96' Super Custom blowing smoke

Firstly, this forum is invaluable, finally joined.
I know this is going to be a very similar query, but need clarity.

Frame: toyodiy.com/parts/g_J_199609_TOYOTA_HIACE_KZH100G-MRPGT_1.html

Only had my Super Custom Auto 3L turbo Diesel since Dec. First thing I did was new oil and fuel filter and oil, even though the guy said he'd just serviced it. Following hunches has got me this far with it. Travelling all over Tasmania. Since then i've been treating it well, did the timing belt kit when replacing a cavitated water pump, and both rads flushed and cooler thermostat (It was chucking coolant and that stopped, I suspected sus head).

New front control arm assemblys+fitting alone cost 2k$

I pretty much bought a jigsaw ive been troubleshooting along the way. New to diesel, learning fast. Bled the injectors when replacing cracked leaking return fuel line right after buying it.

Havent had the luxury of being on my home turf, so its been fix on the fly.

A month ago it started missing after filling up to full tank after a journey. Road side assist said it sounded like airlock but went away doing a short rev to 2k rpm, then slowly came back to near stall idling. Turned out the return line came lose letting in air. Because nobody stocks fuel line small enough, I had to over tighten non-efi rated perforated hose clamps (because smooth variety also out of stock), which only matters because they cut in slowly potenially adding to present issue.

I found the owners manual, cleaned the air filter and performed other rituals hoping the van spirits would favor me. And it ran without a hiccup since that call out.

I think whats happened, is a couple of things I was too slow to cotton on to culminated in a cracked piston, rocker, gasket or head. Theres smoke from the dipstick. It runs but, I dont want to start it. Diagnosis and compression test is today, mainly to see how many cylinders have been effected.

So im sourcing a 1KZ-TE 2000 Hilux engine, and need honest opinions if a non-mechanic like me should be meddling with getting it fitted. I was 4 days off catching the ferry home with it, so giving up on my van is a tough pill to swallow. I love the thing and have been through tough patches with it.

Like in strong wind, the front sunroof twisted on its bolt, shattered and vanished. Toyota said they could give me a part number but thats it. Local body shops said good luck. So I built an aluminium frame attached to the oem hinged bolts. Then attached a solar panel by two hinges on the inside front lip, which latches to the aluminum frame it sits on. I can lift it up a couple degrees while latched, like the old sunroof. Or unlatch it and prop it up at sunset for a couple extra amps. Ran plastic garage door sealer liner around the inside hole, siliconed in and out. And put thick rubbed on the front edge on the panel flush to the body to cut wind up from getting under. Hasnt leaked once. Inside sliding cover cuts out road sound.

Anyway, I think staying in Tas into winter was a mistake. I kept wondering why the auxillary fan was coming on when turning to accessory prior to start, few days before. The top rad hose small thermostat wire had broken. (Id already fixed a couple wires broken on a service that gave an engine light, I think the Egr air line (three wires), so ive rewired that thermostat now too. It broke right at the plug, so I had to cut the bottom half of the plug off, and fit a shortened weather proof soldering tube. Those ones with solder in the middle.)

I added a bit of that nulon engine treatment to the oil to lower friction in the cylinders. Week before this main issue:

After a short drive to a waterfall near Waratah, it started missing just when pulling in back to the campsite. So I pulled up. It was blowing white smoke. Left it till the morning, called roadside... told him its blowing smoke, maybe water in the fuel as id just filled up after a long drive.

Cold morning. He got in, didnt listen to it idling, and just revved gutless to 3k while im gritting my teeth. Blowing white and black smoke. Had to tell him to turn it off when I heard knocking.

I think the cold + added chill from the broken thermostat defaulting the aux fan on, just caused any latent issue within the head to fully develop. Whether a blocked injector, water in fuel or just the freezing cold of first icy days of winter.

Its sad I didn't figure out how to drain water from the fuel filter earlier is my hunch. Bleeding the injectors again a month ago when adding another clamp to the return line coming loose probably saved me a month ago, shunting any water out and kept me going without me knowing it.

Refuelling after cold heavy rain, I know now to check for water in the filter. But it doesnt really help now.

So....

Haha sorry. What likely issues fitting a Hilux 2000 1KZ-TE. What should I ask the wrecker/my mechanic here to check before hand. Like does auto/manual matter?

Im going for broke on my last 5k in the bank... but having learned so much, and the van being my home since december... its hard to give up on it. I probably wont be able to afford a livable van again for some time potentially.

Ive been camped outside the mechanic for over a week since being towed. Every mechahic in Tas is basically flat chat, maybe fuel supply state wide is contaminated. Theyve done good work in the past, I trust their quality and skills. But you pay for the kind of experience they have, and I need to be rational. Im not looking to waste their time.

In my home state id be more comfortable working on it, and family friends are classic car lovers.

Gumtree.com.au/s-ad/mowbray/cars-vans-utes/96-super-custom-hiace-kzh100g-bad-engine-/1296678553

Some pretext.

I had two days to find a vehicle or be homeless, when my home state refused my return flight during times of a strict C19 policy. My state didn't have a case when I left, and the state i'm in now didn't have a case for 13 months (including when I was meant to fly home).

After the shell shock of seeing a deathtrap Urvan for 8k$, with the most botch manual to auto conversion i'll likely ever see in my life. With some v6 dropped in and an auto shifter at floor level, you need to reach down (can't see the road) and pull up some metal ring to change it into an unknown state of reverse or drive... which was almost the least of the red flags. "It's road worthy". Any vehicle that wouldn't immediately kill me became the mission.

And the moment after hoping in the Super Custom for a test drive I had that "this is my car" feeling. The other option was a Hilux, but I couldn't imagine sleeping in the boot was going to go well for an indefinite amount of time.

Things that make sense now about the Super Custom I bought:

1. When I asked the fucko who sold it to me about why there's duct-tape on the front edge of the front sunroof, and was told "oh I just think it's good to help keep the weather out", it was something very likely responsible for why it shattered and vanished on me. Which is my bad for not being more scrupulous.

2. The secondary auxiliary deep cycle battery in the boot, I got tested and was unrevivable, I intuitively removed the isolator beforehand for and all that scarcely insulated wiring threaded through metal body work underneath. I was lucky i'd replaced the small main battery which kept going flat, with a proper main battery. Instead of trying to use the isolator function of jumping from the auxiliary which was luckily dead... because the wiring was 80+amps under rated, could have easily fused.

3. I figured out all these usb power cables front and back were spliced into the roof light socket wiring positive side of the switch and removed them. And I still think there's a minor earth leak from a couple miscellaneous small wires underneath I never quite tracked the meaning of.

4. When I was cleaning all the interior prior to the full interior detail. Removing the back panel, and plastic trims to clean under everything. I uncovered the computer below the passenger seatbelt (inner panel between front and sliding door), and noticed the date it had been worked on was relatively recently.

I had a hunch that I didn't want to let the car lose power while charging it or replacing the battery, so i'd bought a jumpstart battery, and had hooked that up to preserve anything while taking the battery out a couple of times. Which I guess was irrational considering the age of the vehicle.

BUT... I got lazy with this ritual after the tow and took the battery out to top it up to remove any excess headaches when the team finally get time to look it over.

Turning the key over, I immediately noticed the Odometer looks suspiciously similar to when I bought it. . . I mean ... I was excited for the van hitting 300k so filmed it ticking over. I have service records with a higher odometer than it is now. . . It's not 300k now.

5. There's a whole coolant recirculation apparatus missing right side of the engine... with pressure caps fitted in their place.

I'd watched a bunch of catch-can videos prior to this van and it didn't click this weird situation actually gave me precious room I could have used for a potentially life saver situation decent size catch-can. Considering the engine might have needed that bit less pressure of oil through blow-by on start.etc going through EGR potentially. Stab in the dark but I feel like, a bit more initiative on my part could have kept her going that bit longer to reach home. Especially understanding water in diesel fuel sooner.

6. The water-sensor/pump from under the fuel filter was dangling down, and was one of the first things I asked about. I'd asked around Japanese Import shops in Tas and nobody wanted to deal the moment I said Super Custom, or even had any basic parts, even a replacement coolant overflow plastic cap (wasn't staying on). So I was basically told it doesn't matter, and the fuel filter was plugged and it never clicked i'd probably need to manually empty it (critically).

Lastly, i'd ran injector cleaner through and the engine was running flawlessly smooth. Sad it's come to this.

There's always been a bit of excess pressure in the cooling system since I got it (which the new water pump and rad flush allayed), and a tiny bit of what I thought was smoke from the oil cap when toping up oil. Which I was told is probably just condensation. When I bled the third injector (which goes to the return line) the month ago, I also could have sworn exhaust came out, but it seemed more likely to be fuel+air+water due to a suspected air leak to who ever I asked.

It's travelled well, and it's been challenging but fun to troubleshoot. I guess what ever i've spent on it has been better than static accommodation and considering the places i've seen. I did ask the guy who sold it to me to be honest about any critical issues because this van would be my life and safetynet for the foreseeable future and i'd even budgeted for some minor to semi-major fixes. So I wasn't completely naïve buying it, but I guess he knew too much to be honest and opted to push it onto someone else blatantly pretending it was a solid reliable thing.

My hunch was .. it wasn't. And I guess I just didn't find the right advice at the right time. I'd booked it in for several safety checks before heading off, one of which missed the return fuel line pissing diesel on the engine block and I only thought to check by smell alone.(and instead I got a new ball joint, I ended up re-replacing the entire assembly of not long after).

I'm less bitter and complaining, than observing how luck, diligence and persisting when noticing slight suspicions can be make or break journeys with classic vehicles. And I guess it's kind nerve wracking to know all of these small things, can all add up to catastrophic failure, one oversight at a time, over time.

Best of luck to all you Super Custom nuts !
Hope I can stay one a bit longer.

Mate that's more than anyone should have to go through, surely you can take the guy who sold it to you through the small claims court system as he obviously knew about the issues and deliberately misled you? I think Aust has one similar to ours?

*chuckle* I guess im used to rolling with the punches. I did find the 'as is, no return, no refund' stamp on the sale docket glaring at the time. Im really not built for confrontation, or proving my case, because im often too insightful to absolutely claim innocence on anything... also in the end I tend to get to the truth slowly, so its hard to pinpoint where I should have known better.

Appreciate the input. Guess im still focused on keeping the dream alive vs. dealing with the reality.

Also im pretty out of my depth already.

Hello and it’s good to read your insights, albeit you’ve had a hard time. Welcome to the forum.

I think when we buy vans like these we’re all hoping to find a precious and unmolested time capsule that’s secretly had far more competently carried out maintenance than been documented and has no nasty surprises and is consequence-free.

Sadly reality is often far from this dream-state and there’s nothing special about Hiaces from a deterioration point of view. They age and rust and I think the ones featured on this forum are all pretty old by now. Plus I’d expect more often than not they are not ‘daily driver’ cars but are used more for discretionary trips and the like, so maintenance might not have the priority given to other cars. As I look about I don’t see many vehicles as old as mine (a ’92) on the roads but of course campers and things that don’t look like simple utility Euro-boxes are often preserved for much longer.

When I examined my Hiace prior to purchase it was clearly practically original and unmolested and this has been further confirmed during my refresh work. The corollary is that it came with some neglect issues and these have their own problems. I’m also in the fortunate position of being able to take my van off the road (so called SORN here), but I wasn’t expecting my repairs to take so long.

I can’t answer your questions but I’d be reluctant to do a roadside engine swap. Hopefully though you can find something soon and work with a good garage to get the job done. If the rest of the van is basically sound or you think it is then get it done, if you can afford it and it will solve the problems.

Finally, have you considered creating something on a ‘Show Us Yours’ page where you can add the issues you’ve faced and add some pictures and keep the updates in a single place.

Good luck and keep updates coming!

I really appreciate the response. Ive started capturing closer details of core parts and will make a post even if I end up selling it as parts only. I wired the solar panel between the front sunroof cover through to the rear-front top airvents, someone might want to see tha because it let me mount the solar regulator in the centre compartment (elbow rest).

Cylinder 3, Zero Compression.

OP you said in your first post above that you had a 3L turbo, I assume that was a retrofit as the 3L is a non-turbo unit (would be a 3L-T if there was one) and I have read that the bottom end of the 3L is not strong enough to withstand the additional power from a turbo so I'd be interested in any detail you could give about this. Our camper with its 3L is just so painfully underpowered and as it is not a van but a converted light truck we won't be able to install a different engine as this would invalidate the modification certification. With the recent changes to the requirements for certification of vehicles which have had part of the roof removed I suspect ours would be unable to be re-certified so would become just a pile of parts. If it was practical to fit a turbo without causing major engine damage that would not invalidate our certification.

It's a stock 1KZ-TE, meaning it is a turbo diesel, with electronic not mechanical fuel pump.

Its a mechanical pump with electronic controls on spill valve/stop valve, sort of half way before full electronic injection.

Hello

You can all follow the OP’s musings on next steps here:
https://hiace-super-custom.forumotion.com/t4380-2000-hilux-1kz-te-in-96-kzh100g-what-should-a-mechanic-know
Sit down with your favourite beverage to read! Also this goes into the fuel pump considerations.

Apologies for the slight thread hijack but I wanted to add to and enquire about the comments from @AgathaAlice on the 3L to possible 3L-T(plus E) conversion.

Firstly I don’t think a ‘stock’ turbo ‘3L-T’ was every produced and I also don’t think a stock 5L-T was made but there was a stock 2L-T, but I don’t think this had an intercooler so no ‘E’.

The 3L was fitted to a number of vehicles, most notably the Hilux (I think the 5 Series and this seems to share the greatest parts similarity to my LH119 van).

Across the interweb there are lots of forums with posts from folk fitting aftermarket turbos to 3L vehicles. From my readings the three biggest hindrances are:
1 - dealing with boost compensation (fuel metering across the rev and power range). Best accomplished with fitting the boost compensator off a 2L-T pump but there are simpler though less efficient and elegant solutions.
2 - dealing with increased air flow. You need to fit a diesel turbo exhaust. The standard N/A Hiace exhaust is ~37mm id. The turbo is ~45mm id and obviously the flange fittings are different. The turbo also needs a different exhaust manifold (see below).
3 - dealing with additional heat. Adding a turbo will only add a bit of boost. It’s the additional fuel that creates more power (only wanted at certain combinations of revs, pedal etc of course). This fuel translates into more heat, which has to be managed with tip top cooling and an intercooler makes everything better as the boosted air is then cooled (a bit) before going into the engine. The bonus is that it’s then denser. Exhaust temp is also a big issue.

If you can stomach all these then I believe it’s possible to turbo a 3L engine but I’ve not come across the argument that the bottom end isn’t strong enough.

AgathaAlice wrote:

I have read that the bottom end of the 3L is not strong enough to withstand the additional power from a turbo so I'd be interested in any detail you could give about this. Our camper with its 3L is just so painfully underpowered and as it is not a van but a converted light truck we won't be able to install a different engine as this would invalidate the modification certification.

I’d be grateful if you can pin-point this as I can understand the problem but I don’t think other engines in the ‘L’ series that were both turbo or not had different bearings or cranks. As an aside I used to own a few different Peugeots and they did the same thing. Stock engines with mechanically driven (timing-belt) indirect fuel pumps. The turbos had boost compensation but many didn’t have intercoolers. The only differences were slightly lower compression in the turbo but this was achieved by cylinder head differences or slightly thicker gaskets. The blocks, cranks, pistons and con rods were the same.

Anyway there are a few turbo kits available for the 3L.

The ones in Oz tend to be for the 3L Hilux and when I’ve asked I’ve not found a seller who has fitted this to a Hiace so they could not guarantee fit.

The only Hiace 3L turbo conversion I’ve come across is from Don at NorthWest Toys LLC. You can see this here:
https://www.northwesttoysllc.com/Toyota-3L-2-8-Liter-HiAce-Turbo-System-p/580019.htm

Definitely worth a look, but don’t forget the hindrances.

Finally there are countless YT vids of people adding aftermarket turbo to all sorts of N/A diesels. For ‘a bit’ more power these are the best way to go, but it all comes down to 'boost = just air' and 'fuel = power = heat'.

Hijack over and happy to consider this on a different post as necessary.

HTH.

I believe Hiace Hobo did a 3L turbo conversion - it was on his blog which is not functioning anymore. He might have had it done at BloodRed in UK

Thanks for the replies folks. The OP said
"Only had my Super Custom Auto 3L turbo Diesel since Dec." which is what prompted my curiosity.
I'd have to go digging on the Hilux and Prado forums to find the comments about the 3L bottom end weakness again, if I get some time to spare I'll search again and post up what I find.
The guy who brought in the trucks like ours did camper conversions on (I'm told) over 1,000 of them and rented them out then sold them off. We have been in contact with another owner whose camper came with the 2L-T rather than the 3L and they say theirs goes very well so the slightly smaller capacity is obviously more than compensated by the turbo. However we are really more interested in selling ours off if we can get anyone to like it with the very poor engine power as Carole's health will never be good enough for her to use it and it was originally bought for her.