LUVTruck.com

I know it ain't a LUV, but it is built by Isuzu!

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'46 Studebaker truck "project"
'90 Trooper 4X4, 2.6L 5 spd

Ok so first things on the list:

1. register on http://www.planetisuzoo.com
2. register on http://www.4x4wire.com
3. give Matt over @ Indy 4x a call about the combo 6" lift kit
4. give Joe over @ Darlington Offroad a call about some diff drop brakets and a front winch bumber
5. slap some 35's on there when your all done


Awesome Troop, wish i had one of my own, but I'm stuck with the Luv instead

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'80 Luv 4x4, 3" BL, 1.5" SL, 32/36, 2.25" exhaust...and fuzzy dice.
'95 Toyota 4Runner Limited 5-Speed.

STUCK ??????



j/k

Oh sorry Roadshow, i forgot, never mind I change my mind on that I"M SO HAPPY TO BE KEEPING MY LUV FOR EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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'80 Luv 4x4, 3" BL, 1.5" SL, 32/36, 2.25" exhaust...and fuzzy dice.
'95 Toyota 4Runner Limited 5-Speed.

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

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'80 Luv 4x4, 3" BL, 1.5" SL, 32/36, 2.25" exhaust...and fuzzy dice.
'95 Toyota 4Runner Limited 5-Speed.

Rezkid has the list pretty much complete. You might want to register at http://www.pirate4x4.com too, there is a small but hardcore Isuzu following over there.

You will want to flush the cooling system and replace any hoses that are suspect. Once it overheats you can be looking at a hefty repair for the head gasket, and sometimes even the head if it cracks.

Also, adjust the valves. It is often neglected, needs to be done about every 10-12k, and can cause the head to crack if the exhaust valves get too far off and heat up.

Just think, this is what the small Chevy blazer would have been if not for the S10...

nice wheels brosef, but i think with the list completed it would be a hell of a lot cooler

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!!!FINALLY!!!
-1977 Luv mikado

I'll add to 800's list of mechanical stuff

when flushing the cooling system get a new thermostat, it's only $12 or so and more than likely needs to be replaced any way, also check the fan clutch , make sure it's working good, and if it hasn't been done yet have all of the fluids changed(F&R diffs, tranny/t-case, engine) and if you have the 4ZE1 2.6L I highly recomend checking the vac lines, one rotten one will make the engine run like crap(trust me on this I know )

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'80 Luv 4x4, 3" BL, 1.5" SL, 32/36, 2.25" exhaust...and fuzzy dice.
'95 Toyota 4Runner Limited 5-Speed.

yup definetly check the vac lines. My 2.6L 90 Trooper ran like crap and wouldnt pass smog untill i found one little bad vac line. After that it ran like a dream.

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1980 LUV 4x4, going under re-construction...

Thanx for all the positive vibes.

Yep, it is a 2.6 4 banger, 5 spd. I will definately check it over real well for vacuum leaks before I order a new head. It runs like crap right now- at idle, anyways. Once I'm up past 2000 or so RPM, it runs fine (drove it 300 miles home w/o a problem). The previous owner said he took it to a shop & they told him it needed more engine work than the value of the truck. I ain't scared- I just figured on replacing the head, but I will go over the vacuum hoses w/ a fine tooth comb 1st.

I already surf Pirate, 4X Wire, & Isuzoo regularly.

Plans are pretty simple for it. Sorry, no 35" tires. This is gonna be my daily (I sold my '84 Chebby stepside 2wd & bought this as its replacement- pretty good trade off if ya ask me). I'm setting up a roof rack for it now, & will be looking at a cargo basket for the rack on Monday or so. Gonna get a brush guard & reciever hitch. I was planning on 31" tires right away, but those 235/15 BFG's are not even 1/2 worn yet, & they are the heavy ply sidewall versions, too. So no big tires until I wear these out.

Check my old thread over in the General Automotive section here (I think its titled "Any Toyota truck gurus here?"). Anyways, thats the one that'll be running the 36" tires!

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'46 Studebaker truck "project"
'90 Trooper 4X4, 2.6L 5 spd

i think the mechanic is full of you know what, more than likely it's just a bad vac line causing the crappy idle, new ignition stuff couldn't hurt either (new plugs, wires, rotor, cap, set the timing) plug wise we use Bosch Supers or Platinums (used NGK's once and they were good, but i like the Bosch's better ) If you have idle surge when the engine is warmed up check out the Tech article over at Planetisuzoo on how to fix it, it'll save you a boat load of time trying to figure out what the heck is wrong. If you have any questions about the 2.6 (or Gen 1 Troops in general) you can ask 800xl, MEPR, or myself as we all have a fair bit of knowledge with them.

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'80 Luv 4x4, 3" BL, 1.5" SL, 32/36, 2.25" exhaust...and fuzzy dice.
'95 Toyota 4Runner Limited 5-Speed.

I thought those style rims were 16" Well thats what my 89 model has on it.
Ive got a few sets of 16" 6 stud rims here, our new larger passenger cars are fitted with 16" steel rims std now so 205(215)/60/16" tyres are a common size. As a bit of a mini truck thing you put car tyres on the 4x4 16" rims.
Ive got a set of Nissan (Patrol/Navara) rims for the luv and 2 sets of Hilux (IFS) ones that im selling. I scored a set of the Chrome hilux ones the other week so im on the hunt for some more used tyres. lol.
Heres the Hilux ones with 55's on the front and 60's for the back.

Here they are on my ute. made the steering a bit heavy they did. Also the weight of them doesnt go too well with a worn out 1.8L motor, its like having 4 extra flywheels.




Id say just stick with the NGK. BP6ES-11. Ive never had any drama with em. I just changed out the Bosch super plugs in my Pup and only had one of them clag up in the 2yrs they were in it. Im still happy the old girl burns heaps of oil so i cant blame the plug.

I know a bit about the 2.6L as well, but probably not as much as the others. Im a pull it apart man, lol, ive got 4 in the shed but im yet to put on into something. One is earmarked to go in the pup efi and all where the 2.3L should be and another is planned to go in the luv with a 4 speed auto behind it.

Cheers. Bob.

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Current project, 1979 KB Isuzu Ute.

Daily driver, '86 Rodeo Spacecab.
Chasing parts for Isuzu Impulse.

I don't want to jump on the platinum vs. copper war here, but if it were mine, I would stick with your regular old garden variety copper plug. Platinum is good, but expensive. It is commonly misunderstood that platinum plugs give you better performance compared to copper plugs. This is only part of the story though. Platinum plugs generally produce a kind of smallish spark, in theory less efficient for combustion. However, the platinum plug will put out this (ever so slightly) weaker spark consitantly with relatively little degradation over the period of 100k miles. I don't recomend leaving plugs in a motor that long. It seems the big 7.5 litre Ford trucks were especially suceptible to having plugs come apart when you try to get 'em out of the cylinder head. I've had 2 break completely (that is the nut part actually twisted free of the threads, leaving the plug stuck in the head). Generally it's a good plan to get rid of your plugs around 60k miles. I don't know how much this will vary based on climatic factors (if you live in the rust belt or not).

Copper plugs will cost a fraction of any platinums you get, even if you replace them 3 or 4 times more frequently. 12-20 thousand from copper plugs, 60 thousand from a platinum plug. It costs $10 a plug at least for platinums, it costs about $3 a plug for coppers. It's almost a wash in any case.

I'm not attacking platinum plugs, but they aren't necesary.

"Splitfire" or similar plugs are sound in theory, but I have seen very little difference in the real world with them. They won't do any harm though. The theory if you're interested is that the split end causes the spark to want to be wider (trying to ground to both tips of the "Y"). This increases the spark area, and is supposed to be more efficient at igniting more fuel/air mixture. Sound theory, it doesn't make that much difference.

Does that old Yoda have EGR? Might have a clogged/lazy EGR valve to run like crap.

Anyway best of luck to you!

It's accually a Isuzu Trooper, you brought up a good point though, my parent's ran like crap for awhile and then we figured out that it was the EGR that was gummed up, replaced it and didn't have any trouble with it after that.

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'80 Luv 4x4, 3" BL, 1.5" SL, 32/36, 2.25" exhaust...and fuzzy dice.
'95 Toyota 4Runner Limited 5-Speed.

my bad there. I don't have a lot of experience working on Troopers- only ever saw 2 in my life. They weren't very popular in the suburbs of Philadelphia...

If you have an automotive vaccum pump (little hand pump you can get for about 15 bucks at a PepBoys), you can figure out if the EGR valve is bad really quick. Crank on the valve with that vaccum pump with the enigne idling, the engine will start to run bad. Loosen it up, the engine runs good again. That is what is supposed to happen. If you don't see that happening, there is something wrong with the valve. Often though an EGR valve will set a check engine light. However, being that the above trooper is not OBDII, I don't know how sensitive the engine management system will be to that sort of thing. Again, I haven't worked on many Troopers to make those kinds of calls.

It's all good, with the EGR tip, I don't think it would set off the check engine light, the only sign would be that the engine is running like crap, other than that I'm pretty sure it wouldn't set off any codes (unless the O2 sensor were able to pick something up, but in that case the computer would just change the fuel mixture to compensate...any who I digress)

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'80 Luv 4x4, 3" BL, 1.5" SL, 32/36, 2.25" exhaust...and fuzzy dice.
'95 Toyota 4Runner Limited 5-Speed.

Well like I said, that is very dependent on the computer control system, which is not standardized in any way before 1996.

Since O2 sensors are rarely ripped from their sockets suddenly, a failing O2 sensoe may or may not set the check engine light. In most cases they will not. If you keep close track of your fuel mileage, you can often spot a lazy O2 sensor by a 10-20% drop in your fuel mileage for example. They rarely get to the point that they cause an engine to run poorly directly, although they can cause additional wear on other polution components due to the rich mixture. In rare cases where a sensor has gotten to the point that it no longer gives data, many computers have a "limp home" mode where the car will run very rich, and run like crap as a whole. This is rare to see these days, given the redundancy in O2 sensors. It isn't uncommon as you may know, to see 4 or 6 O2 sensors in the exhaust system. I think it was an Infiniti we had in the shop once that had 6 sensors.

An OBDII car will in most cases set a check engine light when it discovers that the sensor is giving faulty data.

Same for an EGR valve. Some cars won't set a light. I know for a fact that the 80s HT4100 series Cadillacs with DFI won't set a check engine light for a clogged EGR valve. On my dad's '88 Mercury, he removed the EGR valve due to the problems it would cause in the summer in PA. Specifically it would cause a lot of pinging. So we ripped it off, and put a blocker plate (I don't know all the technical terms ). When we moved to AZ, we reinstalled the EGR valve to see what would happen. Darned if it doesn't run perfectly now. *Shrug*.

On the other hand, my dad's '92 F250 with 460 (7.5L) gas job set the check engine light straight off from a stuck EGR valve. We actually never replaced the valve. After "exercising it" with an automotive vaccum pump a bunch of times, the valve has behaved itself very nicely, and no more check engine lights. It only has about 6k miles on it anyway. It was only used to pull dead cars up the driveway to our shop, and a few times it has been used for motorcycle hauling. The '92 F250 would be considered "EEC4", or the 4th generation of electronic engine management system used by Ford.

You may also see a "random misfire" code set in the computer (even the more primitive ones), which can sometimes indicate an EGR valve failure. Again though, a random misfire code would set the check engine light.

You must have platinums confused with Iridium plugs. The Bosch plats for a Trooper 2.6L 4cyl list for about $2.50 each, and standard coppers for about $1.50. Personally, I'll spend the extra 2 bucks and not have to hassle with them near as often. Even the NGK Iridium plugs are only $6.50 or at Rockauto.


As for long replacement cycle leading to problems with plugs stuck in the head, a dab of anti-sieze works wonders for me. You are absolutely right that it can be a problem, especially in an aluminum head.

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95 Isuzu Trooper Daily Driver
86 Isuzu Trooper reliable backup
77 LUV 2wd stock beltway blaster (resting)
79 4x4 LUV project: 2.6L, 5spd, 31s (eventually)

MEPR: Man, my 4x4 makes all other LUVs look good

Well, I suppose that depends on where you get your plugs from, and whose you buy. I was a litte overzealous on my pricing.

As an avid motorcyclist though, I can tell you some of the OEM plugs can run $17 per plug for a bike. I think it was $17 EACH for sparkplugs for my Dad's '01 Yamaha FZ1. Or maybe it was an '02... I think they can be had as plain old NGKs for cheaper, but even still, it't an easy $50-80 if you want to put plugs in your imported crotch rocket.

A very good tip with the anti-sieze. I wish you would tell all the manufacturers about that one. It can be a real bitch putting plugs in a car for the first time at 110 k miles. Actually it's no problem putting them in, it's getting the old ones out again.