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-mike
Look for new seatbelt legislation! ;-)
tidester, host
It's a terrible accident. I'm wondering, though, if the Rodeo has a higher rollover incident than the average minivan.
I saw an article somewhere that showed that the worst rollover candidates were some the new crop of car based utes (Toyota RAV4, Honda CRV).
Drive safely!
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I agree it is another coffin nail in the extinction of Isuzu SUVs in the USA.
Got a link?
I still can't tell if the OEM PCV valve was in good working order when I removed it. It rattles just a little, but not as much as the new one. The OEM also sounds like it has liquid in it; is that normal?
Is anybody willing to let me mail the OEM PCV to you so you can take a look and let me know what you think?
She dropped it at an Isuzu dealer near her office 2 minutes ago. The advisor on the phone told me it's probably the intake manifold gasket. But I know it hasn't been running really rough, missing, or stalling in the past few weeks. Our truck had those symptoms around 50k miles ago, and we had the intake manifold gasket replaced (at a different Isuzu dealer) under warranty.
Any other ideas on what it might be? I drove the truck 40 miles yesterday and all seemed fine. Last night I installed a new PCV valve - hard to screw that up. I also tried to pull one of the spark plugs but couldn't get the coil pack to come out of the hole. I reconnected the coil pack wires and screwed the coil pack down w/the 2 screws. Is there anything else I needed to do - e.g. make sure the internals reaching down toward the plug were seating properly or something?
Maybe you pulled it partway off the plug so one cylinder is misfiring?
Unfortunately, the Trooper is not rated. But the Rodeo is, and it does okay. What the chart bears out is, I guess, what you'd expect: low and wide rolls less than high and narrow.
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/hot/rollover/200109Rollover.html
They seem to like the truck, and especially the engine, a lot:
http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=5638&sid=181&n=157
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I think the slightly lower price is nice, but the risk of not having any Isuzu dealer support very soon offsets that.
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Long ago I read that the Isuzu version of this well spread around SUV/"socker mom car" was supposed to be more "off road oriented" than the others. I guess GM forgot about that part and just gave Isuzu a carbon copy SUV. I'll be reading about this year's round of auto shows. When is the last time an established SUV company did not have anything at the auto shows and survived?
It's disappointing, but I think Isuzu is beyond saving at this point. It's only a matter of time.
I know very little about off-roading, but I don't see how a vehicle as long as Ascender could be very good off road.
I have a 2001 Trooper S with about 15K. The upholstery on the back of the driver's seat, where the cloth attaches to the seat bottom, has detached. This is below the rear pocket. I have never seen this area come apart in any car. Evidently, Isusu uses staples to attach the cloth.
As the car is only 1.5 years old, I plan on asking the dealer if it is covered under warranty. Does anyone know if the upholstery is covered?
So far, I have not been impressed with Isuzu service. I have a buzzing heat shield which I have brought back to the dealer 4 times and it still rattles.
I also have an intermittant problem with the ignition key. Sometimes when I stop the car I cannot turn the ignition tumbler all the way off and thus cannot remove the key without first restarting the car. The dealer claims that since this is an intermittant problem, they cannot fix it because it has not done it for them.
For those who don't know what a wall job is, it's a very common car dealer service strategy, especially for warranty work. The service writer listens politely while you describe the problem, writes it down, then parks your vehicle by the wall after you leave. When you return he gives you back the keys and tells you the problem is fixed. Apparently this is effective for some customers.
Tom
Did the dealer tell you that these Troopers were used by a rental car company? If so, that $18k price sounds okay but not that great. To me, $18k for a demo or a used one-owner vehicle or a vehicle used at the corporate HQ would seem pretty decent. There should be a pretty decent discount built into the price since it was a rental. I don't think $18k reflects a real big discount.
I would gladly pay an extra 200 bucks to get the one with 4,000 fewer rental (hard) miles on it.
3 years we bought a 98 Trooper that was a year old at the time. It had 7,000 miles and was used by Isuzu's U.S. HQ in California so I presume it saw pretty light duty, not the rough treatment that many rental vehicles get. The cost was about $3,000 less than the best going rate for a new 99 similarly equipped. It sounds like you are seeing about a $4500 spread between these used rental 2002s and the new 2002s. Note that the new ones can't be 2003s, since Trooper's last model year was 2002 (your post said 2003).
Hope this helps.
It's a 99 and I thought the sensors were part of the drive train?
Anyone had a similar problem?
Did 4-low work even when the TOD system would not?
The service advisor just called to say the only function affected is the ability to determine slippage, if I keep the TOD off all else is well.
Where are these sensors located?
Or put another way, wherever the ride height is set, the SAME downward force (mass of the vehicle pulled downward by gravity) is applying tension to the bars.
I purchased a silver one and it cost me $18,000. However that included the tax (I told them that I would not pay a penny over $18,000 - I based that decision upon your email so the cost was really more like $17,250). The list price on the sales person's sheet was actually $23,350. I wonder if anybody ever really pays that price (I hope not).
The real test comes tomorrow. I bought it for my wife who had to fly to NY for her grandfathers funeral. I had to stay home and watch the baby (and the dog). She does not know that I bought it for her. She had a volvo V40 (which was way too small for her -- she was constantly complaining that she wanted a truck). Anyway, as soon as she left town I went over to the dealership and began working on the surprise Trroper. I am going to bring her home from the airport tomorrow and have it waiting in the garage with a red bow on it. I am just worried about whether or not she will like the color. However, the dealership was also very cool with that. They gave me until Wed. to come back with her and swap it out for another color if she does not like the silver (I have never heard of a dealership that was willing to do such a thing).
As for your comments about the 2003. I did not know that they would not be doing a 2003. They made it sound as if the 3 new ones on the lot were 2003s. However, it now makes sense to me as to why they are marked down $8000. I could have gotten a new one for approx. $22,000 but they were not willing to eat the tax. Therefore, the difference between one of the rentals and the new ones was close to $5,000 which was worth the savings to me. By the way, why are they discontinuing the Trooper? I hope that Isuzu is not going out of bussiness. They seem to be doing well in Denver as I see allot of Rodeos and Troopers.
I plan on reading the manual tonight. However, your question about the 4wd has me thinking. I know that my Trooper has TOD because it has the TOD sticker on the back window. The sales person also told me that it had TOD. It also has a button to push to put it into 4wd (we are in Denver so it is a necessity). Anyway, I am not really sure if I get the difference or even why I would need the button in the first place if TOD is making sure that there is no slippage. Can you explain this system to me (in laymens terms)? I also have a button for power, that one I think I understand (I think that it is what Volvo called winter mode where the car will start in a higher gear to prevent slipping).
Finally, as this is my first Trooper I am interested in hearing about others experiences. We have a neighbor who is on his second Trooper and really speaks highly of them. What are the pitfalls to look out for (it sounds like the upholstry is one).
Thanks for the help!
Brett
Power Button: Moves your shift points to redline.
Winter Mode: Starts the vehicle in 3rd gear to eliminate wheel spin from a dead start.
-mike
paisan summed up the different drivetrain modes your Trooper has. The benefit of a Trooper with TOD instead of a Trooper with shift-on-the-fly 4x4 High is that the 4x4 High is not intended for all-the-time use; it should be used only when there's enough slippage (snow, mud, loose gravel, etc.) so the axles don't bind or whatever. I'm no 4WD expert but I hope that helps. I'm oversimplifying here, but your TOD Trooper can be considered to have AWD all the time when the "4WD Auto" button is on. The Troop will automatically transfer torque between front and rear axles as necessary when it detects (or anticipates?) slippage.
Most of us here think Isuzu is definitely on its way out of the U.S. market. The Trooper never sold well here, and that's probably the main reason it was discontinued after the 2002 model year. My guess would be that Troopers are more plentiful in Colorado than most other areas due to the snowy weather there. Here in Michigan, we have plenty of snow but it's Big 3 country so Troopers are pretty uncommon.
Sounds like you have a pretty good dealer there. Hopefully they will be as cooperative and responsive to your service needs, although you probably will need very little except routine maintenance.
Do you know if you got the 10yr/120k powertrain warranty? You'd have to be considered the first owner of the vehicle, and since it was previously owned by a rental company, you might not qualify. Still, 5yrs/60k miles is pretty decent powertrain coverage.
You might call Isuzu U.S.A. and see what they tell you. I'm sure the official position is that you cannot or should not do it, or if you do it that your warranty will be voided.
Personally, I wouldn't risk doing this due to the warranty concerns. But you never know - a dealer might do warranty work on your truck and not notice it was a Canadian-market truck. I don't know how automakers reconcile repair records with their dealers regarding warranty repairs. There might be some controls in place that will catch this sort of thing. If there are, then most dealers are probably smart enough to check the vehicle beforehand so they don't get stuck making a repair free of charge and then get refused the reimbursement from the manufacturer.
At 50k miles, the vehicle has just gone out of bumper-to-bumper warranty coverage. Personally, a vehicle with 5k miles more B-to-B warranty is worth a good bit more, since you have a chance to get any problems fixed that the previous owner didn't tell you about. At 50k miles, this truck should still have 10k miles of powertrain warranty, though.
kwamedog, congrats on your Trooper!! You will likely be glad you bought it. These are excellent vehicles, built for the long haul. They rarely have significant mechanical problems if treated right, and IMHO are quite nice looking, simple vehicles. I shot a bit LOW on the price I mentioned. I was thinking 2WD basic S model. Sounds like you got a few more goodies than I was pricing toward. Good choice, hope the wife LOVES the color. My wife chose the Silver 2 tone over, White, or Dark Green, when we bought hers. Its been a goodin' so far. 1 year old 24K miles on it. We come out your way from time to time to enjoy the Rockies, thus the mileage. Its a great road trip car, er I mean truck.
Someone else mentioned a rattling heat shield that the dealer had been unable to fix. Does anyone know where the heat shield(s) is/are located? My Trooper frequently makes a metallic rattling/vibrating sound when accelerating, and it sounds like a heat shield that is loose. Any suggestins on where to look?
As for the price, it seems as if 4wd vehicles are much more expensive in snowy CO. However, if value is what people are willing to pay then I would say that $17,250 is more than fair for a truck of that stature.
As for the state of Isuzu. I went back and spoke to my sales person about your posts. He indicated that GM has taken a large stake in Isuzu and that there are all indications (in his opinion)that they are in the midst of a restructuring. He believes that the Trooper's demise is part of that process. He told me that he has heard that Isuzu is set to come out with a diesel 4wd truck to replace the Trooper (next year). He believes that Isuzu is groping to find a niche. Either way he told me that rumor has it that whether it is a diesel or not the Trooper will be reconfigured and will reamerge in some form (after a model year off the market).
Also, this particular dealership is a combination VW, Nissan and Isuzu dealership. He stated that Isuzu is the only one of the dealerships that does not allocate money for advertising and that this has hurt them. They rely on the local dealerships to promote cars. He stated that this is a big change from the tact that Isuzu took in the middle 90's. He sincerely believes that Isuzu will survive and that he sees all indications that they are trying to reconfigure their line up after several failed attempts at finding a niche (the vehicross and now the axiom). He told me that all of his info is coming from the regional rep and that he is not really sure how much of it is truth or simply the reps wishful thinking. As he stated "the car bussiness is full of rumors."
The dealership had 12 (now 11) used 2002 Troopers on the lot. He stated that all of the Colorado dealerships are making an attempt to round up as many Troopers as they can because they are in demand here. I would agree with him, they are everywhere in Denver. There are 4 in our neighborhood alone. The guy up the block was cleaning his as I was on the way to buy one. He told me that it was his 3rd Trooper and that he loved it (it only solidified my decision). Another guy around the coorner just purchaased a used 2002 from a different dealership.
Anyway, it looks like Troopers are going to be collector's items. That being the case I am happy that we purchased a used 2002 instead of leasing a new 2002. The wife is happy and in the long run that makes me happy. I also believe that she and my 9 month old daughter are safe in the ratehr large confines of this truck.
Hope all is well!
Brett
Sounds like the noise might be the spring under the gas pedal?
21mpg consistently on the highway? I doubt it unless you are doing 55-60mph on flat land with cruise on, and very few items/passengers.
-mike