15th Dec 2008, 23:37

I own a 1999 Trooper that we purchased new.

Over the years it had the normal wear and tear, but my wife and I always felt it was a great car. Handled great and was super in the snow.

We religiously replaced the oil and filter every 3K miles and did not experience the unusually high oil consumption others on this page have experienced.

At 107K miles, totally without warning, a piston rod blew through the bottom of the engine. No option to rebuild it, the engine had to be replaced. A new engine was too expensive to make sense, so we went with a used engine with 68K miles.

Since replacing the engine, for about $4,500 the AWD doesn't work, the entire car shakes when driving and there is much more engine noise than before. It is in the dealer now for diagnostics, but if I had the chance to do it again, I would have let it go at that point for junk (worth about $800).

Bottom line, it was a great vehicle but you need to let these 3.5L Troopers go to "car heaven" with honor when they get to about 100K miles.

3rd Jan 2009, 23:23

I've had four Troopers (1988,1991,1994,1996) and I cannot believe they break. All but the 1988 have towed my 4 ton sailboat on 100 degree days happily. The 1996 I still own. I bought it in 2002. A check at Isuzu showed two services, an axle seal recall and a battery replacement. Since then a starter, muffler, two more batteries, belts and an electric vacuum relay. Oh and a 1996 workshop manual (still unused)!!!

5th Jan 2009, 17:51

I have had my Trooper over 16 years and am so loathe to give it up. It only has 67,000 miles on the clock, has gone through services when required and until recently had only had the clutch replaced and very little else.

My husband says every year that I must change it, but I don't want to - however it had £2000 spent on it last year for a problem with the radiator which doesn't seem to have been solved.

It has been a perfect work horse, and I am so glad that I didn't acquire one of the newer ones that had transmission problems. Having said that, you don't even see many of those back on the market so perhaps the problem was fixed under warranty, I know a local garage said the costs for that were costing Isuzu about £6000 per car - expensive problem!

Wish they still made the car as I don't want or need the Rodeo.

19th Feb 2009, 22:11

I bought a Trooper 1999 on Jan. 27, 2000 from the dealer with 4.5 miles on it. There were four available, and I picked this one.

Since day one it gives 15 miles to a gallon, day or night, highway or city.

Burns oil, but no big deal, I add a quart every 1000 miles or so. Since I add oil, I use 20/50 Penzoil and change at every 7500 miles.

Just completed 200,450 miles, got the timing belt and water pump changed for the second time, (70,000 first time).

One of the best vehicles I ever had), made about 25 trips from Atlanta to Knoxville about a job (I am a surveyor), therefore had to use as four wheel drive many as times working near creek beds. Had to change the starter one time.

Only problem - driver's side window can't stay fixed, so I do not use it and have disconnected the wire so nobody opens it.

A great car. The only reason I bought it was the engine was made in Japan, transmission made in France, serving me well and I had a deal to start with $28,500 car for $22,000 one year old model.

Gulshan Sawhney.

20th Jul 2009, 09:28

My wife and I purchased our 99 Isuzu Trooper new, so we were able to maintain it from the beginning. We've had it almost 10 years now and it is easily the BEST vehicle that we've ever owned.

I have changed the oil every 4,000 to 5,000 miles with synthetic oil, new fuel filter and tune up at 100,000 and 200,000, timing belt and water pump at 100,000 and 200,000 (didn't want to take chances since we like to head to the mountains), maybe two starters in the 208,000 miles that we currently have on it, a new battery, brake pads once or twice, new shocks at 200,000 and a couple of sets of tires and that is about it. Exhaust is original, brake pads weren't replaced until 100,000.

Unbelievable vehicle! Both my wife and I couldn't trade this vehicle for anything. My 13 son hopes to get this vehicle when he obtains his license. My 11 year old son wants to take this vehicle on vacation rather than our Camry.

PROBLEMS?

Went through two CD changers so currently run an IPOD through stereo to control music.

As many others have stated, we put in a quart of oil about every 1,000 miles. Makes me think that Isuzu has a terribly consistent engine since nearly every post I've read says a quart at 1,000.

When we had the last timing belt installed about six weeks ago, our mechanic laughed and said "ought to last you 100,000 miles".

ABSOLUTELY GREAT VEHICLE if maintained properly. We were so disappointed to learn that Isuzu no longer makes passenger vehicles. NOTE: Our science teacher went through two Isuzu Rodeos and misses them. He maintains his vehicles very well too.

2nd Sep 2009, 13:04

I am in the process of purchasing a 1999 Isuzu Trooper, due the vehicle capturing me at 1st entry. The car has about 141,000 miles on it, and I'm purchasing the car for $2,800.00 The car seems to be in perfect condition, and I wish to get at least 3 years out of it. Reading these comments assists me with going in with the purchase with my eyes WIDE open. I'll let our viewers know how it works out for me. Jackhit.

15th Dec 2009, 21:27

Have a '99 Trooper 3.5L that has been an absolutely great vehicle, especially for climbing mountain roads - until recently. The knock you hear so much about with Isuzu's has been a problem at 2K RPMs for months and now is quite loud. First mechanic had no idea what the problem was, but it is quite evident from reading postings on the Internet that there is a basic design problem with the engine that makes it very sensitive to low oil levels. Wish I knew this before I let my daughter have the car (oil, what oil?).

Bottom line is that any used Trooper should come with a 4' by 6' windshield sticker saying "change oil regularly".

We are back in the shop tomorrow to see if it salvageable. Trooper buyers beware!