Motor replacement

[Destructo]

Friends- Ive dreamt about owning a vx for years, and i may be close to actually buying one. Im concerned, however, about the motor and tranny life and availability of replacement. If a motor blows, will i be able to pay tbe dealer to replace it? What about tranny? Im also looking at Land Cruisers series 80 and most of those have 200k plus miles and still running strong. Have you heard of a vx making it past 200k? Thanks in advance!

[Ldub]

As long as you're willing to check the engine oil at every petrol fill...:yesgray:

This is Marks well maintained specimen...

http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/mgpa/imgs/vx4/1727.jpg

http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=22232

WELCOME ABOARD

[VXorado]

The engine is a common Isuzu 3.5L used in Troopers & such. It's easy enough to find if you need an engine replacement. The tranny is a GM 4L30E which is also easy to find. You should be more worried about replacing body panels & cladding as they can be a challenge to track down. Even so, I don't recall any VX not being repaired because they couldn't gets new parts.

My suggestion: If you really want a VX you should get one and not worry about those little details. Just do your best to find one in good shape that's well maintained.

Welcome to the community :thumbup:. We have a great group of Colorado VXers here (Moncha, PBkid, Mdywer, MSHardeman, MileHighVX, Twalker, Richard Payne & myself) that are usually very willing to lend a hand to fellow VXers. We also try to arrange a local meet once or twice a year.

You can't go wrong owning a VX in Colorado. :)

[Mile High VX]

The engine is a common Isuzu 3.5L used in Troopers & such. It's easy enough to find if you need an engine replacement. The tranny is a GM 4L30E which is also easy to find. You should be more worried about replacing body panels & cladding as they can be a challenge to track down. Even so, I don't recall any VX not being repaired because they couldn't gets new parts.

My suggestion: If you really want a VX you should get one and not worry about those little details. Just do your best to find one in good shape that's well maintained.

Welcome to the community :thumbup:. We have a great group of Colorado VXers here (Moncha, PBkid, Mdywer, MSHardeman, MileHighVX, Twalker, Richard Payne & myself) that are usually very willing to lend a hand to fellow VXers. We also try to arrange a local meet once or twice a year.

You can't go wrong owning a VX in Colorado. :)

x2...lots of great CO VXers!

[H3_VX]

If you like the VX more than the Landcruiser, get the VX. If you like the Landcruiser more get the Landcruiser. Playing the "what if" game sucks. Any car can fail at any time.

[H3_VX]

As long as you're willing to check the engine oil at every petrol fill...:yesgray:

This is Marks well maintained specimen...

http://www.drivehq.com/file/df.aspx/publish/mgpa/imgs/vx4/1727.jpg

http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=22232

WELCOME ABOARD

Damn, thats impressive. Must be the highest mileage VX on the road. :yesb:

[kehecross]

If you like the VX more than the Landcruiser, get the VX. If you like the Landcruiser more get the Landcruiser. Playing the "what if" game sucks. Any car can fail at any time.

x2:yesy:

[VX KAT]

Damn, thats impressive. Must be the highest mileage VX on the road. :yesb:

Sounds like you haven't seen "deermagnet"s (Mark) many posts about his incredible VX and mileage...you need to check out his website..it's awesome! And I think the consensus is that his is the highest mileage vx on the road (at least that any of us know of).
www.99vx.com

[tysamigo]

Well....

When I got my VX it had something like 32-36k miles, somewhere in that area. I had to constantly check the oil as it burned it. I was an idiot at some point and neglected to check the oil for a long period of time and as a result I had to get a new motor. Instead of new I got a rebuilt motor ordered and then installed locally.

Oddly enough, ever since I've had the rebuilt motor (now I have 96k total miles, where 60k ish miles are on the rebuilt motor), it's not been burning oil. I still check my oil frequently just because it's habit, but with this rebuilt motor, for some reason it doesn't burn it and if so it's not much at all.

There's a guy locally that is selling a rebuilt motor, rebuilt transfer case and a used tranny (not rebuilt) along with seats and some interior parts. I really just need the seats and interior parts more than anything but thought since the deal is very reasonable, I'd just get it all. I'll probably sell the motor & tranny to someone here in the group at a very reasonable price for anyone interested and if not, just store it for future use.

Can anyone answer as to why the rebuilt motor doesn't burn as much oil?

OH YEAH, Destructo.... GET A VX! It's such an awesome experiencing owning one. I'm 39 and have had 14 vehicles over the years, cars from an 83 Delorean, Cutlass Convertible, RX7 Convertible and so on, and the VX is BY FAR the most fun experience all around!

[Robbomaz]

Oil burn was hit or miss for a period here with these engines.
Holden here recalled a whole batch of V6s in various models for excessive oil use. All got an ECU firmware update which worked for 85% of vehicles, the remaining 15% then got crate engines

[rsteinmetz70112]

an ECU firmware update which worked for 85% of vehicles

How could an ECU update affect oil consumption?

[Vendetta]

...I was an idiot at some point and neglected to check the oil for a long period of time and as a result I had to get a new motor. Instead of new I got a rebuilt motor ordered and then installed locally.

A familiar tale.

Since my rebuild was installed approximately one year ago, I've had four oil "events." The initial fill, a change at about 1K, another at 3K, a third at about 6K just this past weekend. There's been no meaningful loss of oil at all observed at the three oil changes, so I'm happy about that.

Also, just made the upgrade to Mobil1. Plus I've only ever uses 93 octane fuel. So between these two things, I'm told by my mechanic that he'd be shocked if I ever ran into oil-burning problems by design.

But I'll remain vigilant, naturally.
-V

[Robbomaz]

How could an ECU update affect oil consumption?
According to my greasemonkey mates at Holden (They call themselves GM Technical Specialists :bwgy:) the ECU flash remapped how the crankcase ventilation system did its thing.......

Tis a matter of record that engines with just the flash gained 'acceptable' oil consumption.......yes, I know what that sounds like......
Acceptable might mean it doesn't seize if you miss a service interval. 15% of engines thought it was BS too :smilewink

Mine doesnt use a drop between changes, but when I found out during the rebuild that the very late direct injection 6VE1's have 10 oil return holes behind the rings, where ours have only 4 I broke out the drill and added 2 more per slug. Plus, theres enough 'does not take kindly to dirty oil' stories around to scare anyone. I have a Mazda rotary oil cooler on it as well, mainly because I had a spare one.

[Osteomata]

Sounds like you haven't seen "deermagnet"s (Mark) many posts about his incredible VX and mileage...you need to check out his website..it's awesome! And I think the consensus is that his is the highest mileage vx on the road (at least that any of us know of).
www.99vx.com

Its neck and neck. deermagnet reported 267,561 on 4/12, ldub 266K and change four days earlier. Someone take a road trip and put it out of reach! haha.

[VX KAT]

Its neck and neck. deermagnet reported 267,561 on 4/12, ldub 266K and change four days earlier. Someone take a road trip and put it out of reach! haha.


The photo with 266K is mine from 3/25 that Ldub linked to as an example of how far we can go. So I put on 1160 miles in less than three weeks, and it's not even my big driving season yet. :eek:

No wonder I burn thru tires so fast. :(

Mark

yeah, that can't be right, I know LDub had something very similar to mine (76k) when I visited him in late 2010...so he's prob in the 80,000 -85,000 range now. Nope, Mark is our all-time leader....with no one that I can think of even close....I can't even think of anybody else over 200k...:_thinking

Drive on Mark, Drive on...and on...and on....and on...!!!!!:_steering :thumbup:

[Ldub]

Its neck and neck. deermagnet reported 267,561 on 4/12, ldub 266K and change four days earlier. Someone take a road trip and put it out of reach! haha.


The photo with 266K is mine from 3/25 that Ldub linked to as an example of how far we can go. So I put on 1160 miles in less than three weeks, and it's not even my big driving season yet. :eek:

No wonder I burn thru tires so fast. :(

Mark

Sorry...:mbrasd:

I thought it was made clear, that I was using Marks VX (in the speedo pic) as an example of what maintenance as "near religion" can yield...:thumbup:

With big tire disease factored in, (been roll'n 33's or larger, for more than 1/2 the time I've owned her) I'd guess that I'm due for a timing belt this summer...:_wrench:

[atilla_the_fun]

There was information coming from Australia (Holden uses the same 3.5L V6) that there could have been bad catalytic converters, much like Nissan had, that would deteriorate and score the cylinder walls.

[yellowgizmo99]

had that problem with the MR2 Spyders also with the cats, lost one of my motors that way.