8th Jan 2006, 02:35

I've read everything up to this point and have the following comments on my 1999 rodeo LS.

My dealer and I came up for a cure for the yellow engine light that comes on out of the blue so to speak, especially when the car is newer,. The problem was that when filling up, the twisty clicky fuel cap needs to be clicked very tightly. Believe me it works. My gas gauge marker comes on too early, I've driven 28 kms further, or about 40 or 45 miles (I'm on kms. in Canada) Early on I figured that the gas gauge was iffy on this vehicle. Doing your own calculation once or twice according to the manual specs on tank size will help out. It works. When I filled up I had a gallon Cdn. left, about 30 clicks (kms), no more. Trust your own selves more than the stats, pencil and paper it for a couple of fill ups, the gas gauge is innacurate.

As the people before said, these vehicles are high maintenance, or better said look after the oil, they burn too much. Watch your brakes, they should for sure be changed at 60,000 mile intervals, sooner if you buy econo brakes. This is a heavy vehicle in the front end.

All in all my rodeo has served me well. It is an above average vehicle for Canadian winters, these vehicles have to be maintained well, I'd buy another tomorrow.

Larry.

12th Apr 2006, 13:08

Glad to see I'm not the only one with Rodeo issues. We have owned ours for two years now and I'm EXTREMELY unhappy with it.

*Our first issue was the back wiper (now I can tell my husband its not just a user-specific error).

*Then the oil problem came. I would have the oil changed every 3k miles, but if at anytime I did some long distance driving - I had to check my oil every 200 or so miles & add at least a quart each time. Never see any indication of a leak & city driving causes no problems whatsoever.

*Then came the "check engine" light. At first we had some success with tightening the gas cap. The light would stay off for a while if we cranked it hard enough. Then tightening wouldn't help, so we bought a new one (cap, that is) All efforts at this point have been in vain. The light is now ever-present.

*The last and most scary thing is now the fuel light. My mechanic told me it was a common problem and to watch for it. I had great luck with it up till today. Jumped in the truck, turned it on--gas gauge went to empty. As I drove, it slowly went to full - but still teetered back and forth. So now I'm wondering--does Isuzu offer road-side assistance to their rodeo clients that run out of gas?? Perhaps its not such an awful idea-eh? Live and learn... live and learn.

18th Apr 2006, 22:12

I have a 98 rodeo and really haven't hand many problems at all with it. Aside from the vehicle having an undersized battery for a car of its size and reuning the alternator, I have only had to replace the brakes so far. The truck is at 130,000 and still running strong. I have one question however, does anyone know the amount of gas (mileage) still in the tank once the fuel light turns on?

23rd Jun 2006, 17:14

I have experienced the fuel light problem (which causes the check engine light to come on also), and hard shifts with my 2000 Honda Passport (which as you may or may not know is an Isuzu Rodeo).

The fuel gauge will improperly read below the actual amount of gas I have if the vehicle is at any type of angle, up or down. If the fuel light comes on long enough, it'll cause the check engine light to come on.

I'm most concerned about the hard shifts that I'm beginning to experience. I'm considering changing the transmission fluid with a synthetic fluid. Not sure if that will help or not.

4th Jul 2006, 08:59

I have a 99 Isuzu Rodeo and it has experienced a number of problems. When I first bought it had 30,000 miles on it and it shook badly when the brakes were applied. This led me to believe the rotors were warped and it turned out that my hunch was correct. Since the installation of new brakes and rotors this problem has gone away, but several others have surfaced. It now has a gas gauge light that goes on even when it is full so you never really know how much fuel is in it. In addition it burns oil quite a bit. I drive about 400 miles a week and I have to add at least a quart a week. Also it is now beginning to shift rather hard when shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear. These seem to be problems that are quite common. Does anyone know what sort of work is involved to fix these problems or if there are any factory recalls that would apply to these problems?

18th Aug 2006, 11:02

I recently bought a 99 Rodeo LS, same fuel gauge problem. Also the check engine light on within one month after my purchasing. I called dealer, they told me to refill the tank without turning off the engine. The check engine light gone after that. What's a weird thing. Isuzu should recall its gas sensor definitely.

1st Oct 2006, 19:24

I bought my LS brand new in 99...everything was running smoothly until recently. I only have 70K miles on it right now, but in the last 3 weeks the check engine light has come on at least twice a week. First time I took it in it was a O2 sensor... so they changed that. Second time it was the other O2 sensor and a fuel line flush... so they did that. More recently they replaced the fuel assemble or something... and I'll be darned if it didn't come on again. Mind you this has all been with in 3 weeks. I've spoken to the service manager and he assures me that he will take care of it for no charge. I guess I forgot to mention that I have paid well over $2500 for all of these services for the same issue. Personally, I'm done with Isuzu and as soon as these issues are fixed, I'll be car shopping.

12th Oct 2006, 13:53

I bought a 99 rodeo brand new. I have gone about 1000 miles prior to experiencing any problems. The big one at the time which is still on going at 130k is that the transmission grinds and is slow between gears. I have tried to bring it back to the dealer for them to fix it many times. Each time they told me nothing was wrong. At about 100k the fuel gauge stopped functioning. The repair place said it was the fuel sending unit. An earlier comment said it was a cheap part. I started doing repairs on my own car because repair costs were too high. The part is about $400... not a cheap fix even for me who does his own repairs.