2000 Isuzu Trooper from North America - Comments

Possible bad connecting rod.

Front shocks may be bad.

Blinkers don't when headlights are on.

AM radio stations have a lot of static.

The 3.5L engines uses a small coil for each cyclinder and not normal spark plug wires. If one goes bad they cost between $110-250 each.

Excellent interior and exterior.

Roomy for passengers.

The driver seat doesn't go back far enough for 6' or taller drivers, but you can find a comfortable position.

I bought it after many good years and a lot of reliable miles on my Rodeo. I have put less than 1000 miles on this used Trooper. I had some expensive routine maitanence done and there is a flat spot between 1300-2500 rpm that might be a knock sensor or could be something major within the engine. No error code just unexplained vigration

Updating my previous post from above:

I now have a little over 85,000. I replaced the shocks with high end items and it still leans quite a bit in corners, but handles and stops much better.

I really really like this truck, but now have found a crank bearing is bad. It still runs great, but could grenade at any moment. Very frustrating because after owning many cars and trucks in the past this is by far my favorite.

My advise to anyone interested in a 1999 or newer Trooper is listen to all warning signs. Any knock, click or something not sounding right walk away. I think overall they can be a great vehicle with a good balance of comfort/performance/ability, but they aren't main stream enough and parts are expensive and availability is poor.

Continuing from the above post. It turns out the #1 rod bearing was bad. The mechanic said he believed it that the material in the bearing itself was bad because all the other ones looked really good. He also stated that it was strange that the #1 went out since it gets the most oil.

It cost about $1000 to fix plus another several hundred in rental cars. One thing I did notice after being away from it for 3 weeks was that it nows feels a little cramped after being in several different new cars.

So far I've replaced all four shocks, had the EGR valve cleaned and gone through several tail light bulbs. I also had to change the trailer hitch wires ($85 from dealer) because it was shorting out my dashboard.

Final entry. My Trooper had 98,000 miles.

In the latest episode I replaced the original Champion spark plugs with NGK iridium plugs. Denso iridium are the recommend brand ($17 each) but many store have the NGK for $5-7.

I also had the transmission filter and fluid replaced. This was a huge gain in ride qualilty. In both cases, you have to take off the batter cables for a few minutes so the computer can relearn shift points and all.

Unfortunately, I hit some black ice and slide into a tree. It was a good old thump. The truck took a licking, but I was able to drive onto work without a scratch. The truck was writen off due to the cost of parts and not the overall damage.