Faults:

Head gasket.

Brakes.

Heater hose.

Some electrical work.

Some minor surface rust spots.

Headlight leak.

Rear axle seal.

Uses a little bit of oil.

General Comments:

I have owned this vehicle for almost a year. I was not expecting to put this many miles on it, but I have already put over 11 thousand miles on it.

About 2 months after I purchased the vehicle, the head gasket blew. The previous owner had replaced it just before I bought the truck. Upon inspection it was determined that 2 of the head bolts were too loose, and that caused the gasket to blow again.

Other than general maintenance that was not done by the previous owner, I have not had any other major repairs.

It is a pleasure to drive, and my biggest complaint about the truck is lack of power. Having a 5 speed manual transmission helps, but only being a 2.6 liter 4 banger, it lacks the power to get 4000 pounds up the mountain passes.

Faults:

I bought this truck from a co-worker whose father is a mechanic. He showed me a record he'd kept of everything they'd done to it, including a timing chain. 4 months after purchase the timing chain went out, my mechanic charged me $1500 to put a new one in, and told me it had obviously never been changed. That's the only major thing to go wrong with the truck. Additionally: the wiring needed some adjusting, it had a rear tail light that stayed lit when the car was on; I've also found that these trucks seem to have problems with the driver side headlight getting water in it some how.

General Comments:

Overall I enjoyed this truck very much, it handled 12 inches of snow in the mountains with no trouble at all, climbed a 20 foot mud hill without so much as a whimper. I would still be driving it if someone hadn't pulled out in front of me and totaled it. I'm currently looking for another one. I appreciate this website, as I have learned a lot about these trucks here. (Most importantly to avoid the 4 cyl model).

Faults:

A rear brake caliper and rotor needed replacing when I bought it for $1200, cost $280 bucks to fix it up. It's incredibly reliable and runs like a clock. I've only had it for 10 months but it's seen a lot of driving and a lot of abusive off-road use. I've beaten the snot of the thing and it just goes and goes.

General Comments:

It's a beautiful vehicle, great gas mileage, tons of space to haul whatever you need. It goes ANYwhere and it doesn't like to break. I even hit a deer doing 110k and it barely sustained any damage. Cost $300 for the parts and it looked like it never happened -- ha. And did I mention how much freakin' space is in it? It can sleep 2 people in the back comfortably with the seat folded up.

Faults:

The only problem we have had is squeaky rear disk brakes, and a tear in the grease boot on the left lower ball joint.

General Comments:

This truck is great! It's a loaded model with ice cold air, cruise, power windows, power locks, rear heat, and limo privacy glass. The cloth interior is clean and shows no real wear.

The command start/keyless entry, works perfect.

The automatic transmission shifts wonderfully, it has the manual locking front hubs and a power/economy switch.

We have an old 18 foot, 70's inboard 318cid powerboat, that we haul to the lake and back a lot, it is heavy, but the Trooper has no problem pulling it. Economy is super for a SUV.

One bad winter storm two years ago, we had 18 inches of snow. I pulled 66 vehicles one day. The largest was a 33,000lb highway bus! The driver laughed and said I don't think you've got enough weight to even move me. Well I had low and I had traction, we gave a pull and it was just enough to get him going! Everyone was pumped!

The second was a 3/4ton Chev who was trying to move a stuck fuel truck! Who was full! I hooked the Troop to the Chev, and the Chev to the Semi. (I was afraid we might rip that Chev in half!) but we got him out too!

A great truck, I have owned 3 Troopers in the last 3 years, and am repairing an 02 Rodeo as we speak.