98 GU Patrol 4.5L

Hey Guys,

New to the forum and all and just have a question for all you experts on Patrols.

Got my eye on a 98 GU Patrol 4.5L model that is down the road but it has 402,000km on the clock.

The guy that is selling it has said that the previous owner was a sales rep that drove from Penrith to South Australia fornightly for work and he's even said that he has only driven highway km's aswell.

My question is, should I go for it. It drove real nice and the gearbox was still tight. Do they have any reliability issues or is there somethings that I should look out for at all?

When we test drove it today, no blue smoke out of the back under load or lift off of the throttle. There was a small oil leak around the sump. Diffs had no leaks.

There was little to no rust at all. It was a little rough at idle but not much.

The owner recently replaced the radiator and the stater motor.

With the amuount of k's on the clock, should we be thinking about an engine recondition or is it not really necessary because they are such tough engines?

Thanks heaps guys. Look forward to all your valuable feedback. :D

Welcome to the forum Zulu,

The TB45e is a strong motor, the only known weakness is in the conrods but this is not usually a problem on standard engines and is not affected by mileage. Without getting a compression and leak down test done there is no real way to determine the engines condition, but the lack of smoke is a good sign. Listen carefully to the engine while it's running, listen for knocks and rattles that might indicate engine wear.

Tony

Thanks for that Ynot. There were no knocks or rattles that I could hear but thanks for the advice. Will get the local mecahnic to give it the once over and give the Patrol a compression test

HI zulu
i have this tb45 auto 98model she zooms along really well even with the tent trailer behind
after the hilux shearcomfort all the way
cheers roofy