Radare's "New" '01 Rodeo Sport

[radare]

I recently bought a Rodeo Sport. I'd had a couple of Isuzu Rodeo's over the last 20 years and I've always liked them. I was in need of an inexpensive truck to haul and tow for around-the-house projects and such. After looking at Dakotas and I290's and Colorado's that I couldn't afford, I decided to use my experiences with Isuzu and looked for a Rodeo. This one is an '01 model, 2WD, with the 3.2V6 and automatic transmission. The truck has 140 some-odd thousand miles and I gave $3k for it. The previous owner had a shop rebuild the transmission and it seems to work well.

Craigslist photo: It's sitting behind a shop with the transmission crossmember in the passenger seat and a half-flat front tire. But it is in good shape for its age and mileage and worth saving.



First thing I did when I brought it home was remove the busted bug-guard. Three of its four mounts were shattered and it wasn't doing any thing for the truck.




When I got the guard off, I noticed the body lines of the front fender weren't great.




So I fixed that by reshaping the edge of the fender:



I then drove it over to the car-wash, in 30F weather, as snow fell, and power washed the engine bay. When I came home, I wiped down the exterior, waxed it and took note of the condition. It seems to be in good shape for its age. The headlights don't match (the one on the passenger-side is for the 4-door Rodeo). Both front fenders and the hood have been repainted at some point and there are dents in both doors and on the roof. Both fog-lamps have rust on their lenses and could stand to be replaced. The tires are Cooper Discovery studded winter tires and well worn.

Interior wise, its clean and everything seems to work. Even the rear wiper and CD changer. The console latch does need to be replaced and the steering wheel rubber has let-go from the steel support giving it a squishy feel.

Mechanically, it seems to run well though idle a bit rough. From past experience, I know that these trucks have some common problems that I plan to tackle as preventative maintenance. This maintenance will include replacing the intake manifold gaskets, spark plugs, timing belt/pulleys and tensioner, serpentine belt and tensioner, Mass air sensor, EGR valve and tube, fuel pump assembly, coolant hoses and thermostat, water pump, vacuum hoses and all four oxygen sensors. I'll flush all fluids while I'm at it including the brake fluid and power steering fluid. I hope to do this big maintenance in one shot.



I've ordered some replacement parts (battery box, engine cover, matching headlights, foglamps, new steering wheel, key fob, etc) just to try and make the truck complete. I need to register it tomorrow, get a load of maintenance performed, get it emission tested and then start working on its suspension. I also need to get it in for a new set of tires. Maybe some Geolanders like I had on my last Rodeo? Who knows. But anyhow, as I make progress on it, I plan to share it all with you all. More to come.

Oh, and when I put it in the garage, I was quite shocked to see it only about a foot longer than a Mini Cooper S. Who knew?

[totten]

Nice buy! Glad to see you back.

[radare]

It was a busy day for the Rodeo. I drove into Denver and got a temporary tag for it so that I can get it emission tested. I then started, late afternoon, on replacing the intake manifold gasket. I removed everything down to the heads and then spent a great deal of time cleaning up the area under the intake. Here's where things are at, right now:





The intake is as dirty as they always are. There is some oily gunk in the bottom of the intake and a lot of carbon.





Take a look at that EGR tube. If its not clogged, it's close. A motorcycle clutch cable should make quick work of that and restore the EGR flow.



I also spend some time reconditioning and cleaning the parts that are going back on:




.






This weekends tasks shall include traveling to various parts stores trying to track down gaskets/o-rings and hoses, cleaning the intake and reassembling things. More to come (like the timing belt).

[itsmehb]

Really nice detailed pictures of your work. I had a 2000 Amigo a few years back. I really liked it and won't rule out another one in my future, but now I'm hooked on finishing my 89 RS. By the way I had the same issue with my steering wheel, I never fixed it. Must be a manufacture defect.

[Toccoa]

Looks like you're doing all the right things to get it back in tip top shape. Good work on reshaping the front fender. It also looks like someone repainted your grille at one point. The center area (horizontal lines) is supposed to be black.

[radare]

Looks like you're doing all the right things to get it back in tip top shape. Good work on reshaping the front fender. It also looks like someone repainted your grille at one point. The center area (horizontal lines) is supposed to be black.

I noticed that, Toccoa. Looks like the whole front-end has been repainted due to an accident on the driver-side front. Some of the front sheetmetal where the fender well meets the bulkhead has been reshaped. I plan to pull the fender/grill/headlight and bumper and fix it correctly, then seam-seal and paint. I'll mask off the grille and get the appropriate pieces painted black when I reassemble. I think I might also black-out the area behind the bumper extension similarly to what I did on my '01 Rodeo 4-door.

[Toccoa]

I noticed that, Toccoa. Looks like the whole front-end has been repainted due to an accident on the driver-side front. Some of the front sheetmetal where the fender well meets the bulkhead has been reshaped. I plan to pull the fender/grill/headlight and bumper and fix it correctly, then seam-seal and paint. I'll mask off the grille and get the appropriate pieces painted black when I reassemble. I think I might also black-out the area behind the bumper extension similarly to what I did on my '01 Rodeo 4-door.

Blacking out that area does look pretty nice. Since you seem to be giving your Rodeo Sport a thorough refresh, what shape is your carpet in? I replaced mine and it really takes the years off of the interior.
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=65521&start=50#p730324

[radare]

Since you seem to be giving your Rodeo Sport a thorough refresh, what shape is your carpet in? I replaced mine and it really takes the years off of the interior.
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=65521&start=50#p730324

My carpet is pretty nasty in the back seat area. I'd like to replace it but didn't honestly think I'd be able to get replacement carpet from Isuzu. Where did you order yours from?

[Toccoa]

My carpet is pretty nasty in the back seat area. I'd like to replace it but didn't honestly think I'd be able to get replacement carpet from Isuzu. Where did you order yours from?

I got mine from Isuzu Parts Center.

I was surprised you could still get it too. There are two pieces used to cover the inside. One that covers the passenger area and the other for the cargo area. I replaced both of them, but you can replace one without the other. They meet just under the front edge of the back seat.

Passenger Area: Part #8971582208
Cargo Area: Part #8972940743

[radare]

Passenger Area: Part #8971582208
Cargo Area: Part #8972940743

Thank you. They're cheap too. I'll do it.

[radare]

I spent the first half of my Saturday tracking down parts and gave Napa way more than I wanted to. Came home with hoses and gaskets. I was pleased to see that this Felpro set has the newer-style lower intake gaskets (the leathery type ones and not the hard plastic type).



I then spent the remainder of the day, something like 6 hours, cleaning the intake plenum. I've done this four times now on various Isuzus and I can say, without a doubt, it sucks. But the job is done and the intakes ready to go back on the truck. Using an old clutch cable, some gunbore brushes and a lot of degreaser, I was able to completely clean the EGR tube. It's spotless inside now and will offer full flow again.

[radare]

Today's progress was good. Cleaned up the heater tube and snagged the old o-ring:




These were well past their usable life:




Cleaned up the thermostat gasket surface:




And installed the heater tubes with new o-rings. For those who are curious, I found the following O-rings at my local Ace Hardware which fit perfectly. You'll need one of each:

Water Pipe to Heater Tube O-ring: OD=1", ID=13/16" Width=3/32"
Thermostat to Heater Tube O-ring: OD=1 3/16", ID=.924" Width = 1/8




New thermostat and gasket:




Water pipe installed with new gaskets:




New thermostat coolant hose and bypass hose:




New fuel-injection fuel hose. The driver-side is 1/4" ID, the passenger-side is 5/16".




New Felpro intake manifold gaskets in place:




Lower intake bolted in place:




Followed by the upper intake:



And all the electrical and hose connections put back:








I ordered some new plugs, new silicone vacuum hose, and a timing belt set (with water pump). When those items get here, I'll button up the top-end, change the timing belt and get this truck running again.

[totten]

Thanks for the pics. nice job.

[ZuminaZX]

what did your intake valves look like?

[Toccoa]

Color me impressed! I think you could eat off that thing.

You're definitely saving money on the back end by doing all this now.

[radare]

what did your intake valves look like?

The looked really good. No carbon on any of them and no evidence, yet, of failed valve-stem seals. I was pleasantly surprised at their condition.

[radare]

I don't know if you all noticed the poor shape of my battery box. I forgot to snag a photo of it directly. Here's one from the engine shot:




It's rusty. Really nasty rusty. In my years of restoring motorcycles, I've often used Phosphoric Acid to clean the rust from tanks. It does an amazing job. And since I happened to have some on hand, I thought I'd try it on the battery box.



I soaked a couple of rags in the acid and laid them onto the rust in the box:



You can see here where the acid has already removed some of the rust (the silver metal is good, rust free metal):



And here's the final result. The areas with a pinkish hue have a coating of phosphate. This is now ready to sand, prime and paint.



I've ordered two cans of Bright Silver Metallic (835) from R&E Paint Supply. When they get here, I'll prime and paint this box and it'll look good as new.

I also realized just how bad my battery cables are. Both have had new ends installed, hastily, and both need to be replaced. I ordered new ones from Scarff Isuzu in Washington. We'll see if they can actually fill the order. For future reference, the P/N's for the battery cables are: Positive Cable (8972600434) and Negative Cable (8973670740). The pair will cost you around $150.

[radare]

Last night, in preparation for changing the timing belt and water pump on the Rodeo, I hooked up my impact wrench to the air compressor, cranked the regulator to 90 psi and hit the crankshaft bolt. Nothing. No budging. Tried again at 100 psi. Nothing. Tried again at 110 psi. Nothing.

After about 30 minutes of trying to get the thing to budge, I gave up.

My impact wrench is rated at 250 ft-lbs at 90 psig. For about $100, I can get one with three-times that torque rating.

What do you all think? Is a bigger hammer the right approach here?

[radare]

I went and bought the 700 ft-lb impact wrench and it wouldn't budge it either. So in a last ditch effort, I pressed the breaker-bar against the frame and blipped the starter. That worked. Broke it loose first try. Now albeit, this is likely a dumb thing to do.

I then managed to disassemble and remove the old timing belt, tensioners and water pump. All parts removed were OE Isuzu. I can't imagine they are original to 2001 and so maybe original parts were used at 100k when the timing belt would have been first done?

Anyhow, replaced the water pump, tensioner and pulleys:


Painted the battery tray (well, primed the battery tray):


Installed four new Bosch O2 sensors:


Repainted the harmonic balancer:


And installed the timing belt:


Busy day for the Rodeo.

[radare]

Bought a replacement key fob for the Rodeo. The originals were long since gone and it came without one. Reprogrammed it using the stock procedure and cleared all existing codes so this is the only fob registered to the truck.

Now I need to find a replacement key and get rid of this one; it looks like its for a garden tractor.

[radare]

More good progress:

Timing cover, new fan bracket and various pulleys fitted:



All buttoned up. New drive belt, idler pulley, air filter and radiator cap to finish things off. Since I was missing the engine cover, I bought one from an '02 model as I always liked the black. Waiting on 3mm vacuum hoses, a Delphi MAF and new spark plugs and it'll be done with the underhood maintenance. Well, after an oil change, brake and power-steering fluid flushes and topping off the coolant, that is:

[Toccoa]

And I thought I had spruced up my engine bay. Awesome work man! Looks like 2002 in there.

I'm with you on the key. It took some getting used to.

[radare]

Today's adventure is going to include a trip to Discount Tire to get a set of Yokohama Geolander's fitted to the Rodeo Sport. I looked all throughout the truck and it had no key for the wheel locks that are fitted, so a precursor to that adventure was to remove the wheel locks. Following guidance from Eric The Car Guy on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJUUyjJqk5A

Watch on youtube.com

I hammered on a 3/4" 12-point socket and was able to remove all four locks in short order.

[radare]

Today was an eventful day for the Rodeo. I started the day removing wheel locks in preparation for tires.



I then took it to Discount Tire and had a set of Yokohoma Geolander HT/S's installed in the stock size. On the way home from that, I noticed that my pinch-seam was bent up on the passenger side; the person who put the truck on the lift tried to pick it up by the pinch seams. Rookie mistake. I took it back to the tire shop and they gave me a partial refund on the installation. I then came home and spent a couple hours straightening and painting the bent pinch seams.



Once that was done, I noticed the passenger-side front was about 1 1/2" lower than the driver-side front. A quick T-bar crank and the truck is sitting level again.

I also installed the replacement headlamps and a new set of Denso plugs.

Here's the truck at the end of the day:

[ZuminaZX]

Looking good. This makes me miss my '99 Amigo. I sold it on when it hit 140k when it was suffering from a vacuum leak, a bad fuel sender, and constantly tossing O2 sensor codes.