Bought a beautiful SJ410 to drive to Mongolia in!

[mikeydicks]

Hi there, I am new to this forum. I am sure it will end up being very useful.

We have just purchased an SJ 410 to drive to Mongolia in - we absolutely love it - very excited. On our drive back, the exhaust fell off though. Is this an easy fix?

Couple of other things there is a painfully loud metallic scraping/whining noise when in 4th gear and going above 40mph, could be the transfer box? The scraping/whining disappears when I put it into neutral, however, the engine oil light then comes on. The oil light is also on when at idle or at slow speeds. Is this normal? Here is a video of the whining: https://youtu.be/fY66afgN5U8

Does anyone have any idea what a good comfortable seat would be for the front? We are big guys so also need to make the rails slightly larger. Also looking for something really comfortable to put in the back if anyone has any ideas!

The car also seems incredibly slow (even for an SJ410), top speed is about 55mph on flat, 62 or 63 downhill. Normal for its age?

I'd be grateful for any help you can offer.

Thanks,

Mikey

[ScottieJ]

sorry to say but it sounds like you might have a lot of work to do before i would be confident in making it to mongolia....unless the oil pressure switch is playing up and it's coming on at a higher pressure than it should do then every time that light comes on damage is being done to the engine, it's either time for a rebuild or a good replacement engine.

The whining is bearing noise, could be either the gearbox or tbox.

where in the UK are you?

[Andrews]

Hi Guys , the truck looks good and your plan sounds awesome but think Scottie has it nailed . Time for some spannering sadly . Just a suggestion for the front seats . We have a Discovery front seat as the drivers and its very comfortable . Excuse me while I spit I dislike anything L R but the seats seems to work . Out of memory there was a truck advertised on here middle to late last year that had been built up for a rally to the far east but never got used for that purpose . Maybe worth taking a look . Good luck though chaps and I,m very confident all questions can be answered here

[ektoz]

Welcome to the forum Mikey, I agree with scottie, you have a engine problem

[mikeydicks]

Hi guys, thank you for your swift and honest replies. Here is a full diagnosis of what needs to be done:

Engine has no oil pressure (probably needs a new engine)
Coolant water leak at rear of engine
Transfer box needs to be fixed/replaced
Reverse gear issue (would quite like to put a 5 speed gearbox in)
Starter motor issue
Prop shaft on its last legs
Exhaust missing
Rear tyres need replacing
Hub oil something (not quite sure what they meant about this one)

Does anyone know how much this might cost to fix and how many hours it might take? The structure of the car is sound. Is there anyone on this forum around the Durham or Oxford area (car currently in Oxford) who might want to spend a bit of time on this as a little hobby? We are looking for sponsorship and are happy to credit any companies/people on our blog which has huge outreach. Our last article in our blog reached out to nearly 2000 people.
Cheers

[ROBBIE]

Hi

[twiss]

Don't want to piss on your parade but if you are planning on driving it to Mongolia I would say you NEED to know how do these things yourself, because you are going to need to make repairs on route. Well, maybe not the engine

The hub oil thing is probably the oil seal... usually only cost about a fiver but could indicate the wheel bearing is shot as well...
Either the bearing goes first and then kills the oil seal, or the oil seal goes and the oil washes all the grease out of the bearing and then it fails

Its a hard journey and a long one! I drove from the UK to Malta last year and had to replace a clutch and a rear differential en route so god only knows what would break on the way to Mongolia!!!

[twiss]

I would try and get down to scotties while he is working so you can do the work and he can give tips as you go

[Anton]

I have to agree - you have to be strong in the way of the spanner for this journey, young Jedi. Time to learn a few things, or you're going to be stuck on a roadside somewhere in the middle east, possibly in real physical danger of being robbed or whatever at some point.

[gamble63]

Are you the chap that wanted to buy the roof rack off me?

We attempted the rally in a Suzuki Sj hard too just like yours so if you want any pointers or parts give me a shout.

Have a gear box here if you want it and a spare engine if you want it you can have it for free if you collect it.

Got a full roof rack with Jerry can storage on it if you are interested