Isuzu Owners Maintenance and Repair

keepontroopin

We have a camp in Elk county that we hunt out of in the fall and 4 wheel out of during the summer months. Maybe the next time we go up wheelin I will let you know and maybe we can get another trooper there.

spirolli

This dealership is very good Davis Isuzu in Richboro PA. The dealer told me that they have had several complaints about the paint chipping off of the fender flares. They did ask me if I did any off roading and I simply told them no. You're right. I did get lucky.

Steve

spirolli

That would be great Keep On Troopin. I was hoping to get together with paisan and the crew for a little off roading at the Pine Barrons in South Jersey. I heard they had a blast last time. I went myself twice last summer. I had a great time. Only so much you can do when your alone though. I friend did come with me once with his Acura MDX. Talk about a "terd in a punch bowl". The MDX couldn't hold a stick to the Trooper. Especially in the deep sand and steep inclines typical of the Pine Barrons.

Steve

paisan

Steve,
We are heading back on May 5th! Should be a blast!

The MDX is probably worse than the subarus in the sand and what not since they at least have power to all wheels all the time, whereas the MDX is FWD til there is slippage etc.

-mike

beer47

Spirolli,

What is the distance between Potter and Richboro, PA (dealer)? It sounds like a haul, even by Pennsy standards.

breakor

Thanks for the heads up on the power steering "basket" removal. Now that I have my big syringe and small tubing to sneak around the basket I don't need to pull it. But it is nice to know I can.

As for the fluid refill time, it is a matter of seconds. So theoretically you could suck out the old and refill. You could start the car for only a couple of seconds and repeat the process and probably get out mostly old fluid when you redrain the reservoir. At least when I pulled the refill hose one time my 99 it seemed like it would have refilled the reservoir in only a couple of seconds.

bluedevils

I'll probably repeat the suck out the old, refill with new method 2-3 more times, as long as the fluid I'm sucking out is 'random' as you described.

I know the percentage of old fluid in my suck-out batch decreases as the procedure is performed more times, because you have a higher percentage of new fluid in there from previous iterations.

breakor

I pulled the "basket" today. You were right it is relatively easy. At first I thought it was being held in place on the sides or top. Once it popped out I realized it was just snapped into the bottom of the reservoir.
With the basket out it is very easy to vacuum up all the fluid and any small particles that could have been on the very bottom of the reservoir. In addition, I was able to wipe off the screened areas although I didn't see much of anything adhered there.

bluedevils

I got out about 9 fluid ounces, but I think the reservoir holds about 8 with level at the Max line (mine was overfilled just a touch).

breakor

Sorry I didn't measure it as it came out. It would have been real easy to do in that I was using a calibrated syringe.

I had disconnected the line and really flushed it well a couple of times back. Therefore the fluid still looks very good so I am not too concerned, at least at this point, as to the percent of old fluid removed. Next time I probably will drain, fill and start the pump a couple of times and take some measurements.

breakor

For the last month or so I noticed a very slight rattle coming from the front end of my 99 Trooper when on rough roads. Today I traced it to where the plastic front bumper piece meets the front wheel well trim piece.

If I tap on either piece at the corner they will slightly rattle. The problem seems to be that the retaining bolts are attached to some rather flexible metal brackets. Thus, while I can tighten up the bolts the pieces will still vibrate into one another and rattle. My temporary, maybe permanent, solution was to just wedge a 1/2" long piece of rubber vacuum tubing in between the two trim pieces. I did this on both sides. It stopped the rattle, is basically invisible and sure seems easier than reengineering the mountings.

If anybody else has this problem you are welcome to my "solution" and I would appreciate it if you have a better fix to pass along.

bluedevils

I posted about this a while back. Somebody explained how the bumper can be 'tightened up' but I have been unable to figure it out.

On the driver's side of our 98 Trooper, the gap between the top of the bumper and the wheel fender flare is about 1/2" larger than on the passenger side.

Any ideas? I've crawled underneath and looked around for a while. Even tightened a couple bolts down there. But I couldn't figure out where exactly the bumper can be tightened as a means of raising it slightly.

paisan

I may have one for sale sometime soon, when I get my ARB or ECB front bumper bull bar

-mike

sbcooke

On my 99 there are only 4 bolts that hold the front bumper to the frame. You should be able to loosen up the side in question, have someone lift it into position and then tighten it up. I needed a breaker bar to loosen them initially.

If it isn't those, there is also the sheet metal that holds the plastic on? If you take the bumper completely off, you could check to see if the sheet metal/plastic attachment is loose also? Once you break the bumper bolts it should only take 15 minutes to take it on and off.

bluedevils

sbcooke, how specific can you be re: these 4 bolts? Where are they, what do they look like, what are they close to, etc.

paisan, you gonna paint your bumper Red Rock Mica and THEN sell it to me for cheap?

sbcooke

2 per side. The front bumper has 2 rails? attaching it to the frame. They attach to the truck I believe on extensions of the ladder frame on the left and the right side of the front skid plate. On the outside of those rails there are 2 bolts per side, about 4 inchese apart diagonally. The front one is lower than the rear one by about 3 inches.

Nothing holds the bumper on the left and right ends, except for it fitting behind some plastic trim by the wheel wells.

amigo_john

Have been using Mobil 1 10w-30 in both Isuzus since day one. Last oil change I put in Castrol Syntec in cause Wal-Mart was out of Mobil 1 and I was being lazy. I went from no oil usage in my Rodeo to 1 1/2 quarts in 3000 mi. In the past I have heard that Castrol doesn't measure up to Mobil 1. Now I believe it. Has anyone else had a similar experience???

paisan

I was burning 1-2Q in 3000 miles on my Trooper from day 1 til I changed over to Mobil 1 @ 10K miles, now I burn 1 Q every 4000-5000 miles.

-mike

bluedevils

You'll probably get more feedback posting in the oil-related boards in the Maintenance & Repair forums.

I'm not so sure that your experience is consistent with the general consensus on oil consumption with synthetic (Mobil 1, a "true" synthetic) vs. petrol-based (Castrol Syntec is marketed as full synthetic, but it's really just exremely processed dino juice).

Usually, especially in older vehicles, you might see more consumption with synthetic as it's a bit more slippery.

jeep88

Does anyone have any opinions on the advisability of an extended warranty on a 99 Trooper? I've had 50K trouble-free miles so far, but am wary of what may be around the corner. I've heard replacement part costs for the Trooper are higher compared to other vehicles and I'd like to avoid big-ticket costs out of pocket. Any advice?

boxtrooper

I have had terrific reliability on a 1984 Trooper II and my current 1995.5 Trooper. I did not need any extended warrantee for 325000+ miles on these two Troopers so far. I expect 200000+ trouble free miles from my Troopers to be the normal. My 1984 had over 201000 miles when I sold it and it still ran great the little 1.9L engine that could, did. I changed Troopers in 1995 to get A/C and because of rust. The 1984 Troopers were not very rust proof and mine spent much of its life parked on a peer over salt water or parked on a northern school bus route by the corner where the salt truck would leave a drift of salt. The rear body mounts no longer held the body to the frame.

IMHO: Extended warrantees are not a good idea in general and particularily a waste of money on a Trooper.

boxtrooper

I have had terrific reliability on a 1984 Trooper II and my current 1995.5 Trooper. I did not need any extended warrantee for 325000+ miles on these two Troopers so far. I expect 200000+ trouble free miles from my Troopers to be the normal. My 1984 had over 201000 miles when I sold it and it still ran great the little 1.9L engine that could, did. I changed Troopers in 1995 to get A/C and because of rust. The 1984 Troopers were not very rust proof and mine spent much of its life parked on a peer over salt water or parked on a northern school bus route by the corner where the salt truck would leave a drift of salt. The rear body mounts no longer held the body to the frame.

IMHO: Extended warrantees are not a good idea in general and particularily a waste of money on a Trooper.

If you must have an extended warrantee shop more than one insurance company because it is nothing other than break down insurance.

paisan

I'm planning on getting the extended bumper to bumper factory warranty just in case something blows up. I wouldn't get anything but a factory warranty so there is no 3rd party BS when it comes time for the repairs.

-mike

bluedevils

The cost in owning a Trooper lies in the maintenance, not the repairs. Most warranties do not cover maintenance, so they make sense only if you plan to skimp on maintenance to save money. That's a bad approach, IMO.

paisan

I meant an Extended Warranty from the Factory. I'm planning on buying the Isuzu Factory Extended Warranty on my trooper that bring it to bumper to bumper @ 100K miles

-mike

bluedevils

That's probably the only warranty I would personally buy or recommend to someone else. Even then, I'd have to take a close look at the cost and determine if the "insurance" of the warranty was worth it on such a solid vehicle as the Trooper.

paisan

I'm probably going to get it for less than $1000 so it will be worth it to know if those mirror motors break or what not, that it will be covered.

-mike

boxtrooper

I have purchased an extended warrantee in the past for an Olds Silhouette. We had used the original 3/36 warrantee something like twenty times for stuff like new transmission that was making loud UFO sounds, new dash center section that came off in my hand when pulling out the 12V accessory plug etc.. etc... etc...

The genuine GM factory extended warrantee was written through a third party insurance company. It came complete with all the small print that says everything is covered unless it breaks. Basically consider the extended warrantee only for catastrophic failures such as the timing belt broke and wiped out the valve train or the transmission needs replaced. Anything that can possibly be attributed to wear and tear is not covered. We had a $250 deductable on this one.

We eventually after 26 returns for repair sold the Silhouette and bought another Silhouette. My wife likes the Silhouette and I like the dealer, we are on first name basis with the shop there. This one is a 2002 which has 5/60 as the warrantee period. Even this standard extended warrantee comes with its own fine print etc... We were told by the dealer that the Silhouette that we bought had traction control, but found out it does not, I asked for traction control to be installed, they said that would be a complete overhaul of the braking system and a new engine computer, so they offered to make the warrantee 5/100 and I took it and another set of fine print, since the warrantee was extremely important on our first Silhouette. Now I am pretty confident that we can make this one last the 5 years without too much repair expense out of my pocket.

So far 6 months have gone by and we are abut to take the Silhouette in for its first warrantee repair. It will not restart if started and shut off, the battery light stays on too long after a start. The other Silhouette was on its third battery (1st two cracked at the plus terminal) in 45K miles, so I guess this one was made the same.

Sorry for the non-Isuzu topic, but the subject is warrantee repairs which my Troopers have not needed.

jeep88

Thank you all for your input! Glad to hear that most Trooper owners have had lots of trouble-free miles!

paisan

My dad has this and has no problems bringing it in even for minor stuff his carries a zero deductible on it.

-mike

boxtrooper

We paid something like $1700 to extend the warrantee from 3/36 to 5/75 with $250 deductable. Even though we used the warrantee several times we came nowhere close to getting $1700 worth of repairs. It is amazing that once there is a deducable involved most repairs come in just under the limit.

I think we got a better value from the extended warrantee when we sold it, it helped us to get top dollar 1998 Silhouette 45K in Dec 2001 $14500. Because of discounts and incentives on the 1998 Silhouette we paid $19900 including tax and liscense plate while the sticker price was $27600. Now you understand why I could justify buying another one even expecting to have lots of repairs. New 2002 Silhouette stickered $29K and we paid $21.5K out the door.

sbcooke

The standard warranty is pretty good, even my 99 which only has a 5 year powertrain, not 10, is good. The real problem is finding a good dealer to honor it. With Isuzu shrinking market share and number of dealerships. My experience hasn't been as good, I am on my 3rd dealer, and not to thrilled. I would rather spend $500 on a repair, have it fixed right once, than make 4 trips to be told everytime it is normal. I would rather put that $1000 in a 5 year CD, and hopefully have that money and more in the end. If I have one major repair, well it costs that $1000, and its still even. The problem is if there are 2 major repairs.

paisan

One Tranny which runs about $4K on these truck IIRC.

-mike

dielectric7bb

I am thoroughly impressed with my mirrors. About six months ago, I was stopped at a red light, behind 50 cars, getting off of the freeway. An expedition decided to fly by me and nailed my mirror (pushed forward) with his mirror (pushed backward as they are all intended to do). The guy failed to stop and traffic was so heavy (christmas season) that it wasn't possible to catch him as he was literally pushing his way through. All I could hope was that the chrome on his mirrors were jacked up. I reached my hand out to my mirror, popped it back in place, and it works flawlessly to this day, with no marks from the incident. Not to mention the 'touchless' car wash guys that are always jamming the mirrors in and out (I hate those guys too).

paisan

And the cool thing about that situation is that with the power retractable ones it will automatically re-set themselves at startup. For instance once someone smacked mine in a parking spot, when I started the car up it automatically folded the mirrors in and out because one of them wasn't in the "proper" location. I thought that was awsome.

-mike

sbcooke

That is why it is like insurance. I am hoping not to have a 4K transmission problem.

radman6

A couple days ago I pushed the button for the rear wiper and nothing happened. Several button pushes and an inspection later, I found the rear wiper seemed to be sort of stuck behind the spare tire. When I wiggled it a little it released but swung up and down through the normal range of motion and didn't seem to be connected to anything.

Looks like it's time for a trip to the dealer for a warranty repair. Seems I saw a post or two a few weeks back on this. Anyone know what the problem / fix is?

keepontroopin

OK guys I need to replace my front pads and I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations. Are the original pads ceramic or regular?

paisan

Order pads from St. Charles. I'm a big fan of the OEM ones.

-mike

bluedevils

On several occasions I've heard the OEM pads are definitely the way to go when replacement is necessary. Don't know who makes 'em or what they're made of though.

keepontroopin

the pads from St. Charles. Front pads were $44.77 with no shipping costs (Fed-ex ground)or taxes. Paisan if you want I can try to do a write up for your site when I do the install. Let me know!

paisan

Absolutely would love a writeup and/or pics. I know I would have started doing my own pads long before if I had seen a good writeup as to how easy it really is.

-mike

breakor

I too would like to see that.

drmp

I have OE Bridgestone Duelers on 16" wheels and I just want to have a rough idea on how long do these tires last. Thanks

paisan

for about 60K miles. On my 00 Trooper I ran em to about 22K and then switched to the Pirelli Scorpions.

-mike

boxtrooper

Does anyone know if the later than 1995 model lifter tick proof heads will bolt on to a tick prone 1995 SOHC? If I keep the spark plug wires (not try to use the wonderful direct ignition you 3.5L guys enjoy), can I leave the 1995 engine computer in place?

How hard would it be to swap an entire used 3.5L engine into my manual 5 speed Trooper? Would the new 3.5L engine computer play nice with my manual transmission and other accesories?

I just had another attack of the tick. It makes me mad when it happens. I control it by changing oil, drive 500 miles, if still ticking change oil again... When the problem is gone it stays gone for maybe 10K to 20K miles. When it happens I get real unhappy and want to do something to make the tick go away forever. I don't think $3000 (installed) for new parts of the same design is a good value.

Thank You
BoxTrooper

paisan

Should work fine, although I'm not sure of the wiring. If I did it I'd get a 3.5 and 3.5 wiring harness. As for boltup it shouldn't be a problem.

-mike

cwmoser

drmp, regarding "tire life on Bridgestone Duelers", I have 40,000 miles on my original 684's but will soon need to be replaced. Some wear bars are showing but there appears to be plenty of tread left.

mkaye

While physically possible, it may be very impractical. You would have to know every electronic change as well. This may mean replacing components in the dash, electronic boxes in the vehicle itself and wiring harnesses(maybe rewiring a lot of the vehicle). You would need to investigate the emission (software) changes and look at the overall gearing in the tranny and axles.
Is that something you really want to do? Why not just sell yours and look for a clean newer model? Likely it will be cheaper and far less hassle. Haven't most people with the 'tick' problem (was a good tv show, don't know why they cancelled it) fixed it with a changeover to synthetic oil?

Swapping out a motor isn't the same as back in the 60's and 70's.

MK

mkaye

I wonder, for US vehicles with OBD II, with the appropriate hardware/software one can plug into the diagnostic port and alter the speedometer calibration for larger tires (and do other things too). It is basically a matter of just entering in original size and new tire size. Curious if anyone with a Trooper knows if this is possible and if the hardware/software combo exists.