I don't just love small cars, I also love trucks. So I figured I'd show my latest truck purchase. My 1996 Honda Passport LX 4x4. Don't let the badge fool you, she's really an Isuzu Rodeo underneath. I picked her up at a local auction back in February for the paltry sum of $700 (plus auction fees). She's a 5 speed, a 4x4, and a V6. I wanted something that can go offroad with a manual transmission that can also tow another car if need be (I go to a lot of auto auctions) and this was the cheapest example I could find.

Now as you'd expect given the price I paid for what I got, she's not perfect. Far from it in fact. Clean title and ~164,000 miles at the time of purchase, but she's been in some accidents. The front end was pushed in like it hit a tree or a pole. I just pulled the bumper out with a come-along, a chain, and an oak tree. The area under the left rear door wad also damaged, not sure where thar came from. I don't care enough to fix thar since this is a beater truck (granted I maintain all my cars very well, beaters or otherwise). It also had some drivability problems. It had a misfire on cylinder 1 due to a bad fuel injector on that cylinder and that caused a bank 1 lean code as a symptom. Replacing the fuel injector fixed both codes and evened out the fuel trims. I also replaced the EGR valve due to bad readings from it and that also helped while slightly improving MPG. Also replaced the driveline fluids, the fuel filter, the spark plugs, and the upper intake manifold gasket. The brakes are in pretty good shape still and the battery surprisingly holds a charge very well despite being quite old. And despite me living around DC, the truck originally came from Oregon, so it's not really rusty.

Having put a few thousand miles on it, I haven't found any major problems. It needs tires, but the current ones hold air. The toe is a bit off, but it drives and rides very well. Or as well as a $700, almost 30 year old truck can ride. When I do the tires, I'm gonna also replace the tie rods and possibly the center link at the same time. I also need to replace the left rear quarter window. It wasn't broken when I got it, but I was hauling a couple scrap engines to the junkyard about 4 months ago and took a turn a bit faster than I should. That was the result. I already have a new (used) replacement glass panel, I just need it installed. I could do it anytime, but I'm not too worried about it. Nothing inside is worth stealing and DC car thieves generally can't drive stick.

I can't wait to get some A/Ts on so that I can comfortably take it offroad. Been a while since I've done it. It also needs an engine flush as it burns a good bit of oil, and I've heard that it's due to piston rings getting gummed up, much like the issue the Toyota 2AZ and 1ZZ engines also had. I have used the BG Dynamic Engine Flush on customer cars several times and it generally does a pretty decent job, so that's what I'm gonna do with my truck. I'm gonna try to do it before my next oil change. I'm debating whether to use 5W-30 like I used when I last changed it, or to switch to 10W-30. I will probably wait until after winter if I do switch.


The front end before I pulled it



This was immediately after I pulled it. I also spent a lot of time readjusting the headlights as they were way off.

My first time towing. Probably a hair over 3000 lbs total with my new (to me) $300 1996 Infiniti G20