First-gen. Isuzu Rodeo photo from the Cohort by J.C.
Last week, we looked at a 2004 Honda CR-V we bought for my wife to complete our family fleet. We weren’t done, however, and in 2005 I bought a 1988 Ford F150 pickup truck as an additional vehicle. It was an ex-commercial truck 300cid inline six cylinder with 4 speed floor shift. The truck was rust free and well taken care of for a 17 year old vehicle. I put new tires on it and changed the oil and coolant.
At the time, I had projects and furniture moving for my college age kids and I taught them to drive manual shifts on the Ford. First was a granny gear so it made it easy for them. I liked the truck and after a year of no additional expense, I had the seat reupholstered. At this point, our ’86 Mustang convertible sprung an oil leak and I promptly sold it to a friend at work and made the F150 my daily driver.
F150 photo from the Cohort by Curtis Gregory Perry.
The F150 was to be shortlived, but another truck was about to enter the family. My youngest daughter totaled our cherished ’97 Civic 4-door in 2006 when she was T-boned running a light. While shopping I found two great deals and decided to take them both; a ’93 Acura Integra and a ’94 Isuzu Rodeo.
My daughter chose the Rodeo and she worked during the summer to pay it off. Meanwhile, I took the Integr, and I sold the F150 (that had started to become troublesome) to a man at work who loaded up the bed with appliances and drove it to Mexico. He came back, the truck didn’t.
The Rodeo was the perfect car for my daughter, no longer having to feel vulnerable in a small car. It was a 2 wheel drive body on frame throwback, based on the original Isuzu pickup, and was well appointed for its day. The A/C was cold and the engine ran well although I did notice a tendency to leak oil around the valve covers, a problem I was never able to fully control.
The five speed was smooth and the V6 engine torquey enough that starting in second gear was easy, while first gear was only for hills and creeping along in traffic without having to ride the clutch. Overall, a nice vehicle, but unfortunately my daughter ignored my nagging about keeping the oil level up and making sure to service it regularly. Troubles would soon start to come up.
She lived in Atlanta while getting her BA and MS degrees and had decided to spend a semester abroad, which necessitated moving her furniture out of her apartment into storage at our house. We loaded up the Rodeo and set out on the interstate; I then discovered that it would not go faster than 40 mph. The engine was sputtering and missing and I suspected fuel contamination. As long as it continued to run, I pressed on hoping to get it closer to home in case it quit altogether.
Miraculously, as we got off the exit ramp the engine smoothed out and the Rodeo ran like there was never a problem. At home, I changed the fuel filter and the situation never presented itself again. A mystery that was never solved.
Isuzu Rodeo photo from the Cohort by J.C.
After her time abroad she took the Rodeo to Virginia for a summer job. Then, on her next visit, I noticed there was noticeable valve clatter from cylinder number six. I reiterated the warning to check the oil regularly. All was fine until Easter…
Going back to Atlanta on Easter Sunday with a friend of hers who was visiting from Germany, she managed to get 5 miles from home before calling to tell me the Rodeo had stopped running, and now all the dash warning lights had come on. I brought a few tools with me and went to check out the trouble, but suspected the worst. In father-like fashion, I was really worried about two young women stranded on the side of a desolate back road. Fortunately, no one bothered them.
Checking the dipstick the oil seemed unnaturally clean. I tried to crank the engine but it was locked up tight and the starter wouldn’t budge. When questioned, my daughter admitted to filling it up after the car had come to a stop; it had been 3 quarts too low. My daughter was grateful I didn’t lose my temper in front of her friend, but I was just glad they were both ok. I did tell her I expected her to pay to replace this vehicle like she had with the totaled Civic.
As it turned out she went over a year without a car, but her trips home were limited as she was now busy with school. Meanwhile, I started on a futile quest to revive the Rodeo. I shopped around for a replacement engine but found none. The V6 I needed was unique to the ’93 and ’94 model years, and it was a fragile engine when run low on oil. I found almost 100 Rodeos in North Georgia all in good condition, but none with a decent enough V6 to donate.
In the end, my daughter’s tenure of the truck turned out to be a tougher rodeo than it could stand and a local charity got it for scrap value only. At least, I was feeling pretty good with the ’93 Integra. A chapter we’ll visit soon.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1997 Isuzu Rodeo LS – From A Mr. J. Isuzu Of Indiana
I always liked these, a cousin of mine had one after he graduated from Uni and got his first job. That was a substantial flex over me, as I was still rocking the $100 Concord.
Anyway getting daughters to check the oil is a perennial concern. What year did the Rodeo expire? If it was a 1991 and died sometime after 2006 I’d say that was a reasonable lifespan.
Quite a few of those were built by me at what was then called Subaru-Isuzu America in Lafayette, Indiana. They kept the SIA after Isuzu went away, so now it is Subaru Indiana Automotive.
These always had kind of a mixed reputation around me – not as good as top-tier Japanese vehicles, but probably better than many domestics of the day. I felt bad for people who bought the Honda-badged versions (Passports), because they were kind of ugly stepchildren in the Honda dealer service departments.