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Isuzu Trooper

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Comments

  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    That is my feelings on tires as well. I usually replace em between 25-40K as well. I think about it this way: Your tires are what keeps you in grip with the road, if they fail or aren't up to snuff, your chance for an accident it increased greatly. I'm a "spirited" driver so I replace my brake pads and my tires at first signs of degrading of quality.

    -mike
  • schulhofschulhof Member Posts: 71
    Ok Guys and Gals,

    Here is my tire recommendation.

    My Trooper ('96) came with the Bridgestone Deulers. I replaced them around 45k with BFG TA All Terrains. The BFG looked good, never let me down, were reassuring in the snow and wet boat ramps. Lets face it, they were also stiff, harsh and loud....right?!

    So at 95k it came time for tires again. I had recently put new tires on my Mazda Miata. I purchased a set of Kumho Ecsta 711's. I have been extremely pleased at these tires which were $52 each. So far looks like a tremendous bargain when compared to a Michelin Pilot for 2x the price.

    So I check out Kumho website and saw they had Kumho Road Venture AT tires in 245X70X16. The local dealer was Americas Tire. While they did not have them in stock, they did order them for me.

    I got the set of four for $82 each. This compared to quotes of $160/ea on BFG's, and just above $100 ea for Michelins and others.

    I am very pleased with them. They are not necessarily an off road combo tire like the BFG AT's, they are more like the Deulers at a much better price.

    After new Edelbrock shocks and these tires the damn thing feels like a Benz!

    I highly recommend Kumhos!
  • keepontroopinkeepontroopin Member Posts: 297
    I blew a tire this weekend doing some fourwheeling in the mountains of central PA (what a pain in the ars that was) so I am now going to get a new set this week. I just wanted to confirm once again that the 265 75 16 tires will fit without any mods and that there definately is no rubbing.
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    265-75-16s do fit, There are a # of people using them. I have 275-70s w/o a problem also. Which tires are you thinking of getting?

    -mike
  • keepontroopinkeepontroopin Member Posts: 297
    So far the BF Goodrich All-Terrain tires are in the lead, but at $150 - $160 a tire I am going to look for an alternative.
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    A friend has the Yokohama Geolander AT II+ in 265-75 quite nice. I am running the Pirellis Scorpion ATs on mine. I did realize that I have a 1.5-2" lift on mine but the 275-70s aren't anywhere near rubbing, and I know guys who run the 265-75s on stock suspensions.

    -mike
  • sbcookesbcooke Member Posts: 2,297
    of the new tires Paisan?
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    No digital camera yet, although I'm working on getting one for christmas. :)

    -mike
  • uniconunicon Member Posts: 18
    gpm5 posted:
    >I've punished my trooper and did not notice a problem with >alignment. I did notice that the 684s wore with the tread blocks >alternating high and low on the front and there were cracks between >the tread blocks at ~20k miles. I put on TOYO Open Country ATs in >the stock size. I'm very happy with the traction and handling, >although they are expensive. I like the heavy tread design. I have a >black trooper and the white letters out look nice on it. I'm just >worried that they will be beat off when I go offroad.

    WTF, mine had the same thing happen on the front of *my* '99 Trooper: "tread blocks alternating high and low". I haven't abused it.

    Guess I'll look at replacing all four then. Glad I got a decent deal on the truck. Thanks for all the informative posts.

    You got the Kumho's for $82 each? My local dealer quoted me $107.64 each, and had to UPS them in. I'll probably go to S*m's Club for tires.

    -Unicon
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    I got my pirellis for $99 + $9 @ Costco/Sams club to have them installed.

    -mike
  • keepontroopinkeepontroopin Member Posts: 297
    I just got off the phone with a large and reputable tire store here in the Pittsburgh area. I won't mention their name (E W Flynn Tire), but they (E W Flynn Tire) told me they (E W Flynn Tire) wouldn't sell me a 265-75 series tire for my Trooper because of the rollover history of the Trooper and this tire would raise my center of gravity and cause it to be even more prone to rollover. He was the manager (at E W Flynn Tire) and he (the manager at E W Flynn Tire) even cited the CR report from years ago. I told him that was his decision and that he was losing business and then hung up. I should mention the stores name (E W Flynn Tire), but I do not want to bad mouth (E W Flynn Tire) them for being COMPLETE IDIOTS!!!!!!!!
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    Yeah my Costco guys were tipped $10 in advance (on a $60 bill) for the install so no questions were asked. I've seen others that had to sign waviers for putting on non-std. size tires. His loss IMHO. A little tip goes a long way :)

    -mike
  • gpm5gpm5 Member Posts: 785
    I also got a mention of the possibility that the trooper suspension may not be optimally set up for the larger tires, but the tire dealer would have made the switch. My main thing was that the speedometer would be slightly off and the spare case would not fit on the larger size tire correctly. I saw a trooper once with the spare case cracked and not fitting right, due to putting it on the larger size tire.
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    I just run a regular spare tire on my truck. In the event I have to use the spare, I'll need to replace the bad tire anyway so it's only used in a temporary situation.

    -mike
  • uniconunicon Member Posts: 18
    I would think that taller tires *might* be a problem if you're overloading your truck. Most people don't so it shouldn't matter.
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    Actually taller tires would give you more load-ability. It depends if you drive it like a sports car or not. Also it throws off your gearing and speedo. I don't mind the speedo being 4mph less than it actually is.

    -mike
  • breakorbreakor Member Posts: 398
    Thanks for the humorous take on your tire dealer problem.

    I wonder if the shop was really that "concerned" or just trying to scare you into purchasing the tire de jour.

    If I got that story I would be tempted to call them back in a month or so and tell them I want a wider tire, like a 265, so my Trooper will stop rolling over. It would interesting to hear their response to that.
  • 99trooper99trooper Member Posts: 87
    Hey Paisan..I was looking for your website, its been awhile since I logged in here. I also wanted to know if you have any rides planned in NC again? I've still got my 99 Trooper but I also have a 01 Montero..I'm looking for an opportunity to take they Monty offroad..of course if it would be allowed with all the Troops...
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    Cool, my buddy wheels a '94 Monty. he'd love to wheel with another monty and I'd love to see what an 01 can do. We'll probably be down in Uwharrie again in the spring. It's good fun down there.

    -mike
    http://isuzu-suvs.com
  • sbcookesbcooke Member Posts: 2,297
    My 684's were wearing high/low on the tread blocks. Primarily on the inside of the fronts. When I brought it in, all they said was that I needed was a tire rotation, no alignment. I am comforted to read others have the same experience.

    I would think wider tires, would create a wider wheel base, and thus provide some decrease in roll-over risks? I recognize they are taller, but there should be some calculation to figure how much wider vs tall is important?
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    I've noticed with the 275-70s they are as stable or more stable than the truck was before with the 245-70s on it. But the 275-70s are lower than the 265-75s and are 10mm wider. I would personally stick to the 70 series tires (heck if I could get 60s in AT tread I'd get them)

    -mike
  • breakorbreakor Member Posts: 398
    It is great but some of the links are no longer active - e.g."timing belt chart" and "oil filters explained" at the bottom of the page.


    There is a mirror site for the minimopar oil filter study - http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/oil_filter_study/


    In addition another newer site also does a good filter study - http://www.ntpog.org/reviews/filters/filters.shtml


    As to the timing belt chart, I admit I am still somewhat confused on this point. Some sites claim the newer troopers are interference engines and others state just the opposite. Checks with Isuzu have also returned the same conflicting responses. IIRC the best research on ITOG indicated they are interference meaning if the belt fails in service it takes the engine with it and therefore it must be replaced before it fails.

  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    The DOHC engines are generally interference engines IIRC. The belts on Calf. or 50-state emissions cars is 105K miles. So Just get it done at 75-100K and you'll be fine.

    -mike
  • gchernyagchernya Member Posts: 11
    I own 1998 Isuzu Trooper auto/4wd and here the history of repairs that I have had on it for 3 year and 10760 miles:
    1.CD changer - replaced 2 times, and third keeps skipping sound as the first one did. Never load more then one CD anymore. Second changer ate all 6 CD and I got them back only in 2 months.
    2.Windshild wipers - once snow sliding from the roof broke wiper motor housing; covered by warranty after haggling with Isuzu. Sitting with wiper arms up ever since. Another time frozen wipers snapped a link in the wiper assembly - another trip to the dealer.
    3.Leaked transmission fluid trough un-tight drain plug. Tightened this one myself. Went to the dealer, and asked to check and add fluid. Guess what, they cannot see this small (pint) loss, as damn thing does not have tranny dipstick and plugs system is too imprecise to see if fluid needs to be added. I even afraid to think what happened if one day fluid will start slowly leak, as it does on most cars.
    4.Had a small grease leak from an axel boot. Went to the dealer- they decided to put a new boot on it. Waited a week for part to arrive, and next morning after taking truck from the dealer I was lucky to look at the new boot. Large ring snapped, and grease splashed all over brake parts, wheel well tire, and rim. Went to another dealer, and after like 3 more days (weekend) finally closed the issue.
    5.Had a check engine light come on after two separate car washes. Once I was able to reset it by removing battery terminal, another time had to go to the dealer.
    6.And last but not least - brakes. I do drive it very little - in winter, to carry some household goods, and when other cars in the household need more then one day attention / repairs. After a year, on the second winter of ownership I have noticed that brakes become funny. The reason for this was that rotors become deeply pitted with rust. Went to the dealer, and they resurface rotors at no charge at only 5000 miles.
    Aside from the fact that I had rotors useful life depleted, this fact made me very angry. From this point up I've started to suspect that rotors on this truck are made from substandard material. Now at little over 10000 miles, guess what - it did it again. Only now dealer wants me to pay to replace the rotors, and rear brake pads, that prematurely worn by rusted rotors. I took the truck back, call Isuzu, NHTSA, BBB.
    I do not hope that they will help, unless other people had similar problem, and reported it.
    Please, report to NHTSA if you had similar or other brake problem, or another safety related issue.
    Have a safe winter driving.
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    Brakes: All rotors will rust if you don't drive your car, no matter what brand it is. Isuzu is actually known for long lasting brakes. My '97 Rodeo went 70K miles on the first set of pads with NYC stop and go cabbie like driving. 120K and the original rotors were still fine. On my 00 Trooper I have 32K of trouble free brakes.

    Check Engine light: This happens on all cars. It's not Isuzu only problem. With the federal regs on emissions even a batch of bad gas can cause the CE light to come on.

    Fluids and Axle boots: Sounds like you had a bad dealer. This happens, live with it, find another dealer to bring it to for repairs.

    Wipers: the linkages on all cars will break if you turn them on while they are frozen to the window, doesn't suprise me at all.

    -mike
  • eschatfischeeschatfische Member Posts: 9
    So I've had my 2000 S for 30,000 miles now. I gritted my teeth and just scheduled the standard maintenance with the dealer for later this week.

    I've followed the tire discussion with much interest -- and I'm wondering if I should be looking at getting the 684s on my Trooper replaced. I don't think I'm quite as aggressive as Paisan, the tires pass the "quarter test" with ease, and it doesn't look like I have the cracking described by others. So, the question is: can I put this off for a few months (with insurance due and the 30,000 maintenance, I don't really feel like putting more money into the Trooper this month), or is the mileage high enough that I should order myself some Scorpions regardless of how the tires actually look? How long have other people driven the 684s safely?

    Oh, and I've included below a list of the repairs I've had to have done to the Trooper other than the fuel line recall and standard maintenance for the first 30,000:

    -Dave
  • sdc2sdc2 Member Posts: 780
    I agree with Mike, I suspect your problem is you are driving your Troop to LITTLE and the rotors are rusting while it is sitting around.

    I am at 32K miles with a LOT of life left on the pads (and rotors)...

    FWIW my 99 has been in the shop twice, once to replace that lovely CD changer (so far so good on the replacement 9 months later), and once to replace the intake manifold gasket. Other than that, nada.
  • beer47beer47 Member Posts: 185
    I'm at 50k and my brakes are only half gone, according to recent dealer inspection. I do a lot of interstate and quite a bit of NY/Philly driving. So far so good. I skipped the 30k service but had ATM fluid swapped out along with TOD/Diffy fluid at about 45K. The rest of that dealer 30k service seemed expensive and had too many nancyboy/sissy things in it. Mobile 1 every 10K seems to doing A-OK. Cheers!
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    On a counter point, the 684s on my Rodeo lasted me 60K miles when I replaced them. So your 30K miles with less-than-paisan agressive driving should be ok to get you through the winter. Also I let the roation go for 15K miles so I had much more wear on my fronts compared to my rears.

    -mike
  • schulhofschulhof Member Posts: 71
    Before you "blow the whistle" on inferior Trooper brakes let me weigh in...

    I changed the fronts on my '96 Trooper at about 75k miles and finally did the rears to match at 90k!

    This includes towing a 3500 lb boat, and it is an Automatic.

    I have never seen brakes with this type of durability!

    Trooper brakes are fantastic, in my opinion.

    The car is driven daily. It is a '96 with 98k miles on it, 20k miles a year.

    Great brakes!
  • sdavitosdavito Member Posts: 71
    I haven't had a noticeable problem with my 2000 Troopers rotors rusting. However almost any rotors will rust overnight depending on the moisture in the air. Your situation compounds the problem from your admitted non use of the vehicle. Regular use of a vehicle is much better for it than non use.
  • tntmythtntmyth Member Posts: 70
    I am getting the urge to replace the factory radio with a decent brand-name stereo in my 2001 Trooper S. Any suggestions from the gang on some good options for head unit, speakers, subwoofer, etc.? It would be cool to see a Trooper tricked out with a nice stereo to get some ideas, but not much opportunity here is S. Florida to see one. I use the Trooper to carry boxes alot at the moment so I don't want to compromise the cargo space e.g with a large subwoofer enclosure. Also don't want to have to move a sub around every time I want to load something. I found this nice custom sub for a Toyo 4Runner at Crutchfield. http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S-V77cfXq3Mem/ProdView.asp?s=0&c=10&g=841&I=044CT4R63&o=p&a=1. No similar version for a trooper though.


    Also, OAN (on another note) I have 8000 miles on the Troop now and no signs of trouble of any kind with the brakes. My Bridgestone tires were starting to make lots of noise, probably from being out of alignment for a few thousand miles when new, but I increased the air pressure during my last oil change and most of the buzz went away. I hope to rotate the tires this weekend.

  • gchernyagchernya Member Posts: 11
    By the way out of 5 Isuzu dealers that, I know in my area, one - Fort Washington Isuzu - went out of business, and two others - Northeast Isuzu and Glanzmann Isuzu - Subaru are stop being Isuzu dealers. I now go to the Davis Pontiac Isuzu, and one more somewhere in Allentown, PA.
    So it is not much choice in the matter.
    And about brake rotors. I have 90 Chevy Corsica, also mostly sitting next to trooper. It's brakes getting clear from any SURFACE rust after I drive it around the block every other month. Rotors on trooper, on contrary, have deeply pitted rust that no driving, nor machining cannot remove.
    And if Isuzu wants me to drive it any particular number of miles per month, why don't they put it in the owner's manual? For the same reason that they did not put there cost of 30000 miles service? Davis Isuzu booklet that I picked up at the dealership list price of this service at 579.95, and this is before tax. I've driven cars that cost less then this.
    And, I forgot in my list one more thing - on hot days twitters from the front doors tend to fall off. Extra care has to be taken not to jam it in the door when it is hanging on wires. Also it pops right back ok. Dealers cannot do much - it's design. And I did have one of the front speakers replaced by warranty - sound was badly distorted.
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    Well your car is an exception. As for the cost of the 30K service, have you checked other cars for their 30K service? All of them are in the same ball-park figure. Welcome to the year 2002. 2nd the 30k service is totally up to the dealer how much it costs, naturally the manufacturer wouldn't put that in the manual, not to mention you don't need to go to the dealer to have it done. With 90% of the troopers going well over 150K, and most over 200K miles w/o any major repairs, I feel yours is an exception. If you don't like it I'm sure that you can sell it w/o too much problems as they are the #2 rated in reliability of all mid-sized SUVs, with only the smaller 4-runner coming in #1.

    -mike
  • gchernyagchernya Member Posts: 11
    I had two other cars - 90 Chevy Corsica and 92 Chevy caprice sitting trough the same snowstorm as Trooper. Neither of them had any problems with wipers after storm. See, car manufacturers invented wiper stoppers like 30 something years ago. Snow sliding from the car roof will move wipers only up to those cheap plastic bumps under the windshield. Only some full size vans, as I know, don't have wiper stoppers, as it is difficult to incorporate into looks of those vans. The do have a similar problem, but they commercial vehicles, and cared about as such.
    Having bought trooper for such occasions, I had to make it through the 2-foot snow in Chevy caprice because of trooper vipers.
    Another useful invention went unnoticed by Isuzu in the wiper area - it is a self-resetting fuse that will turn wipers off, if motor load becoming too large - like frozen vipers, vipers on dry windshield, or wipers obstructed by something - like lots of snow. This fuse is suppose to turn wipers off in those cases, and attempts to turn them back on in 5 min or so. Without this fuse power windows, for example, would need replacement every time you try to lower window that frozen shut.
    Maybe problem with wiper assembly that it is borrowed from 94 or so Honda accord, together with instrument cluster, and not really adequate for Trooper
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    I guess you are to blame. Since you are so knowledgeable about cars and the reliable american ones at that, you obviously didn't research your purchase very well before buying it. Had you done this you wouldn't have been stuck with such a crappy vehicle as the trooper. Good day sir.

    -mike
  • sdc2sdc2 Member Posts: 780
    Mike! So sensitive! :-)
  • gpm5gpm5 Member Posts: 785
    Interesting about the fuse situation. I always have immediately turned off wipers in cars when I've noticed they were stuck and did not realize some were relay fused. WHere are these wiper stops?--I've not seen them on other vehicles.
  • tr0sstr0ss Member Posts: 14
    Does anyone know where is the best place to buy touch-up paint for my 99 Trooper (I have the dark green color)?

    Thanks
  • gtroopgtroop Member Posts: 85
    What is the wiper stop do?

    Funny he is dogging the Troopers wipers, I have not yet experienced a winter with the Trooper but look forward to it (if it would ever snow here). Mine has been trouble free with the exception of the CE light and occasional engine ping.

    My father had a Chevy Celebrity that experienced the entire wiper arm just falling off for no reason on a regular basis. I can't wait till GM makes as big a mess of the Trooper - sorry, I mean the Ascender!!!

    As for the auto stop on the wipers, that is a good one. Never heard of that, but I might of had I bought a highly optioned Caprice, the Cadilac of Chevys. I wonder if cars in Russia and Poland have this feature...

    Touch up paint - St Charles - Isuzu. You can find the link at www.itog.com
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    Actually since we don't have that place behind the hood that normally scoops up snow and builds up, I would think ou wipers would be less likely to jam. Normally wipers tuck under the hood and snow builds up there. On ours we have no such spot just a nice smooth flat place for the snow to run off. :)

    -mike
  • uniconunicon Member Posts: 18
    I have not had any problems with my brakes at 25k miles on 99 Trooper (only the tires), but since about 5k miles I've noticed that the rear drums have a lot of surface rust. Anyone else notice this, or care?

    Probably makes little difference, but I look at other SUVs and don't see this so much.
  • schulhofschulhof Member Posts: 71
    Hey Unicon!,
    If your rear DRUMS are rusting you have a Cadillac Escalade not an Isuzu Trooper. Last time I checked, 4 wheel Discs!!!

    I assume you made a brain-fart?
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    Interesting. I think the last Trooper that had drums was back in 86 or 87. After that it's been 4-wheel disc brakes on all Troopers and Rodeos since about 90 or 95! :)

    -mike
  • schulhofschulhof Member Posts: 71
    gchernya-

    Sorry to bash you, but, if you give the Trooper some time it will prove itself to be a much better vehicle than a 1990 Chevy Corsica or 1992 Chevy Caprice!!!

    You will be amazed 100k miles down the road that it is rattle free, the switches still work, the headliner is not hanging down in your face, the seat covers are not ripped, and you have not replaced the transmission for the third time!

    Try looking out the [non-permissible content removed] windhshield before turning on the frigging wipers and assess if you need to take action or whether you can reasonably expect a machine to determine for you if it can clear your windshield or kill itself trying!

    By a new BMW 7 Series if you need a car with a computer that will say "Dave...there is snow on the windshield and if you turn on the wipers it may burn out my wiper motor. I cannot allow that to happen Dave...."

    Move to Florida!
  • arktrooper1arktrooper1 Member Posts: 101
    What is this about the "motor load becoming too large" re: "frozen vipers" and "vipers on a dry windshield" . Do you live in an area with a lot of snakes? If so how can you resonably expect Isuzu to research all possible scenarios, such as removing frozen or unfrozen vipers from your windshield? Maybe you should call Isuzu's 800# and inform them of your situation. They may want to make a running change on the Axiom and Rodeo...and possibly the new "Assender" to alleviate further complaints of this type.
    Since the Trooper is (sadly) being discontinued, I doubt if they would be willing to do a recall or modification of the current version, but it may be worth a try!
    - Dave
  • offroaderoffroader Member Posts: 23
    The deep pitting is very odd and may indicate a problem elsewhere. A light coat of surface rust is to be expected when the vehicle sits for a long time, as rotors are usually made of cast iron and are very susceptible to rusting. He may be driving through runoff that is very corrosive, such as from salt on the roads. Salty water will pit iron faster than anything. Or, he may live in an industrial area where some local industry is discharging corrosive runoff from their property. Yuck.

    Can't wait to see what GM does with the new
    AssEnder.

    Offroader
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    I like that, from here out I will refer to the new Isuzu as the ASSender*! :)

    -mike

    *TM Arktrooper1
  • tidestertidester Member Posts: 10,059
    Okay, guys! Let's get those chell speckers out! There's one just below the edit field in case you didn't notice!

    Thanks!

    -tidester
    Host
    SUVs
  • tkevinblanctkevinblanc Member Posts: 356
    You guys are blasting Gchernya too much.

    So that you know he isn't the only guy, my rotors (on my 98) rust noticably OVERNIGHT if it is damp out. It doesn't do any damage, I just drive off, but I can imagine that if you never drive the thing, significant rust could accumulate.

    Gchernya, you are being too hard on the Trooper. It is generally considered, not just by people here, but by serious off-roaders and hard drivers everywhere, too be one of the best vehicles around. You don't have to look too hard to find that opinion.

    My dealer charges about $400 for a 30K service. And it does not have to be done by the dealer - just find a mechanic you trust that'll charge you less.
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