I picked up an Isuzu Trooper a few weeks ago from one of my neighbors. Got a good deal on it, but it ended up taking a week and $1200 to get it to pass inspection (I really should have done some work on it before I took it in for inspection).

Anyway, other than the fact that it is no S2000 - 0 to 60 measured by a calendar and it handles well, like a truck. It should get me through the winter. I just couldn't bring myself to put snow tires on my S.

The Trooper is due for a timing belt. I have the shop manual, but I've done timing belts before and just don't enjoy it (however the place that did the inspection wanted $1000 to do it - at that price I'll learn to enjoy it). Can anyone recommend a local shop that does good (and reasonably priced) work on these things?

Thanks!

John

 

What year is the Trooper? We have a 98, 3.5 liter, automatic. ~82,000 miles. Runs good, looks decent, gas mileage sucks. Consumes some oil. It does the job.

 

Have you gotten a quote from Eakles?

 

It is a 1994 Trooper 3.5L SOHC V6. Runs good even at 159,000. I just changed the oil and that seemed to quiet the tappet noise. Thanks for the heads up on the oil consumption, I'll have to watch that for a while to see what it does.

I had a few quarts of LE Almasol 607 left over from the tech day I did. I used it to change the front and rear axle oil.

Still need to change the transfer case oil (maybe I'll use the extra GM Synchromesh FM I have left over there). I also need to do the automatic tranny fluid - however that is going to be a pain since it is covered by a shield.

Only rust on the body is on the hood, passengers side right above the headlight. I can only guess that the battery had a problem somewhere along the line and trashed the hood. Kind of a weird place for a rust hole!

Haven't tried Eakles yet. Neubauers did the inspection. Neubauers has a very nice, clean shop and they seemed to do very good work. I just can't bring myself to drop another $1000 for a timing belt/water pump when I can do it myself for a couple hundred. Maybe I'll give Eakles a shot. If I can get it done for $600 or $700 I might be willing to handle that.

Thanks

John

 

As bad as Iuzu has become since GM started pulling the strings, the Trooper is still one of my favorite SUV's of all time

I took my driving test in one