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I should have known better than to think my Trooper had a mechanical problem this early (71k miles) in its life!
The Trooper's brakes save my life every day!
If they don't need to be changed on the next MB1 oil change at 79K, I won't quite believe it. I think I will have them changed regardless of what is left. I need the bearings repacked (original grease, also) might as well have them do both at the same time to hopefully save a few bucks. A year ago I bought OEM pads from St. Charles in Mo., so if they can go another 70K plus they will be worth the $. These are fairly heavy vehicles, I can't believe how well the pads last. I was on my 2nd post original set of pads on my Tahoe at this same mileage. I heard GM has improved the Tahoe braking system but I not convinced it can match my Troopers performance. Cheers to all!
Where can I find a shop that bleeds brake systems? I keep hearing, not just here, about what a good maintenance item this is, but every time I ask a place that does brakes I'm told they don't do that and they don't really think it's necessary. I'm guessing it's a good idea but since so few people do it, that not many shops have technicians with experience and ability in doing it.
I'm planning to have the bearings repacked at the same time as the brake work is done.
I had a brake inspection 2-3k miles ago and was told 40-50% pad life remaining front and rear. In light of the warning light and low fluid situation, is there any reason to have them inspected again? I'm not sure how thorough the previous inspection was.
I suspect that bleeding only is just not profitable enough for them. That is why they are telling you they cannot do it.
As to getting your pads checked again, I doubt that is really necessary. However, since it is usually a free service you have nothing to lose other than time if you do want to get it done. Could be that they will find something other than pad problems. Alternatively, for a pad check only, just walk up to the vehicle and feel the pads yourself. You should be able to feel the thickness just by reaching through the wheel. Granted it takes some experience to know how thick is thick enough but if you started now you would be building that experience base for the future.
The 3.5L Trooper engine in 1998-2002 Troopers does consume more oil than many newer automobile engines. However, anything more than a quart per 1,000 miles is too much. Ours burns a quart every 2,000 miles or so. Some folks on this forum report little or no oil consumption, but several others are in the same boat as me. It's something that doesn't bother me that much. A quart every 250 miles WOULD bother me very much!
I'm one of the fortunate ones with no oil consumption at all (so far). I'm using 10W-40 synthetic oils and changing every 3000 miles.
Are you leaving oil puddles?
Are you leaving a blue cloud of smoke as you drive off?
IMHO 10W40 is not a good idea, it might cause oil filter bypassing or take too long to get to the top of the engine in the Trooper unless you are in a very hot climate.
FWIW I burn about 1 quart in 5,000 miles in my 99 Trooper, using Mobil One 5W-30.
I do agree with your conclusion but not with your logic.
When cold, by definiton, all 10wt motor oils have the same viscosity. Thus 10/40w oil will flow the same as 10/30, 10/20 or even straight 10w oil when cold at startup.
The difference in the viscosity ONLY comes into play as the engine warms up and the viscosity modifying polymers start to uncoil inside the oil. Eventually a 10/40wt oil can be thicker than a 10/30wt oil (i.e. if hot enough it can be at 40wt vs. 30wt). This can be a bad thing in cold climates as the oil can be too thick to properly lubricate the parts. Conversely, this can be a good thing in hot climates as the lower wt oils can be too thin to provide proper lubrication at these higher temperatures. To know when is too hot and when is too cold look at an outdoor thermometer and compare to the recommended oil wt chart in the owners manual.
I once had to add oil at -30degF to a 1965 Chevy Impala before a long trip. The oil was stored in the trunk of the car and so it was at -30degF too. I cut the top off the cylindrical oil can (remember when oil came in a cylindrical can and you openned it like a HiC drink can, no HiC is in little boxes now, oh well.). I ended up spooning the oil out and dropping the chunks of heavy mollasses like oil into the running engine.
Also, the viscosity difference between the 5 and 10wt oils is significant. IIRC it is right at the 100% difference implied by the numbers.
In any event any eyeball test is not all that reliable. What the 10w refers to is viscosity (slipperiness between two metal plates) not looks or pour point temperature.
I met some tourists from Ireland here in the middle of our winter and they compared the climate to a nice spring day back home!
For interest, Mobil 1 is sold here only as a 5W-50.
I have a 99 Trooper with 39k. Recently (15 days ago), the truck became harder to start again (it did that for a few weeks prior, and then went away by itself). Other symptoms are irrgualr/low idle and cutting off when coming to a stop.
The check engine light also came on. There are no consequences for these symptoms, I have full power, no smoke or other odors, etc....
This change did not happen after an oil or any other change (it has Mob1 5/50 now). I tried several gas stations with no luck.
Any thoughts?
Thanks
What you're describing sure does sound like the manifold gasket problem.
If it happens not only when cold then it could be an EGR Valve and/or ECU reprogramming. A pulling of the ECU code will tell you more specifically what it is. I think Autozone does this for free if you aren't under warranty anymore.
-mike
paisan, it does it even when it is warm. The truck is still under warranty. I will take it to the dealer and let them check it.
Question for the group, any reservation on buying a Rodeo for my wife. There is a 99 for sale in excellent condition for 10.5k with only 24k miles.
Thanks again
You should be under warranty still, take it to the dealer.
The other day I backed my Trooper out of the garage and noted a ticking sound from the engine. I noted that this seemed unusual and decided to check the oil. The engine was still cold and when I pulled the dip stick there was no oil showing. I had not checked the oil level since the last oil change. I knew there must be some oil and slowly drove it to an oil change station as it was time to do the oil change - 4,500 miles since last change. At the oil change station, no oil was showing on the stick but they said it must have had a little over 3 quarts in the engine.
Now I'm watching the oil level like a hawk. Wonder what caused this sudden consumption? I don't think it is really that bad even if my Trooper used 2 quarts oil in 4,500 miles. I guess I can't anymore just assume that my Troopers engine does not use any oil and will have to check it several times between oil changes where I did not have to before. BTW, I have 44,800 miles on it now.
After the oil change, the ticking noise went away. I guess I get 'atuned' to the sound of the engine in my Trooper and can tell when she is in need of TLC - aka oil. It was the same way with my old 1989 Trooper as I could also tell with it when it was low on oil.
Thought this might be interesting for you Trooper owners and if you think something might be amiss, let me know. Otherwise, my Trooper still performs great and sounds normal when it has enough oil :-)
-mike
I swapped to a AGM battery by Optima after about 40 months. That was about 40 months ago and still the Optima is doing fine. I went with the more expensive Optima spiral wound absorbed glass mat battery type to avoid the acid mess. No more rust and no more corroded battery terminals. The optimas also have very low internal resistance which gives something like 1000+ Cold Cranking Amps from a battery that is fairly light weight.
I use a deep cycle AGM in my boat from LifeLine a concord company brand for the AGM advantage plus more reserve amp hours than can be found in an optima.
Champion also makes a spiral wound AGM battery.
Re battery, my $58 Advance Auto battery was a 2 year free replacement, 72 month prorated. Your Sears battery at $68 sounds like deal with 100 months and greater cranking amps - mine was a Group #25 (same as was in there), yours the #27 upgrade.
BTW, I asked the Advance Auto battery installer if he ever had a battery to explode on him. He said yes, one exploded in his face while he was doing the standard battery check -- got cut in the face from the plastic and acid in eyes, out of work for several weeks. Be careful working around those batteries. I'm going to start wearing eye protection when I jump a battery now.
http://cartalk.cars.com/Columns/Archive/1994/December/14.html
http://www.jiflube.com/myhtml/questions/question10.html
I'm not a fan of cartalk or Jiffylube but they provide some decent info on this subject...
On the Exploroz form, a "bush mechanic" thread has started and it is an interesting read. It came about because someone posted a story about sagging rear coils during an outback trek. His fix...19 tennis balls in each coil until he got home. It worked!
Have a read. It's quite entertaining (take the space out between the "?" and "ForumQID". I had to get over the 110 char limit)....
http://www.exploroz.com.au/Forum/View.asp? ForumQID=2264&Page=%2FForum%2FDefault%2Easp%3FDisplaySet%3DActive%26PN%3D1
Did you know you can use vegemite to fix a leaking thermostat housing gasket?
The British host on "Junkyard Wars" calls it sticky tape. This seems like the most appropriate name to me.
There is also the issue I had this summer with overheating on the highway.
The stalling after starting could be a fuel delivery problem. It doesn't sound like a leaking manifold gasket problem as those tend to cause high and/or erratic idles. Then again maybe yours is erratic enough for it to die on the lower surges.
I don't see how a fuel delivery problem could effect your starter's ability to crank the engine. It also doesn't sound like a typical battery problem as those are most pronounced with cold batteries on cold cars. However, sometimes battery problems tend to mimic other issues. I suspect you have a starter problem.
If you want to start chasing this down yourself, I suggest you first inspect all your battery cables. Next, clean all the battery connections. If you have a voltmeter check your battery voltage when cold, with the engine running, and right after shutting down. If you find no surprises then inspecting and cleaning all the starter connections has been known to cure many starter woes.
Upon further thinking I guess it is possible that a temperature sensor could be giving faulty readings. That would explain the apparent summer overheating, and maybe the engine dying and starting issues as the computer thinks the engine is much hotter or colder than it really is. This doesn't impress me as real likely, especially if you didn't get any computer codes noting a sensor problem.
After work it started right up. I drove home, stopped and then tried to start it, it started right up. I am going to give it a once over during the day tomorrow and see what I find.
I appreciate the feedback, thanks. I have a service appointment next week. My service manager said no problem, and was sure he could find the problem? I have my fingers crossed.
It does just what the name says, THEN you copy that shorter link here and avoid all the instructions on adding, deleting or copy/pasting to your browser line. I've used it a bunch.
Jim
I'm less than 1,000 miles into the current change interval, and it seems my Troop may be consuming more oil than in the past. Actually, oil consumption seems to be getting higher in the past 10k miles or so. Our Troop has 72k miles on it now.
-mike
-mike
Then on Sunday it wouldn't crank/start at all. This time however I got the clicking noise that the starter makes when the battery is dead...it also lost all of the radio presets. So I ran out Sears and picked up a new battery (Diehard Silver). It seems to have resolved the issue. It didn't seem like a battery problem due to the fact that the problems would happen while running after startup...maybe the battery was shorting out the electrical system?