[mr_krabtree]

Hey Guys,

I read the 4l30e sticky issues. Wasn't sure if this applied to my specific problems, so I'm submitting this thread. We bought the truck about 3 months ago with about 52000 miles. Now has 56000. So far we have loved the truck: comfort, performance, ride height and all. Recently, because of financial concerns, we've been putting regular unleaded fuel in the truck as opposed to plus unleaded. I don't know if this has been causing the jerky movement of the performance when accelerating or possibly the faulty range / mode sensor everyone's been pointing at. I'm sure it could be a number of things, but we have lives and we need this vehicle to keep at it. I live in Houston and its necessary to have 2 vehicles to keep things smooth as I'm sure it is in other cities. So...if this is not something that might be easily solved, then I might stop being an Isuzu owner as quickly as I started (1st Isuzu owned). I traded in a Honda Accord for the truck because the mrs loved the Axiom. But it looks like we might have to say sayonara to the axe if it doesn't learn to play nice again. Let me know. Any help is appreciated. :wink:

 

[Amigo-2k]

take a look at the FAQ's.

the jerky tranny is usually due to low and or dirty tranny fluid.

A simple tranny flush should solve your problem.

 

[mr_krabtree]

until the vehicle was taken to a dealership and supposedly all the fluids checked out fine. Of course unless you're right there under their noses, you never know what they find. I'm already aggravated to death with this situation, looking at other options....

 

[tomster]

I know Troopers are designed to run on regular unleaded. I assume your Vehicross is similar. Either way though running low in octane shouldn't cause jerky acceleration.

You could have gotten some BAD gas. For a couple of bucks you could try adding some dry gas. However, if you have run several tanks through I doubt this is your problem.

Lacking a better set of symptom descriptions I vote for a bad range sensor. Then again, I don't even know if you have one like on my Trooper. Very cheap to fix if you DIY. Could also be old ATF fluid or a low level of fluid. If you have any doubt about the quality of the shop work then check the fluid condition and level yourself or pay another shop to.

 

[mr_krabtree]

Well,

Brought the truck in to the dealer originally purchased from. Checked the fluid and said it was about a pint low. Claimed there were some bolts that were loose on the casing where some fluid was seeping out. WTF? Funny how the day before he told the wife he had checked it as well and everything was cool. Now yesterday he checked it and told me wasn't able to check it before because the vehicle was too hot. If that doesn't solve the problem, I will be looking at the range mode sensor. I'd love to be able to check the fluid regularly, however with the 4l30e, can't do that. Any other ideas, let me know.

Thanks
M

PS. Anyone know anything about the warranty particulars with these vehicles. 2002 with 57000 miles, second owner. Haven't purchased an extended warranty as of yet, just curious whether the power and drivetrain warranties would still be intact.

 

[tomster]

The dealer was right you cannot check the level on a hot tranny. Then again they sound like jerks for claiming it was ok the day before.

The FAQ (http://isuzufaq.ibctech.ca/#faq43) has the how to on checking AT fluid level. So, if you cannot do it yourself then get a shop to do it for you. Probably only need to do it in a couple weeks and again in a couple of months just to make sure the leaks have stopped. From then on maybe every 6 to 12 months may be enough.

These ATs are not super robust and really should have at least the fluid changed every 30kmis. Doing this should give them many, many years of life. Not doing this will greatly shorten their life. Maybe every 2nd or 3rd such fluid change you should also change the filters. Just my $.02. If you don't know whether or not the prior owner changed the fluid you have somewhat of a dilemma. Flushing high mileage ATs can cause some big problems. The new fluid will loosen years of accumulated junk that can relodge in new places causing major new problems. While 57kmis is not really high mileage it is not low either. You might want to consider a fluid flush. Next you could take a short drive to give the new fluid some time to loosen up gunk but not too much to cause real problems. You could then do another fluid change and add a filter change to try and get all the newly loosened junk out that you can. Like I said there is no guaranteed way to deal with a neglected AT. Not saying you definitely have a real problem just if the prior owner didn't have the fluid changed you might want to address this sooner rather than be surprised later.

I think the FAQ also has the warranty info. IIRC the headline is that it is 10yrs/120kmis for the orignal purchaser and 1/2 that for the second owner. BUT not all items are covered this long as the fine print removes some items from coverage earlier. Also, warranty work seems to becoming more problematic as the number of dealers shrink. As for an aftermarket warranty, many of them go out of business making their warranty worthless. Shop carefully.