Hi,<BR>I've heard that the connecting rods in the 86-87 Trooper Turbo Diesel (2.3L) have a tendancy to fail prematurely. Is this true? Has anybody heard of this? Does anybody know HOW they break and how to avoid it happening? Any thoughts much appreciated!<BR>Steve/USA

That only happens inside the beltway,Steve!<BR>Seriously,I have heard it mentioned once on the board,but I'd have to look back through to find it. try looking at any posts pertaining to biodiesel. <BR>What would be consisdered premature? Mine is at 235K now. no big # for a diesel,but I'm more aquainted with the longevity of big rig diesels.

The previous owner of the trooper I just bought showed me recipts indicating that he'd suffered con rod failure (outside the beltway) at 100K. Isuzu rebuilt the engine for free! I'm happy to hear yours has gone 235K. Do you know if the block for the turbo is the same as the non-turbo? I'm pretty sure the heads are different.

Ok,I looked back to October and it's VeggiePup that likely would have some answers and info on the rods. try posting a new topic with his handle in the subject line.

I forgot my (*&^*% password, okay?<P>I bought my truck about eight months ago, so don't have any direct experience with broken connecting rods (and glad about it!). Heard that these things do occasionally break them, but Isuzu has a new and improved part they install now. You probably have the new part. My truck is nudging 200k mi., and no problems. But supposedly, there are no warning signs, so I could lose one tomorrow.<P>My truck is down for the moment, with the injectors out for cleaning and setting. They were opening 400psi too low, and were noisy at idle. Fuel mileage had dropped, too. Hope everthing is OK after I put them back in tomorrow. They look great, all shiny. Shame to get them all dirty again.

Oh yes, the heads and blocks are different. The compression ratio is lower, oil system is different, pump is different, injectors are different .... Not much interchangeable except some of the accessories.

The early Troopers did have con rod failures only if the engine was reved above 3500 RPM. Otherwised they lasted forever.<BR>Isuzu did come out with another rod that Isuzu swore would not fail! After learning the hard way I put in the new rods and kept the revs down. No problem now at 270K miles.<BR>Somewere I have the rod part numbers if anyone needs them.<BR>Basicly the heavy turbo piston is to much for the light rod. The failure is a fatigue crack in the fillet for the head of the rod bolt clearance cut. The failure is a result from the loads of stoping and reversing the piston during the exhaust stroke.

Thx for the info,Jeff! I knew I was keeping my revs to around 3K for a reason.

Makes me feel much better to think there is a reason for the failures. Since max. torque is down around 2k rpm, I don't think I'll be turning 3.5k either. I've pulled a couple of large trailers, once in the mountains and another at freeway speeds for nearly a full day. No telling what I'll do now with the truck, since now I'm not worried about the rods so much.<P>V-P

Thanks Jeff for the great con-rod info! If you could post the part numbers that would the icing on the cake. I'm rebuilding my TD and I'd like to see if I've got the updated rods.