Isuzu Trooper Owners Club UK™

[parkey]

Please Help.

I was thinking of getting a 2002 3.0L Citation as my 1999 Frontera has just cost me over £1200 (fuel pump) and £900 (valves coked up).

I've just been reading all these messages from poor unfortunate owners and don't know what I should think?

A Trooper seemed to suit my needs and wallet perfectly and I thought their reliabilty was legendary (although not sure now).

If they are ok, manual or automatic - any pros/cons?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Dave

[Google]

[markymoan]

Welcome to itoc  

People who do not have a problem tend not to post about problems.
What you see is a small number of people that have had problems,
Hope that helps a bit.
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[Topvaux]

Hi Parkey!

Well, I was in your position a while ago. The earlier Troopers >98 3.1s and earlier 2.8 diesels earned themselves an enviable reputation for ruggedness and reliabilty.

Then they had a rush of blood to the head and decided they needed a "modern" diesel engine like everbody else and got Caterpillar to do the design and development work for them.

The result was a great engine with superb power delivery and excellent fuel economy. One small problem was that they kept blowing up.....

Despite the dramas, the problems were in essence few and fairly simple. The injector seals failed, the turbos had problems and the oil strainers fell off...

In themselves not very great problems but they had dramatic effects and it took Caterpillar about three goes to resolve the design/manufacturing problems with the injector seals which didn't help and for beleaguered owners the turbo and strainer problems were about the giddy limit!

Isuzu have stood by them all and have continued to recall vehicles as and when, irrespective of vehicle age and mileage or change of ownership.

I think it's fair to say that they have pretty well sorted the problems now and, provided you check that all recall work has been done on any Trooper you are thinking of buying, you should be OK.

I recently bought myself a '99 Citation and took advantage of the fact that the residual values are through the floor: I sold my '95 Jap market imported Bighorn for £500 more than I paid for my lower mileage UK market '99 Citation! I reckon that the money I saved will pay for an awful lot of problems I DON'T expect to have and, given a few years, people will forget about the horrors these vehicles went through and their values will normalise again so the depreciation will in the end be negligable!

That's my perspective on it, for what it's worth!

[parkey]

Thanks Markymoan & Topvaux.

I think I will still test drive the car I was interested in and interrogate the dealer on service history and any recall information.

Would you recommend a manual or automatic?  I've heard that if autos fail they can cost a fortune to fix/replace.

[markymoan]

I swear by the manual myself, i think its more durable with its simple cogs.

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[Topvaux]

Heh - heh!

My biggest regret is switching to a manual - all that stomping with the left foot and stick-waggling! My previous two Bighorns were auto and were great! Pretty reliable box - Asin Warner same as in 3.0 Omega etc....  Nearly as economical as manual - possibly more economical when cruising - and 10 times more relaxing - OH! and fantastic for pulling trees out of the ground!!

[sconie]

Hi, if you search my recent post from last night, you will see I have been in a similar position, I am very happy (so far) with my buy, a 2002 Trooper, all the recall work has been done and I am looking forward to many years ownership, i will keep the forum updated with my ups and downs, the folks on here have been very helpfull as well, if there is anything I can do just PM me.

[TimBanham]

I love my 3.0 manual - used to love autos - and still do like em.

To be honest its purely down to preference - they all have pros and cons.

I spent 14 hours in mine on Sunday and 400 miles and no complaints!
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3.0TD LWB Citation