[truisuzu]

I am the original owner of a 2001 Trooper 3.5L with 204K miles.

It has burned a lot of oil for a long time and I have tried to check and refill regularly (I have read about the reason and fix for the excessive oil use). In recent months, it has begun running rough particularly at idle and seems to have lost a bit of power on the road. I was getting random cylinder misfire codes and then recently have been getting #4 cylinder misfire codes.

I did a compression test on the engine and all the cylinders are below the 'rebuild' psi listed in my digital Trooper shop manual (145 psi). The cylinders range from about 140 psi down to 118 psi with the #4 cylinder reading about 43 psi. It seems time to either rebuild or replace the engine.

I am in the process of pulling the engine and manual transmission. I haven't decided whether to rebuild or replace the engine yet. I have several questions relating to this process.

1. Do I need to pull the transmission? The manual says I do. I don't know if it's possible to leave the transmission in place and just pull the engine. If I did that, I would have to stab the engine onto the transmission when re-installing the engine. I have never done that before... I always stab the transmission onto the engine when the engine is already on the motor mounts.

2. Remanufactured engines. I don't mind paying for a reman engine but would like it to be a high quality job. Does anyone have experience with a good brand of reman engines for Troopers (in the USA)? Do the engines incorporate the oil burning fix with pistons with more oil drain holes?

3. Rebuild kits. There are numerous rebuild kits available. Does anyone have experience with a brand of high quality kits? Do these kits incorporate the oil burning fix with pistons with more oil drain holes?

I am hoping to fix the Trooper and drive it for many years to come. Thanks for any ideas!

 

[turnerd]

1. You don't have to pull the transmission but it makes it much easier to get the motor out and completely negates any possible input shaft damage from pulling the motor with the trans in. Since you have the AR5 manual, it is quite easy to remove (at least compared to the 4L30E automatic)

2&3. Rebuild the motor yourself. You can get the parts from JLEMOND on here. No pistons have the extra oil drain holes, but they are easy to drill yourself. If you build it yourself with the drilled oil holes, it shouldn't burn oil for the next 200,000+ miles -- and with that AR5 there won't be hardly any weak links. You'd be able to get an easy 500,000 out of that Trooper

 

[truisuzu]

Thanks very much for the info and words of encouragement!

The Trooper is very important for us as we live at the top of a mountain where we get 300-400" of snow in winter... and winter is coming. The Trooper is awesome in the snow and there's no sense in spending the time and insane money buying a new vehicle only trying to reproduce the awesome vehicle we already have. I want to fix the engine and the oil burning problem and get her back on the road.

Thanks again.

 

[Buster28]

Recommended reading with input from Jerry on 4 hole pistons.

2002 3.5l engine questions

Hi folks, I don't mean to make this an intro post, will do a better one when/if I buy this truck, just looking for some input... I have two 81/82 isuzu diesels, love them for their mpgs and reliability. Now I'm looking for a 4x4 toy and there's a 99 isuzu with a 3.5L near me that's caught my...

www.planetisuzoo.com

 

[turnerd]

Thanks very much for the info and words of encouragement!

The Trooper is very important for us as we live at the top of a mountain where we get 300-400" of snow in winter... and winter is coming. The Trooper is awesome in the snow and there's no sense in spending the time and insane money buying a new vehicle only trying to reproduce the awesome vehicle we already have. I want to fix the engine and the oil burning problem and get her back on the road.

Thanks again.

Good luck!

 

[Enemigo]

Have the same Trooper and becoming interested in a rebuild myself. Let us know what you find out, especially regarding parts availability and price. I kind of want to turbo charge mine.

 

[turnerd]

Have the same Trooper and becoming interested in a rebuild myself. Let us know what you find out, especially regarding parts availability and price. I kind of want to turbo charge mine.

Alpine supercharger might be the way to go

 

[Enemigo]

Those are hard to find. I can just build a turbo kit. Alpine would probably be easiest, and safest along the lines of not being able to just crank up the boost. I love the idea of a turbo SUV though.

 

[truisuzu]

The Isuzu Parts Center lists:

Short Block - Isuzu (5873107060)

The description says that this includes the block, pistons, rings, rods, bearings and crank. No heads. Does the term 'short block' refer to an engine with no heads?

Thanks!

 

[mudoilngears]

The Isuzu Parts Center lists:

Short Block - Isuzu (5873107060)

The description says that this includes the block, pistons, rings, rods, bearings and crank. No heads. Does the term 'short block' refer to an engine with no heads?

Thanks!

Yes

 

[Enemigo]

Yes, that is correct. A long block is when the head is included.

 

[truisuzu]

Thanks very much for this info! With as tight as it is in my Trooper engine compartment... I couldn't imagine how a 'longer' block would fit in there!

Thanks again.

 

[Shawn Anthony]

Good luck!

The summit at Mt. Rose Nevada. This spot is near my home in Lake Tahoe. You are right Trooper does well in this environment.
I can rebuild your V6 engine at my shop in Reno Nevada. Thie rebuild will come with the larger drain back holes in the pistons and a 3 year/30K mile warranty.
You are welcome to bring me the entire vehicle where I can perform the entire job or you can drop off/ship me your engine.

 

[truisuzu]

Shawn,

Thanks for the offer on the rebuild! I will probably attempt doing it myself as I have a machine shop nearby willing to do the machining and it's logistically easy. Currently still working to get the engine out of the Trooper (need to drop the transmission then I can pull the engine).

And thanks for that picture... looks a lot like our place in Crested Butte. Wish I had one of those king-sized snow throwers! (I've got a 60hp tractor I use with a plow for our road. Couldn't live here without that machine).

Thanks again.

 

[truisuzu]

Because of the engine design... the engine is still full of coolant even though the radiator is removed. When it comes time to reconfigure the jackup of the Trooper to a lower level to pull the motor and during the pulling of the motor itself... more coolant will spill out making yet more of a mess.

Is there any location to drain the coolant from the engine itself? I guess I could get some kind of a pump or siphon to pull some more coolant out.

Thanks!

 

[truisuzu]

I think I will try some plastic bags & zip ties to try to contain the coolant during movement.