Thread: Isuzu Bighorn or something else?

now that I am in the older car owner category the one thing I have learnt is that all the older diesels (pajeros, surfs, nissans and isuzus) all start to give you dramas when they get up to 300000k's.
Mitsi's 4m40 and Toyota ikz are bad for cooking heads once the cooling system is neglected and people tow with them when they are nudging the 3 coin mark
I've heard the 3.2 Isuzu diesels are more problematic than the earlier 3.1's.
Same goes for the Nissan 3.2. Go like the clappers but they can cause expensive dramas but I cant remember what it was.
best old school diesel was the 2.7 Nissan with the cast (not alloy) head. Very hard to kill. Once every manufacturer went to alloy heads they just don't last as long compared to the iron head units.
3.2 mitsis need the egr system thrown away and the intake cleaned right out. They clog up with crap form the exhaust soot and oil mist from the breather. This is probably indicative of all of them probably. EGR is a PITA.
the 2.5 mazda/ford engines are also as bad if not worse than any of them. Some of them have metallic layered gaskets. Once things get hot and they lose a little tension
its no good.
I do know that the older 3.5 Toyota diesels didn't like getting hot either. Acquaintance had one years ago. If they got hot the lip on the top of the liners got weak and could break then they went up and down with the piston causing all sorts of dramas. he did it twice.
Cant say I've heard issues about the bigger 4.2 Nissan and Toyota engines but if they are a cast not alloy head maybe that's the reason.
I own a 2.8 94 Pajero. Done the head gasket and then a year later a whole other timing case, cam, timing chain and some gears, couple of valves and guides after a timing chain went on me and put a whole in the case.
If I didn't get a bunch of stuff for basically nothing and do all the assembly work myself (engine reco mob did the head repair work) it would've been a throw away.
Cost more to fix than practical.
Had a 3.2 v6LWB bighorn years ago. very comfy wagon and went well. Geez did it like a drink of petrol if you give it the jandal though.
I was told they are only 200 kilos lighter than a Nissan patrol/safari. They had a very heavy and strong chassis.