Toyota Problems

NORMALLY the timing belt would be changed at 150,000km, but there's usually a time period specified as well as the distance. Your car would have exceeded the time limit, being nine years old. I would definitely change the belt.

TOYOTA, like all carmakers, won't recommend modifying their cars in any way and that includes converting them to LPG. They spent millions of dollars developing cars to set specifications and know nothing of the consequences of modifying them. So they always say not to modify. Probably the only problem you will face is the valve recession you mention. Talk to a respected specialist and ask their advice. The difficulty with cars like the Camry is the LPG conversion industry has little experience with them.

CARS are regarded as classic when they reach 25 years old, but that doesn't necessarily translate into a higher value. To find the nearest club contact your local motoring organisation. It would probably be worth $3000 as a trade-in, perhaps $4500 in a private sale.

THE HJ60 is a pretty solid old beast. Like all old LandCruisers it suffers from body rust, but mechanically it's a robust model. The engine is bulletproof, the gearbox is troublefree, but the transfer case can leak oil into the gearbox. Toyota fixed the problem by fitting a return line that pumped the oil back into the transfer case. Front swivel hubs can give trouble if they haven't been properly serviced, 8mm rear hub studs can break, but can be updated to 10mm to fix the problem.

IF IT takes an hour to reach the red zone, then it's unlikely to be the thermostat or the fan. It would be worth flushing the cooling system, checking the radiator, and refilling with fresh coolant. If that all checks out, you could consider fitting a larger fan.

NEWSPAPER classifieds and websites are the most common ways to sell cars, but yours is a little unusual and will probably take more time and effort. Try to aim at people you think might have a specific interest. Make direct contact with Toyota car clubs and advertise in classic car magazines.

AS you suggest, it was a fix sometimes used to overcome loss of oil. It would have been useful to stop the oil problem even after the idler shaft had been fixed.

HOPE you have kept careful records of your dealings with the dealers. If not, start now and write down what you can remember of the events to date because you are going to have to tackle Toyota head-on with this one. It might be worth your while to seek out other Corolla owners and compare notes, and our readers might be able to help here. You could also drive similar cars to see if the noise is normal. But contact Toyota's Customer Assistance people directly and ask their involvement in solving this problem. If need be, demand a Toyota person drive your car.

TOYOTA will advise you against doing it, but they do that to protect themselves in the event something goes wrong. That's perfectly understandable. They haven't done the research and testing to develop an LPG system that works on the LandCruiser. You need to discuss your concerns with your LPG installer. My contacts in the industry suggest there's no problem with doing it. One has run a 100 Series on LPG for some years without any trouble.

IT'S cheaper to do it without removing the injectors. I have found that to be effective. Removing the injectors is probably more effective, but costs more. I would take the in-car route first.