300,000KM 1KD Toyota Prado: Mods, Maintenance, and Making Memories Across Australia!
Hi all!
We wanted to put a video together to talk about our 120 Toyota Prado that we use to travel Australia with. It's a relatively cheap vehicle that has done us extremely well.
We think that it's easy to get pretty overwhelmed when it comes to deciding what vehicle to purchase as there are some big rigs getting around out there.
So, we've covered off some of the (very basic) modifications that we've done to the car, what we recommend if you own one of these 120 Prado's, and just how crammed it can be sometimes when on the road.
This will be the first video of our channel so please be kind. There are a lot of "uhm's" and "ah's" but that's what you get on the big jobs.
However, we're so excited to see what you guys think and putting together more content.
Reiterating this again, we're not mechanics by any means, just sharing some of the knowledge that we've learnt in our experience in hope that it helps some of you.
Cheers!
00:00 - Intro
00:08 - Brief overview of our 120 Prado
01:00 - What did it cost us?
01:22 - Front end mods
02:30 - Tyres
03:47 - Snorkel and Towing Mirrors
04:52 - Suspension
05:45 - Interior
08:13 - Rear Setup (and mess)
10:59 - Under the bonnet
14:34 - Pro's
16:30 - Con's
17:30 - Wrap Up
Actually surprised by how few views this video has its very detailed, realistic and also well shot (i liked it)
Thank you so much! We’re only pretty new with the KZhead side of things. So glad that you liked the video 😁
Nice rig, I did around Australia in 2018 with a 2005 120 V6 6 speed manual. Not as modded as yours, but still very capable. I like the fact that you did it on a budget
Thank you mate! The V6 is also an awesome vehicle. Has way more grunt than the diesel. It’s the consumption figures that I couldn’t argue with 😂
Hi mate, nice to watch your vedios. Always inspired by your activities. Am always driving through congo DRC pedicle road quite a treacherous road, with Kubu island ball dust. Just some advise to you & the other overlander with forward facing snorkel, add a bakers sanitation cap to the top of the snorkel acts like a pre-filter. Give me a heads up or a mention once you find this helpfull
Hi there, Thanks for your comment! I have seen a few people with the snorkel pre-filters. I do think it would have saved us in our recent travels. Will definitely be looking to put one on before we head out on the dirt roads next. Cheers! 👌
Very detailed info! By the way just wanting to know what was the mileagr when you get this beast? 👍👍Kudos mate!
great video mate just wondering where did you take your engine in to get the injections done and egr clean as i am in perth and looking to get my 1dk done soon thanks
Good video on your car! The thing is about the 1KD pistons is that only one batch of them were “weaker” than normal. Since your car has done 300,000kms I don’t think that the pistons will crack on your car because if you had a defective piston it would have probs blown by now. Another tip for 1KD owners would be getting a big front mount intercooler to really keep those intake temps down and your engine will love you for it!
G'day! Glad to hear you liked the video. We certainly hope that's the case. I have seen a couple other's blow with 400,000km+ but it's still decent milage to be getting out of the 1KD motors. Either way, we really love our Prado and hope that it lasts for years to come!
Hello. Is a big fmic really effectiv ?
@@ianel5048 more effective than the shitty top mounts that come in these things
@@ianel5048 Hi mate, not sure what you mean here?
Hey mate, how much did it cost to get the EGR cleaned
We just bought a 120 and hoping to do the same as you. Can you a deep dive on you camper, next item on our list….
Would be so nice to have link's to the upgrades...
Looks like a good setup, and serving you well. Did you run a standard air filter? Some people seem to have problems with the Prado 150 [and other Toyota models] with dust getting past the air filter seal leading to engine damage.
Hey mate! Yes, it’s a standard air filter/intake box. I have heard of similar issues but hasn’t affected us. Have heard that this is quite a common thing with the 200’s too?
11L/100km towing is awesome. Had my KDJ150 for a year now. Best fuel economy I got is 9.x with 265/70r17 tyres. For daily, I average 14-16L/100km. I wished I had bought a 120 instead. It's much lighter, more fuel capacity and more payload.
14-16L does seem excessively high though. Have you changed injectors and had a carbon clean of your EGR system? Does the car have heaps of accessories like bullbar, roof rack etc?
@@redsandrookies I do have a roof platform. When cruising at 110k, it's using around 10L, which is not too bad. My daily drive is purely less than 10min coffee or school runs. 200,000k now. I've been thinking about replacing injectors, but the readings seem normal.
@@angeloudy fair enough! I believe later model 1KD’s show quite normal injector readings even if they start to play up. I’m saying that, I’ve seen people online who say they’ve had theirs in for 500,000k’s and no issues. I wanted to get mine done as preventative maintenance anyway!
Driving in citu, 8liters? No way, more like 10
Apart from reliability on the 120 series I have driven these from about 50,000 kms and up a great model to drive as I've driven them when I was a detailer when these were new but my question is at 300,000km are these still good for upto 600,000km mark ??
What don’t you like about the bull bar specifically (genuine question)? When I fitted mine I was surprised at how heavy it felt. And annoying about the winch cradle recall parts as they’re really hard to find now…
Hey Alex, I should have gone into more detail! I actually got mine from a wreckers and then needed to source the mounting brackets myself. I ended up having to get them from Toyota which cost $$$$. However, that’s not of any fault of the bull bar. The most annoying part is just how many times I’ve had to re-bolt, re-righten all the bolts after driving on corrugated or dirt roads. So many Bunnings trips to go and get new bolts to put into it. I managed to also shake the black plastic sides off multiple times which I’ve now just tek screwed back in and just looks tacky. I’ve also gone around and put lock tight on each of the bolts to stop them from slipping off but have noticed it’s already getting loose again. Anyway, rant over 😅
@@redsandrookies All makes sense and similar for me. I bought my Sovereign bull bar secondhand but it had the pre-recall brackets. Luckily I managed to source a set locally. They weren’t cheap either though! I haven’t had to retighten anything yet but haven’t done any corrugations, so will check that regularly - thanks for the tip! I would have liked a steel bull bar but just couldn’t afford at the time. And a big thing for me with the Sovereign was knowing that it’s properly ADR approved - whereas a lot of aftermarket ones aren’t. I’d love to get one of the ARB plastic ones the ambulances have as they’re lightweight (but a bit ugly), but they only do it for Prado 90 and not 120. Bizarre given how many Prado 120s have been sold in Oz 😩
Some interesting points there. Curious as to what you didn't like about the roo bar.
Hey Craig, It’s been ok, just not the best. We’ve had plenty of bolts come loose over corrugated roads which isn’t ideal. The plastic covers on the side have also come off which holds the inner guard lining in place. We’ve managed to tek screw the plastic bits back on but the guard lining is only held on by cable ties now! The bolt issue has also been rectified by some generous amounts of Lock Tight. It’s not really the end of the world but was quite annoying for a while. Corrugations are no one’s friend! Let us know if you have any other questions. Cheers, Red Sand Rookies
@@redsandrookies Cheers. What would you go for, knowing what you know now?
@@CraigSmart probably a steel bull bar from ARB air TJM. Winch compatible if possible. Unfortunately your choice for a 120 series is limited compared with the 150 series but there are a couple good ones out there.
@@redsandrookies would you expect a significant improvement with regard to things rattling loose? I have to admit it never occurred to me that there would be such an issue (first time 4wd buyer).
@@CraigSmart I would say so, yes. The steel would flex a lot less than alloy so shouldn’t rattle your bolts loose. I believe Toyota did a recall on these bull bars and their mounting brackets for this exact reason. I guess the only benefit with going with an alloy is that it’s going to be much lighter than a steel bar, but nowhere near as strong. It’s basically a mounting point for a UHF antenna and spot lights. One thing to note, I wouldn’t be putting a huge UHF antenna on the front of these. Go as lightweight as possible. Have seen plenty of the factory antenna mount welds snap too. Ours has managed to hold on with the 6.6dbi GME antenna. Hope that helps!
Hey mate, how much did it cost to get the EGR cleaned?
Hey Cam! It was done by the same people who did my injectors at Perth Fuel Injection. I think they charged another $500 on top of the injector replacement costs to do the EGR 👍🏼
Awesome and thank you! Yeah I’ve got a 2004 1KZ 120 prado. Averaging around 14L per 100km and the car is a little slow. So was wondering if it’s worth it
8ltr /per 100km with all that gear? Thats insane my 1kzte with not that much stuff gets 12 per 100km
The reasons these pistons crack is oil seeping into the injector ports that’s why you need to change the injectors every 100k miles/ 160km very expensive job tbh
It is expensive 🥲 cost me about $3k to do it in 2020. I believe that this has gone up significantly now.
@@redsandrookies what milage did you change yours at?
@@MrLukedanger as soon as I got it with 265k 😁
@@redsandrookies thanks for commenting. Mines on 160 and runs great I’m thinking of just changing injector seats and checking valves in a few months. The more you toe caravans and off road with a tuned engine I think it’s more likely to blow the injector seals
*promo sm*