[Tim]

Yep, 4 quarts in 2200 miles. It has no visable oil leaks anywhere and it's garaged so I would see them. I am new to my Isuzu but this is unexceptable. I have owned it about 30 days and I am very upset about this oil consumpsion situation. What are my options? Will Isuzu do anything? What about switching to synthetic? Any and all suggestions would be appreciated. I really like this truck but have already considered trading it in and I have only made one payment, very sad indeed.



Thanks in advance....

 

[JTK]

Tim- that's the highest consumption I've seen yet! Unfortunately high oil consumption is a common issue with mostly 1998-1999 isuzu 3.2 & 3.5L engines. You've probably seen this, but if you research other isuzu sites, you'll see the suspected cause is inadequate drain-back holes in the oil control rings. The consumption seems to be mostly an annoyance & doesnt effect performance or reliabilty. Old design has something like 4 holes, new design has 10+ holes. On the old design, oil gets trapped above the ring(s) and burns off in the cylinder. Gets worse as the vehicle ages & the rings get dirty with age. If you are still under warranty, Isuzu will replace the short block if they determine oil consumption is over 1qt/1000miles. Make sure your PCV system is clean to keep crank-case pressure down. I go back to where you got your truck first to see what they can do. If they cant do anything, before I tore into the engine, I'd pull the spark plugs & soak the cylinders w/ an upper cylinder cleaner like marvel mystery oil, seafoam, etc..etc. I'd run a product like auto-rx (auto-rx.com) and maybe run a HIGH detergency oil for cleaning purposes. Check a website: bobistheoilguy.com. If you can clean those rings out to get them to drain the oil again, your consumption should drop. G/luck
Joel

 

[Speedzilla]

A co-worker of mine had the exact same problem. He ended up getting a new block through his extended warranty.

 

[Tim]

My factory warranty (60k) expired about 2 weeks after I bought it so this issue had not turned up yet (others did). It now has 61,500 miles and I received a Wynn's extended warranty from the dealer. It's a 3yr/36k and I will pray they might cover this.

I was blown away when I was adding oil to it last night. I was checking the floor, gaskets ect. and not a spot of a leak anywhere. Also another bothersome issue is the Isuzu oil stick, what a POS that is. Has anyone found a better replacement?. I only ask because it looks like I will be checking my oil every 3 days, freaking lovely :evil: .

 

[JTK]

Yeah, the 'ol zuzu dipstick leaves a little to be desired. Don't know if there is an AM replacement 'cause they are kinda engine specific. You can order new ones thru St Charles. Hopefully the wynn's warranty will cover a short block for you. G/luck
Joel

 

[¡Oracle!]

First off, I'm sorry to hear about these problems. That is WAAAAAAAAY too much oil consumption. I can not see why this situation wouldn't be covered by the warranty though. If they gave you the warranty, then the vehicle must have been in good working order, right?

What's wrong with the dipstick BTW? It stays put in the engine and it is easy to read when I'm checking level. Is it that twisty design?? The reason for that is to make the stick more rigid to prevent binding in the tight turns in the dipstick tube that will result in inaccurate readings.

 

[Tim]

I have documented every drop of oil I have added and hopefully the Wynn's warranty will help. As expected Isuzu Corp. was of no help because I was over 60k.

In reality I like the Rodeo but have a bad feeling about this specific truck and I might bail on it. Did I mention it needs axle seals, wheel bearings and a breather kit?. Also the dealer gave me a quote of 6.8 hours to do a cracked CV boot, what's up with that? They charge $70.00 an hour so my bill for everything will be $1100.00+ and I already spent $200.00 on it in the last two weeks!

And yes it's the funky twisty oil stick, I find it very hard to put back in without having to grab middle if it and force it back in. It just seems odd to me.

 

[¡Oracle!]

I did ALL 4 of the CV boots myself in about the same amount of time that they quoted you for 1.

It cost me about $120 for the CV parts from Independent 4x4. (Mecatech kit)

Axle grease seals (front) are cheap. Are you sure it needs new bearings, how do you know this? Is it clicking or chattering? Has the CV boot been torn for a while? Repacking wheel bearings and CV joints (while tedious) is fairly easy to do.

That can all be done by the home mechanic in a single day. Heck, I even enjoyed it! Or maybe it was that new cooler...

Wheel bearings needs to be repacked every 30-50K miles or so, so this isn't a big deal in my eyes.

What breather needs fixing? That should be a fairly easy fix too if it's for one of your diffs. That is the only part with breather in the name that I know of. If it's a PCV that we're talking about then that's a 1 MINUTE fix!

What other problems (if any) are you having?

OTOH, the oil consumption issue is a big one. See what you can get done there first.

 

[Tim]

I am now averaging 1 quart of oil every 436 miles. On a positive note I am getting very good at operating the twisty dipstick! :roll: I am lost what to do about this oil consumption issue, any suggestions?

 

[¡Oracle!]

Are you smoking at all? That is a tremendous amount of oil loss.

Is there any oil in your coolant?

 

[Tim]

I checked the coolant at the top of the radiator but no oil. I might drain a quart + off this weekend to look closer though and I'll post the results. It displays a very minor exhaust smoke and only upon start-up. However it does blow a bit of black soot right off. The oil consumpion is amazing! :shock:

 

[Amigo-2k]

1. Replace the PCV valve (10 bucks, 5 min job)

2. Clean the EGR valve (3 bucks for carb cleaner, 30 minute job), you may also have a pluged EGR tube (which I'm not quite sure how to clean, maybe you can just spray carb cleaner down it?).

3. Add Chevron Techron concentrate (found at target for 8.99), for your next two tanks of gas. Why? There are only 6 holes in the oil rings to drain the oil. In the old 3.2 there was 12. The Techron may help to clean up the holes.

4. replace all the O2 sensors. 4 of them. And they cost a lot. Maybe you could buy some used ones, from the junk yard.

 

[agoulet]

I had the same problem with my trooper 00. Except that i did less miles, burned through all the oil, and no oil pressure light came on. Engine seized and now i'm pissed.

This is a pretty common problem from the info i have gathered. Don't know what my outcome will be but i've read quite a few instances where Isuzu will do an oil consumption test and change the engine if your burning more than 1qt/1000miles. I don't get to do the test...well..BECAUSE MY ENGINE IS TRASHED!

Hope yours gets resolved peacefully.

 

[Amigo-2k]

Engine seized and now i'm pissed . . .

That sucks! Good thing you have a 00 with the 120k warrenty!

I watch my oil like a hawk! Once a week. I noticed in the last few weeks that I'm buring more oil do to weekend road trips (4 weeks of weddings!), about 0.5L per 1k, when I usually use about 0.5L per 3k.

I think all of the 3.2/3.5 owner of +98's need to keep there rings clean, with things like sea foam and Chevron Techron (I use the Techron every 3k).

Good luck!
-Ryan

 

[JTK]

Ryan hit on some good key points. Don't give the piston rings a chance to gunk up. Run a quality oil & never stretch an oil change interval right from day one. I often wonder if synthetic oil was used right from the start, if these engines would have such problems. Synthetic doesnt coke,varnish or gum, it just turns to ash if it gets hot enough to flash. I've used many types of synthetic oils over the years, but it's just not worth it unless you keep it in per the max your owner's manual specifies (7500mi for isuzu!!). I just cant get past the old 3-4000mi habit. I would pull all the spark plugs & do an overnight cylinder soak with marvels mystery oil, sea-foam, etc.. on such an oil burner to see if that helps clear out the oil rings before I would tear into the engine. These engines can handle some really thick oil- up to a 20w-50 :shock: (per the manual), which would definately slow oil consumption, but rob major power & kill MPG's. Just some thoughts! :wink:
G/luck
Joel