Put the car in neutral, and find some way of turning the engine over by
hand. If there is a thrown rod or a dropped valve, then you shouldn't be
able to turn it 360º, without hitting some sort of obstruction. Sometimes a
thrown rod will knock a hole in the side of the block, but not always.
Sometimes the big end comes loose and pretzels itself, while the piston
drops into the rotating crankshaft. Sometimes the little end comes loose
instead. Whatever it is, the engine won't "feel right" while you are trying
to turn it over. If you have a compression gauge and the starter works, you
could try that too. An engine with serious internal damage will give very
strange compression test results.

Usually, a thrown rod is a sign to discard the engine, or at least the short
block. A dropped valve can produce similar symptoms, and usually means you
need a new cylinder head. If you are into restoration of antique vehicles,
then maybe you would attempt a repair like that, but not on a six year old
car.

The "too high a gear" theory has some merit, but not with an automatic
transmission. The auto should have shifted into a lower, more appropriate,
gear. Driving for very long at too high rpms can spin a bearing though.
That could have thrown a rod or seized up the crank.

Although I generally "push" my oil change intervals, I do feel that 10k
miles is too much for a passenger car, most of my driving is highway with
full warmup of the engine before I stop, and I use high quality, high price
oil filters. (I have to go 50 miles to get groceries.)

The best place to find out about parts interchangeability, is from a
recycling yard. They have manuals of what fits into what, that are
generally very accurate. Do not assume that all 3.5 liter engines are the
same.

Earle

"Elle" <honda.lioness@nospam.earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:O%Ang.2245$ii.1559@newsread3.news.pas.earthli nk.net...
> I tried inquring about this at the one Usenet Isuzu
> newsgroup but am not getting any feedback.
>
> Friends of mine have a 2000, 3.5 Liter, 4-wheel drive,
> automatic transmission, Isuzu Trooper. While driving it up a
> large hill (really, the foothills of a serious Western
> mountain range), the car stopped running. I don't have the
> details on this, but subsequently, they had it towed to a
> nearby mechanic who works on Isuzus and he said it had
> thrown a rod. The car is currently sitting in the lot of
> another friend who has some background in auto/truck
> mechanics but has not yet had a chance to look at it. I am
> going to look under the hood sometime in the near future and
> try to verify the thrown rod and destruction of the engine.
> The owner said he was a bit remiss about oil changes but did
> have them done every 10k miles or one year at least. Some
> questions:
>
> -- From my googling, a thrown rod can be very obvious: A
> steel rod pushes through the crankcase or engine block. Can
> it also be not so obvious? E.g. suppose the rod has
> disconnected from the piston head, and it's just banging
> around inside the cylinder. The latter scenario presumes the
> vehicle was stopped quickly. What else can I look for? I am
> not sure I will be able to try to start it up yet.
>
> -- I have been making online inquiries of salvage yards
> about (1) used cylinder blocks; (2) used, entire engines.
> Dumb question but I'm not quite clear on this point: Does it
> matter whether the used engine was attached to a 2WD Isuzu
> Trooper? It seems both 2WD and 4WD Troopers, of the same 3.5
> Liter engine displacement, are available.
>
> -- I am getting quotes back in the $3k-$4k range but from
> yards many states away. Shipping seems pretty reasonable and
> common. Has anyone purchased an engine or cylinder block
> from several states away? What kind of assurances can I get
> about the condition of the engine? One seller so far has
> said he has a CarFax report verifying the engine has only
> seen 32k miles. I plan to check locally, too.
>
> -- Evidently going up hills in too high a gear can throw a
> rod. The high gear translates to low revs but high torque,
> stressing, from what I understand, the piston rod,
> crankshaft, and associated bearings. Can anyone elaborate
> further on this? It might help me to identify whether a rod
> was actually thrown.
>
> -- I understand installing a new engine is around a day's
> work, maybe less. This so? I am going to try to get a quote
> for the labor from my favorite import shop in mind but will
> also inquire at the nearest Isuzu dealer. Anything in
> particular I should ask them other than: "How much to remove
> an old engine and install a second-hand one?"
>
> The owners of this car do an astonishing amount of volunteer
> work in animal rescue. They are down to one truck (while
> normally having two). Given the circumstances, your
> assistance is especially appreciated.
>
> (Honda note: Isuzu has done some business on the trucking
> side with Honda.)
>
>
>



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