2000 Isuzu Rodeo S from North America - Comments

My head gasket blew at 73,000, which costs $1,200 in labor to replace. This however was only the start. It's failure cause the radiator to melt. The coolant pipe to crack. The manifold to crack. Other parts that failed are the thermostat and the O2 sensor. Since these all need replacement, so does what seems like every bolt and seal in the engine. So $1,200 in labor and $1,595 in parts cost, and I am looking at paying $2,795 for a car that is currently valued at $4,900 as a trade-in. Pretty sad, considering I have only had the car for 3 years. I first brought it to a non-Isuzu shop, who diagnosed the problem and told me the catastrophic failures where cause by the head gasket failure. They even called Isuzu to verify that this type of work was covered by warranty before towing it to the Isuzu shop. Once it was at the Isuzu dealer, their diagnose was exactly the same with the exception of the failure order. They claim the hard plastic coolant tube cracked first, which cause the engine to overheat, which caused the head gasket to fail etc etc. The plastic tube of course was out of warranty at 65,000, I am at 73,000, so I am out of luck.

I have had 5 tires replaced since I bought the car due to flats. Though I would have a hard time blaming that on manufacturing, yet it seems abnormal.

It's clutch pedal when fully pressed in moves about 10 inches total, yet when I let up on the pedal, the clutch only engages at the last 1/2 inch. This seems either cheap or wrong. It has been reported the the Isuzu shop a few times, but always get it explained to me as normal. It has been like this since I bought the car.

I have serious doubts that the there cars rate such a grand warranty. Mine is 10 years / 120,000 miles, and since they changed there warranties for 2003 - 2004 to 7 years / 75,000 miles, my guess is they don't believe it either. I guess it's just a coincidence.

We purchased a 10/yr, 100,000 mile warranty with the vehicle in 2000. It is not a 4 x 4 (I expected higher maintenance costs with those... and this state is flat anyways).

The transmission died completely at 97,000 miles, leaving me and the kids stranded on the side of the road. Isuzu didn't want to honor their warranty because they said that a little piece attached to the transmission wasn't actually a part of the transmission, and that is what caused the problem. After several hours on the phone with the General Manager at the dealership, they agreed to cover it.

Also, the protective bracket that shields the U-joint just came loose and made a huge racket underneath the car. It has since been removed. I've never had a problem with the belts, but the O2 sensor had to be replaced twice.

Just this week, a bracket fell off the signal arm, and the thing still functions, but is just kind of dangling.

It gets pretty horrible gas mileage. What sold me on this vehicle was the Honda drive train, but apparently Isuzus and Hondas don't interface well. I'll be sticking with Hondas exclusively from now on.

Honda drivetrain? In a Rodeo?