I have a 1997 Trooper with 167,000 miles. It has been an excellent vehicle with no problems and has been extremely well cared for - regular tune-ups etc. The check engine light came on last week and the car lost power and started clicking. The mechanic said it needs a new engine, but has recommended buying a new car rather than replacing the engine. Do you have any suggestions/recommendations? Thanks.

I replaced my engine for 1400 bucks, the new motor has problems still, its leaking oil. What ever you do dont go to S&S Engines in Takoma WA for a Motor, mine from them is screwy. You might want to looks at used cars instead of prolonging your Troopers Life... Unless of course you love the thing. I use my trooper for winter driving mainly and taking my dirty dogs places, rather than ruining my other cars. If It costs 2500 bucks for a new installed motor you could spend that on another used car, but you never know when you buy used. It could end up being another money pit like my Trooper is.
Good Luck & Choose Wisely

I replaced my engine for 1400 bucks, the new motor has problems still, its leaking oil. What ever you do dont go to S&S Engines in Takoma WA for a Motor, mine from them is screwy. You might want to looks at used cars instead of prolonging your Troopers Life... Unless of course you love the thing. I use my trooper for winter driving mainly and taking my dirty dogs places, rather than ruining my other cars. If It costs 2500 bucks for a new installed motor you could spend that on another used car, but you never know when you buy used. It could end up being another money pit like my Trooper is.
Good Luck & Choose Wisely

If your engine is a dual overjhead cam the clicking could be a moisy valve lifter which is quite common. The two common causes of this is poor timing belt tension which induces air in the upper oil galleries, check full isuzu manual or a sticky hydraulic valve.

The check engine light comes on with the DOC engine as the engine is fitted with a knock detector, which assumes that the lifter clicking is in fact the engine knocking, so it retards the engin. In time the engine fault light will come on. You can check this by having the computer read for fault codes, however, be craeful as after a few engine restarts the codes a supposed to be purged.

Before spending big bucks on a new timing belt tensiiner, run Castrol GTX RX Special, it's an engine oild for diesel engines so it will do a great job of cleaning you valve lifters. If the oild starts to get really dirty then change it sooner that the scheduled maintenance and refill with RX. I would suggest using RX until the oil looks reasonably clean after 1k, then you can either stick with the RX or switch to Mobil 1 15-50 synthetic, however, you may have to chage the viscosity to meet local weather conditions, i.e. thinner for cooler weather.

If the clicking doesn't go away by the next scheduled oil change I would have your mechanic check for tensioner noise, i.e. stethoscope down by tensioner. This isn't perfect, but if the tensioner is completly gone, then he should hear it at low revs. Tensioner replacement certainly is a fraction of the cost of a new engine.

I run higher octane fuel in mine, which seems to keep it running sweater.

Best of luck.

ask what exactly is wrong with your engine then get a second opinion