Engine failure poll?

You can make that 6 engines to seven. I have a 99 currently with 108k, at about 40k the engine went kerplunk. They told me that I threw a rod and that the oil res was empty. Found this odd considering since temp never went up, just had oil changed a week prior and had checked the oil 1 day before knock began. Luckily this occured just after 9/11, like the next day. They tried to say it was my fault, and since I mostly changed the oil myself since I got it I could provide no oil change reciepts except for the ones that I had done in the winter months. However "Due to the recent circumstances of 9/11 we will replce the engine for you." It sounds crazy but their reasoning was that since the market plummeted after 9/11 they wanted to keep up good relations and so fixed. Personaly I think that it was due to the fact that I told them that I would sue if they didn't. Since then haven't had a problem with the engine except for a list thats about a mile long, Mass airflow sensor, check engine light off and on, intake manifold gasket, just to name a few. I love the car but hate the ridiculous problems that come with it.

Owner of the car you love to hate but just can't
Randon

I'm currently dealing with three customers who are having problems with internal oil consumption on the 3.5L. Of those three, one is a VX still under warranty when the oil consumption monitoring was started. Just a couple days ago we got the go-ahead to start the actual process of dropping a new long block under the hood.

If you have an older 3.5L the rule of thumb is to check your oil every time you fill up. If you find you're often low on oil and your vehicle is still under warranty* I'd suggest calling your local Isuzu dealership and get the ball rolling. The process could take weeks or months, depending on the rate of oil consumption and how often you drive the vehicle.

* Remember that if you're the second owner of the vehicle and not immediate family of the original owner your warranty coverage is cut in half. For example, as a second owner of my Isuzu my 120,000 mile/10 year powertrain warranty is reduced to 60,000/5 years. Which means my Isuzu is no longer covered under warranty, though it would be if I were the original owner.

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Originally Posted by coachreed

Another thing to throw into the question of motors... Isn't the Honda Passport really a Rodeo? Does it use the Isuzu engine? And if they do, do they have any problems with their motor? I would be curious to know how many different plants make the 3.5L motor... and if there is ANY corolation of problems to motors made at a particular plant.

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1) It's not the plant, it's the motor design.

2) The Passport is the same thing. I've yet to run into a Passport in our shop that gives us any problems when using Isuzu special tools or diagnostic equipment. I can reprogram a Passport with Isuzu's diagnostic software and Isuzu's (err, GM's) diagnostic scanner recognizes the Passport as a Rodeo with full diagnostic capability.

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Originally Posted by GoIsuzu

...If you have an older 3.5L the rule of thumb is to check your oil every time you fill up. ...

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Always good advice, of course, but from the stories I've heard the loss of oil is sudden and catastrophic, not something you'd catch like that... people say one day it's fine and the next day blammo. Right?

I'm hoping, like everyone else, that these are just normal random explosions that happen to a certain tiny percentage of all cars and we only know about them because we are so tighly knit and such prolific writers, but you can never have too much info when you're trying to protect a vehicle as beloved as most of ours are.

I have a ninety-nine with 142,000...its used a modest amount of oil since it was at 8000 miles....about a 1/8 quart every 1000-1200 miles...

I made sure over that time to keep it topped off......but I have not noted any knocking or tapping

assuming a non-defective engine, with synthetic use since day one...how long would these engines normally maintain peak performance before needing a rebuild

What about upgrading the oil pump and the head to improve oil flow...are these parts available?

Hi,
Rod knock just started last night - 1999 with 61k mi. So, where do I get an engine and how bad is it going to hurt (my wallet)? I would be REALLY upset except ths is one of the best and most fun of all the vehicles I have owned.
Also is it possible to drop the oil pan to actually check out the damaged rod?
Thanks,
Brian

Brian, that's sad to hear. I'm not sure how much a new engine will run you. It seems that the prices have gone up since I replaced mine a few years ago. You should be able to pull the oil pan and notice the damage to the rod if it is bad. You may have to turn the cam to check all the rods thouroughly though. Good luck to you and sorry to hear about your misfortune.

I'm currently a bit over 100K on the original engine. It's used oil since about 40K miles perhaps....recently I switched to 15w-50 Mobil1 synth instead of the 10W30 synthetic. I've used synth since day one, either Royal Purple when I'm feeling frisky to off the shelf Mobil 1 synth(which if you didn't know, is no longer a true synthetic but a highly refined dino-based oil like Syntec). Oil consumption problems stopped with the switch to the heavier weight. Being in subtropical Florida, the heavier weight isn't an issue. I JUST replaced the sparkplugs for the first time...they were almost gone, worn down to the electrode "nub". Replaced them with stock plugs. I use Royal Purple in in the tranny, transfer and diffs. It's never been in for regular maintenance (other than oil, tranny and bearing repack for the hubs) and is still going strong. If we don't trade her in for a "vert", I'll probably spend the money to change the belt and have the valves clearanced.

I'm curious about Majork's question, as well. Would replacing the oil pump with a beefier one fix (or at least mitigate) this engine failure issue? Are there any other mods that could be considered preventative maintenence?

2000 Dragon Green, 39,999 miles and still going.
No major problems at this time.
All the issues on engine failure concern me.
Anything I can do to hopefully extend the life of my engine?
I do regular scheduled maintenance on my VX.

My Green Dragon 2000 had it's tooth pulled last summer,
An expensive little operation which has left me with an engine warning light that blinks on as soon as the diagnostics had cleared it..
It had 84k on the clock that's miles not km, when the #1 cylnder started that little tapping noise.
Caught it just in time.

I've got a 99 VX that just broke 100000 miles. I drive it everyday, and for the most part, it's been a great car. The big exception is coolant issues.

I had to get my Head Gasket replaced last winter, and no one gave me a definite answer as to why it failed. I just recently had to get a water pump replaced, which is understandable, as it was an original part.

Biggest Problem? got to be part confusion. I have a VX made in 5/99. As such, it's on the cusp of the next manufacturing run. Mewchanics are always ordering the wrong part for my car (timin belt, water pumo, head gasket) doubling the wait time. I'm sure that problem isn't unique to VX or Izusu, but it sure is damn annoying.

I've never had any engine probs, but just have become paranoid about coolant. I heard from a mechnaic when I bought it that coolant was the main issue/problem with the VX. With all the VX's in CA and thier hot areas, I'm curious if coolant is an issue there as well. I rarely even use the Power Drive, as I worry about overheating the engine.

2001 39,500 miles

had some overheating probs this summer. nothing bad. noticed in late may while sitting in parking lot at work smoking a cigarette at break time with car running and A/C on that car would almost overheat in 15 mins. this is 1st year no workplace smoking laws in effect here. it sucks. it never got that hot while driving. i attributed it to the 90 degree weather. noticed again while in traffic after the F1 race in june. hot day air conditioning on and stopped and stopped more traffic. it concerned me some but but didn't happen again. i went from indy to DC and virginia coast and back in early july. no problems. took car in for oil change tonight and told dealer about overheating and to look into it. guy said they took off radiator cap and it was bubbling, which he said was a sign of a blown head gasket or a cracked head. he said i'd be fine thru the winter but next year could be real bad.

what do you think? fix it now or fix it later? and does this sound correct?

Im rebuilding my motor cause someone sludged the oil before I bought it, I told isuzu about it when I got it at 36,000 miles but they said it was OK, iwalked away calling them cocksuckers. Its at 65,000 miles now 5000 over warenty and im lucky I made it a 1000 miles from DC to Florida, had to change the oil every 500 miles because it was fuming me out and the oil was burning that fast. It also blew the rear main. Gona do a teardown this week and look at the damage. Does anyone now what the cylinder walls are made of. Im thinking of getting them nickosiled to stock specks and getting total seal to make up some gapless rings for it. Do alittle head porting and angle cut the valves and seats, and bearings. Kinda build it bullet proof, atleast try.

2000 - 65,000 miles :(

Rod knock started at dealer while in for 60K service. Bought a re-built long block from Rhino Engines for $3,900 (3-year, 100,000 mile warranty) vs near 6,000 from the local Isuzu dealer (1-year warranty). Seems pretty tight now.

:( I was looking at a 2001 with 52K miles on it to buy. Now after reading this I'm not sure. I drive 60miles round trip every day to work..I need it trouble free for the next 50K miles... :(

MY 2000 has 120,000 +/- and I drive it over 60 miles everyday and no problems. I don't worry about it. Just keep track of your oil changes and fluid levels in between changes.

Ive been dreading the rebuild and putting it off. Ive been reading alot on the history of problems with this peticuler engine. Im a very reputable engine builder so ive got alot of experiance from my 15 years of building. I work at Email address pettitracing,com and have been there since 04, the yellow RX-8 belongs to me. From the info ive seen it lookes like the main problem stems from sticking oil seals on the pistons. It causes excessive blow-by and from what ive seen breakes down the oil very fast causing lots of problems before you figure out whats wrong. Ive herd of crank bearings going out causing crank failure and also rod bearings. Im lucky to the fact of catching the problem early. It seems to happen from 50,000 to 80,000 miles. Im not shure if its from going to long between oil changes or carbon biuldup but im thinking that its the main cause. I mention earlyer in the thread that someone sludged the oil and can also say thats what started the problem. Maintnence or lack of tends to hurt the VX. As good as it still runs im willing to bet that oil rings are the only thing thats wrong with my engine so far. Bearings and seals are getting replaced for shure though.

i have a 99' ironman with 117.000 miles on it and it has never had engine trouble in the past and its clean now too.

The failures are horrible and everytime someone posts here I get that "there but for the grace of God, go I" feeling, but so far this thread documents 38/6000 of VX engines going bye-bye. Obviously there must be some that didn't get posted here, but a 1% failure rate would be over 600 engines. It looks like we have somewhere between a one-in-a-hundred and one-in-a-thousand chance of problems with a VX which is not enough to justify either that feeling of dread that I get when my oil is a touch low or brown, or the feeling that others get that maybe they shouldn't buy a used one. Right? What are the figures for other cars?

My '99 just blew out at 66000 miles. In searching for an engine I found 2 Troopers for sale on ebay with the same engine which needed engine replacement. They want $3500 for a USED 3.5, which is about $2000 more than for similar engines. This leads me to believe a lot of them fail and there are not many good ones available to replace them with.

99 vx Rod knock
failed at 98k

Condolences dude. Living in Canada at first I thought you meant 98km and I was like whaaaaaaaat???? What are you going to do? Sure am sorry to hear that you didn't even make 100k but maybe the silver lining for the rest of us is that it's been over 9 months since someone posted in this thread. *prays* Post back if you have any info about what might have happened to it or what you did about it. Bummer.

no... there have been at least 2 other engines to kaboom in the past month :( sorry to hear about yours.. i think 98k is the highest ive heard of one going:cryb:

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Originally Posted by etlsport

no... there have been at least 2 other engines to kaboom in the past month :( sorry to hear about yours.. i think 98k is the highest ive heard of one going:cryb:

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lol, the highest? oh hell. I guess i am used to the Honda's i track where a 130k motor uses a bit of oil but still runs strong. No knocking! :o
I will see what they are going to do with it.

well no when these engines go it tends to happen from 30-60k miles after that most people are in the clear.. im pretty sure there are multiple VXs at 150 and 200k miles

i know what you mean about hondas though, we sold my dads old honda accord at 275k (original engine and trans) and its still running at 300k+

Mine are both Type R's one is a track car " road race" the other is a street .
I also have a CRX that i auto x with.

Hallo Colleagues :)

I am from Overseas and I have an '99 Ironman.
It has 105K MIles and I have got now an Engine Knock....
I even nedd an new Crankshaft for my VX but I can not find it on the net.
could somebody help to get a new Crank fro my VX?
many thanks in advance for your friendly replay and Help.

well # 1 rod earing spun but now she has a new "reman" long block in her.98k and going for another 98k

Great!! I've owned mine for 2 months...put 2000 miles on it and I hit 80,000.
Everything is strong, no leaks no heat issues...I've heard a few guys have changed over to synthetic oils...anybody had issues doing that??

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Originally Posted by woody

Great!! I've owned mine for 2 months...put 2000 miles on it and I hit 80,000.
Everything is strong, no leaks no heat issues...I've heard a few guys have changed over to synthetic oils...anybody had issues doing that??

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No issues, but I did get some oil on my favorite T-shirt.:sighwgray . :rolleyesg

To be on the safe side, you could change it to syn., run it with the new syn., then short change it again, (500-1000 miles) as soon as it starts to get a little dark on the dipstick...just to flush out the gunk.:_wrench:

Thanks LW...sorry bout the delayed response...been gone for the past few weeks!!
Will do and thanks for the info!!!
Woody

Another one bites the dust. (99, Ebony)

From what I've gathered here and my gear head buddy heard, I threw a rod. Since I'm not a mechanically inclined person (no, not at all), I'll just describe it for ya. In early April, I noticed a pinging noise emanating from the engine. Well, that ping soon became a pronounced knock and evolved into a full-on jackhammer, especially when shifting gears at lower speeds. It tended to quiet down/even out between 50-60 MPH on the highway. Yes, the oil situation was pretty outrageous leading up to it.

Since I've known for a long time that I wasn't willing to throw anymore money at the vehicle, I just waited for the inevitable to happen. I'd read these forums and just knew it was coming.

And what a glorious departure she made. I was on the Poplar Street Bridge crossing into Illinois from St. Louis last Wednesday night when it went down. There was an awful racket and then the only sound I heard was that of other vehicles honking and blowing by me. Managed to coast off the bridge onto the Rte 3 South exit ramp where momentum died, and I was able to walk to a gas station to borrow a phone book. Luckily, the tow guy and I beat IDOT back to the scene just as they were about to hookup one of their "cherry pickers" to drag it away. Technically, I was in a lane of traffic, so they had every right to clear the way as quickly as possible.

Anyway, long time lurker and first time poster. I've read these forums since '03, when I was originally researching the VX and recognize a lot of names from way back then. I'm undecided as to what is to become of the corpse, but I'll keep ya'll informed.

:eek: From what I've heard of that area of STL (and at night to boot), it sounds like you're lucky it was only your engine that died. :thumbup:

Sorry to hear about the recent expiration date. I know a couple of guys in the STL area who might be able to help you locate a used replacement motor in the areas' salvage yards if that's what you decide to do. I'd be glad to make a couple of phone calls to ask for their suggestions. They generally specialize in Ford and Mazda products, but they might be willing to make an exception in this case.

Shoot me a PM if you'd like me to get their input.

i ran across this on ebay $3000 for a 3.5. hope it helps
http://stores.ebay.com/ENGINES-DIRECT

well i gota 99 wit over 140 on it and as far as i know its never had engine problems

I absolutely love my '99. I have almost 90K on it with no issues except it seems to lose oil somewhere...no spots or drips have been detected. I drove to memphis a few weeks ago and while there checked my oil. 4 quarts low!!! I had an oil change 3000 miles prior...I didn't have any over heating issues or knocking...
I'm not burning it...no exhaust smoke...anyone else having that issue??

Yeah everybody's VX burns oil! I set my cellphone alarm to remind me to check it every week. I usually add a half a quart every three or four weeks. I can't believe that you got away with running 4 quarts low!!!! Supposedly it only holds 4.3 quarts (4 litres) total!!! I'm sure glad you didn't end up posting here with THE bad news, although it seems that the blown engine problem is pretty rare and is caused by extremely sudden loss of oil, not the normal slow burn.

Woody, the next day after I got mine the check engine light came on, so I went out and checked the oil- I must've been running on NOTHING, added 4.5 quarts and its been fine ever since except for an O2 sensor (knock on wood).

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its been fine ever since except for an O2 sensor (knock on wood)

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:_brickwal just my luck, it would be breaking down hours after that statement...