1998 Isuzu Rodeo LX review from North America

Constant pinging once car warms up.

The car is actually a Honda Passport, which is a serious flaw. I keep getting referred back from Isuzu to Honda, etc. A service tech @ Honda told me to tell people not to buy this vehicle! Then another Honda dealer was unable to look up the VIN. She referred me to Isuzu, who laughed when I asked them if they could look it up.

My current problem is the loud pinging coming from the motor after it warms up, under load. I've done quite a bit of research & apparently it could be:

A worn timing belt

A bad/dirty EGR valve

A needed firmware (computer program) upgrade.

One Honda dealer told me it was "totally normal"!

There is a TSB listed on the net dealing with this issue, but no dealer (Honda or Isuzu) was able to look it up, even after I gave them the #. Crazy.

As a side-note, I wondered why the suspension on the 2WD vehicle was so harsh until I got underneath it: There is only 1" (That's ONE INCH) of suspension travel in front! There's a huge rubber bumper bolted to a bracket that is welded to the frame & it sits ONE INCH (!) above the lower control arm. I was wondering why I almost bite through my tongue going over speedbumps! My guess is that Isuzu never really planned to make this vehicle in a 2WD version & so they had to mess it all up for Honda. Other than these two issues it's been a pretty good rig, but I am seriously frightened of the next thing to go wrong & am going to sell it.

PS--Unplugging (& then re-plugging after a day's driving) the O2 sensors helped with the ping, but didn't remove it.