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Steve
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The Trooper (2001, 3.5L, automatic, 34,002 miles) seems like a nice truck. Lots of room, although whomever had it for the past year certainly used it hard (dirt here, plastic trim scuffed there, etc.) The cloth seats looked to be in good shape, though, and the white paint and silver trim looked nice.
However, once I turned the key and began pulling out of the parking space, I saw the TOD indicator rear wheels flashing. Neither of us knew why, but the salesman suggested that perhaps the flashing was normal.
A couple of minutes later, the word "check" flashed on in a little box below the rear axle. Hmmmm...
So I pulled over onto a small dirt parking area. We spent 15 or so minutes flipping through the owner's manual trying to find out why the rear wheels were flashing.
In fooling around with the 4WD transfer case lever, I also noted that the front wheels only lit up for 4Low when the lever was moved JUST SO. All the way forward, and the light wouldn't come on. Maybe it's a bad sensor. Maybe it's a bad switch. Maybe it's something I don't want to fool with.
The salesman said that the truck was still under Isuzu warranty (less than 2,000 miles worth) and suggested that it could be looked at by Isusu. I'm wondering why if a vehicle isn't right they's try to sell it anyway (but that's just me)
Aside from the TOD issue and the handling, it seems like a nice vehicle. I just don't know if I want to fool around with a powertrain issue from the get-go. Has this been a common problem? Is this a minor glitch or something that, as Ann Landers would say, run, don't walk, from?
BTW, the Trooper is Bob Ferrando Ford World in Girard, Pa., on Route 20 (a bit west of Erie, Pa., just north of I-90).
Mark
I would definitely not rule out the truck. When you were putting it in 4-lo were you in neutral? You need to be in neutral and not moving to put it in 4-lo. Also if the TOD was flashing you probably couldn't put it into 4-lo easily.
-mike
I'm sure a condition of sale would involve the dealer taking the truck to an Isuzu dealership and making sure the work was done before money changes hands.
As for 4-lo, the truck was in neutral and my foot on the brake. When I moved the lever forward, there was a thunk/clank sound of *something* engaging. If I didn't move the lever quite all the way forward, the TOD's front tires would light up (all three segments green). If I moved it forward another 1/4 inch, the lights would go out.
Also, in the lower left-hand corer there's an oval window where the warning lights come on when the key is turned. According to the manual a small icon of the two axles (similar to the TOD) is supposed to come on when the truck starts. Also, that I con is supposed to flash (I think) when 4-hi is active, and stay lit when 4-low is engaged.
It never lit up -- not when the key was turned, not when 4-hi was activated, not when the truck was put into 4-low. What do you make of that?
Thanks!
The manual with the smaller icon with the 2 axles is not present on TOD equipped vehicles. The TOD guage should light up the rear wheels solid and "auto" lit in the TOD light. Then over 5mph the first bar on the front axle will light indicating 15% power to the front. It will fluxuate as you drive. In 4-low the front axle will light up solid and "auto" will go off.
Definitely sounds like the speed sensors are not allowing TOD to engage. This can cause 4-low not to engage properly. The TOD system is very robust and I rarely hear of any problems other than about 2 or 3 people who have had their sensors replaced.
-mike
Does this sound like a good deal to you guys? Is there anything in particular I should have them look for during the inspection?
Thanks for all the great info on this board!
Do you know if the sun/moonroof is the factory one? You'd probably recognize it-- they are HUGE.
Did you pay the 15 bucks for the detailed Carfax report, or just the free one? Especially if you're dealing with some sort of a 'wholesale dealer' I'd say the 15 bucks is worth it. Or you can pay 20 bucks and get unlimited Carfaxes for a period of time (60 days?).
In your case, it's easy to see why the dealer is trying to do this. They're a Ford dealer, so they wouldn't be able to fix the TOD problem on their own. And though it's not a major hassle for them to have it serviced at an Isuzu dealer, most dealers aren't willing to take the time to do that. Just my 2 cents.
The Edmunds group is a small sample size of 98+ Trooper owners, but I haven't heard many issues wiht the speed sensors. paisan is the only one I can think of whose Trooper has had this problem. And he drives his truck harder than most of us, which may or may not have anything to do with it.
Can't wait to test it on the highway, but I know it can recieve at least 3 miles cause I was hitting a few truckers on the highway 3 miles from my place!
I'll snap some shots this week and put em up.
-mike
The bad news: Aside from the check light blinking on the TOD in 2WD mode (curiously, it goes way when 4WD-hi is activated) we discovered that the cruise control doesn't work. Is this related to the speed sensor issue for the TOD?
There's also a rattle somewhere in the rear seat area, and my wife detected a slight whistling noise from the windshield area. Also, the driver's window seems to have a bit too much power. When I put the window up, it pressed really hard into the frame, slightly distorting the door panel.
During our test drive, we wondered why a one-year-old truck with "only" 34,000 miles would have these things wrong. I thoght maybe it had been driven pretty hard, then tossed away like a Bic razor when things started to go wrong. My wife thought perhaps it had been in an accident.
Turns out it may have been a bit of both.
On the way out of the dealership, I jotted down the VIN in order to do a CARFAX search. The result: The Trooper started life in a major car rental agency's fleet in Rochester, N.Y.
Hmmmmmmm.
The window thing is common on all isuzus, not an issue.
Whistling windshield? Does it have a bug deflector? If so I believe a few people on here had a similar problem and an easy fix for it. It's due to the shape of the windshield and gasket.
Hearing it was a rental isn't a great sign, but these are all things that you could use to work the price down further. Another option is to look for another Trooper if it suites your needs.
-mike
But I've got a bit of time to look for a replacement (I hope) and I might run across another good used Trooper.
Thanks for all of the advice!
One of the Isuzu plugs (the larger standard size) fits my radio, but I get little or no reception. The other plug (mini-size) just has no where to go. The factory ISUZU cassette deck had plugs for both.
Anybody run across this?? Solutions ?? Adapters ?? Manual wiring?? Anything.
thx.
-mike
Question...I did some looking this weekend to replace my wrecked 97'. Saw a 99' Performance, an 00' S and an 01' S. Only looked at the S models because the dealer swore over the phone that they were LS models. Amazing what these non-ISUZU dealers DON"T know about vehicles. Anyway, I noticed the the 00' S Trooper had a fixed position drivers seat. Is this standard for the 00' model?? Sure it would move forward and back, but had no position height adjustment front or rear. I saw all the typical manual adjusters on the 01' driver seat. Just thought this was odd and was surprised by it.
I'm settling on the 99' Performance Trooper. Working out the details with the dealer, who thankfully is an ISUZU dealer. It's got a few paint issues I want them to fix before driving it away. They did a complete service on it changing all fluids in the diffs, xfer case, xmission, and engine flush. Also turned rotors due to some vibration when braking.
This rotor warping seems to be a common thing with Troopers. Others of you seen this with your vehicles??
More later as the deal closes.
Happy Trooping !!;-)
The 98 and 99 base S models that I've looked at did not have the seat adjustment knobs. I think you had to get the performance package in those years to get them. From your abservations, it looks like the S model in 2000 was the same way. You must have had to get the LS in order to get the extra seat adjustments. I think the arm rests typically go along with the extra seat adjustments too.
In regards to pricing, check out the TMV values here on Edmunds. You might be surprised how inexpensive the 98-99 models are. In reality though, I haven't seen too many that were actually advertised near TMV.
-mike
My 2000 S doesn't have the height adjustments -- just standard base and seatback "back and forth" adjustments.
Details are on -
http://www.holden.com.au/app/serve?page=holdenRallyOverview
http://www.finkedesertrace.com.au
Total race time for the Jackaroo was 5h:16m:56s. So the AVERAGE speed was 87km/h or about 55mph, over desert sand tracks!
Hopefully they'll get some photos of the 2002 event up soon.
As others have indicated, the base S model in 99 at least did not have any seat adjustments, which is a large reason I ended up with a PP Trooper with the "eight-way" adjustable seat. I really disliked the position of the base S seat, and was about to give up on shopping for a Trooper when I discovered the PP models had more adjustability.
Besides, I liked the monotone paint scheme anyway...
-mike
Happy TRooping!!
Our 98 was used for a year and 7,000 miles by Isuzu USA before we bought it. I don't know if it had any brake problems before we bought it, but it just turned 65,000 miles yesterday and we've had no brake issues during our ownership of the truck. I probably should have the brakes inspected, just to find out how much pad life is left.
-mike
You will need to place a temperature sensor somewhere outside of the cabin though. Maybe in a door frame cavity somewhere.
I'd go with something from JC whitney, I want to find one, but not real high on the priority list.
-mike
Maybe they brought back the Multimeter as an option on the LS for 02. Or the dealer may have installed it cause they had one laying around.
-mike
Looks like the outside temp is maybe in the dash on the 02 according to Edmunds? It is shown for the LS w/o the compass feature, so I wonder if it is NOT in the multimeter section.
My guess though is that the dealer added it on trying to clear out their parts bin. Just like Isuzu is doing with the Trooper Part-time 4wd units for the ATs on some of the S models this year. I'm just picturing a bunch of Japanese dudes at the factory rummaging through stock rooms going "Hey Joe"..." Look what I found from '98!"... "I guess you should stick it on the 02 since we won't be making them next year"..."Good Idea."
For instance my buddy got his '00 Trooper with Orange colored rear turn signal housings, when all other '00s I've seen have clear/white housings.
-mike
-mike
-mike
-mike
-mike