3.0 TD Rodeo owners HEADS UP

[big moose]

Just a quick word of warning to all rodeo owners. It's a long story but the guts is as follows, 6 months ago fell asleep on way home from night shift trees culverts more trees very messy. vehicle repaired all good BUT. there was a very slight dent in the sump less than 10mm. over the next 4 months all good until a slight ticking appeared in the motor you could only just hear it. thought it was a rocker and didn't worry as 40k service was coming up. over next few weeks gets louder and louder down to the dealers we go. they too thought rocker initially but take the top off and rockers all good. ended up that the dent in the sump had partially obstructed the oil pickup and slowly but surely killed the motor. End result insurance picks up tab for new motor and turbo and investigation time $22,580.00
I was lucky to be able to stick it to the previous accident. MORAL of the story keep an eye on your sump if you bottom out it may be costly to ignore even a very small dent.

[iceknight]

i had a new rodeo.v6 petrol. nothing but problems with it. ill never be buying another rodeo agian!

[Awesome]

Their is 3mm clearance between the bottom of the sump and the oil pickup on the RA Rodeo/Colorado common rail 3.0 litre diesels.

Any dent on the underside of the sump will result in a restriction of engine oil to the pickup.

There are many dead engines around the country already.Most of them are within the mining industry.

It doesn't take much to damage the sump as they dont have any sumpguard protection fitted from factory.

[GBC]

D'oh.

Why does this stuff always have to be posted up two weeks AFTER you've taken delivery of a couple of 3.0 colorados?

[Kleyny]

mmmm Was your problem caused by the motor/vehicle or by human error??
IMHO human error was the definite cause of this motors destruction. ( not yours Big Moose)
Why wasn't the sump replaced by the repairer in the first place. Its like saying a tree stump hit my bonnet but only left a small dent in my guard so just replace the bonnet. We all know the small dent would be fixed so why wasn't the sump?IMO if a vehicle was damaged in any way in a incident ALL damage should be repaired.
Holden as well as many other motor/vehicle manufacturers are making things more and more compact and closer tolerances these days to make vehicles more user friendly and untank like. If you get my drift.

Why make a sump only have a MM clearance before the pickup? Simple to get the block lower to give the vehicle lower center gravity and with the shallow sump still keep some kind of ground clearance. Though it does amuse me it doesn't have a sump guard though once again it comes down to ground clearance.

This sort of thing really brings home a saying I've always said to my mates for years "if you get any sort of work done check it yourself as there are some real short cuts happening out there these days." Much to my disgust.

Just my 5 cents worth

neil

[gawby]

Thanks for the head up on that BM
I have had my rodeo 3l for 4 years now and its the best
4x4 in my books.
GBC i wouldn't worry as if the were buckets of s...t the mines and the QR
wouldn't be buying them like hot cakes.
Graeme

[big moose]

Thanks guys for your interest have to agree with honky dory 100% if the repairer had done the job properly there would have been no problem. the main reason for the post was to warn others to keep an eye on their sump if theyu think they may have bottomed out on it. otherwise the rodeo has been flawless from my point of view
regards big moose

[cormorant]

Insurance sucks when you have smash repairers doing mechanical work which is basically what happens. And all the little things get given to the apprentice. It is all to the insurance companies bottomline but I like mechanics to do mechanical workand prefer a bloke who works on the similar motor regularly with fleet vehicles so they see all the possible problems long before I have done as many km.

You are a lucky man to actually have the time spent by the repairer to work it out and prove to the insurer that it was the cause of failure.

Never heard of something as stupid as only 3mm clearance - these jokers in the design department should just run dry sumps and then they could skyte that their new model has better clearance.

Thanks for telling us.

As for QR and fleets buying particular vehicles you have to look at what they are paying with the mainainance package and that is half the answer not the quality of the actual vehicle. Councils and gov't fleets are starting at a 40% discount off retail as a base price and with 2 years free servicing there is not a lot of downside to them. The car companies make the money on spares, service and accidents ot of warranty off the 2nd hand owner and the retailpublic.

[White Pointer]

G'day,

Lets dispell a few myths here.

The oil pick up in the sump of most 4x4 vehicles is very close to the bottom of the sump. That's so you can climb and descend hills and traverse slopes and still get oil pick up.

New technology diesels tend to be pretty tall and often have an intercooler sitting on top. It all has to fit between the bonnet and the front crossmember or axle. Now who among you votes for a lower ground clearance or a higher bonnet line that you can't see over?

Big Moose told us he made a mistake and it had consequences. Thank you.

It is not a reflection on the quality of Rodeo. It is a set of circumstances of the accident and it can happen to anyone who isn't running dry sump (i.e. WRC rally car).

If you believe you are vulnerable to sump grounding or to bending steering cross rods on beam axles fit a plate sump guard. Do not fit it to the cross member - fit it to the chassis - but remember that it might lift steering wheels off the ground in some conditions.

If you have a prang in a 4x4 get a mechanical assessment as well as a panel beater's quote - especially if the prang involved a tow bar or bull bar. The transfer of kinetic energy to the chassis is massive. We had a prang in a brand new Pajero a few years ago. Commodore up the back end with towing hitch on. The panel quote was under $1,000. I was worried about the angle of the towbar and asked the selling dealer to look at the car. The chassis was buckled to the back axle. It was written off. The Commodore actually came off better but looked worse.

Moral: Tow bars and bull bars imply a margin of safety but actually compound damage in vehicles that comply with the ADR standard for crumple zones (and I can't remember the ADR number).

Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. A wise man learns from other people's. (Bismark)

Hope this helps and thanks again to Big Moose for starting it all.

White Pointer

[fRuItCaKe]

$22,580.00

Am I reading this wrong? $22k for the motor and turbo??

That seems excessive

[big moose]

fruit cake you read it right the actual engine/turbo part cost 13.5k plus 40hrs removal and strip/evaluate plus reinstallation 22.5k bill to insurer

White Pointer thanks for your post it brings me joy that someone can look past brand rivalry and see the post for what it is just a heads up to owners that a small dent in the sump should not be overlooked.
regds big moose

[fRuItCaKe]

Wow... that is scary..considering I've got a 2.8TD. If that happened it'd cripple me financially. $13.5k for enginer + turbo seems an insane amount to pay - bloody Holden.

Getting under this arvo to have a look.......

[Kleyny]

Mr cake you would have to be a real fruitcake if you pay 13+ for a 2.8 motor.

If you do an engine in the similar manner be it oil or coolant loss and yours cant be revived.
The cheapest way out would be a second hand donk from a wreckers for roughly 2.5gs then just freshen it up for around 2-4gs depending on what it needs. If your lucky you might get a motor thats done bugger all and you dont have to touch it.

But in big mooses' case you ask for nothing but new due it being a insurance claim.

neil