Isuzu Owners Maintenance and Repair

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  • cwmosercwmoser Member Posts: 227
    Anyone replaced the tires on their Trooper? I am interested in comments on improved handling over the stock Bridgestones.

    Locally, I noted the following prices for Michelin:
    a) 245/70/16 Michelin LTX $459/set of 4

    b) Michelin XCX APT 60/50,000 245/70/SR16 = $119.95/each

    Are the Michelin the better tire for the Trooper?

    I'm not quite ready to purchase tires but I know that time will quickly come.
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    I'm a fan of the Pirelli Scorpions, Also the Yokohama Geolander AT II+. Both come ins 245-70-16s but I'm gonna go to 265-70s or 275-70s when the time comes.

    -mike
  • sdc2sdc2 Member Posts: 780
    I didn't know the OEM plugs were Champions until after I bought the Autolites. I had avoided buying replacement Champions based on the advice of a gearhead friend of mine.

    To some degree, I just figured if I am going to replace the plugs every 30K, the super-duper platinum plugs aren't worth the money. I almost went with the non-platinum $1 Autolites, but then decided to "splurge" on the $2 ones.

    The old plugs looked fine when I took them out, no unusual deterioration after about 31K. That is not suprising, since they are supposed to go 100K on the maintenance schedule. One of the reasons I changed them is because, although the plugs may function OK after 6 or 7 years, getting them out can be very difficult...I put a nice coating of anti-sieze compound on the threads (good idea for aluminum blocks) of the new ones.

    But I will say my Troop seems to have a little more git up 'n go than before, so I am happy with my $12 investment...
  • cwmosercwmoser Member Posts: 227
    How much wider are the 265-70s or 275-70s? Do you think they would improve handling? I remember test driving a 1996 Trooper before I bought mine that from what I remember handled beautifully. Could it had been shocks too?
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    The big number in a tire combination like 245-70-16 is the width in mm.

    Basically a 245-70-16 tire is a tire that is 245mm wide, the width to height ratio of the rubber is 70% of the width is the height, and it's on a 16" rim.

    So a 245-70 means that it's 245mm wide, and 171.5mm high. a 275-70 is 275mm wide and 192.5mm high. That's why a 275-70 is actually a lower profile tire than a 265-75 tire.

    -mike
  • breakorbreakor Member Posts: 398
    Thanks for the feedback.

    Coincidentally I recently stumbled across a magazine article about 100k plugs. I noticed it while waiting for a friend to get his Jeep out of the shop. The writeup was in a repair trade magazine in the waiting area. It supported the change out early to prevent seizing approach. It also had a big warning to use anti-seize very sparingly and not on the end threads. I guess the concern is that any material projecting into the combustion chamber could cause mis-firing problems.
  • gpm5gpm5 Member Posts: 785
    I replaced my Bstones with TOYO Open Country ATs. Excellent handling and deep tread design. No highway noise. Great traction rating of A (better than the Bstones) and great wear characteristics. They have a 500 mile 45 day return if you don't like them.


    http://www.toyo.com/tires/index_frame.html

  • sdavitosdavito Member Posts: 71
    My experience with Michelin tires in the 70s - 80s was that the tread seemed to split quite often. I figured that they had to have improved by 2001, but a friend of mine mentioned to me that his fairly new ( < 1year old ) set of Michelins tires were starting to split. Personally, I wouldn&#146;t spend my $ on them.

    David
  • teacherjimteacherjim Member Posts: 52
    It's getting to be that time of the year in Michigan to start thinking about snow tires. I have a 2001 Trooper with the stock 245-70-16 Bridgestone tires. Should I buy snow tires foe it or will the stock tires work okey? I drive 37 miles each way to work, sometimes I take the Interstate other times the back way through the country. Will the Bridgestones get me there or should I invest in some good snow tires?. If so what kind and what size. Thanks Jim
  • gpm5gpm5 Member Posts: 785
    I've diven through 2 ft of snow and 3 ft snow drifts with the B-stones with no problem. I did get stuck once in some very deep snow that I backed into, off my driveway, when I was trying to get my trailer that was buried under the winter snow.
  • radman6radman6 Member Posts: 81
    I ran my 2000S in Spokane WA last winter with the standard Bridgestones to see how they did. We have a fairly long winter here with lots of snow and ice / black ice driving. With the Bridgestones and TOD I had lots of "go" but had a few near accidents in situations where I couldn't stop. I slid completely through a couple stop signs and nearly rear ended a Durango that was involved in an accident on a steep hill. My wife had similar experiences.


      I'm a pretty conservative driver and have over 20 years of winter driving experience, including plenty of offroad and commercial driving. This year I'm putting on studded snows. If Washington didn't allow studs, I'd buy the best non studded tires I could find.


      Here's one of the snow tires I'm looking at (Cooper Discoverer M/S)see link below. Cooper snow tires are real popular in this area. Bridgestone makes a nice studless SUV snow tire but they're pretty spendy. http://www.coopertires.com/tire_cooper/ltsuv.asp?id=206

  • bluedevilsbluedevils Member Posts: 2,554
    About 2 months ago we replaced the stock Bridgestone Dueler 684s (got 52,000 miles out of 'em) with P245/70/16 Michelin LTX M/S. Local Discount Tire beat Sam's Club price by a buck a tire. Price, including tires, labor, pro-rated road hazard, lifetime rotation, and balancing: about $430 plus 6% state sales tax, or $459 total.

    Almost went with BF Goodrich Long Trail T/A but they were about $10 each more expensive.

    I haven't noticed much handling difference between the Michelins and the Bridgestones. Both seem good to me. I wanted tires with balanced performance in all weather conditions (we're in Michigan), not too noisy, decent treadwear and traction and temp specs. My research showed that the LTX M/S was one of the best all-around performers in these categories. Off-road performance was not a consideration.

    One other consideration: the LTX M/S is stocked by many retailers in the 245/70/16 size. Should you be out of town and need a replacement tire, you'll likely be able to get one immediately rather than taking a different tire.
  • bluedevilsbluedevils Member Posts: 2,554
    Regardless of vehicle, the prevailing opinion is that good snow tires are WAY better in snow/ice than good year-round tires. I always felt the stock Bridgestones did well enough.

    If you're really curious about snow abilities of snow tires and of year-round tires, check out Consumer Reports. They've reviewed SUV tires 2-3 times in the past couple years. I don't have the issues in front of me right now but I'll try to dig them up and give you some info on what's good and what is not.

    Whereabouts are you in Michigan? We're in northwest Detroit suburbs but I'm originally from G.R. area.
  • sbcookesbcooke Member Posts: 2,297
    There is an article on the web about the trooper and winter deulers. These supposedly work better than regular tires by changing the composition of the rubber due to temperature and surface (something like that). I will look for it and try to put a link out, but these may be another option to studded tires.
  • sbcookesbcooke Member Posts: 2,297
    http://www.motortrend.com/jan00/ccwinter/1.html


    I remembered this article because it had Trooper's in it. It is shorter than what I remembered seeing a year ago? If you search MT for Trooper's you might find more?

  • heyamigoheyamigo Member Posts: 1
    I purchased the P245/75/16 Michelin LTX from BJs (Like Sams Club)for my '94 Amigo. I paid $89 per tire and an extra $10 per tire for life time rotating and balance. It gives the truck a sporty look. They are about a year and a half old now, still a great tire. Super quiet on the highway, handles the corners. Aired down they are decent on the beach, pumped up hard they work in the loose boulder climbs. I went with Michelin because of an old Ford Escort I bought when I was commuting to College. I came from the factory with the Michelins I bought it with and at that point had 43,000 miles on them. I drove on them for another 15 before I found them slashed in a bad neighborhood.
    The 75 side wall gives me a 31" tire instead of a 30". Trouble is my speedometer is 5 MPH slow so 75 mph really was 80 officer. BJ made me sign a waiver that they were not responsible for the wrong sized tire in case of a roll over.
    I had goodyear wrangler ATs on my toyota landcruiser, they were loud on the highway and didn't seem to last very long, I can see why they're cheaper.
  • bluedevilsbluedevils Member Posts: 2,554
    I'm impressed that BJ's was smart enough to make you sign a waiver. Good move by them.

    I've always thought Goodyears, in general, were overpriced. Decent tires, but expensive for what you get.

    heyamigo, are yours the LTX M/S or LTX A/S?
  • beer47beer47 Member Posts: 185
    took my 2000S 4wd in for an ocassional rough idle, valve tap, and to eyeball the brakes. They reset the computer chip to fix the rough idle. They could not reproduce the valve tap. That figures since it usually happens under acceleration going uphill and the dealer's area is in a dead flat area of the NJ shore. They claimed that the chip re-set may fix the valve tap(?!). All day today, no tap. So far so good. Brakes were estimated to be worn to 45%. I think that is pretty good considering I do a mixed bag of NYC/Philly and a lot of interstate for work. I am at 48K plus. I wonder if a regular repair shop can get the same brake pads or if they are only available @ the dealer. Any guesses or observations? I hope this thing lasts as long as the payment book. 33 payments to go! I should have about 150K at the end of the payment book. With any luck it will last a year after that so I can start saving for the next one. Whatever that may be!
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    Brakes are real easy on the Isuzus. Just pick up a set of pads from the dealer and throw em on yourself. Heck if you are in NJ, we could have a meet and do your brakes at the meet.

    -mike
  • teacherjimteacherjim Member Posts: 52
    Well I went out and bought snow tires for the trooper. I got Bridgestone winter duelers DM-Z2. I got the stock size 245-70-16. The local dealer here in Battle Creek Michigan wanted $135 per tire but I got them from Tire Rack for $102 per tire plus $6.50 per tire shipping. The tires look like they should do a good job here in the Winter wonderland of Michigan! Now I need to see how much they affect the handling.
  • cmunizcmuniz Member Posts: 604
    Check your cruise control to make sure it works. After they reset my computer to fix the idle, they knocked out the cruise. Since i didn't use it very much, it took me a while to figure it out. Yours is probably ok, but it won't hurt to check it just in case. I was surprised that cruise is controlled by the computer also.
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    Heck my cruise went out just before they did my ECU re-program, When they re-programmed it, it started working again.

    -mike
  • beer47beer47 Member Posts: 185
    I checked it this afternoon and it works A-OK. Next, I 'll have to figure out the best tire deal going on. My B-stones are original and nearing 50K. It seems like they have held up fairly well.
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    I'm about to pull the trigger on $99 Pirelli Scorpion ATs from Tire Rack in 275-70-16. At 30K they are not up to the task of this winter IMHO.

    -mike
  • sbcookesbcooke Member Posts: 2,297
    will the 275/70's fit on the stock rim? I wonder how that size tire would do if you have to air down for sand driving?
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    w/o a problem. Shouldn't be a problem airing down, it's going to be a nice wide tire, probably won't need to air down as often with them. 30mm wider :) only 5% higher.

    -mike
  • sbcookesbcooke Member Posts: 2,297
    I am excited to see the new tires in December.
  • bluedevilsbluedevils Member Posts: 2,554
    Today I visited www.helminc.com to get the part number for the 1998 Trooper factory workshop manual so my parents could order it for me as a gift :)

    Well, the site seems to be revised and while it is nicer-looking than before, there was nothing called "factory workshop manual" or "workshop manual" in the list of document types that are offered. I was in the right place but I don't think the stuff is listed.

    Could they have pulled these temporarily because of the quality control problems they've had, as reported on this board by someone recently?

    Any ideas? I WANT one of these for Christmas! After my debacle with breaking the rear diff drain plug, one could argue that I NEED this thing by Christmas!
  • armtdmarmtdm Member Posts: 2,057
    Getting a Isuzu Service Manual from the dealer instead. These are usually more detailed and accurate then the Helms etc. but on the down side, cost more.
  • sbcookesbcooke Member Posts: 2,297
    I was out test driving my off-road lights after some minor adjustments and noticed something weird. In "D" the transmission runs fine no noise or anything. But when I was going down a hill and put it in "3" or "2" to use the transmission to slow the truck, it made a weird sandy type grinding noise? Very faint, so faint that if the radio was on I couldn't hear it. If I started out in "2" it was fine, no noise, until I came off the gas? Almost as if the gears weren't properly engaged? Unfortunately it sounds like one of those "normal" noises. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this?
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    I'll check it out on mine, but my guess is that its an exhaust shield noise perhaps? The higher RPMs of "3" and "2" may cause the exhaust to rattle slightly when off the gas.

    -mike
  • gpm5gpm5 Member Posts: 785
    No grinding noises from mine. I gear down quite often. I have noticed some whine in 1st and 2nd apparently from the tranny when slowly accelerating but nothing dramatic. It used to be worse with the 684 tires.

    In terms of my previous TOD seepage, the fluid used to collect on the TOD unit but not drip down. The dealer replaced a seal between the TOD and the tranny. That seems to have cured the problem--keeping my fingers crossed. The presumption that it was the sealing cement that holds the TOD unit together was apparently not the case--as the dealer very well determined.
  • viktoria_rviktoria_r Member Posts: 103
    My husband just called me - his Trooper overheated when he got to work (7 mi drive). There were no signs of problem before this. He thinks that there is no or not enough radiator fluid in radiator, but there is normal level in overflow tank. The truck has 24K miles and had all scheduled maintenance performed since we had it. He is having it towed to the dealer.
    Anyone had similar problem?
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    My guess is 1 of 2 things:

    1) Fan clutch stopped working, no fan blowing will cause an overheat

    2) stuck thermostat, usually they stick in the open position which would lead to a cold running truck, but I've seen a few cases (my subaru last summer) where it stuck in the closed position, not allowing the coolant to flow.

    -mike
  • viktoria_rviktoria_r Member Posts: 103
    Kinda early for such kind of problem... oh, well...
  • troop2shostroop2shos Member Posts: 235
    Above 40 mph, you would get sufficient air flow through the radiator not to cause overheating should the fan fail.
    As Paisan mentioned, a failed closed t-stat would cause the engine to overheat - possibly to the point where you could hear a hammering noise. Another possibility would be a head gasket leak but not as likely w/ the low mileage reported.
  • viktoria_rviktoria_r Member Posts: 103
    I do not think that he was going 40mi/hr or above - he has to go down the street with many lights and limited speed. In any case, the truck is at the dealer, we don't know what exactly is wrong with it yet. We were planning to drive it to visit our friends this Thanksgiving (350 mi one way). :( I guess I am driving my Subaru OB instead...
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    Either of those 2 items are very easy fixes (fan or T-stat)

    -mike
  • breakorbreakor Member Posts: 398
    I think this is what you want - http://www.helminc.com/helm/Search2Result_full.asp?Style=&Mfg=AIM&Make=AIM&Category=1&mscsid=WF4N3TH70QPX8NK6W5A011CQ1C545U37


    Call 1-800-782-4356 to be sure though.

  • bluedevilsbluedevils Member Posts: 2,554
    armtdm: The Helm manual IS the factory service manual that the dealership service folks have. Helm publishes these manuals for several manufacturers.

    breakor: Thanks for the link. That's where I was searching yesterday, but the service manual was not listed. Today the site says that item is temporarily unavailable because it's being inventoried. I guess I must have caught them on a bad day yesterday.

    I called the 800# a little while ago and got the same info that's on the web site.
  • viktoria_rviktoria_r Member Posts: 103
    Well, the dealer says that 2 cylinders had casting(?) problem and are cracked. Must have been defective from the get go. That's (according to the dealer) is how antifreeze disappeared... Not good news. They are going to keep the truck until at least Tuseday. Does this mean rebuilding engine?
  • ryanendresryanendres Member Posts: 122
    No rebuilding here ... time for a new engine ... I would be surprised if you have it by tuesday ...
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    They'll get a new block for you. At least you know you'll have a new engine.

    -mike

    PS: Tues would be very optimistic.
  • sbcookesbcooke Member Posts: 2,297
    The lead time item was actually getting the new short block in. I had the short block replaced, but not the head. The actual work only took a few days, but it the whole process took about a week and a half. Not bad considering it runs like new (it should considering the cost).
  • cwmosercwmoser Member Posts: 227
    Regarding replacing your Trooper Engine, did they hook everything back up as it should be? There is a lot of wires, plumbing, etc. under the hood and I would think one would have to bring it back to fine tune the installation.
  • sbcookesbcooke Member Posts: 2,297
    It was very impressive. The engine comparment is very tight, and they got it all back in without any problems, that I can see, I bet they had a few.
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    Hmm that's weird every mechanic that looks at my truck say "damn this is the most un-cluttered engine compartment I've seen in years" I have to agree there isn't a lot of stuff running all over the place espcially not a lot of vacum lines.

    -mike
  • viktoria_rviktoria_r Member Posts: 103
    I am very dissapointed that this happened at only 24K miles. Other people seem to have better luck... Unfortunately, neither myself nor my husband are mechanically inclined, so i don't know what to look for after they fix it. i guess i just have to trust them to put it together correctly. Are you sure they will get me new engine?
  • paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    If they don't give you a new engine, it will still overheat. A cracked block will do that. It's a fluke that it happened in the first place, so I wouldn't worry about it.

    -mike
  • viktoria_rviktoria_r Member Posts: 103
    Thanks, Mike.
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