Isuzu Rodeo TICKING NOISE !

[wv6z]

There was no offense taken what so ever and I am glad you understand that, for me anyway, if a $3 ‘fix’ works, or is at least alleged to in many cases, heck, I will give it a try. I have always wanted a Trooper, even after having a bad experience with a Passport. As the Trooper has just under 118k miles, unless it has been very badly abused or more correctly, neglected, I wanted to give it a shot. The old Trooper, ‘looks’ like it has been taken care of and is in great shape and there are no leaks, so, before I just arbitrarily made a project care out of it, I figured I would see if it could be a dependable, quiet, safe as well as an attractive daily driver.

I can honestly say that I have never fallen for any of the Ronco or K-Tel miracles blasted at us by our TVs for these past 30 years or so, so, I have a hard time even considering a $3 miracle in a bottle. I am sure that someone, somewhere has found cause or reason, based on their vehicles use and application, as well as their climate, etc., to find that Slick 50, STP oil or STP fuel treatment has been a God send to them……. I am a skeptic and the results remain to be seen. As my motor had an annoying ‘tick’, rather than it sounding like a monkey under the hood flailing the block with a ball peen hammer, I was really hoping it would be a sticky lifter or a failing water pump or a tensioner in the check out line of life rather than planning for a complete top end rebuild.

The other side of the coin is, I have lived in the SE Humidity Belt for the last 41 years and, as temperature and humidity (condensation) issues can be a pain, I have often (not always) followed one of my Pop’s recommendations and that is to run about 8 ozs. or so of Marvel Mystery Oil in a 15 to 20 gallon tank fill up, just for the purpose of keeping condensate out of the gas. Does it work? Heck, I dunno, but I have NEVER had issues with condensate in my tanks, and, I have never had issues with sticking valves either so does it work? I really can’t say, but, I know it is not a caustic or a solvent (to the best of my knowledge), so hey, it can’t hurt.

Please don’t misunderstand me as I agree with everything that you have stated. I am not blessed with being a competent shade tree mechanic, but have friends who pretty much tell me that I need to pay attention to my changes and PM that way, just as you have said. Hey, if I don’t ask questions, I’ll never learn and if you offer advice and I don’t listen, then that’s my mistake.

To make a long story longer, I will not add the Rislone next oil change just to see how it does without. If something was sticking, and now it’s not, fine, if I am masking a more serious problem, then I will want to deal with it before there is a catastrophic failure.

Thanks for all of your help!

[FL 3.2L]

Did I mention that my 1997 3.2L is tick free at 173K? Valvoline dino 10W-30 and napa gold filters every 3K...

[Ramblin Fever]

Originally Posted by FL 3.2L

Did I mention that my 1997 3.2L is tick free at 173K? Valvoline dino 10W-30 and napa gold filters every 3K...

You're STILL 10k miles behind me?????

Come on....put the pedal to the metal and keep driving......

Maybe if I put mine in reverse for 10k miles

There's not very many of us tick-free Isuzuan's! I really wonder sometimes if it was a manufactor issue/defect.

[wv6z]

Or if there are really so few that properly maintained theirs from the get go.

[FL 3.2L]

When I did my valve cover gaskets, it looked as though insufficient oil made its way to the extreme front and back of the head. I haven't seen the interior of many engine heads, so I don't know if what I saw is indicative of a flaw.

[Ramblin Fever]

Originally Posted by FL 3.2L

When I did my valve cover gaskets, it looked as though insufficient oil made its way to the extreme front and back of the head. I haven't seen the interior of many engine heads, so I don't know if what I saw is indicative of a flaw.

I wonder if that could mean the engine would do better with a thinner oil perhaps???

[FL 3.2L]

I'm not running the recommended weight, am I?

[FL 3.2L]

Actually 10W-30 is recommended for warmer climes. It rarely gets to freezing here in SW FL...

[Ramblin Fever]

The recommended weight is anywhere from 5w-30 to 20w-50 according to my book.

I've been running 5w-40 for quite some time.....who knows I guess.

[660Ryder]

Originally Posted by wv6z

I asked, if anybody is running a quart of Rislone continually, as a PM effort to keep the ticking gremilins at bay, if not, at what frequency are they using it?

I purchased my 95.5 Rodeo at ~80k miles. It had a ticking sound that was very noticeable and embarassing. At the time, I brought it to the Auto instructor at my high school who said it was very common with this vehicle and "turn up the radio". I tried Marvel Mystery Oil with no luck. I tried CD-2 with no luck. I never tried Seafoam. Slowly throwing $5 bills at the truck wasn't getting anywhere, but I decided to give Rislone a try. Somewhere around 90k miles I brought the Rodeo in for an oil change and instructed the technician to add the quart of Rislone I gave him in lieu of a quart of oil. Within 20 miles the sound disappeared. After a couple thousand miles it was back. I tried Rislone in the next two oil changes and have had no ticking since ~95k miles. My total investment of ~$10 in Rislone, I feel, has cured my truck if ticking (I now have 108k with no ticking). If the rodeo ever started ticking again, I would try another round of Rislone without hesitation!

[wv6z]

Yep, I think I will continue on and follow your lead. The old 3.2L DOHC is as quiet as a church mouse and has been for over 2 weeks and 1k miles now, I hope it will stay that way too. FWIW, below is as posted in the Trooper area by me.

Okay, this is worth an update...... I went ahead and changed the oil and did the one quart swap with Rislone...... also, still putting in 8 to 12 ozs. of Marvel Mystery Oil in with the gas at each fill up. The Rislone did the trick within 10 miles, 20 minutes of run time. Been quiet as a church mouse for about 1k miles and about three weeks now.

I have a hard time with time..... heh.... it was the 30th, that I did the Rislone and oil change, so it has only been 2 weeks and a couple of days now.

[jayinhsv]

Hey folks....here's my two cents. On a recent 900 mile trip to south florida my 1995 Rodeo (160k miles) starting ticking obnoxiously. I had heard that this was a common problem with Rodeos so I didn't worry about it too much and continued my trip. When I got back home I read this forum and tried every $5 solution with no luck. SeaFoam, Risolon, Marvolous Mystery Oil: none made a difference. The tick was as embarrassingly loud as ever. I read a post on here where somebody mentioned the timing belt tensioning push rod. Just to rule that out I took off the passenger side upper timing belt cover, started the engine, and watched the belt and tensioning pulley vibrate back and forth widely. Went ahead and disassembled everything so that I could take the t-belt tensioning push rod off. It was worn to the point that the push rod could be depressed by hand. A new one requires a c-clamp or a vice to depress. Anyway, put everything back together and she runs as quietly now as the day I bought her new in 1995. No noise at all.

I almost junked a very reliable vehicle due to the failure of an $85 part. If you're having the same problem, be sure and check this before doing something more drastic. The symptoms were a constant and very loud ticking noise that went away above 2500 rpm or so.

[wv6z]

Hi jayinhsv,

From the other Isuzu and Trooper forums I frequent, your problem is one that pops up now and then and I am glad that you made the effort to dig a bit deeper with your problem and have her all sorted out!

Congrats on not panicking and jumping the gun on ditching the old gal!

Regards,
Tom

[Philscbx]

If you want to get the quickest quiet at idle hot, put in 20/50.
If in fact it does get quieter, it simply tells you your oil pump cannot keep up at idle hot.
The oil pump pressure needs to fill the lifters completely, besides all the other bearing clearances at rod and crank.
The tappets increase in clearance automatically as oil pressure drops.
The lifters are last in line to get full oil pressure.
The valve spring pressure is fighting back, forcing oil back out of lifters.

Permenant simple repair in the past is simply upgrading the oil pump. You need more volume and pressure to make up for all the wear.
The oil pump wears as well.
Oil pumps do not get filtered oil. They feed oil to the filter.
Oil pumps only have wire mesh to stop the large peices.
Filtered oil feeds the crank and all rod bearings first.
What ever pressure is left, feeds the rest. And that might not be much.

As the oil heats up, it gets lighter weight viscosity by half, and is why you
start to hear parts hot vs cold in motors worn beyond the oil pumps ability.

As Ramblin Fever stated, replacing lifters is not the cure and has been tested many times before. Brand new lifters will still tick the tappets if oil pressure is not to specs.
Not having a real-time oil pressure gauge is mystery untold.
No different than your own heart- low pressure- certain death.

[Philscbx]

Originally Posted by jayinhsv

I almost junked a very reliable vehicle due to the failure of an $85 part. If you're having the same problem, be sure and check this before doing something more drastic. The symptoms were a constant and very loud ticking noise that went away above 2500 rpm or so.

Very Cool.
I bet that was happy hour for days.