Isuzu Trooper

Late Troopers are stupid cheap for a 'luxury SUV' that also might be pretty offroad capable. Why is that? How are parts for these things?

i think its the "rubbish badge" that makes them cheap. they seem to be pretty capable offroad, but i'm sure you'll have to deal with the same its-not-a-toyota issues, so likely a lot of stuff would have to be made to work on an isuzu. jensenman has posted on the topic a few times.

I know where there's one with a nice body & interior that needs a head gasket & front axle. It's in IN, but he'd probably let you tow it out of his yard for $100.

It's not neccessarily the "rubbish badge" so much as the orphan status of the Isuzu brand.

In my (very limited) experience, Troopers are not fast, not very fuel efficient, and parts are expensive...I guess because they aren't produced in the kinds of numbers TrailBlazers and Explorers are, the parts are not cheap.

The big plus of a Trooper? It's very well built....but so is a Pathfinder or 4Runner, and they are easier to keep running.

We just popped an engine a'la Cash for Clunkers in one. May have been the quickest one we have blown up yet.

they always had exhaust manifolds go, loud as hell

I'm sorry, I meant DON'T have the reputation! (real bad typo)

Etron is a Zombie Canoeist. His only other posting is this other zombie thread.
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/audi-a2-currently-available-in-limited-numbers-in-/4443/page1/

I still DD a '97 Trooper and worked for an Isuzu dealer right up to the end. They are tough, well built and reliable. Gas mileage is in the same range as their contemporaries.

Isuzu got their big start here in the States building Geos for GM, the GM dealers sold the hell out of them but the service network wasn't the greatest and that's where they got a rep as being trouble prone. AIMI (American Isuzu Motors Inc) was (I think still is) Isuzu's US operations and was/is in large part owned by GM. Back in the late 1990's GM made the corporate decision to cut back on the number of midsize SUV brands and Isuzu was cut. GM continued the partnership with the medium duty NPR's and that's all that's being brought in now.

I saw plenty of old Troopers and Rodeos with over 300K still going strong. The newest Troopers (post-98 facelift) were for the most part not at 100K when Isuzu shut down but they showed evidence of lasting at least as long.

The only real problem they had was the 98-00 had PCV system problems which could lead to excessive oil consumption. The PCV system was updated during production and a lot of the 98-00 versions were fixed in the field. The old type had a plastic PCV which popped into a grommet, the newer style is metal and threads into the valve cover. Both are easily seen, they are next to the oil fill cap on the left side valve cover.

Most parts are still readily available, the only thing I have heard of being hard to find is the rear gate glass.

This. I DD a 91 Trooper and it's the most reliable, overbuilt vehicle I've ever seen. They are fantastic off-road, huge inside, have practical interiors, and are easy to work on. The only downside is that they are slooooow! But I'm thinking a 3.1 turbo diesel swap is going to fix that, at least in my Trooper.

I thought the Axiom was a decent effort but didn't last long. I always notice them when I see them on the road. The early Troopers were the bomb, along with the SWB Montero/Raider.

A co-worker had one that blew 2 head gaskets in 3 years. I don't know if that's typical though. Also it was purple.

slowride wrote: A co-worker had one that blew 2 head gaskets in 3 years. I don't know if that's typical though. Also it was purple.

First-gen 4 cylinder Troopers had some issues with that, but modern castings and gaskets have fixed the issue.