belt on the turbo-diesel engine fitted to this series of Prado does, indeed, require replacement at 150,000km or every five years, whichever comes first. So, even if you haven’t covered that distance yet, the five years are definitely up and you should change the belt to avoid it failing and destroying the engine in the process.

If however, the engine in your Prado is the much less common 4.0-litre V6 petrol, then it doesn’t have a timing belt at all. Instead, this engine uses a timing chain which should be good for the life of the vehicle.

Around this time, Toyota (and others) was having terrible problems with paint peeling and flaking off its cars. My best information suggests that there was a problem with the paint supplier’s quality, and the result was paint that was absolutely falling off affected cars, sometimes in sheets. White cars seemed to be the biggest offenders, but other colours were affected, too.

With that in mind, I’d be taking the car to a paint specialist who will be able to determine if your car is one of the affected ones or not. If not, then you may indeed have paint damage due to water sitting on the paint, but that seems a fairy remote possibility if the car has been garaged most of its life. If the cause is a case of the paint quality problem, then you need to talk to Toyota Australia’s customer service department. Even though the car is out of warranty, this may be classed as a pre-existing problem and subject to some form of warranty claim. That said, I wouldn’t be holding my breath…