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Isuzu Rodeo oil change and tune up
OK long story short. I just bought a 94 rodeo 4x4 3.2. I got it for 700 dollars because the previous owner was worried about the infamous Isuzu ticking/tapping/knocking. So he would not let his son drive it with that noise and let it sit for two years only starting it to move it out of the way once in a while. It started right up for me and got me home(1 hour). I want to replace ALL fluids and a tune up. Problem is I never really worked on a vehicle that much. Heres my questions. Oil is black, but not leaking. How do I clean all of that out, synthetic oil? change the oil every few hundred miles for a while? use sea foam or rislone(spelling?)?. Also where the heck is the disturber cap? What else should I do. Honestly I have a little bit of money to fix this up and I have a couple buddy's that know there way around a car( or at least thinks they do). I love this truck and I would like to put some money in it to keep it going. I have a qustion about the head lights to, but I will start a new post for that.
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You should try to check when the timing belt was changed, they should be replaced around 75k miles. The guy I bought my rodeo from had no idea, so I got the stuff and did it myself as one of the first things.
Not sure about the earlier models, but if there is a rectangular gizmo attached to the valve cover at each spark plug with two little bolts, you do not have a distributor cap ( or distributor ). Those gizmos are the ignition coils. A distributor cap shares a single coil with multiple spark plugs. These engines with 1 coil per plug don't need them.
As for the oil, I like to add a quart of Marvel mystery oil (don't over-fill) to the old stuff and drive it around for a couple days before draining it. The MMO is cheap, seems to loosen stuff up and reduces the viscosity a bit, and really gets the gunk moving. I heard about using a synthetic oil to "clean the lifters" and quiet the engine, so I've been running that first, but i'll probably switch over to conventional after. I've heard mixed opinions about synthetic, particularly in engines not used to it. Rislone was supposed to be good at quieting lifters, that's in there now, and may have helped a bit, but not a religious moment. Seafoam is a cleaning agent, I'll try that next.
The plugs are fun. I just used a 3/8 drive with a combination of extensions, but the one that is blocked by your master cylinder is the most fun. I ended up dropping the socket down the hole, then the extension, then attaching the wrench. Retreiving the pllug/socket required one of those pick-up graspy thingys. Take my advice, get a couple short extensions and universal joints. I decided on the iridium plugs, which should last a long time.
Also, replace all your belts. The only thing more frustrating than getting stranded over a $20 part, is getting stranded over a $10 part. You can do without a/c, or power steering in a pinch, but if you loose your alternator/fan belt, you're stuck. Don't risk overheating your engine.
Got your Hayne's manual yet?
Good luck, hope this helps.
1) changed oil & replaced filter
2) replaced air filter
3) replaced fuel filter
4) replaced spark plugs (gapped properly) & wires
5) replaced PCV valve
After step 4, I passed at hi RPMs but failed by 2 ppm at idle speed.
After step 5, I failed both (I rechecked and the PCV valve was put in correctly).
Now what do I do? Sea Foam the engine? Replace catalytic converter? replace valves & rings?
To remedy the problem you can do a several things.
1. Add a bottle or 2 of Chevron Techron Fuel Injector Cleaner and run through the whole tank of gas, preferably on the highway at high speed. Run it darn near out of gas, or completely out to get rid of all the old gas in the tank. When gas gets old it loses its higher volatile molecules and it gets thicker and wont burn as well, hence you don't pass emissions, especially at idle. New gas has its complete amount of alcohol which makes the engine burn cleaner. Put in 1/2 tank of fresh gas, with another can of Techron. and run it out too. This should clean everything out and do the trick.
2. Add a few bottles of dry gas preferably of the isopropyl alcohol variety, which will reduce the pollution level too.
3. check your coolant temperature with a thermometer because your thermostat may be opening too early or at too low a temperature. Sometimes people put in a low temperature thermostat, or the thermostat gets stuck open, and the engine never gets hot enough to help it burn clean enough. You can also remove the air cleaner element just before the test, and it will run a few points cleaner as well. Make sure to run the car for at least 30 minutes before the test to get it good and hot, and do not shut it off before the test. You can even run the AC to help keep the engine hot.
4. One other thing. Get some spray carburator or throttle body cleaner spray at the auto parts store or Walmart. Take off the air cleaner assembly and open the throttle body butterfly fully by hand. Spray the carb cleaner into the open plenum for a few seconds. Using a lint free cloth, thoroughly rub inside the plenum to get it as clean as you can, and then repeat the spray, and clean it again. Reach as far in as you can with your fingers inside the rag. Do this repeatedly until everything you can reach is as clean as can be, and the rag comes out clean. Make sure to clean the back side of the throttle butterfly too. Many older cars have to have the throttle body cleaned this way, because the PCV Valve lets in unburned gas from the engine block, called blow by gasses. It usually contains oil vapors, which deposit inside the cooler throttle body, and plug it up so idle quality is adversely affected. This will cause you to fail emissions at idle as well. Remember the engine gasses are hot, the throttle body is always cooler due to the inrush of air, cooler gasoline which cools more as it evaporates, and due to the loss of air pressure inside the intake plenum which also cools the incoming air more.
5. use a thicker grade oil before the test. If the car has stuck rings from sitting or is just worn some inside, a thicker oil like straight 30 weight, or adding a pint of STP will help the moving piston rings seal better, and put out less blowby gas. Again this will help with the emissions. Sometimes just changing the oil to new fresh clean oil can change the emission readings enough to make it pass, but since you already did this, the thicker viscosity oil might help. You could even use 40 weight oil if it is hot out and the engine is hot too. Then change it afterwards back to the recommended viscosity oil.
6. Remove and replace the sparkplugs with the new Iridium type sparkplugs, which burn much hotter and make a better spark. All the new cars come with them standard because it makes the engine run better and burn cleaner, as well as get better gas mileage, sometimes 10% BETTER MILEAGE. You can feel the difference in your foot as it increases power output, and makes the car start a lot easier too. Piston engine Aircraft use Iriduim Plugs for that reason. You should too. AC DELCO makes an excellent Iridium Plug, because they use a high quality insulator that lasts for 100,000 miles, and is guaranteed to do so. NGK also makes a good iridium plug. Bosch has had problems with poor insulator ceramic of late, and I would not use them. Motorcraft has had severe problems with their ceramic insulators of late and I would not touch them either.
The most important steps are step 1 and 4.