Dmax Died At 70,000 Km.

[bdenner]

I live out in the middle of know where and was heading for home Tuesday afternoon when my 4 yo Isuzu DMax died. The motor just shut down. Fortunately I was close enough to be towed the rest of the way without fearing damage to the Auto Transmission. The situation could have been dramatically worse.

Considering the cost involved in trucking the car to Udon Thani and the vehicle being out of warranty I decided to use a local mechanic first, he spent several hours into the night testing peripheral devices and everything pointed to the fuel management computer. It is located in the bowels of all the crap strapped to the side of the motor.

Well done him, that was the problem and he found a 2nd hand one for me for 6000 Baht – a new unit is around 18000.

So what’s happening now? Diesels are supposed to be reliable and relatively easy to maintain, it appears to me that these attributes are being sacrificed to save a few litres of fuel!

A word of warning to the owners of older model Isuzu DMax:- There is a plastic clamp that supports pneumatic hoses to the refrigerant pipe coming out of the Air-conditioning Compressor. Vibration had worn that pipe to a paper thin condition before I sited it, I removed the clamp – just in time!

[stingray]

The time is over when diesel Pick ups are cheap and easy for maintenance. Today every brand want that only autorized dealers can fix the cars and make diagnostic checks. There is the money. It's tha same with the plasitc stuff. Cars, and even Pick Ups have to be light and weak. Plastic parts crack easy and have to replaced many times. No strong steelbumpers anymore.

[0Mix1up]

It is also over when you could fix or atleast patch up till later any car be it diesel, petrol or what ever on the side of the road.

You don't even fix cars just replace parts.

[Globeliner]

Simple answer, get a Ford, my Ranger is 5 years old , over a thousand ks on the clock and still going strong.

[Phil Conners]

I live out in the middle of know where and was heading for home Tuesday afternoon when my 4 yo Isuzu DMax died. The motor just shut down. Fortunately I was close enough to be towed the rest of the way without fearing damage to the Auto Transmission. The situation could have been dramatically worse.

Considering the cost involved in trucking the car to Udon Thani and the vehicle being out of warranty I decided to use a local mechanic first, he spent several hours into the night testing peripheral devices and everything pointed to the fuel management computer. It is located in the bowels of all the crap strapped to the side of the motor.

Well done him, that was the problem and he found a 2nd hand one for me for 6000 Baht – a new unit is around 18000.

So what’s happening now? Diesels are supposed to be reliable and relatively easy to maintain, it appears to me that these attributes are being sacrificed to save a few litres of fuel!

A word of warning to the owners of older model Isuzu DMax:- There is a plastic clamp that supports pneumatic hoses to the refrigerant pipe coming out of the Air-conditioning Compressor. Vibration had worn that pipe to a paper thin condition before I sited it, I removed the clamp – just in time!

Same problem here at +/- same mileage. I however called Isuzu and they came around and immediately located the problem. They quoted me a new for 10K and a second hand for $6000. Since the box is solid state - no movable parts - I suspect it is programmed to commit suicide around this mileage. Funny also how they always have a second hand on hand. They probably found out how to fix it. TiT.

[MaiChai]

My old Isuzu was pure simplicity for maintenance. However all the new models from all the major manufacturers have all sorts of computers in them. I have a Mitsubishi Triton, which I hope will be reliable over the long time (mitsu make car parts so fingers crossed). My wife has an Isuzu; looking underneath its built like a tank and looks like it could last forever. My Mitsu is much more car like and no where as tough as the Isuzu, but I figure it will be fine for 10 years and thats as long as I want any vechical for. I guess we can only hope that repair shops will pop up that can do computer diagnostics. Otherwise owning a vechical out of warentee will become expensive, and if that becomes the case I will be buying a new vechical every three years (with a three year warentee!). So much to being environmentally friendly and making things last?

[wolfmanjack]

Simple answer, get a Ford, my Ranger is 5 years old , over a thousand ks on the clock and still going strong.

A thousand k's in 5 years ? Are you keeping it in the garage because you think it is going to be a collectors item some day ?

[bdenner]

Same problem here at +/- same mileage. I however called Isuzu and they came around and immediately located the problem. They quoted me a new for 10K and a second hand for $6000. Since the box is solid state - no movable parts - I suspect it is programmed to commit suicide around this mileage. Funny also how they always have a second hand on hand. They probably found out how to fix it. TiT.

I sure this is correct. The part the mechanic supplied was sealed in a plastic bag containing stickers in Thai and Thai signatures. He asked me if he could keep the old unit but I told him I wanted to look at it first. Now I understand why, as they do have removable parts and could be repaired in an electronic workshop, I’m sure he wanted it to sell.

A Google search on the item reveals that it is made in the UK by Delco and the same device is used on Vauxhall and Opel diesels. Many businesses overhauls them and resell at around GBP 117 which roughly aligns with what I paid, eBay has loads. At one site a new unit is quoted at GBP 700 --- Doubtful.

[chanchao]

On the previous model Isuzu, the one before the D-Max I also noticed some wire/cable/whatever scraping somewhere it wasn't supposed to. Just took it to the dealer and they re-routed it for free. It's 7 years old, 100K and never had a problem even once.

I think pretty much all Thai-built pick-ups are excellent for build quality and reliability, though you may not want the very first ones of a new model.

[Pomthai]

To the OP,

Did you have any thing happen intermittent before it died? I have a 04 Dmax with just over 79,00km on it, its coming up for its 80K service soon which is quite a major and my three year warranty expires on June 15th so I wanna get everything done before then if necessary.

I've never had any problems until a week ago, I was heading south in Phuket approaching the Thalang lights, and whilst decelerating the electrics just died. It was as if I'd just taken the keys out whilst driving. However the auto turbo time kept the engine running and then it shut off after two minutes. Anyways it restarted immediately with no problems since. (fingers crossed)

I was just wondering if you or anyone else has had similar experiences.....

[PETERTHEEATER]

Simple answer, get a Ford, my Ranger is 5 years old , over a thousand ks on the clock and still going strong.

And so it should be if you have done only over a thousand ks!

[glaitong]

Planned Obsolescence to prevent 'market saturation'

Edited May 11, 2007 by glaitong

[chanchao]

What's with the warranty fetish displayed by some here? Warranty applies to labor cost, which is peanuts, and parts that don't break and don't need replacing. Like at 80K they'll want to replace ball bearings which almost couldn't cost more if they were solid gold, and which aren't covered in warranty anyway.

I got my car away from the official brand dealer (Ford) to another brand's dealer (Mazda) even before warranty finished because the other brand's dealer was dong a better job, cheaper; warranty or not.

Edited May 11, 2007 by chanchao

[Pomthai]

What's with the warranty fetish displayed by some here? Warranty applies to labor cost, which is peanuts, and parts that don't break and don't need replacing. Like at 80K they'll want to replace ball bearings which almost couldn't cost more if they were solid gold, and which aren't covered in warranty anyway.

I got my car away from the official brand dealer (Ford) to another brand's dealer (Mazda) even before warranty finished because the other brand's dealer was dong a better job, cheaper; warranty or not.

Agreed on bearings etc thats normal wear & tear, but black box gizmo's or sudden death of the electronic should and probably would be covered by warranty. The dealer servicing, I have been very happy with them thus far, they have no problem with me watching their work and asking questions etc. While the warranty is valid why not take advantage of it?

As for resale value, which would you chose? A car with service history from the dealer every 5000km throughout its life or one that was checked out at Somchai's down the road when the owner thought it was needed?

[chanchao]

True, so by all means service at a reputable dealer. For most pick-up brands the dealers are good value enough, especially Isuzu who have loads of dealers, so the most competition to keep you as a customer.

[bdenner]

To the OP,

Did you have any thing happen intermittent before it died? I have a 04 Dmax with just over 79,00km on it, its coming up for its 80K service soon which is quite a major and my three year warranty expires on June 15th so I wanna get everything done before then if necessary.

I've never had any problems until a week ago, I was heading south in Phuket approaching the Thalang lights, and whilst decelerating the electrics just died. It was as if I'd just taken the keys out whilst driving. However the auto turbo time kept the engine running and then it shut off after two minutes. Anyways it restarted immediately with no problems since. (fingers crossed)

I was just wondering if you or anyone else has had similar experiences.....

The vehicle did show an early sign, there was a minor miss under specific loads which pointed to water in the fuel filter one of which I had bought the day before the car shlt itself. When it died I had all electric power but the orange engine light was on as I cruised to a halt. It cranked OK but when the mechanic disconnected the injector line to the #1 cylinder there was no fuel. Right now I'm going to try to get my unit repaired and carry it as a spare. These things look like being an ongoing pain in the arse from what I have read over the last few days -- Isuzu Vauxhall and Opel.

[LoveDaBlues]

Toyota diesel.

end of problems.

[bdenner]

Toyota diesel.

end of problems.

BullshIt:- You don’t get the point do you. What I’m saying the whole lot of em are over engineered now and in this case it was an OEM component the failed. That can happen to Toyota, Nissan etc. as well.

As I have owned many over the years Toyota was my 1st choice at the time but their options did not fill my requirements. Auto was only fitted to 2.5 litre versions and for what ever reason the vehicle had to sit on a 4WD chassis even though it was 2WD. The transmission they were using at the time probably hung too low?

[pnustedt]

When it died I had all electric power but the orange engine light was on as I cruised to a halt.

I had a similar problem with my Isuzu LS which was just a few months old. The orange light came on but, instead of stopping, it limited revs. to 2K/pm. I limped into the dealer and it appeared to be a very familiar problem to them which was fixed with a replacement part within minutes.