Trouble shooting a Diesel Land Cruiser

syke

Adventurer
I could use a little help.....

Background info: I am trying to help my cousin who is down in Costa Rica trouble shoot a 1973 Land Cruiser diesel. He does not have great Internet capabilites so I am kind of his eyes and ears on the message boards.

With that being said..... The truck has an intermitent no start, no crank issue. To start the truck you turn the ignition to the left for about 10 seconds to warm the glow plug, then you turn the ignition to the right to start the truck. If he tries to start the truck without warming the glow plug it cranks fine but of course it wont start. If he warms the glow plug and tries to start the truck he gets nothing. No crank, no clicking, nothing at all. The battery is good, all the grounds and wires are good, the starter is good. He thinks the soleniod and ignition are good. He says it appears the glow plug and ignition circuit are not connected in anyway but he is not 100% sure as of our last conversation on Saturday.

I am no Land Cruiser or Diesel guy so all I can do is try to facilitate the conversation.
Let me know if you guys have any ideas or a different place to ask around.
This is the first place I though to go to as the Portal group seems to be a very helpful group.
Thanks again, Ryan
 

brentbba

Explorer
Only suggestion I have is sending a PM over on the IH8MUD board to user 'lacruiser'. He's got a diesel LC here in the states, is very knowledgable and helpful.
 

kerry

Expedition Leader
There are a couple of threads over at Ih8MUD in the 80 series tech forum on similar problems. I'm guessing that there is not enough voltage getting to the starter solenoid due to resistance in the circuit somewhere to engage the solenoid. One of those threads shows how to add a Ford starter relay to resolve the problem. He needs to check the voltage at the starter solenoid when the key is turned to start to confirm this is the problem.
 

eleblanc

Adventurer
You need to post in the diesel section of mud, you will have that issue solved quickly

http://forum.ih8mud.com/diesel-tech-24-volts-systems/


BTW as far as i am concerned i don't beleive toyota ever did 40 series landcruiser with a diesel in 1973, so obviously we need to know the motor? B or 3B maybe something else?. If it is a 3B read on.

First thing to rule out is the EDIC, search mud about the edic arm, locate the edic arm and have someone look if it move when you turn the ignition.

then trying starting the truck with booster cable from a other truck, if the problematic truck is 24V simply connect a other vehicule (12v) to the right hand side battery (should be the one 12V). And try starting again.
 
Last edited:
It would be a B, not a 3B.
My 79 BJ40 (from Canada) has the 3.0L B
The EDIC controls the on-off for the injection pump and also over-injection for starting only; it has nothing to do with cranking.
He could try turning the key to the "ON" position and manually actuating glowplugs with the toggle switch on the dash. There should be a distinct "click" from under the hood as the glow plug relay switches on. Then, while switch is depressed, try starting. If it cranks fast enough it should start.
If it does not crank the battery is weak. If it does crank and start then there's a problem perhaps in the key switch.
A good way to test a battery is to turn on the headlights in the dark and try cranking. If the lights get very dim the batteries are no good or there is a bad connection.

Charlie
 

syke

Adventurer
Thanks for the help/info guys..... my line of communication is slow going with my cousin but I did give him the info gathered from here. I will head over to ih8mud if he ends up needing more help. Thanks again.
 

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