We just purchased our second rodeo, a 2001 3.2dohc 4wd.

One minor issue is the rear end seems to have slop. During acceleration and coming to a stop you feel a small to moderate clunk. The more severe the braking and acceleration the more severe the clunk.
We have an appointment to have it looked at (felt it while test driving) Saturday. Just wondered if anyone else has had this symptom. The coil/link suspension is new to me and still figuring it out.
- Drive shaft doesn't seem to have exssesive play 3-5* rotation.
- No obbviously worn bushings
- Trany shifts smooth in every gear no matter how hard you get on it.

It almost feels like a form of axle wrap, but I can't replicate it in the garage. And one other thing I noticed, the brake pads may on be for the wrong vehicle. They seem to have about 1/8" - 3/16" play. I didn't have the time tonight to remove the caliper but maybe tomorrow.


Any ideas, just want ammo before I get it to the dealer.

Scott F.

The write up for greasing the slip joint is great, but don't cut the clamp, just pry it open. There is a special tool, I got mine at a local parts place called Car Quest, that will retighten the factory clamp. Also, you do not need to remove the smaller diameter clamp to grease the assembly.

Ok A little more info.

We have had the truck for roughly 150 miles. Yesterday the G/F calls me up after she gets to work to let me know that the truck is shifting hard. All gears and independent of acceleration. So, I start thinking we bought a lemon, and the tranys shot. Today I pulled the fill plug after getting the tranny up to temp, and had about 2qts come out. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />. It apears to be new fluid but it seems when the dealership changed the fluids they did it cold, which lead to the over filled tranny and hard shifting.

Well the tranny apears to be shifting much better now. But I am still getting the clunk at start and stop. Marlin metioned that the dealership could have forgotten to put the Limited slip additive in the diff. So I did a drain and fill with new fluid and additive. This didn't cure the problem of the clunk, but I belive you guys are right about the drive shaft. The car goes back to the dealer tomorrow for other things, and I will add this to the list.

See what happens, thanx guys <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Scott F.

Just making sure the car was also running when you pulled the fill plug, and the fluid shouldn't be too hot when you check it, maybe no more then 140*f.

Our '99 Rodeo also goes "clunk" a bit when stopping. I figured it was shocks/struts as our Ford Taurus did the same sort of thing when it's struts were worn. But with only 50k miles I would have hoped that an SUV would have had stouter shocks.
As for the tranny and shifting hard - same here. But another thread in this forum suggests that this might be the gear selector or mode sw. Seems they "fail" when they get hot. (just repeating what I've read here, don't know yet).

When checking the trany fluid the manual I have says to check when between 95? and 130?, and to use the special Isuzu tool to do this with. But of course Harbor freight has a thermocouple meter for less than $30 that does the same thing.

Well it seems all the bugs have been worked out for now.

It wasn't just one thing it was an assortmant of erverything. The mode selector/switch was bad which was causing the hard shifting (replaced). The tranny was over filled by almost 2qts <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" /> (yes at the right temp, completly flushed). Regreased the drive shaft today and that solved the clunk. Thanks everyone for the help and suggestions.

Now just need to find that dam rattle behind the dash <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

Scott F.

That could be the common problem of rattley hood hinges that sounds like its in the dash.