Thread: Isuzu Show Stoppers

Not a lot that goes wrong is actually engine related and not many of these will actually stop you.
*Bottom O-ring on the oil filter housing was too long, pinched and let much oil out. Remedy was to pull it apart, clean it up a lot, shorten the O-ring to remove the pinched bit and apply a metric (Jap engine) crapload of gasket goo on the outside of the remaining O ring, you don't want it inside the housing. And refill with expensive service station oil...
*Pitman arm rattles loose, even with new arm, new box, new washer and new nut. Current remedy is to clean everything up using degreaser followed by metho, new lock washer, new nut torqued up with threadlock and the old nut used as a lock nut, again with loctite. Has held for around 4000km so far, which is longer than ever before...
*Oil warning light switch sticks, won't stop you dead but is a bit of a concern.
*Wing nut on air filter housing completely strips out, duct tape and 100MPH tape to the rescue
*Air con idler pulley bearings flog out. Take the belt off and be warm.
*Broke a 10 spline front axle. Disconnect front prop, remove CV/axle/pieces and drive with centre diff locked. Get HTE or Ashcroft 24 spline axles with upgraded centre to fix.
*I broke the gear stick too, If it hasn't happened yet, keep a look out for a spare...
*Engine stop is cable operated on mine, a bowden cable does the trick, but Cheyne R was using fishing line tied to the bullbar until he did the same as on mine! May not be legal after ca1985.
*Rear drum brakes are rubbish. Replace worn out adjusters, find some shoes that actually fit the drums and use braided brake hoses.

That's all that I can think of at the moment.

A lot of those listed are preventative maintenance items guys!

bearings wear out, seals get brittle, cables and earths get damaged over time...

Most of what's been listed aren't "show stoppers" in my book. Inconvenient failures, but not immobilising.

- Center diff bolts coming loose will - but not hard to fix track side if it hasn't caused the transfer case to grenade.
- I've heard of the output shaft on the gearbox (LT95) shearing back in the days of many LT95 Rangies, but not aware of any recently.
- Failure of the clutch center would stop you dead.

Apart from those, and possibly a catastrophic injection pump or engine failure (which are listed alongside rocking horse poo for rarity), there doesn't seem to be any other way of immobilising them with a single failure.

Steve

Only show stoppers -

1. Starter became unreliable - fixed burnt solenoid contacts several times, eventually found the problem was the engine/chassis earth.

2. Clutch fluid loss - usually get it going by topping up and bleeding, but replace cylinder affected is the real fix.

3. Gear lever broke off. Fortunately while reverse parking in Mudgee in business hours. NRMA found a welder, by which time I had removed the lever and NRMA took me to the welder and returned me to the car. Total down time about an hour. Got a new lever ASAP, carried it round for several years, and eventually replaced the welded one.

4. RH front radius arm anchorage broke loose from the chassis. Fortunately near home. Drove home slowly and repaired it. Problem was that the tube through the bracket was only welded on one end - the LH side was welded both ends. A real manufacturing foult, but took over 400,000km to show, although it wouold have been there to see all along - and I had replaced those bushes!

John

The only time mine has stopped was when I ran out of fuel or had air in the fuel (leaky banjo connection).

Any vehicle will fail or break if not properly maintained.

Although mine is hybrid the bit`s that stopped me are standard land rover and Isuzu bits.First part of a not so good trip the exhaust mount broke, the exhaust dropped a bit, touched the clutch slave cylinder hose and put a hole in it. Fix was a trip to Bairnsdale from Talbotville for another hose. Second part of the trip. Welds that hold the spline in the clutch plate broke. Spline spinning free of clutch plate. No easy fix there. Trailer back from Wonangatta caravan park. Final fix was a Isuzu MSB box fitted with the truck clutch and a transfer case grafted to the box. Clutch now on right hand side and no where near exhaust. Before that the bolts holding the clutch slave cylinder rattled out. Of course I did not know this until I went to change gear, so spat the piston out, lost the clutch fluid. Got home in 2nd gear. Fixed with locktite. Unusual I would have thought for a Isuzu to rattle bolts loose
Not really a show stopper, but had the rear diff cross shaft snap and exit out the rear of the diff leaving a few chipped gears in it`s wake. Fix was a good 24 spline diff and axles. Old diff and axles were 10 spline.
Cheers Hall

Any vehicle will fail or break if not properly maintained.

Even the best kept vehicle can have show stopping failure. Unless lets say every week you remove your gear box to inspect the clutch spline and welds. I don`t think so. A well kept vehicle will greatly improve the chances of no failure and will give the owner the peace of mind that when some thing unusual happens that owner can at least know all that could be done to improve reliability was done. That at least is what I try for when I`m of on a adventure.
Cheers Hall

I've been towed twice.

1. Alternator oil return hose.
This started leaking oil quite quickly. I didn't know what the problem was, I had an offer of a tow 1km home so I could check it out there. Turns out the hose had been sliced by a hoseclamp not on properly.

2. Dodgy wiring.
Turns out the previous owner replaced a fuse with a piece of wire bigger than the wire it was protecting.
Starter solenoid shorted, 2m of copper wire evaporated in the engine bay and a small fire developed. It took me a long time to sort all that out. I had it running again pretty quickly, but ended up re-doing all the starter wiring, AC wiring, electric fan wiring and some other stuff.