Isuzu Trooper Ticking

climberman

I have a 1996 trooper it had 110000 on it when I bought it. A ticking noise started on the upper end of the motor. I have changed the oil twice and switched to synthetic oil the noise is still there. Someone was saying adjust the valves are there any instructions out there to do that.

tidester

You may want to try Isuzu Trooper Maintenance and Repair or Isuzu Owners Maintenance and Repair.

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

arizonatrooper

1986 Trooper II
I get a ground at the Dimmer switch, all 4 headlight fuses, Headlight switch, and Headlight bulbs (all three blades).
What I believe are the Hi and Low beam relays have power to them. (Mounted next to each other on the left front next to the headlight.)
I have parking lights and tail lights.
Help Needed Please!!

arizonatrooper

Follow-up..I replaced both relays, to no effect. Maybe some one can tell me where any other lighting relays/ switches may be. All the wiring looks good, but, the wiring diagram from my Haynes book is almost useless as it covers 5 years & all troopers with one diagram. Anyone out there with a 1986 Trooper wiring diagram?

casper8791

My family has owned 5 troopers, this is VERY common. All of ours have made the ticking noise. I have also talked to several other Trooper owners, and they all say the same thing. At or just above 100,000 miles it starts to tick. It is actually the lifters ticking.

climberman

I started using Mobile 1 synthetic oil and the ticking has gone away.

woodpusher

You should download all data or micthcell they are automotive programs that have evry single piece of info you could ever want I use it all the time sometimes there schematics are kinda inaccrurate but everything else is good. Adjust valves is pretty easy. remove the vale covers Make sure the number one pistion is at top dead center if you have shims it is a lot harder shake the rocker arms back and fourth to discover any extra play go thourh each rocker arm and tighten the jam nut to specs (nut on top of rocker arm) A ticking in the engine compartment can be a lot of things but this is by far the easiest

climberman

You say download data or michcell could you be more specific, like download where and how much does it cost?

stever

Links to Alldata and Mitchell are in the Online Repair Manuals Guide, along with some free sources.

trooperdiva

I had the same tick in my 1999 3.5 L trooper and they it stopped. Then it started to idling like was going to shut off when I started the engine trying to go in reverse or drive I had to hold the gas and brake to keep the vehicle started . Later , I about 4 weeks I replace all the intake manifold gaskets. The parts was not expense the labor was a killer itself.

jeepnstein1

This is a very good point. The vacuum leak can get quite loud and sound almost like a lifter ticking. The fuel mileage will drop through the floor as well. I went from 10 to 14 mpg after repairing mine.

The intake gaskets on the 3.5 are ridiculous. If you ever get a chance to look at the OEM's you'll know what I mean. Hard Plastic? Yeah, that'll last forever or until it gets brittle. Fel-Pro makes an interesting replacement that should last. It's my only gripe with an otherwise really nice vehicle. Judging from what I saw when I changed mine I can say that everyone will have to do this repair sooner or later.

trooper999

I own a 2002 Trooper with 102K miles. I've changed my oil every 2500-3K with Synthetic blend oil, and I've still developed a valve lifter ticking on cold starts. Any suggestions on what I can do to fix the issue (additives suggested?) without major engine rebuilding? Thanks for any suggestions.

climberman

With my 1996 I switch to synthetic and still had a tick, after a long time I realized that if I put in an extra quart of oil it stopped. So I run it with the oil above the high mark just a little.

trooper999

This is an update to my original post. I tried using Lucas Oil stabilizer additive with no luck, but I then added a pint of Sea Foam to the oil & the ticking seems to have stopped. Although I don't live in extreme cold conditions, it did stop ticking when starting cold in 15-20 degree temperatures in the morning.

climberman

I switched to synthectic oil and the ticking finally quit and the other thing I do is run it a quart high. Since doing those two things the ticking has final stopped. I am going to check into that Sea Foam I have never heard of it.

trooperdad1

I just bought my son a 96 Trooper 3.2 OHV and changed oil at 110K with 10w-30 and filter. It still ticked. I then changed the oil at 113K with a new filter and this time with 5w-30. I added the Lucas oil stabilizer(half bottle), and it continued ticking. I have built(rebuilt) stock and performance V8 engines in the past, and knowing that several oil additives(like zinc) have been removed from the regular oils, I decided to add a engine break-in oil additive. I put 1/2 bottle(enough to treat 6 quarts of oil) of Redline Engine Break-in Additive(#81403) that I had on the shelf from Summit Racing. Bingo----ticking gone! Now there is just the normal sound of a Japanese V6(I also own a V6 Toyota with timing belts too). There are other engine break-in suppliers(like Lucas, Comp Cams, etc.). The zinc/phosphorus(ZDDP) may be the missing ingrediant for this problem! I recall that synthetics still have the minerals in them(I have read that synthetics have had some success on other post).

I don't normally post to forums, but I do search them for solutions----so I decided to share this. I hope it works for you!

trooperdad1

UPDATE-

I changed the oil again at 120K with 5w-30(with no additive) about 2 months ago. The ticking returned last week (as original) when I purchased the car. I added 1/2 bottle of Redline to the oil and the ticking stopped immediately. I will be adding the Redline to each regular oil change.....proof is in the pudding!

spacewanderer

Its very reassuring that this is a common problem.  I just bought a used trooper, 3.2L, SOHC. 1996.  135,000 miles.  It did not have any engine noise on the test drive but only developed this noticeable ticking after driving at highway speed for a while.  Then after resting for a while, it was much less noticeable.  And then again it developed after driving for an hour at high speed. Very strange.  Any insight would be helpful.  The other two problems I have are that the temperature sensor doesnt seem to be working so the car is not heating up properly, and the tires are not balanced, so at highway speed it's got a lot of vibration.  I dont know if either of these issues are affecting the the "ticking" sound from the engine.