Alright, need some advice and I don't know where else to turn.

I have a 98 rodeo LS 4wd and it is giving me some very strange problems. I went out and got some new wheels and tires on craigslist, and a few days ago I had them mounted/balanced/aligned at the dealer because apparently the front end needed some special "wearable shims" to get aligned right. They also broke off a seized wheel stud on the front and had to replace it, which I assume means stripping down the front hub.

Ok, fine. Now the weird stuff. As part of their "23 point inspection" the tech told me over the phone that I needed new inner and outer CV boots on both sides up front. They quoted me a price of $750. I declined the service preferring to take it to my trusted but very busy mechanic for more involved service like this. When I came to pick up the car, the printed invoice instead of 4 cv boots and $750 referenced only the front right inner boot and gave no estimate. I immediately smelled a fish but paid my bill and left since I had no way of knowing until I took it to my mech.

In the meantime, some strange symptoms developed. First, the offset on the wheels is a bit different and the tires are bigger, so there is a spot during sharp turning where the front wheels touch in the wheel well. I plan on trimming it but since it really only rubbed during parking I figured it could wait till I had time to do it properly. Next, my ABS light came on, first intermittently and now every time I start the car. When I tried some emergency braking the wheels do indeed lock and slide with no usual pulsing/grinding sound. Third and perhaps most disturbingly, I was out on a steep gravel road yesterday and pushed the 4wd button. The light on the dash blinked but never went solid to indicate engagement. When I pushed it, I could hear a soft click coming from the front end but the front wheels weren't turning. WTF?

Are these problems connected or do I just have bad luck? Should I be giving this dealer a piece of my mind? Is there something simple they could have sabotaged while working on the front end after I declined to let them touch my CV boots?

I'm at a loss.

 

Also, I should mention that when I bought the car, one of the front tires was the wrong size. Took me a while to notice, and when I did I replaced all 4 as they were already quite worn.

 

Never heard of that before. No idea what a 'wearable' shim is. Any decent alignment shop should have been able to align it with no problem.

As for the cv boots. If they have been torn for a while or you dont know how long its been its best to replace the cv axle. Should be able to reuse the inner cup thats attached to the differential if its still ok. Otherwise the front diff needs to be dropped to replace that part which gets expensive labor wise.

ABS light on is usually a bad rear sensor or the wiring is broken where it conncts to the main harness on the frame. It might have broken when they put it on the lift and the rear axle dropped all the way. Some ppl fix it, others just pull the fuse for the abs and remove the bulb from the dash and live without it. Isuzu never go abs right and it seems to activate at odd times. Mine activated twice last week pulling into my parking spot at home, which is unusual. Mine is odd and normally works fine.

4wd light blinking usually means the front axle actuator isnt engaging. Can be a stuck actuator or the switching solenoids could be bad. I know of 1 4wd circuit board that went bad but its not common. Check out THIS POST for some troubleshooting tips.

Edited by: Gizmo42

 

Took it to a goodyear shop first and they said they needed to special order the shims to align it. Couldn't wait so I took it to the dealer myself. Going to go take a look at the hoses now.

Edited by: skatetokil