My 2001 Trooper 2WD with barely 79,000 miles has destroyed its transmission twice...first time at 62,000 miles. The truck is not abused or used for towing nor taken off-road and sees mostly freeway duty. I've been lucky in that Isuzu has paid to replace the transmission both times under warranty, but I'm beginning to think we should sell this truck after we get it back this time. Is this a common occurrence with Troopers? What could possibly be making these transmissions fail?
I've not heard of that being a common problem...? I would certainly hope not...I've got a 2002 with just over 19,000 miles that get used for towing our 18' travel trailer. But I also went first thing and got an auxiliary transmission cooler put on it even before the hitch... If you are the original owner, you should have the 10 year/120k mile warranty for it. That being the case, I wouldn't be quite as concerned about it...unless it does it again before the warranty runs out...! What are the symptoms of the problem you have experienced? Just wondering what to look out for should I run into the same thing...
Yes, my dealership has been very good about it, specially since the broken tranny is the replacement they installed not even 10 months ago...The service manager tells me that they ship the tranny to Isuzu and they only reuse the transmission case, all internals are replaced with new parts. He says he's heard of Trooper transmissions failing but it's very unusual that it failed so soon after the last replacement. I asked about adding a transmission cooler and he told me it was not necessary. As far as warning signs, there were none...all of a sudden there was loud grinding noise and the transmission idiot light came on. Can you tell me what brand/model auxiliary cooler did you get? Was it installed by the dealer? and if not how does it affect the warranty?
Replaced the fluid at 40,000...The manual indicates that it should be replaced at 30,000 only if driving in extreme conditions. I've never heard of a transmission in a supposedly heavy duty truck failing at 60,000 miles even when serviced regularly. Another "feature" of the Trooper is that it has no dipstick and it's a pain in the ass to change the fluid, unless you use a power flusher that forces the old fluid out and the new fluid in, which I've heard is not good for the seals, etc...My truck is driven mostly on freeways, no towing..no off-roading...I can't believe these transmissions are so delicate that unless you change the fluid every 20,000 miles like clockwork, they'll self-destruct! But maybe I'm wrong....go figure!
They don't self destruct like clock work. Most are fine. None the less heat is the #1 killer of transmissions and keeping clean fluid in them is essential to that. Doesn't matter who made the transmission. I change all of my vehicles at least once a year or 20K. 15K if I'm towing. So far I've never had a failure on any vehicle I've owned and some I'v put 150K+ miles on.
That's good, glad to hear they are working well with you. I'm sure an auxilliary transmission cooler is technically "not necessary", but everything I've ever read says heat is bad for your transmission...supposedly even a somewhat minor drop in temperature is a big help in extending the life of the transmission. The only personal experience I can relay is from my parent's old 79 Ford van. At around
50,000 it gave some trouble and they found shavings in the pan. The service center suggested flushing the system and adding a transmission cooler. Somewhere around 100k miles later when they sold it, the transmission hadn't ever been touched again. And to the best of my knowledge, they never changed the fluid. I'm trying to decide what to do about the fluid change interval...the dealership (or somewhere) suggested 20k, and the manual says
30k under harsh conditions. Well...we tow an 18' travel trailer. We've got just over 19k on it now, so I guess it's about time to decide. :-)
I'm not sure now what brand transmission cooler I got... I went to the local Advance auto parts store and they had several different sizes rated supposedly for how much you're going to tow. I think I just went with the
5,000lb one since that's the towing capacity of the trooper. It was some off-branded unit. On our old 94, I had my local repair shop install the cooler (put one on it too when we bought it used), but for the brand new
2002 I let the dealership do it. I figure if they put it on, then it's their problem if anything goes wrong. Might run it by your dealership first just to check, but I can't imagine they would have a problem with it or it affect the warranty. Seems to me they'd be happy to see you put one on!
When it went out, did it leave you sitting or were you able to get somewhere in "limp mode" in 2nd gear or some such?
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