Posted: 12/9/2004 1:22:18 PM EDT
| Do these have a reputation for seizing due to oil loss or pump failure? |
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Legs is right. You driving a 2nd Generation Trooper? I have read of engines siezing due to being BONE DRY without the oil light coming on. BEWARE! ETA: BTW, if you simply check the oil and replenish accordingly, the engine is otherwise fine. I haven't had any major issues with mine other than the FUCKING ANNOYANCE about the oil. |
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Not mine, a friends. It's a well maintained 2000 with ~65,000. A mechanic told her once that she was way low on oil so they thought she had an oil leak, or that the place that changed her oil last screwed here, and simply didn't do it. They changed it, then checked on it a couple of weeks later, and concluded that the prior mechanic must have screwed her over. A few minutes ago, she calls me and tells me that her oil light is intermittently blinking, and that it's been doing this for a couple of days. I asked her to verify that the light indicates oil pressure, and not oil level, and she said it was pressure. I told her to pull over, and I'll be over, but she said 'But I've got to get where I'm going.' I gave her the speech, but to no avail. |
| I have had a '92 Trooper 3.2L, '97 Trooper 3.2L and currently have a '02 3.5L Trooper. They all burned a a normal amount of oil in my experience. I have also heard that the 3.5L uses more oil than most engines it's size, but I haven't experienced it myself. I sold my '92 with 160K miles on it, the '97 with 98K miles and currently have 40K on the '02. I never replaced anything major on any of these vehicles. |
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Best advice if you don't trust the idiot light: install a mechanical oil pressure gauge and instruct the owner on what it means. Best advice for someone who doesn't listen when you tell them "pull over because you are low on oil and your engine is going to seize": get a bike. sounds like a potential aqua-bumping candidate... 
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She's going to have to learn from experience. I did all could do over the phone without getting ugly. She's got the money to recover. |
What was a "normal" amount for you? I'm burning about a quart every 800-1200 miles, depending on if it's city or highway. Highway burns faster (or maybe it seems to, since you're covering more distance in a shorter time). |
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Mine does the same thing, goes through about a quart every 1500 miles. Still going strong though. No major repairs, replacing only batteries, brakes and tires + 1 EGR valve. 1998 with 148,000. I've never had any vehicle that came close to being this dependable... tvone |
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I don't know about the 3.5 but heres my experience with the 3.2 V-6. I had a 2000 Rodeo that started burning a small amount of oil at around 30K miles. It never bothered me that much, I just stayed on top of it and changed the oil regularly. My brother in law borrowed it one weekend after I changed the oil for a trip to WV. On the way back, it locked up on him and we had to get it towed back. My bro in law is a trustworthy guy so I believed him (and the other 2 people in the car) when they told me that the oil pressure light never came on. This all happened at roughly the 60K mark. I checked the oil before we I took it to the dealer and it was only about a quart low. The dealer tore it down and reported that the oil pump had failed because the nylon gear driving it stripped. Fortunately for me, they replaced it all under warranty and life went along happily up to the point when I sold the vehicle a couple of months ago. Moral: Never trust that stupid idiot light to save your ass especially with these engines. |
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From what I've been able to gather, the problem is pretty well concentrated (for the 3.5's) around 1998-2001 or so. Apparently, the engineers at Isuzu (or wherever the hell the engine was designed) didn't put enough drain holes into the cylinders for the oil to return to the oil pan. Since it stays in the cylinders, it burns away faster. The funny thing, of course, is that you see ZERO smoke coming from the exhaust. Go figure. Aside from an EGR valve and some speed sensors in the tranny, I've had zero major problems with my Troop. Of course, there is that annoying little check-engine light problem I have. If the truck is cold and I start it and start driving, it starts flashing. Stop the truck (usually it's gotten warm by then), start up again, no light. No computer codes, no problems, nothing. Like I said, ANNOYING! Damned thing's oil light didn't so much as blink when the damned oil pan was DRY, but the check engine light flashes for no reason. No wonder they call them idiot lights! 
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Yes Both the 3.5 and the 3.2 ( Rodeo ) engines have oil problems. I work at an Isuzu dealer, and we replace a couple of engines a month. From what I've been told, it's a poor design with the piston rings. They stick to the pistons, oil gets by, start to burn oil, and then they either knock like hell seize up eventually. If you have kept up on oil changes and have the documentation, check with a dealer and see if it's covered. The one thing they aren't is CHEAP. MSRP on both engines is $ 5,267. Hope this info helps. 
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