Isuzu Trooper Owners Club UK™

[andy s]

Hi all

Have been away from the forum after selling the Rodeo, but am back for another stint with a trooper......

Picked up a very clean and tidy V6, but has a few engine problems. It has a rattle which i think is down to poor servicing and *beep* oil, so that shouldn't be too much to sort out. The concerning thing is it's loosing water. Nothing in the oil, but a bit is spluttering out of the exhaust. In the worst case scenario it's done a head gasket or one is cracked between exhaust valve or something.....It has got hot once on me, but parked it up straight away and let it cool right down before i topped it up. I am going to play about with the coolant in the hope of it being air-locked, but have my doubts. What is the general labour time to whip the heads off and are there any short-cuts?

Here's being hopefull......

[Google]

[CAE]

You need a pressure test I would say. Picking up a poorly maintained 3500 engine is a really bad idea! They need to be kept an eye on, poor servicing and a rattle would suggest to me that someone may have run it very low/out of oil at some point - that is the most common killer of these engines, so ideally you want one that is serviced well.

Head the water system pressure tested and a compression test and go from there. Key things you have to get right when doing these is the timing, time left, wind right back four turns - and ensure the manifold gasket is sealed perfectly, or it will misfire.

These are great engines, but everything needs to be done right - take your time, avoid shortcuts - do it right, do it once.

[andy s]

Many thanks for the tips.

Did a bit on it today and, can i say, what a massive improvement! Dumped the oil and filter and put a new air filter in. Ran it on tick-over then took it out. The rattle was there but lighter. Let it cool down and then started up again.....rattle has considerably reduced....it has some injector knock and still a little lifter knock but early days. Have noticed a slight knock from the auto box that only comes in after about 15 seconds from starting, so i am presuming it happens once the pressure builds in the gearbox. Again new fluid for the box tommorow. The heat problem has not happened agin....it was ticking over for ages on the drive, and i kept sqeezing the hoses to lift bubbles. I think it might be a sticking thermostat???....i have been running a 3.2 fronty for a couple of years and know that stat problems do cause this type of thing with air-lock.
So far, so good....

[Rhanagar]

Chuck some Wynns Hydraulic Lifter Cleaner through the oil. I just buy a bottle and chuck it in. Solves all sorts of spurious tappet rattles on various cars I have owned as it clears old gunky oil that gets trapped in the system. They say change the oil afterwards but I just leave it in there till the next oil change.

I will add I hate "snake oil" solutions, but this is one I highly recommend.


_________________
1990 Isuzu Bighorn LWB Mk.I 2.8TD Manual Lotus Edition
1994 Isuzu Bighorn LWB Mk.II 3.1TD Auto Lotus Edition

Deceased
1994 Isuzu Bighorn LWB Mk.II 3.1TD Auto LS

[andy s]

ok....
dumped the coolant and put the hose-pipe up. Run some rad-flush, emptied again and put back coolant 1to1 mix. left it ticking over on the drive for 40 mins, ran the heater, no wet patch on the carpet so thinking the matrix is ok. Put the hose through both rads and got rid of the dead things. Temp guage sits dead centre.....took the plugs out and found that 4 were a golden brown and 2 a slight rich black.... near side last 2 pistons. No foaming in the rad, and holding pressure. Bottom hose return cooler to the touch than top hose, plenty of flow with squeezing and both matrix hoses heating up.

Where the fluke is the water going....

[andy s]

Now then.....

Pressure test on the coolant system came back fine. Did a co2 test on compression and clear as a bell.... put the camera down towards the thermostat and......signs of gunk and debris around the stat housing. Now am thinking a couple of things. One of the yank sites are saying that if the "O" ring pinches when you re-instate the thermostat, it has a habbit of letting go. You will only know once A. you put it all back together and run, then throw a load of gunk down it to seal up the leak because you did it wrong and want to cut corners. Or B.the block is cracked.

Now i'm being optomistic. Another dump of coolant tommorow, and spanners out.  

[andy s]

Key things you have to get right when doing these is the timing, time left, wind right back four turns - and ensure the manifold gasket is sealed perfectly, or it will misfire.

Now as you know these beasts.....if the timing was out, would it cause cam rattle, and what i would describe as pinking at about 3,000 revs?