Isuzu Pup Diesel

[tinman955]

Isuzu was making a chevy colorado brother type truck with a lil 4cyl dmax diesel but was only sold in asia and south america to my knowledge. It wqas 30+mpg from what I read, as far as power i bet it would run as good as the as engines they use in the chevy colorados...

 

[windy acers]

I have the 1985 2.2 deisel engine and 4 wheel drive transmission with 100,000 miles. inside on my shelf pulled from a wrecked p-up back in 1995. Anyone interrested ? see profile.

 

[crazyal]

I thought I remember reading that Toyota bought a stake in Isuzu. That they were going to make a diesel hybrid. That could be interesting, something that had some more umph when needed.

 

[Baucom]

My uncle had a diesel Pup that he used on the farm for many years. I don't think he still uses it, but the last I heard it had over 500K mi. on the original engine and was on its second clutch. The floorboard was rusted through, but the powertrain just wouldn't die.

 

[Diamondpilot]

You know, if Nissan, Toyota, Isuzu, or any of the others could have built a body that did not rust out day one back in the 80's and 90's thats all we would be driving today. The engines and power-train packages were light years ahead of the domestics.

I had a 1986 Toyota pickup. It was bare bones, 5 speed, R22 4 cylinder, 4x4, no air, bench seat, ect. I traded it in with 168,000 miles for a brand new Honda Civic in 1997. Not one single problem other than the slave cylinder went out on the clutch in 11 years. $25 at NAPA. 2 sets of tires, 2 sets of front brakes and 1 set of rears, a set of shocks, new hoses/belts/plugs/wires/fluids at 100,000 miles just because. One battery with new wires around 110,000 miles. 2 exhaust systems, once was a hack job by me that lasted 2 years.

Changed the oil every 3,000 miles, air filters once a year, and it had 2 fuel filters on it in its life. Absolutely trouble free. Not even a starter or alternator.

Down side was the rust. Had it fixed and repainted at 90,000 miles. Rust came back so had some touch up done at 125,000 miles.

I pulled a 3,000# or so 17' boat and it did as well as the 4.3L S-10 Blazzer I had. Used to load the bed beyond belief. Pulled stumps, stuck cars, and generally beat the crap out of it.

Chris

 

[OKnewguy]

My first vehicle was a 81 Luv (gas), if I remember right the next year Isuzu sold the Pup and Chevy dropped the Luv for the s10. Anyway, the 81 Luv and latter year Pups were 100 % identical. I inherited it from my mechanically challenged older brother. He got it with 85k on it and I got it from him at 130k. He had not changed the oil once! I took great care of it and changed the oil every 3k from then on. I drove it till 220k and replaced the clutch and brakes. It did like to go thru fuel pumps about every 40k but I was using a cheap frame mounted pumps that I could change in a parking lot. I just kept one with me. At 220k I gave it to my dad, and he had it to 260ish. He was going to the farm with a heaping pile of manure in the back and something happened to the plastic fan. It broke, and chopped into the radiator. He drove it about 3 more miles home and by the time it got home it was boiling over and the temp was pegged. We checked into a radiator, but by 94 they were getting pretty rare. The only one we could get our hands on was over $300. So we decided to scrap it. We loaded that truck down with tons of scrap and drove it 20 miles to the metal yard. It would not die! We had another truck ready to finish the trip pulling it, but it never died on us.
These trucks were really tough, they were basic, but reliable and cheap. I miss the heck out of the truck!
Dave

 

[QRTRHRS]

In the late '80's I had a friend with a diesel Toyota. He got 40-50mpg. But it was a slug; non turbo. He did a lot of white water rafting and kayaking; he drove that truck all over with river gear.

The issue does not seem to be availability; there are a number of trucks on the international market. It is the US EPA and Safety regulations that seem to limit imports, and efforts by the US manufacturers to build them.

It has been discussed here how nice, even in the full size market, it would be to have a mileage diesel. All the effort seems to be in the HP wars of the Big-3.

I have mentioned before, I would like a 1/2 ton Dodge or Ford with 30mpg diesel, even at a loss of HP compared to the 400hp/800ftlb motors in the latest 3/4 and 1 tons.

Kind of like the way gas engines have been for years; you could get a moderate performance smallblock, or a ground pounding bigblock.

I had one of those too. I think mine was a 1977. It got good milage but you are correct, it was a slug. Merging into heavy fast moving traffic off a ramp took some planning ahead.

In spite of the lack of power, the engine had enough torque to cause transmission issues. I found out later that there had been a recall but since I had bought mine used, I was not aware of it.

I think it was in the early to mid ninties I had heard the guy I sold it to had over 200k on the truck and had not touched the engine.

 

[RobertN]

Interesting the varying experiences we have. I did drywall back then. My boss had a Toy 4x4, 22R with a stick. It was reliable just fine. But that thing did not haul worth a hill of beans. I hated when I had to drive it. I'd run for extra drywall, or boxes of taping mud. It did not take much to weigh that thing down.

A couple years later I had an S10 pickup, 4x4, with the smaller V6(2.8?). I was able to haul significantly more, without sagging the suspension or anything. I was always impressed how that S10 handled weight.

I pulled a 3,000# or so 17' boat and it did as well as the 4.3L S-10 Blazzer I had. Used to load the bed beyond belief. Pulled stumps, stuck cars, and generally beat the crap out of it.

Chris

 

[ultrarunner]

Sold my 91 4.3L S10 because my 91 Silverado with 5.7 got the same mileage... one was throttle body injection and the other port...

Boss had a diesel rabbit pick-up he ordered new to haul rebuilt engines with to the valley... consistently was around the 50mpg mark with lots of torque... as his business got better, he bought a larger truck to haul more engines and sold the one year old rabbit for what he paid for it new...

He bought his wife the first diesel Cadillac and it was nothing but problems....

 

[mmurphy]

I would like to see them revived again also. I use my 95 Escort like a little pickup, just wish I could haul a few sheets of plywood from time to time. The old Escort is a little on the under powered side to but, can easily get a speeding ticket!