Eric Wurth

G’day Allan, I own a 1995 80 Series LandCruiser petrol wagon. Due to some unfortunate circumstances I bought a second 1993 petrol 80 Series as a parts and panel donor to fix my Cruiser after a front-on collision.

When I bought my first Cruiser I was a little shocked to find out that it did not run an oxygen sensor or a catalytic converter. Apparently they were imported as a commercial vehicle and did not require them.

Anyway, while checking out the ’93 model Cruiser I see that it is fitted with an oxygen sensor but no catalytic converter. Do you know if this was done as a factory set up or not? If it is, is it possible to fit an oxygen sensor to my ’95 model and hopefully benefit from better fuel consumption?

I know that the Cruisers of the day were never meant to run like a Prius, but in the last year my fuel consumption has been around 400kms to 80L, on the open road. The power is there but I cannot justify the fuel usage.

I don’t want to part with it but if I can’t figure something out I would be better off buying a Ford F350, it’s that bad! If you could shed some light on my situation, it would be an enormous help – it has been to a local mechanic and all they could tell me was “boy it uses a lot of fuel”.

Thanks for your time.

Allan

Eric, it’s not economically possible to start fitting oxy sensors and catalytic converters without the computer set-up behind it. If you want to change to an F350 I suggest you talk to some F350 owners because I don’t know if you’ll get any better fuel economy.

You’re currently talking 20L/100km which is excessive; I’d be looking at getting that down to around 15L/100km. After a full tune-up I’d suggest getting it on a dyno and get a mixture check done which will probably pick something up.

With your vehicle I’d also look into carrying out a gas conversion using our Flashlube Valve Saver to protect your valves.