Club 80-90 Forums

I should have held out for a 2.1. Had a diesel, nothing ever went wrong with it but it was slow

[quote="ZsZ"]A good JX is a nice engine within the 80s power range, but can be easily ruined in the rush of these days

I would be interested in what way a jx can be easily ruined maybe so I can establish if mine has suffered in the past or to avoid damaging it!

I found this page an interesting read

http://busman.be/syncro-information/t3a ... ginetypes/

Interesting point about the effect of gearbox ratios when considering other diesel engines

I went looking for the German site that the image of the engine specs has been borrowed from. Sadly it is no more thanks to GDPR. It was taken down on 25/5/18 as the guy that ran it had "no desire to read through this bureaucratic pile of regulations, I have decided for the simplest and safest way in my view. Therefore, I will simply close my private homepage and remove it from the Internet. (Google translation)

Cecil wrote:I would be interested in what way a jx can be easily ruined maybe so I can establish if mine has suffered in the past or to avoid damaging it!

The JX can easily be ruined by driving the bus that it's in like a modern car.

The JX has a heat problem, if it gets too hot it fails plus the fact that, in the majority of the cases, the valve clearances have never been checked/adjusted.

When pushing along and especially up long hills you should always keep an eye on the temp gauge, when it gets too hot slow down.
I remember crossing the Brenner into Italy, I was down to 3rd gear and on the hard shoulder trying to keep the temp down.

Do regular oil and oil filter changes (I did mine every 5000km or twice a year), drive it with consideration and you'll be fine.
Mine did over 250,000km before it let go due to a water pipe failure just as we entered the Elb tunnel by Hamburg.

itchyfeet wrote: Anybody who's fuel costs are that important should think twice about a T25 becasuse you won't afford the maintenance.

I agree with this - the reason I moved both of my T25's on in the end was down to the expense of keeping them MOTed and on the road, fuel economy didn't come into it, despite me choosing a diesel second time round mainly for fuel economy reasons.

Titus A Duxass wrote:

Cecil wrote:I would be interested in what way a jx can be easily ruined maybe so I can establish if mine has suffered in the past or to avoid damaging it!

The JX can easily be ruined by driving the bus that it's in like a modern car.

The JX has a heat problem, if it gets too hot it fails plus the fact that, in the majority of the cases, the valve clearances have never been checked/adjusted.

When pushing along and especially up long hills you should always keep an eye on the temp gauge, when it gets too hot slow down.
I remember crossing the Brenner into Italy, I was down to 3rd gear and on the hard shoulder trying to keep the temp down.

Do regular oil and oil filter changes (I did mine every 5000km or twice a year), drive it with consideration and you'll be fine.
Mine did over 250,000km before it let go due to a water pipe failure just as we entered the Elb tunnel by Hamburg.

As above the JX runs hot, so you need to ensure that it doesn't overheat as that will damage the head and block. Fitting an oil cooler will help, but you also need to ensure that your cooling system is working properly. Keep an eye on the revs and temps, particularly when climbing - on long climbs the van isn't going forward fast enough for there to be enough cooling air over the radiator to sustain cruising revs of 2800 - 3000 rpm, but if you drop the revs to around 2200 and select a lower gear then you can climb pretty much indefinitely without temps rising. We don't have a 'chicken switch' fitted but presumably that would also help. Obviously it's not an engine for speed, with the right gearing ratios we get around 60 mph at 2800rpm, but it can be pretty reliable.

One thing that no-one has mentioned, but which is obviously a bonus is the reduced risk of an engine fire with a diesel due to the much lower volatility of the fuel. Presumably if you keep on top of the maintenance of your hoses, etc, with a petrol, you can mitigate against that risk.

rosanna.s@sky.com wrote:If you could choose between a 1.9 petrol or a 1.6 TD T25, which engine would you go for?

Out of those two, the 1.9 petrol. Every time. However, some think the opposite (eg Mr Brickwerks likes tractors).
Widen the choice a little, and top of the pile is 2.1 DJ with injection and LPG. And if economy isn't paramount, then the auto version is best. Smooth, quiet, very reliable, and powerful enough for modern needs. Just a lovely thing to drive.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

Thanks Clift-d and Titus , useful to know.

Cecil wrote:I would be interested in what way a jx can be easily ruined maybe so I can establish if mine has suffered in the past or to avoid damaging it!

As told above.
51kW/135Nm moving an almost 2ton (loaded) vehicle is not the best combination for the rush of today. Paired with short ratio gerboxes (high rpm) and you are out of the engines designed capability.
You have to drive and maintain it like in the old days.

ZsZ wrote: Never experienced how the petrol engines perform but maybe they are more reliable as they can hold higher rpms

We used to cruise on the motorway at about 65mph which was around 4,000 rpm ... having just swapped to an AAP long 5th gearbox 70mph (on the satnav) is now 3,400 rpm.

Ian