2000 Rodeo rebirth

Hi, this is my first post to the forums but I've been reading it for awhile. The reason I decided to finally post is to thank everyone here for saving my Rodeo(2000,4X4,LS). I've had this truck for three years and I love everything about. Around a year ago I did a "tune up"(I changed the oil and plugs with the cheapest Autozone had) just before pulling a 3-4K +lb trailer 700 miles. Before pulling the trailer I had pretty good power and mpg around 22. After pulling the trailer(NOT in power mode BTW, I didn't know better) the mpg and power started to deteriorate so bad that a month ago I was only getting 9-10 mpg. I thought I burned up the transmission. I was planning on selling it next month because I really can't afford a new transmission or to continue to spend $60+ a week in gas.
Then I found this forum.
After reading a couple thousand threads over a two week period I decided to buy 2 cans of sea foam and a couple cans of carb and choke cleaner. I put one can of sea foam into a half a tank of gas and the other one I sucked through the PVC Valve(after cleaning it with C+C cleaner). I removed the EGR Valve and the pintle was pretty much stuck closed. It would move but not easily. I spent a whole can of C+C cleaner on the EGR. Soaking, spraying and rubbing my pinky in the big hole for about 30 minutes. I dumped everything into a shop rag and it looked like black sand when I was done. Pretty nasty. I also sprayed about a half a can into the small intake tube on the EGR to try and clean it out. I got it pretty clean but next time I'm going to use some kind of probe to really get in there. Then I sprayed C+C cleaner on the air intake "flapper"(?) and brushed all the black gunk of of it with a tooth brush after I carefully sprayed the MAF sensor clean even though it looked pretty good I thought what the heck.
Anyway, after I put everything back together and disconnected the battery for 20 to reset the cpu, I took it out for a little test drive. HOLY SH!T!!!! I'm speachless. There is so much more power it actually squealed the tires from a stand still, it no longer sounds like a diesel engine, the response isn't mushy and the irradic idle seems to be gone. I've just ordered the Denso double platinum plugs and I can't wait to put them in.
There's new life in my rodeo now and I'm once again thinking lift kits and upgrades instead if pocket pain and resentment. Thanks again everyone who has ever posted to this forum. I will keep posting as well and hopefully we can keep the "Rodeo" on the road as long as possible.
:grinyes:Tony

sounds good! Don't forget to change that oil after all sea foam that you are using.

UPDATE:
Hi again, anyway before I update, I may have jumped the gun a little with my first post. I should have introduces myself. My name is Tony and I'm an AT2 in the USN. Three yrs exp on Tomcat's and now about a year on SuperHornet's. I've been lurching this forum for about 3 weeks now trying to find out a way to save my 2000 4X4 Rodeo. I have orders to go to Lemoore, CA from VA Bch, VA and I honestly didn't believe it would make it. Especially towing another vehicle(93 murcury villager). I was going to trade it in even though it's allmost paid for and I really like this truck besides all it's problems.
UPDATE:(really)
OK the truck was running better for a few days, now it's back to the same old slow, powerless, ticking beast. But. Since I'm still waiting for the densos I ordered I thouth I'd take a look at the plugs I put in before. I couldn't remember the brand. I pulled each one except #6 and they were all the same. All were LOOSE!!! At least 3/4 - 1 1/2 turns. Not sure how that happened. Also, they were absolutley covered in black carbon. This includes the ceramic back part, inside and out of the rubber boot, and all over the plug well walls. The tips looked worn and black. I think a combination of having the wrong plugs(btw, the namebrand I couldn't read) and maybe a significant loss in compression from the loose plugs is the root of most of my problems. I'm still running seafoam and I should get the new plugs in a day or two but I'm worried about all the carbon buildup in the combustion chamber. Not sure if it's just the crap blown out of the egr/intake manifold/injectors from using seafoam and it will eventually burn off or if it's serious. Has any one ever heard or or used water through the intake to clean carbon deposits? Any thoughts on messing up O2 sensors or the cat? Any other method to clean it out? One more thing, What is the towing capacity of the 2000 3.2? According to UHaul.com, my Rodeo isn't heavy enough to towa 93 Villager minivan. I've towed a 3-4K# trailer from GA to VA before without any problems and I've read of others pulling similar weight with no problems... any opinions?
Tony

Also, I have Camelback cleaning kit with a small flexible tube brush that's about 2 feet long that worked perfect in cleaning out the EGR tube. I also removed the throttle body and cleaned the flapper in and out with a tooth brush. I'll update on performance after I get the new plugs.
BTW, the camelback cleaning kit can be picked up at any sporting goods store for about 10 bucks.

the sea foam will help to clean up the carbon.

As for towing another car. If you do it, I would flush the tranny and have a tranny cooler installed. This will help to keep your tranny happy.

Hi Tony,
First and foremost, THANK YOU for your service....America loves you and appreciates your work, you have to know that.
From what I've seen, for every civilian that thanks you, twenty more want to but we're just a little shy!
Second, when you clean your throttle body, make sure you know if it is O2 Sensor safe or not...from what I've used 'Carb cleaner' is not but 'Throttle body cleaner' is. Make sure the can says O2 sensor safe.
Third, I had a minivan a long time ago who's throttle body main valve/ pintle dried out so bad the accelerator got stuck on wide open throttle...in traffic. Yeah.... that was a fun 10 seconds. Had to shift into nuetral and kill the engine at 50 mph in heavy traffic...what a thrill. Lesson: even after cleaning the throttle body, lube it. On that vehicle all that was needed was simple vehicle grease. Never had a problem there again.
You might have sent the crud you cleaned out into the combustion chambers and possibly smaller throttle body chambers.
You CAN use a mist of water to clean deposits, but it is hard on the engine so don't overdo it (learned that trick from a retired air force mech.)
On the towing, my 3.2L 2002 Rodeo Sport tows 4500 lbs.
Lemoore is pretty flat (and boring I'm afraid) and if you come in from the south it shouldn't be too bad. Is that where "Top Gun" school is? Yeehaw!
Welcome to California,
johann
(Sacramento)

Hi again and thanks to everyone again.
I now have a possible serious engine killing situation going on:crying: . I'll explain exactly what happened:
I bought a tranny cooler on amigo-2k's advice and also picked up another can of sea foam. I haven't installed the cooler yet but I did take the grill off to check for proper placement, Anyway, before yesterday I haven't put any seafoam in the crankcase but decided to do it thursday night, drive on it a day or two and change the oil on the weekend. I put about 1/2 of the pint into the crankcase then let it idle for about 10-15 minutes with no problems. Then I decided to put the other half of the can through the intake to really clean it out some more before I put the new plugs in it. I put it in the first time through the pvc valve that's on the front of the intake so this time I put it in the brake booster line on the back in an effort to clean all parts equally. When I pulled the brake booster line off of the engine side it immediatly died, so i poured about 2 ounces with the engine off. It started back up fine with normal seafoam white smoke so I thought no problem. Then I poured the rest of the can into the intake through the brake booster line with the engine off and let it sit fo 15-20 minutes to get a good soak. Whithin 3-4 seconds after starting the engine, it started knocking. not a light tapping but a knock so loud it's allmost deafening standing over the engine and can probably be heard 5 blocks away. After a quick shutdown, I did a check for anything obvious like a broken belt, something caught or unplugged. Everything looks normal. I did a quick web search and thought it might just be a carbon knock. Others have said that a bad one could sound like broken rod. Is this true? Then I just let the engine Idle for about 3 minutes hoping if it was carbon it would burn it up and quiet down but it never happened. I unplugged each of the coil packs one at a time just see if I could isolate it that way but there was no change with any plug disabled. This morning I took all the plugs out and they were all black with the exception of #6 that was covered in either oil or wet black carbon(hard to tell). I cleaned each plug with carb cleaner and since I'm still waiting on the new plugs I just sanded the plug tips with 220 grit sandpaper. I cleaned the boots since they were pretty nasty too. With the plugs out, I turned the engine with the starter to try and clean out anything if it's possible that way. Four times about 15 seconds at a time. I put it all back together but it sounded exactly the same so I slowly poured about a pint of warm water into the intake. That produced more white smoke than sea foam ever did. It's still sounds like a major problem like I threw a rod but if that's the case how? I didn't really do anything I haven't done before except put seafoam in the crankcase.:banghead: :crying: . At this point I'm completly bummed about this with no idea what's wrong or how to fix it. The new plugs are supposed to arrive today and I plan on installing them tonight with a snow ball's hope:evillol: that anything will change. Has anyelse ever experienced this? What was the outcome?
Thanks,
Tony

Seafoam decreases the ability of the oil to lube internal engine components. That's why it's recommended you change the oil after using the stuff. I hope you haven't spun a bearing... Good luck and let us know!

Oh man, ouch, that really doesn't sound good.

Under the VERY very slight possibility a timing belt tensioner can sound like a rod knocking when they go bad. However, it would just be too coincidental to go out at the same exact timing as doing the sea foam.

I did seafoam 1 time, 1/4th can in a full crankcase of already thick 10w-40 oil, only drove 3-5 miles then changed it.

I will NEVER do it, or ANY oil flushing fluid again.

I did not have any bad sounds, bad reactions, etc. but I have read that it can loosen up a LOT of crap too fast and plug your pickup oil screen, along with internal oil passages, which can obviously starve the engine of oil.

Not only that, but if a lot of dirt/crud loosens at once, it can wreak havoc on your bearings big time.

The best thing one can do, if they feel their engine has extra crud built up, is to keep very precise oil/filter changes and shorten the intervals once or twice every couple of years to help eliminate crud a little sooner then every 3k miles. And change the oil while it's hot, or real warm.

I can tell you that I haven't a clue what a rod knock sounds like on the Rodeo, but when my waterpump, followed by the timing belt tensioner went out almost 2 mnths ago, it sounded HORRIBLE. You could hear it knocking miles away - the tensioner gives off the same sound as a rod knocking.

It might be something else to consider, if you have over 100k on the original tensioner. But, I might be stretching here, I don't know.

One thing you can do, to see if it is a rod knocking, get yourself some thicker oil then you normally use, i.e. 10w-40 or even 15w-40, if your daily temps are above 30F. Change your oil, if the sound is somewhat softer, it's most likely an internal issue.

I wouldn't be driving it til you have more of an idea of what's going on.

I'm not quite understanding what you said though, did you use seafoam on two separate occasions? The 1st time having driven one or two days, then changed the oil and put it in a 2nd time?

Or did you add Seafoam on 2 separate occasions, but in the SAME oil just on different days?

Nevermind, just reread your post, you were going to drive it for a day or so after putting it in last night?? You didn't drive it today did you?

I poured the rest of the can into the intake through the brake booster line with the engine off and let it sit fo 15-20 minutes to get a good soak. Whithin 3-4 seconds after starting the engine, it started knocking. not a light tapping but a knock so loud it's allmost deafening standing over the engine and can probably be heard 5 blocks away.

If you administered "the rest of the can" of liquid cleaner (SeaFoam) with the engine off, there is a chance that you hydro-locked a cylinder. That would usually result in a damaged piston dome, bent rod, broken wrist pin boss, or worse.

http://www.daewootech.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=2033

A cranking compression test or cylinder leakage test should reveal any damage.

the sea foam will help to clean up the carbon.

It should be REALLY clean with all the new pistons and freshly bored iron. Cleaners such as this do work well, but they need to be used properly. SeaFoam is also not the best at cleaning chambers, and I certainly wouldn't use it in engine oil. Plain water/alcohol mixture (without the oil and mineral sprits that are also part of SeaFoam) will do an excellent job of cleaning combustion chambers of carbon. The next time you pull a head on an engine that has had a head gasket leak, you'll see how the steam cleaning has just about stripped all the carbon deposits away. And the mineral spriits, alcohol, and water are not the best things to be dumping in a crankcase. The pale oil that makes up the rest of SeaFoam might be O.K., but there are far better and safer methods to clean lubrication systems.

Seafoam decreases the ability of the oil to lube internal engine components. That's why it's recommended you change the oil after using the stuff.

^^ What he said. ^^ Just another reason to find an alternative.

If you used the "cheapest plugs Autozone had" they were likely Bosch or Autolite. Those should be avoided like the black plague. Champions, NGKs, or even Densos would be better. Champion seems to have the best heat range control and metallurgy, while NGK has excellent ceramics and adequate metallurgy. Densos seem to be decent in both respects, too.

Good luck in your diagnosis, and in your new position/duty station. I hope you find something silly and simple wrong with the Rodeo, but it's not sounding like the experience will be positive. BTW - I used to work on machines that did nacelles/covers for the old T'Cat PW turbines (been a while) so I've been back under there a couple times to see how they fit up on the end product.

Nothing a little JB Weld can't handle...

I'm sitting here, reading that, and my dog is staring at me as if I were some kind of idiot for laughing out loud. (Does he know something I don't?) :D