1JZ-GTE Questions

[Savannarx3]

Hi guys,

Sorry if this information is posted somewhere, I had a look but could only find threads related to modifying, nothing on standard engines.

I'm looking at buying a vehicle with a factory 1JZ-GTE in it, Crown Athlete V from 2000-2003. Basically a nice sedate car, auto, unlikely to have been thrashed by the original owner, judging by the buyers profile. These things were generally bought by older family guys in Japan, not the sort that tend to give their car a workout. But that said, also fairly likely that they haven't been religiously serviced either. They do tend to do the timing belts every 100k kms, but not necessarily your regular oil change & service / tune etc.

My question is this: What sort of kms would you say is safe to buy, assuming I want at least three years / 60k kms out of it before I have to rebuild? How long do these things generally last before needing major work? I'd love to buy a low km car, say 50-80k kms, but they are a little beyond my budget. So I'll likely be looking at something more around the 130-170k kms mark. Can I expect a few years trouble free at that mileage? At what point do turbos start to give out? Are there any common faults at this age / mileage I should be looking for?

I frequently see these cars with 280-300k kms on them for sale. Of course I wouldn't be buying one with that sort of mileage, but is that about what we can expect from a stock unopened motor? Typical, or am I just noticing the freakishly lucky cars?

Bear in mind that I'm looking for something 100% stock & unmodded, and intend to leave the motor that way for at least a few years yet. I don't want to be stuck with a major expense on top of my purchase price!

[pandaah]

Turbos can let go at any stage for plenty of reasons but typically unboosted ones should be fine, but when there 'unpushed' they tend to build up a little oil in them and coat the insides of the intake so dont mistake that for dead turbos..

And these things last forever.. If you didnt oil changes every 5000k's and drove it without pushing it within an inch of its life the insides of the motor should be able to see over 300.000ks easy, ive seen 1hz desiel motors do over 600,000k's unopened and the 1jz's are built just as strong..

[Shakotan_Aaron]

even 1js that have been driven with spirit normally would normally start to show they are aging around 200k but seem to be mostly fine until around 250k. obviously there will be exception.

only thing to keep in mind is, for people who are not mechanically minded at all often they just jump in and drive flatout as soon as they let go of the key. call me oldschool but i like to run it for 1-2minute with a performance motor before driving gently and not giving it boost until upto temp.

they are built tough, if you take it for a test run and it all appears fine then most likely it will be fine. if it has been just puttered around in then likely there will be a descent bit of carbon build-up esp because of all of the city driving.

[George]

unlikely to have been thrashed by the original owner, judging by the buyers profile.

I would recommend to thoroughly inspect the engine no matter what mileage it has.

A mate recently bought 1jz-gte from 2000's athlete, right off Japanese wreckyard. Looks fine, has no t-belt replacement sticker, so I can't expect it to have been run for any more than say 100.000km . However the engine had only around 8.5 bar compression and multiple electrical issues. Plugs were all fubar. Turbo pressure around 0.4bar.

To sum it up, if you really like some car, take your time to check for the most easy and obvious things like above. That may save a lot.