If you have a second generation of Isuzu Trooper, Holden Jackaroo, Holden Monterey, Opel Monterey of second generation Troopers, chances are, you have a 4JX1 engine. If you do have this engine, it would be good to know the most common problems surrounding it.
I had my Isuzu Trooper 2003 model. It's my father's car. When he died 3 years ago, I decided to take care of this awesome SUV. However, I must admit that just like my father, I do not know so much about Isuzu Trooper the same thing with my father. He had some serious troubles with this car before, but what I am not really sure how he handled it and got repaired. Only by this time when I started learning about 4JX1 that I have started to discover how it should be maintained and get fixed.
So here's the list from my research in forums and from my own personal experience.
1. Injector problem - This perhaps is the most popular engine problem of 4JX1. Troopers where despised and had been short lived when this problem popped up back in 2000-2008. Troopers where then sold like pan cakes after it started to have problems like this. Worse, casa maintenance and fix with this kind of problem is very expensive. After a few fix it's already worth another brand new car not to mention all the embarrassment that you get when it gets towed.
Replacement injectors by the way is still expensive until now. It cost between $2000-2500 for a brand new complete set if I remember it right. The good news however is that, injectors should last for a very long time if properly taken cared of.
Solution: Injectors should be easy to fix at least in the way I understand all the videos I watched so far. The problem however are the tools needed in fixing this. In most cases, you will need these special tools: Tech2 scanner, injector sleeve removal tool (which is very rare, but can be fabricated), and torque wrench. The rest will be regular tools.
You will also need the following replacement parts: Injector O rings, Injector Sleeve O rings, and Injector copper gasket, half moon gasket. These parts is just about $50 all in all. So it's not expensive, it's cheap. But the technical skills and the tools are the more expensive ones which makes this repair an expensive repair.
So basically the most common solution with this is have it scanned by tech2. Observe the injector firings, observe the power of the engine, the acceleration, the blow by, and the if there is oil water mixture in radiator. Usually when you have these problems, it's time to replace the O rings and the gaskets of the injectors.
2. Oil-Water mixture - Observe if you are getting bubbles in your radiator. Open it up and run the engine. After reaching the normal heat of the engine, look at the radiator if it has bubbles in it. If it has few bubbles, chances are, you already need to replace your copper gasket in your injector and in some cases, O rings of the injector sleeves. However, when you do this, you will most likely want to replace all the O rings of the injectors as well as the injector sleeves too.
Solution: Replace O rings in both the injector and injector sleeves and the copper gasket and half moon gasket in the camshaft.
Oil - Water mixture caused by blown head gasket or cracked head. In some cases, your head gasket is blown or your cylinder head already cracked. If the bubbles in your radiator is many and as if there is a boiling water in it, then it is probably caused by a blown head gasket.
Solution: Top overhaul. There is no easy solution to this. You will need to have it checked by a mechanic. Replace your head gasket.
3. Oil - fuel mixture - You will be able to observe this if you have a smoke coming in your dipstick and the level of your engine oil is rising. In that case, you might have an oil-fuel mixture. In most common scenario, this is also caused by failed O rings in the injector and copper gasket.
Solution: Replace O rings of the injector and copper gasket.
4. Hard starting - In my personal experience, there was a time that my trooper is very hard to start. It takes several seconds ignition and often times fail to start on the first ignition. Common causes of this is that there is not enough fuel going to the engine, or there is not enough air, or there is not enough battery power to start it.
Solution: The first thing that you want to do is to pump the fuel pump first. If it will not start, check the battery connection. If after tightening it, it will still not start, try to check the air filter and clean it or replace it. If the symptoms seems like under powered, replace your battery. Read the recommended battery for Troopers here. There is a chance that the battery you are using is underpowered for the 4JX1 engine.
There are also times that my starter the one causing the problem. There was a time that the bolt holding it in place is not properly secured and is causing cranking failure. So check that too.
5. Rear wheel axle oil leak - I already experienced this twice. When you see that there is an oil leak in your rear wheel, it maybe caused by a faulty oil gasket of your break or your axle is leaking some oil. If the latter is the problem, you will see oil leak at the axle connecting your wheel. It's usually caused by a blown oil gasket in the axle or the bearing inside it are already busted and need replacement and in which case destroys the oil gasket too causing the leak.
Solution: Check the bearings in the axle. If needed, replace it so as the oil gasket. Please do note though that bearings in the axle is very hard to replace because of the part that's holding the bearing. In which case, you may want to have a replacement part first and the bearing itself.
6. Turbo problem - Well, many Trooper owners complained with their Turbo. If turbo has a problem, your Trooper is under powered, and your turbo spits a lot of oil. The turbo charger of any vehicle can definitely go a long way. So proper maintenance and knowing how it should be maintained in your car is necessary. For 4JX1, you will need to have your engine heat up first for a while before stepping hard on the pedal. Before turning off the engine, you will also need to cool it down first before turning the engine off completely. That's the maintenance part.
One of the things that is also overlooked by many Trooper owners is using the wrong engine oil for Troopers. It needs 5W30 or 10W30 CD grade. Read recommended engine oil for 4JX1 here. Using the wrong oil will hurt your Turbo big time (my father learned a lot of lesson with this one) and also your injectors. So be careful with your engine oil. 4JX1 engine is VERY PARTICULAR with the type of oil you are using.
Solution: So when do you need to repair the turbo? Two scenarios: First is when the play of the turbine inside is already more than 2cm. You will probably need to replace the kits inside etc. Doing so however is still expensive. If in any case however, that the turbine blades are already damaged, you will have to replace the entire turbo. The brand new turbo is extremely expensive. A good alternative is to buy a reconditioned one. As long as the one who did the reconditioning has a good reputation, then it should be fine instead of reconditioning it by yourself.
7. Pedal and Throttle Sensors - These are also quite overlooked sensors. In my experience these sensors is not flashing unless you do a paper clip test or have it scanned. The main symptoms is a very poor fuel economy of 4JX1.
Solution: Have the sensor checked and cleaned. You can watched some Youtube videos on how you can calibrate or repair these sensors. Or have someone who knows what he is doing to check that. If problem persists, replace the sensors.
8. ORPS - It is Oil Rail Pressure Sensor (ORPS). This sensor is located in the Oil Rail, just inline with the head of the injectors. The symptoms of failed ORPS are the following: first you will have an oil foul in your injector harness. Secondly, your oil pressure will start to play up and down radically so as your RPM in idling mode. When you are having this problem, it would be time to replace it. Totally failed ORPS will stall your engine and you will not be able to start. You will need to do the white wire trick in your injector harness to start your engine but it is only a temporary solution.
Solution: Replace the ORPS. Normally, ORPS can run 70k to 100k kilometers in some cases granted that it was reset by Tech2 once installed. Without resetting, it will only run for about 40k kilometers as reported. In short this is a tear and wear part and is also something that you will need to monitor.
9. ABS Warning - This one is weird and probably the MOST common problem with Isuzu Trooper especially the second generation. Even in our own Isuzu Trooper club, there are lots of us who have this problem. We can feel it's working, but it just keep on lighting.
Solution: I am not really sure on how to resolved this. Some people in our groups decided to just removed the warning light for ABS. But it would be good to still recheck the line if you really want to fix this one.
Conclusion:
The most common 4JX1 problems are injector related problems. On the bright side, it is easy to fix. O rings and copper gaskets for the injectors and gasket for the camshaft are the most common replacement kits you need. In this case you may want to have a stock of it. You may also want to secure Tech2 and injector sleeve remover since these are the hardest to find. Or at least, know someone around so that you can just rent or borrow it when needed.
These injector parts are tear and wear parts so you should expect that it will happen to you sooner or later.
For the rest of the problems, they are basically maintenance issues. Monitor your 4JX1 well and replace these parts when needed.
Do you have 4JX1 engine? What are other problems you have experienced so far and how you fixed it? Share it below.
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