Piston Ring Problem - Solution?

[transio]

Ok, so a I've been watching quite a few threads where lots of us have had this problem. Their VX shows symptoms: It drinks oil. No visible signs of leak. It begins to knock. Then it goes. Boom.

The problem has been attributed to faulty piston rings. Not all of the engines have the problem, but obviously we should all have cause to worry when we get near to 80k miles.

Here are my questions: Why can't we just fix the problem? I mean, if we start to show symptoms, why won't Isuzu crack open the block and fix the problem? It would certainly cost less than replacing the whole block, right? Or would swapping out piston rings be an admission of guilt on their part? If you could have the piston ring problem fixed for $1000, would you? I mean, a thousand bucks to save a possible $5000 failure?

[t2p]

..... hmmm ......
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I don't think it is that simple .........
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and there does not appear to be a 'threshold' - as far as mileage is concerned ........

[transio]

I dunno. It just seems to me that cracking open the block and putting "quality" parts in there would save us money in the long run - and maybe even give us some add'l HP if we tinker with it while it's open?

[jimbo]

I'm a new VX owner so imagine my dismay at discovering this wonderful little "sometimes the engines just blow" problem. :sighp:

If you search the web the issue appears to be more obvious with Trooper owners, especially '98 - '00, due to their much larger population.

See -
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t130758.html

According to this post Isuzu attempted to remedy this problem with different rings for the 2001 model year.

Is that so, and did the remedy work?

I have a 2001 VX built in Nov '00. Is there a way to know if I have a newer 3.5 or a leftover older one? This would sure help with piece of mind.

I agree that Isuzu should do something about correcting this for everyone (recall and fix), not just the folks under warranty. They shouldn't just wait around and hope that people are out of warranty when their engines quit.

Apparantly Isuzu is struggling to simply survive in the U.S. so I'm not expecting a recall to happen anytime soon.

My '89 Amigo has 160,000 on it and I change the oil once a year. I didn't even consider checking maintenance issues before buying another Isuzu. Guess the days of "weld the hood shut'" Isuzu reliability are long gone.

[t2p]

I agree that Isuzu should do something about correcting this for everyone (recall and fix), not just the folks under warranty. They shouldn't just wait around and hope that people are out of warranty when their engines quit.
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...... similar to what Honda did with the Odyssey ..... ???
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they recalled 650,000 ...... when there were (approx) ten reported transmission failures ........ failures that occurred on 'well worn' Odysseys ........ with many miles and years on them .........
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I don't think so ........... but 'Never say never' ..............
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of course, I will not hold my breath ......

[visconte]

on this and things you can do but people seem very sensitive on this subject I guess if they had large repair bills? Anyway you can fit a larger oil filter for example the 3950 and improve flow while maintaining excellent filtration, you can use MMO in the oil and if you need a flush use say three liters 10-40 synthetic and two liters MMO for about 500 miles before changing again and use two ounces of MMO in fuel for every ten gallons of gas also use good quality fuel higher octane if possible while doing this. If you have a real bad problem you can take the car out of action remove plugs and fill the cylinders with MMO and let sit for a day or two, then re-flush. There is a lot of other stuff on this site if you research it that you might try, all I can say is that the things above worked for my car which was consuming oil when I first bought it but it is not using any oil now after following the above procedures. I am sorry in advance if this advice upsets anyone. I am honestly just trying to help. Rgds, Vis