brasssmunkye

so, i bought my 1985 720 not long ago, and it's been doing us pretty well, until the other day when it blew a headgasket while in town. truck never overheated or anything, i think the cooling system just needed to be flushed more often, especially considering we bought it after it had sat for a couple years. took it to the shop, to make sure it was a blown head gasket, and now they are quoting us $2000-2300 for repairs, that includes a new radiator, hoses, timing chain guide, machining the head a bit, and of course, the headgasket. now, i am no mechanic, but i am pretty damn sure i can perform all of these repairs except the machining of the head (if it ends up being necessary) either way, does this seem like an unreasonable price? I'm in northern california for reference, and i paid $1200 for the truck to begin with. i'd really like some input on this, because i'm pretty bummed out about this situation. I was hoping this truck would last a while, and i can't exactly afford $2200 right now. So i would like to know what you guys think of doing the work myself, if it would be super difficult and time consuming or not (i'm not a mechanic, i do my work in my dirt/gravel driveway.)

well, i guess they were also used for the 85 720, but sometimes they would have the older style one depending on date of manufacture or something, one of those inconsistent things haha. i saw that some have that now, but the one i got didn't have it, but it had an extension, i used that to replace the old plug with the new one, so now if i needed to do this again, i will just always have the newer plug there. also had to change one of the O terminal connectors to a bigger size, so everything should be good for the new style always.

I live about 40 minutes away from town, and really wanted to try and get this going so i could get some work done today (ended up finishing a bit late due to the plug issue, so not going to work today, but now i'm ready for tomorrow morning) otherwise i would have tried to see if i could just get an alternator with the proper plug from the auto parts store (apparently, it's the one listed for the 85 720 with the z20 engine) that would be nice, i would always prefer to just have it rebuilt or something, but i needed this truck to be running ASAP, it's currently my only transportation, so i just went with the quick swap. it was the OE alternator in there originally, but i already cut the cable on the extension supplied with the new one so i could wire that plug into the truck to use the new alternator, and installed it, so i doubt they'd take it back, so new one it is. thank you guys for your input, i came here first because i respect all the knowledge everybody has here, but i ended up getting help from somebody on reddit and got the new one working just fine. had to splice the wires from the old plug to the new one, and also had to get a new O terminal connector for the battery connection from the hardware store, but i got it working!

Hey guys, got my 85 720 here, and i think my alternator went out, so i got a ride into town this morning and picked up a new one, i just went to swap the new one in, and i noticed the plug is a bit different. the original alternator has a "t plug" shape ( | -- ) and the new one has both prongs parallel ( | | ) other than that bit, the new alternator seems like it should work just fine in place of the old one. so i was wondering if it would be a good idea to maybe cut the wires on the plug in the truck, and wire them to the plug extension on the new alternator (i removed it, but it's visible in the bottom of the box for the new alternator in the pic) and if this is an okay idea, which wire is which. i would like to get this going ASAP, so any speedy replies are very appreciated. hopefully i can get into town soon and get a little work in before the day is over. thanks guys! EDIT: looks like the plug in the new alternator is the one that is for a 2.4l, while mine is the plug that is featured on the 2.0l, but they both run the same amperage. I am pretty sure my truck is a 2.4l also, got some help elsewhere on the internet, and found out which connector is for sense and which is for lamp, spliced up the new connector in there, but when i went to install everything, i realized the BAT connector was originally for a 8mm bolt, and the new one is 10mm, so i need to figure something else out. maybe the local hardware store will have something.

got it for $1200, and she's working with us on payments for half of it... in my area, this seems like by far the best deal i can find on a decent truck. i've only found a couple others that look possibly comparable just from their listings online, but they are usually 4+ hours away, and i doubt they would turn out to be single-owner vehicles, with a service record since original purchase, i am happy with the deal personally :) especially with such low miles!

so, i ended up buying the truck today, took it on the highway for a minute, and it runs great, all gears feel fine, temperature stays where it's supposed to be, seems like it is great. i will probably end up posting here every once in a while with questions about maintenance and repairs, thank you to everybody here who has helped answer my questions!

sorry i haven't been back here in a couple days, been dealing with some other vehicle-hell, borrowed neighbors 02 ford escape v6 for a couple days while parts for my toyota paseo came in, and the bastard broke down on me in town, needed a new starter, alternator, and battery, i guess those POS vehicles tend to take the alternator/battery out when the starter solenoid goes out.. and getting to the starter, and the alternator was an absolute nightmare... anyways, it's all over now, and i'm finally back home. so, i don't know if the truck has A/C TBH, i was so much more concerned with the condition of the engine and drivetrain, that i didn't even bother to check. the idle of the truck is low and constant, sounded a little rough at first with old gas in it, but once that ran through, it had a nice idle every time i started it up. i'll try to get a video of it running next time i take a look at it, but it sounds like i should probably get it if it passes smog, especially when comparing this, with the price to other trucks in northern california.

oh hells yes, that's super good to know, thank you

we are definitely doing that, gonna get a day-pass for reg hopefully to facilitate a smogging before buying, no smog no buy i'm pretty certain it's the fuel pump relay, before i looked into what it was, i noticed the fuel pump stayed on as soon as the key was in the on position, then when i got home, i looked it up based on the pictures (which is actually how i found this forum haha) it's hanging loose, which is why it was visible, the kick panel is missing under the dash too. there are pictures, in the imgur link, it's an album, with comments on the pictures with some more information. thanks so much! EDIT: embedded all the pictures into the first post.

it's been non-opped, so there shouldn't be back reg payments, and the seller is open to working with us on the price if things are costly. i did let it idle for a long time, and it was up to operating temperature, cooling was perfectly good for that, but i didn't really get to run it hard or anything, just around the property in first gear, and letting it idle for a while / me revving it for a while to make sure it seemed okay. the heater inside worked well, which at least tells me the cooling is working to some extent. thank you for your input, just been trying to make sure we get something that doesn't have major flaws or anything. i also forgot to mention that the car has only had two owners, the lady selling it, and her son before her. her son bought it brand new off the lot, he used it for a while mostly commuting to school then to work, then when he got a new car, he sold/gave it to his mother, who just used it for taking out the trash and occasional hauling runs. so i know the truck hasn't been abused or anything, but it is old. edit: Also talked to the muffler shop, they can throw a new one on there for $100, or maybe just re-weld the original one, but they have to look at it and see, so that's good, not expensive.

So i am in need of a truck, i live in the woods, and i need something to be able to haul things in and out of my property, so i've been looking around for an inexpensive truck. I'm no mechanic, but i know a little bit about vehicles, and i try to do most work myself with the help of resources like this forum, etc. I normally work in IT, and i have am very "mechanically inclined" so i tend to have few problems diagnosing and repairing issues, but i'm not very well versed in everything vehicle related. So, all i've wanted is a small 2wd nissan or toyota, and i've come across this '85 720 that looks nice for $1200. It has 156k miles on it, seems to run great, although i have only been able to drive it around the sellers property thus far. will be driving it further/faster before i buy, but we need to work out getting a day-pass for registration for that to be okay (also going to have the exhaust looked at/repaired and a smog check done during that day, before throwing all the money down). I noticed there was a connection on a plug jumped, and the corresponding PCB unplugged next to it, which i have come to find is the fuel pump relay (also how i found this forum), i will try to re-solder the points for the coil myself, and if that doesn't work, i will look into either going to pick-n-pull, or buying a new relay (~$50 at rockauto and also locally at oreilleys). I also found that there is an exhaust leak, where the exhaust pipe meets the muffler, not sure if the local shop would just re-weld it, or throw a new one on there, they are super reasonably priced either way though. Anyways, i was just wondering if people here would recommend this buy, or have any ideas about specific things to check out. Thank you so much for reading through my post and hopefully giving me some useful information! Oh, and here's the picture album, some more info may be there in the captions http://imgur.com/a/LOfy5 EDIT: here's the album, all embedded. body looks pretty damn good, it's been mostly sitting for a couple years. Leak connecting to muffler. Engine bay looks pretty clean to me. Driver side of engine Driver side of engine 2, i see some residue where the exhaust header is connected, is this okay/normal? Passenger side of engine, carb wiring and all that. Undercarriage front passenger side, there's residue from an old leak, unsure what it is exactly, but it's all old. Undercarriage front driver side, you can see the residue from the old leak on that cover in the middle, but nothing on this side. Tranny, looks a little wet from some kind of old leak, should i be worried? Tranny shot 2 / cat, and a little rust on the exhaust pipe, doesn't look too bad to me, but you guys are the experts More exhaust pipe to show the rust exposed wiring under passenger side dash, fuel pump relay hanging, and jumped. Fuel pump relay, will try to solder the lead pins for the coil connector breaking under dash, looks like sun damage, the plug is deteriorating, but the connections seem fine. some connectors with nothing attached, are these okay?