Anyone know about Izuzu Rodeo 3.5?

[Venturous Randy]

Well, as if I don't have enough projects, Linda and I just bought an 04 Rodeo for her grandson that will turn 16 next month. We have been watching Craigslist for local cars and anything decent went very fast. We took a chance on this one as it has a bent valve. The body and interior is in excellent shape and it has 123k miles. I hope I can get by with just replacing the head. The guy we bought it from bought it this way and already picked up a bunch of parts like timing belt and a few other things. He just found out he was loosing his rented garage and apartment as the property was sold and he has no place to fix the vehicle.

Her grandson already knows that he will be expected to be part of this rebuild and at this point he knows absolutely nothing about cars. I hope this will be a good turning point in his life.

KBB private sell on this vehicle in good shape is about $3,800 and we got it for $1,200. KBB for selling off a dealer/car lot is a little over $6,000 for good condition.

It also has new tires.

Randy

Edited February 5, 2015 by Venturous Randy

[hushpuppy]

I have had several of the Isuzu Trooper's with the 3.5. Always had great luck with them. My nephew has one now with over 200,000 miles. The thing uses a qt. of oil every 1500 miles, other than that it does very well.

Hushpuppy (Richard)

[BlueSky]

So the timing belt broke and the pistons hit the valves? If that is what happened, you could be in for a new block too. I hope that is not the case.

[Eck]

Years ago I bought a car with a blown engine for my son. I let him know before I bough it that HE was the one going to swap out the engine.. I would help, but HE was the one that was going to do most of the labor.. He agreed. I bought the car, we removed the old engine. I went to a place that advertises that they perform an diagnostic engine run on every engine to ensure it runs with no burning oil, water leaks, blown gaskets or whatever.. I bought a 350 engine. It was mid winter, cold as heck, no heat in garage.. We installed the motor.. Started it up and it sounded great. We let it run for about 3 or 4 minutes and antifreeze was running out on the floor.. Got down under the car and saw water pouring out from between block and head..I went back to where I bought the engine and told the owner about my problem.. His answer: Well, just remove the engine and bring it back and I will have another one sitting here waiting for you..I said, no, why don't YOU go pull it out and YOU re-install it now. I did my job based on YOUR advertising.. He said nope, cant do that.. All in all I was left hanging with the task.. Never again..I will always buy a vehicle that I can get in, start it up and drive off. I dont want anymore problems for I have enough already. It is a good learing lesson for the kids though. My son learned a bunch on how to work on cars since then too. In fact, he is in a pickle right now with a front Universal joint replacement...I'm glad at times he lives in Australia....!!

[djh3]

Depending on how it was running at the time the belt let go is going to determine what is messed up. If it was tooling down the road @ 70 mph and the belt broke, you could have holes in the pistons, bent rods all sorts of stuff. Best case scenario you got a couple pings inthe tops of pistons you wire brush and put a reman head on.

I did a job for a fellows daughter. A little Saturn sedan. She killed the motor. they arranged for me to pick up a motor, it was up to them to sort out the payment and warranty etc. I installed the motor and got the little car running great. A month or so later the fellow calls me and say its running ruff. I go pull a compression test, it had burned a valve or something. I told him to contact the yard. They would give him a motor in exchange, which if fine but it was not may fault their motor went south. I sure wasnt going to change it again for free this time. I dunno what they did.I felt bad about the deal, but I was only the labor involved. I only work for free for my family. LOL

[Flyinfool]

Before you spend any money on parts, tear this one down. That way IF you are looking at a whole engine replacement you will not be left with a pile of new parts.

[Venturous Randy]

The first thing I will do is pull the spark plugs and look at the pistons with a camera scope. The guy I got it from said that the woman that had it had stopped at a store and when she got back in it, she started it then it quit. So maybe it was not revving when it happened.

Randy

[Chaharly]

It would probably be just as costly as replacing the motor. Maybe go that route?

[djh3]

Hmm If it tossed the belt kind of sitting still so to speak, chances are the pistons etc are OK. I would say its worth pulling the head and take a look see.