Isuzu Trooper

boxtrooper

which absorbs a lot of the spark energy. The DirectHits are a capacitor that works to correct the impedance of the spark transmission line which allows 50% of the spark energy to reach the gap compared to a very small amount of the spark energy that gets past the resistor plugs (and wires if you have high voltage wires and remote coils).
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So I expect less of an improvement in my 3.5L than I had in my 3.2L because the high voltage wire loss is not in the 3.5L, but the resistor wires are still there. The kind of improvement is quicker starts, less hesitation before warming up, and smoother stronger engine revs all the way up. Because the duration of the spark is much shorter and with much more energy, more of the fuel is more reliably ignited at the exact instant desired and that allows the engine computer better control which gived a smoother running engine. More torque is available especially at high rpms because the fuel is ignited sooner it has more time to burn completely, emissions will also be lower. If you always drive your Trooper with the lowest RPMs and never push it, you might not notice the extra power, but you will notice the quicker response.
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Yes, they work for me. I am currently installing DirectHits on my lawn mower and I might also put them on my backup generator and 6hp outboard motor. Outboard motor will wait until the 90 degree version is available so it fits inside the cover.
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I am not selling DirectHits, I just know they wok for me. I think lots of things are snake oil such as oil additives and many have bad side effects, but I used the DirectHits for years and never had a problem. Some things are not snake oil and work real good without side effects such as drop in replacement K&N air filters and higher capacity top of the line oil filters, DirectHits is good thing like them.
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A Trooper's spark plugs are very easy to change yourself. If you get DirectHits get the complete kit it is worth it for the best effect.

sbcooke

Where can you get them? I cannot easily find a place on the web. Google and Yahoo came up pretty empty, jcwhitney also came up empty.

The offroad.com article was intersting.

boxtrooper

http://www.directhits.com
DrSpark@DirectHits.com
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http://www.pureoil.com/pureone.htm
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http://www.knfilters.com/

sbcooke

Their website lists a kit for the 3.2L engine. What year do you have?

I called them directly and spoke to someone who wasn't sure if they had an application for it? After checking, he said after 1997 Isuzu moved to a "coil on plug" ignition system. He said that since our ignition system is "plenty strong enough" I would see just as much benefit from just a standard high performance plug.

amigo_john

Maybe your best bet is to buy headers and a less restrictive exhaust. Do they make headers for a Trooper? If so, would it pass an emissions test? There are no emissions tests in Alabama. The police pull you over only if it looks like your car is on fire...

amigo_john

From what information I've found on the web, it looks like headers don't do much for the 3.2 or 3.5 :-(

boxtrooper

but that was taken from me by a rear ending by a large Volvo. The Volvo front end and roof crumpled. The Trooper's crumple zones are in the other car. The Trooper took the hit pretty square on the rear bumper and hitch bar and had very little damage from the impact, but the airbags went off and repairing airbag damage requires a whole new air bag system plus new dash and steering wheel so its >$6000 for that and their insurance company said it was a total loss even after I protested and they raised their buy out offer a little.
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So I replaced it with a 2001 manual 5 speed Trooper which is a rare find that I am grateful to have the oportuninty to buy. Now I have the coil over plug and I understand that the DirectHits improvement would be smaller than it was on my 1995, but I liked them very much on my 1995 so I would still consider giving them a try in the 2001.
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Headers ... I looked at getting headers for my 1995, I even found a place that makes aftermarket stainless exhaust for the Trooper named "Duty" in the UK. The design guy there told me that the Trooper's exhaust is already well optimized and unless I wanted a lot of noise I would not see a performance improvment. On the 1995 there was a single catalytic converter, on the 2001 there is dual exhaust with dual catalytic converters all the way back to the muffler. The 2001 has a growl if you step it down hard.

1993trooper

Let me preface with I an NOT very mechanically inclined. With that said, my oil pressure gauge is pegged out (over 100 psi) on my instrument gauge. I can hear a clacking in the valves but I know this is typical for older Troopers.

My question is, how or when do I know to replace my oil pump? The oil dip stick indicates full. With the engine running and looking down through the opened oil cap hole I can see some oil moving about the valves. The engine is not overheating and all other gauges read correctly. On an unrelated note (I think it's unrelated), my starter is about to go out but that should not have anything to do with the oil pressure gauge - should it?

I need help with this one. I know the oil pump runs about $200-$250 but requires MUCHO labor. Can there be something else wrong that would make the oil pressure gauge act up?

breakor

My take is that 90+% of the time bad oil pressure readings are caused by bad oil pressure gauges. The ones from the factory are not all that accurate and the transducers do tend to fail with time.

Therefore my advice is to ASAP try a real pressure gauge or have a shop do it for you.

bstone3

My 01 TOD LS has been surging in the morning with the days first start - after that it runs just fine. Surging last about 20 seconds - but it has progressively gotten worse and now will die after 5 seconds of running after the first start. Took it to the dealer who had it for three days - they needed to duplicate the problem and have all the diagnostic gear hooked up - and did - and concluded it was the factory installed Champion plugs - they replaced the plugs with NGT's (they have had problems with Champions and starting issues before) and swore that was the problem. Well.. it wasn't - nice new plugs (and they replaced the throttle sensor which was just fine) we surge and stumble just like before - I also had them replace the fuel filter since it was due at 43K miles. Any ideas before I call the dealer? Leaving the Trooper is a pain - they gave me a vehicle to use - but a 98 smoked out Buick LaSabre does not match my image of life.

sdc2

Sure sounds like it could be the intake manifold gasket, though you would think by now that they would be well aware of that possibility...plugs are frankly about the last thing I would suspect. It's either the IMG or a sensor problem.

sbcooke

I had a similar issue and it took 5 trips to the dealer before it registered codes that pointed to the IMG.

The also cleaned my IAC valve...Idle Air Control, with no luck. I guess there are 2 IMG an upper and lower. The upper is a quick fix and lower may be more involved, however either should be easy for a mechanic. They may be stalling you because they cannot isolate the bad gasket at this point.

bstone3

I've been following these posts for sometime and sort of got the impression that IMG issues were problematic in 1999 or earlier Troopers - has this been an issue with 00, 01 or 02 models? Thanks for your replies - I can tell the dealer is struggling.

amigo_john

Did you take it to Century?

trooper_dude

Automatic Troopers can get good mileage.

Got 20.5 MPG on my run from Denver to the San Luis Valley over Labor Day weekend. My speed varied from 75 mph to 40 mph. Went over two small mtn passes: 10k feet & 9k. Had Wife, 3 kids(small) and inside back of Trooper completely loaded to the top.

I'm running Mobile 1 in Engine and diff's, with K&N Air and Oil Filters. Tires are the factory stock 684 Duelers. Shocks: Tokico Trekmaster R/T.

I've even been impressed with my 4 wheeling MPG. After run up highway, spend most of day in and out of 4x4 low, then come back to town - still get 14-15 mpg.

Trooper continues to impress me with ability to run quiet and smooth on the highway, yet can tackle moderate Colorado 4x4 trails with ease.

bstone3

Yep - Century automotive in Huntsville

bstone3

Should mention that if the engine dies after starting or I turn the ignition off and restart the surge is gone - also if I place the Auto A/C switch to the "off" position the surge will stop. The surging only lasts maybe 20 - 30 seconds and only with the first start of the day when everything is cold - no residual heat anywhere.

bsmart1

Troopers past 97' model won't net much improvement. In 97' ISUZU went to the coil-over-plug arrangement to improve plug spark intensity.
Likely better places to spend the money like accessories.

amigo_john

3 weeks ago, they had to replace 2nd gear in my Amigo (under warranty). It kept popping out on the downshift. I will say that they duplicated the problem immediately (the dealer in Birmingham said I wasn't putting it in 2nd hard enough)... But,,, it took them 15 days to get the parts. They finally gave me a rental car after a week. When it was finished, I got in it and there was grease on my seat, floor mat and door panel. Not just a little, there were greasy fingerprints and footprints everywhere. My floormat looked like one of those dance instructor things with the footprints laid out everywhere. I took it back around and showed it to them. They got the manager and the mechanic that did it and reamed him out. They gave me my rental back and fully detailed it the next day. They fix what they screw up, but it worries me that if "greasy" the mechanic wasn't careful inside my car, how careful was he putting my transmission back together?

sbcooke

There was a lot of chatter here in the last week about OEM battery life. I noticed idle problems about 2 weeks before my original battery died.

I believe the IMG is just a vacuum leak, so varied effects based on temperature and drain on engine could yield different results. If it is driveable, try to go a little longer to see if this problem gets worse? It will be easier to identify at that point.

troop2shos

My '00 Ltd. also exhibits the same surge issue that you describe during the summer, bstone3. Since this condition only occurs on the first "cold" morning startup, I told my AWA to simply let it idle for 20 - 30 seconds before backing out of the garage. No problems with the cooler weather over the past couple of weeks so I'm thinking it's a sensor related issue.

bstone3

Well the Trooper surges worse than ever now at startup - and since we are have much colder than normal temps in Alabama this week it also is doing it on starts during the day since everything is cooling off under the hood - dealer wants it back for some more overnight sitting and I know that smoked out La Sabre can hear me coming - let you know what we find out.

sbcooke

It is back...so it seems that it is temperature dependent? On warm days it is barely noticeable, however on cool mornings it rattles all the way to work. Oh well, maybe I will try taking the door apart again.

boxtrooper

After reading about door rattles the end of last week on this discussion, I noticed a door rattle. I was getting bummed out about it until the next stop, when I found the door rattle was a tape measure in the door pocket. It sure sounded like it was inside the door while I was driving.

amigo_john

I wonder if the intake manifold gasket has a leak that is being sealed at a certain temperature by heat expansion... It is pretty cold down here, at least at night anyway...

irishlou

I recently put a set of new Toyo Open-Country tires in the stock 245/70/16 size on my 2000 LTD.
I managed to squeeze 53,216 out of the stock Duelers and, surprisingly had a bit of tread left.(mostly highway with only occasional off roading). So far I'm blown away by the handling and performance in the rain. I've yet to see how they do in the snow, but in Northeastern Ohio that will soon not be a question!
Have any of you had experience with Toyo tires and if so what has been your reaction thus far?

tkevinblanc

I have always noticed that my Trooper "sounds" different in colder weather (anything under 50 F) for the first few minutes. It goes away quickly. I wonder if the colder weather is just compounding you surging problem...

paisan

I use the Toyo Proxie RA1s on my race car. Greeat tires, with extremely long wear, along with decent grip in it's category. The race tires it goes against have slightly more grip, but burn up in 1/4 to 1/8 the time of the Toyos.

-mike

cracovian

I've been thinking about using Mobil 1 in my 2002 Trooper (11K) but after reading this brief article I'm no longer sure. It mainly talks about the popular Lucas additive (a big no no) but seeing how full sunthetics fail to "climb the gears" is also giving me some second thoughts. I might go for blended oil or just stick to the regular stuff.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/images/lucas/lucas.htm

serrano

It has been proven over and over that synthetics are at least as good, if not better, than conventional oils. This gear test doesn't prove jack squat, except that in his test, the oil didn't "climb." The relevance of that fact escapes me. If he could prove that that is a bad thing, or that the gears were wearing more because of that property, then it might be relevant. As it stands, that test is a long way from being logically relevant to anything, at least to me.

Tom

raydahs

I agree with serrano, too many variables in this test. I find it interesting that the "good stuff" is in containers in the background, looks like an infomercial?

I would lean towards Mobil 1, it's been tested and certified to industy specifications. http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lubes/PDS/GLXXENPVLMOMobil1Synth- - - eticGearLubricant.asp

tkevinblanc

Synthetic lubes have been demonstrated to improve mileage and reduce wear in real world situations. I'm sure, given enough time, I could come up with a test that would show that molasses coats slow moving gears more visibly than Mobil 1. It would be meaningless, but visibly convincing.

sdc2

I read an interview with a racing team many years ago, when synthetic was new. They said they used to rebuild their engines after every race (using dino oil). When they tried Mobil One for the first time, they tore the engine down after the race and everything was still in spec! No rebuild necessary. Ultimately they found they could go 3 or 4 races between rebuilds with Mobil One, versus one race with dino.

To me that is a far more convincing test than a few gears in a box. And I have used Mobil One for at least 15 years now, with nothing but excellent results.

buran

I have ’02 Trooper S auto tranny w/ TOD. A few days ago I rear-ended a commercial van (no damage to the van) at about 20mph. Nobody got hurt but my truck …The hood is intact, but the bumper and grill were damaged badly. After collision I actually was able to drive off the road without noticing anything strange except leaking radiator, so I decided to tow the tuck to the body shop. GEICO adjuster estimated ~$1700, but after shop removed the bumper the estimate is ~$7,900. It sounds like a major damage to me.

This is my 1st experience with body shop does anyone had some thing similar? If so what should I look for or request from the body shop and/or GEICO? Any other suggestions would be highly appreciated.

Stan
BTW air bags surprisingly didn’t pop !!!

boxtrooper

You are the final inspection that the body shop must pass. I suggest getting another identical Trooper and taking lots of pictures so you have something to compare to what your repaired Trooper looks like under the hood. Look for grommets and little brackets cable routing and the recently discussed radiator mounting. Body shops exist to make money, Insurance comapnies want to pay the lowest repair cost no matter the results.
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For example, whe I had repairs done on my 1995 a few years ago, the winshield washer pump housing was broken. It is a plasit part, they tried to glue the impeller housing back together. When I put in washer fluid it all ran right out. The inner fender liner plastic part same story and I did not catch that one, I repaired it later when it fell away at the front corner where a mounting hole was enlarged and rubbed the tire.
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You radiator leaked? Was it steam or was it just fluid running on the ground? If no steam I suspect the radiator did not break, but the air conditioning condenser did. If you were running the A/C they might need to also replace the A/C compressor.
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If you are already having a > $2500 insurance claim, then go for it and get every possible accident related thing fixed as best you can even if it runs up the price, after the $2500 your insurance rate will be going up anyway.
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Rethink your insurance after an accident. I ended up increasing the deductables on mine as high as allowed to $1000 I think. I also had three cars on the same policy and they were going to raise the rates on all three. So I removed the Trooper from the common policy and opened a new policy with the same insurance company and saved hundreds of dollars a year. When the insurance price hike expires after 3 years usually, the insurance rate should come down, but my insurance said it would not go down until the next annual renewal period... Another time to cancel the Trooper policy and put it back on with the other car (we only have tow now) to get the lower rate right away. Again within the same company. If they will not play this with you change insurance companies. We went through all of our insurance policies and raised the deuctables and other optimizations, like years ago comprehensive was dirt cheap, now it is high, so we raised that deductable too.
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Best of luck with your Trooper. Let the repair shop know you will be very strict about your acceptance inspection and you will have "before" pictures and hopfully they will not cut corners too much.

buran

Thanks a lot boxtrooper,

as far as radiator, after the crash it was just leaking no steam at all and i was not running a/c.

i appriciate you insurance suggestions, i think i 'll have to do the same i.e. pull the trooper out of the family policy (my wife car on it also) to save some money.

Stan

stever

I love the oil wars. For most of us, real world situations don't warrant the expense of syn. oils. We aren't driving F-14's or race cars (Paisan excepted).

In case you missed it:

Engine Oil - A slippery subject Part 2

I've used dead dino for 30 years now with excellent results :-)

I was a bit surprised by Bobtheoilguy's test, since I thought he sold and promoted synthetic oils.

Steve, Host

paisan

I'm not sold on synthetics except in extreme conditions as well. I'd definitely go for them in the diffy, tranny, but for motor, depending on the price and how you drive...

I drive em all hard, so I've opted for synthetics in my Trooper. For my race cars that were on dino for most of their lives I stick with the Dino in the motors and Redline in the driveline, since Redline doesn't breakdown the seals like traditional synthetics.

-mike

bsmart1

bobistheoilguy is not down on synthetics so much as he is down on additives. The little test seems to prove his point about wasting money on additives. Neat demo!

ostaz

Today, I connected the fog lights on my 99 S(I bought them from a junk yard off of a 2000 LS, along with the switch).

Well, the lights didn't come on. I checked the following:

- The lights themselves are fine (tested with a 12v battery)
- The switch lights up when pressed. I assume this means it is powered)
- No power to the connector where the lights plug into (in the wheel well).

Any hints will be greatly appreciated.

Sam

breakor

Did you get the relay?

Post 3274 and others indicates you need one. pinoy99 Feb 7, 2002 10:30am

ostaz

oopss, I forgot about the relay. I will call St. Charles tomorrow to get one.

Now I have another problem though. I was measuring to see if there is current going to the fog light switch, but I must have shorted something (I smelled it). Now the instrument cluster light (that is controlled by the dimmer switch) doesn't come on at all. Don't see a fuse for it.

Could it be that checking the for light switch shorted the dimmer switch? All other gauges and warning/status lights work.

Thanks
Sam

sdc2

There is a fuse for the instrument lights in the engine compartment fuse box. It also fuses the tailights or brake lights, I forget which. Last spring I was towing a trailer that kept blowing that fuse, and the instrument lights always went out too.

It may not be labled like you would expect, I had to pull pretty much all of them to find it.

stolyar1

The stock CD changer in my 1999 Trooper is no longer playing or ejecting disks. Does anyone know compatible in-dash replacements?

coupedncal

I was wondering what is the percentage of 98+ Troopers with 3.5L motors with manual transmission. I will be looking for one as soon as I sell my current car. Looking to get into a Trooper to feel for life with an SUV. Never had one except a week long rental in a 2001 Trooper.

Thanks.

boxtrooper

coupedncal, I recently searched for and found a 2001 manual Trooper from a one owner private party. They took great care of it and it shows.
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The private party Troopers have some stuff different that the rental ones, I think this varies by year. But the rental ones are called LS even though they are basically the S model with a few custom differences.
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I found that the percentage of Troopers for sale with manual transmission is very low. I had the best luck on cars.com which is essentially a listing of all the local news paper ads in the USA.
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Good Luck
boxtrooper

coupedncal

Thanks for the info. I am sure all rental units were with automatic transmission so it wouldn't be difficult differentiating between the two. I will try cars.com per your advice.

BTW, how reliable is the Trooper compared to say a Toyota SUV ? Sorry to bring this lame issue as I am sure it has been discussed over and over here. Is it reasonable to expect a Trooper to be a daily driver and last 5+ years until 200K + miles ? I try to keep my cars for a while so as to get the most out of them.

paisan

In fact in Long Term Reliablility, the Trooper ranks right below the Toyota 4-Runner in the mid-size SUV class. Most owners have them to 200K+ miles, I know I plan to keep mine that long.

-mike

boxtrooper

a few years back the consumer reports rated the Trooper far and away the highest quality best built least likely to break down most dependable SUV in its class. The 4 runner was a previous model back then. Then consumer reports says it cannot recommend buying a trooper because it was used in a consumer reports publicity stunt to get free advertising on the news and later consumer reports was proven to have lied about their Trooper results, but protected by free speech, but the damage to Trooper sales was already done.
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The Trooper takes no more parking space than a Toyota Camry or Chevy Lumina sedan. It turns much tighter than either so can get into those parking spaces. Trooper has excellent visibiity and is very rigid in the frame for excellent towing. Trooper has very good articulation so it is great in the snow or off road.
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I added a third row seat from LittlePassengerSeats.com.
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I drove my 1984 Trooper 201000+ miles and it was running great when sold.
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I drove my 1995 Trooper 140000+ miles when it was running great with no lifter ticking and looked nearly like new inside and out even with kids in and around it very often until it was totalled by the airbags going off from a hard rear ending that crumpled the front end and roof of a large Volvo, the Trooper protected all inside and was still very driveable, but airbag replacement was $6000.
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I have my 2001 Trooper with 33K so far and I expect to fill out my 30 years of Troopers with this one lasting untill 2014 and beyond and probably 300K miles or more.
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A total price to buy all three Troopers of $47500 for 30 years of faithful service and 500000+ miles is my plan. Try to come anywhere close buying any other family utiliy vehicle that is so much fun to drive.
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When my wife had a new minivan we still took the Trooper on any trip where we were wanted the most reliable vehicle.

rfreda

please tell me a little more about the 3rd row seat you purchased. do you have the newer folding one? how well does it match the stock interior material?

any info would be appreciated.