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But geez, based on the stories here, I guess ZD and ZE heads really crack in due time no matter how well one maintains the engine.

I disagree -- I own two 4ZE1s with well over 300K aggregate miles, both of which have the stock head. If the cooling system is kept up, these heads last fairly well.

They do have a common failure mode (cracked head) WHEN they fail, but there are plenty of stock cylinder heads running around on 4-banger Isuzus. It is defintely worth a close inspection of your cylinder head, but don't order a new head quite yet... take a look at it and see how it looks. You may be able to just redo the head gasket and get another 100K of happy miles from that same stock cylinder head.

Randii

Randy Burleson
4x4Wire Managing Editor Emeritus
Mongrel Isuzu Amigo