2001 VX Engine Problem Help

[HubEZ]

Hi All, I'm brand new to the boards here, and in good timing. I have a 2001 Yellow VX with 120K miles, just got it 2 months ago, absolutely love it, got it as my winter vehicle and so glad I did even with todays most likely expensive mechanical problems.
I like the vehicle so much that i got a custom made performance exhaust and cold air intake put on it, installed an HID kit myself, and put on some big Goodyear Wrangler Kevlar MT/R's, and new sparks, it looks and drives like a beast.

My problem is I was making a long road trip (18 hour drive) home to see the family for the holidays, and I don't think it liked the long drive. I had my oil changed a couple weeks ago. My engine started making a clicking sound about 4 hours from my destination, so I immediately pulled over and checked the oil, there was no oil in there, just some black sooty goo. So I called a tow truck and got them to bring me some oil. We put the oil in and I turned the engine on, it makes 2 or 3 more clicks and then the sound went away. So I continued to drive to my destination, 2 hours later the sound game back, I filled it with oil again, this time the sound won't go away. So I left the vehicle where it is, absolutely heartbroken to leave my yellow beast just sitting there, but I didn't want to further damage it. I got someone to pick me up.
I am very concerned and worried, I called a garage in the area and they immediately told me I'll need a new engine without even looking at it, not what I wanted to hear right before the holidays. I'm getting it towed to the garage now, but I want to make sure they look at all possible options, I'd rather not spend $5000 right now as I spent around $9000 on the vehicle plus NY taxes and then dumped another $3000 into it on upgrades in the past month.
Also if I replace the engine I don't want to lose HP with a lesser replacement engine, I really liked the amount of power it had, and I don't want to futs with the way it should be too much.
Any advice or insight you may have may be helpful. Sorry I didn't get chance to get a recording of the sound, but it's a distinct repetitive clicking sound, not clunking, and it is obviously consuming oil, and not leaking on the ground. I love this vehicle and I just wanted to get it home to my family to do a little off-roading and get around doing errands while visiting my family for the holidays.

[atilla_the_fun]

Your engine goose is cooked. The Isuzu 3.5L is a ticking time bomb. It will go, all your oil will disappear for some reasons and your rod bearing will be spun. A new engine is the only course of action. Search the forum for similar posts, engine failure, seized engine, rod bearing spun, axiom engine swap etc..

[HubEZ]

That sucks :(
And I'm out of the country in Canada for the holidays, it's going to be impossible to get an engine here.
Can I put a 2002 3.6 L Trooper engine in it easily?

[atilla_the_fun]

Unfortunately, there is no "easily." Its your choice- you're options with the least hassle are: Rodeo 3.5L, Trooper 3.5L, Acura SLX 3.5L, Vehicross 3.5L, or 2002 Isuzu Axiom 3.5L (paying attention to get a specific model number engine, as only some of the first produced for the Axiom may work). All of the rodeo, trooper, SLX and Vehicross are the same 3.5L motor you have in yours. They will all still suffer from the same design flaw that evacuates all the oil and leads to running dry. The Axiom engine was redesigned, and should not (no mention of any similar problems anywhere) suffer from the same issue. It doesn't take any modification, just drop the small block in. They will all cost the same (2-4$ dollars), and the power output is the same. These engines retain the TOD system. If you really didn't care about or need TOD, you can do an engine, transmission and transfercase swap, and never have any issues with oil consumption or transmission failure again.

The 4E30 transmission is weak, the 3.5L engine can be flaky (but is powerful). The TOD clutch packs are the only piece that is truly reliable.

For more information, please search the forum (using the search of course) as I don't have any part numbers or specifics past what I've written at hand.

[HubEZ]

thanks atilla for your reply, I'm looking at getting the engine rebuilt by a professional company as I can't seem to find any of those engines around that's worth putting in that I can trust wont do the same thing the next day.

So for those VX owners that love thier VX so much, what is the absolute best option for us, say if we had unlimited money, what would be the best engine to drop in there with the same HP or better and still retaining all of the features such as TOD? I like this vehicle enough to keep it forever, so if I'm willing to spend $5000 on a rebuilt, i midaswell just find out what the best option is. It sounds like every VX owner will eventually face my problem no matter how well they maintain the oil, engine will eventually meet its day. I'd love to replace my engine and never face that issue again.

[atilla_the_fun]

Can you start by posting your VX vin number and engine number in the Engine problems and solutions thread I just started if you can?

[circmand]

thanks atilla for your reply, I'm looking at getting the engine rebuilt by a professional company as I can't seem to find any of those engines around that's worth putting in that I can trust wont do the same thing the next day.

So for those VX owners that love thier VX so much, what is the absolute best option for us, say if we had unlimited money, what would be the best engine to drop in there with the same HP or better and still retaining all of the features such as TOD? I like this vehicle enough to keep it forever, so if I'm willing to spend $5000 on a rebuilt, i midaswell just find out what the best option is. It sounds like every VX owner will eventually face my problem no matter how well they maintain the oil, engine will eventually meet its day. I'd love to replace my engine and never face that issue again.

Most of the engines dont have this problem. Once the problem developes it wont go away.

[VX KAT]

Just curious, had you been checking your oil?
Did you check it after the oil change?
Was the PCV valve changed when the oil was changed (or around then)?

Here's some of the threads on engine failure, polls, experience, etc....

http://vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=3756&highlight=ENGINE+FAILURE+POLL

http://vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=16854&highlight=ENGINE+FAILURE+POLL

http://vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=17228&highlight=engine+oil+poll

http://vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?p=166184#post166184 (particularly starting at post #9)

http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=15156&highlight=axiom+DI

http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=16136&highlight=axiom+DI

http://vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=14775&highlight=iamironman

[vt_maverick]

The Axiom engine was redesigned, and should not (no mention of any similar problems anywhere) suffer from the same issue.

Let me mention one then, I've said it before but probably not in any of the pertinent threads that Sue lists above. I have an '04 Axiom and it burns oil like a mother ******. So bad that I brought 5 quarts with me on our trip to Wisconsin (~2K miles round trip). Now an '04 is different from an '02 in that it features direct injection, but my understanding is that the pieces that were "redesigned" for '02 are carried over into '04 (except the DI option).

Bottom line is it's just a troublesome engine period. The ideal option for me (and this is from a not-very-mechanically-inclined arm-chair mechanic) would be a Nissan VQ series engine (3.5, 3.7, or 4.0) mated to Nissan's ATTESA AWD system. The VQ engine is the V6 that Nissan uses across their entire lineup, and it's won awards as a Top 10 engine for something like the last 15 years in a row. Bulletproof as they come, doesn't burn a drop of oil and has a great power to MPG ratio (depending on vehicle weight of course). The AWD system is like TOD for the 21st century, and it's used in all of Nissan's AWD vehicles including the GTR.

[atilla_the_fun]

I looked up the Axiom and the oil burning issues are still present. I'm really curious about the Acura SLX, I've found some reports of rod bearing failure, but very few compared to the tons of trooper engines that suffered the same fate. I don't know how many SLXs were sold compared to Troopers.

It seems that every iteration of the 3.5L, 6VE1 engine is deeply flawed. Its very sad. The only thing we can do to remedy the sudden oil loss is install an oil accumulator to feed the engine incase the oil is evacuated from the crank-case. We would still have to top the vehicle off with the oil that it burns (mine does not burn at 100,000 miles).