hairyapple

I may not be in the right place but maybe someone can help me with this question. We are looking at a very, very low mileage, 8,200 miles, 2006 Isuzu 20' box truck. It is cab over design with a Chevy 6 liter gasoline engine and auto trans. This is a one owner truck that has never had a bad day according to CarFax. One issue that has come up in my inquiries about these is that the cab over design does not allow for efficient cooling of the engine. This tends to warp the exhaust manifolds which in turn breaks the manifold bolts so that the heads have to come off in order for the bolts to be drilled out for replacement. My mechanic, a man with 40 years repairing trucks only, says that we can't remove the bolts to replace them with harder ones, because they will break if we try. This was not an option once the truck had been run. Does anyone know anything about this? Is there a way to add an auxiliary electric fan to help the air flow and cooling. We'd rather lease a truck but the cost is prohibitive, although it saves a lot of worry. Thanks in advance.

greenfire

I have a 2003 Isuzu NPR with the GM 5.7.


Never heard anything about these trucks not getting enough cooling. Actually I would think it would be the opposite. Where did you read about this? The truck forum on lawnsite.com has a lot of discussion about NPRs.


If the truck only has 8200 miles I think you have nothing to worry about. The 6.0 is an excellent engine.

hairyapple

I had the truck brought down to my mechanic's place where we put it on a big lift and gave it a thorough looking over. It had a number of issues, the worst being frame rust and a rusty gas tank and gas line/sender, but the frame could be cleaned and painted, the gas tank replaced. There were no ramps, the truck would be used for a bread route and so this would have to be addressed adding another $1,500 to the cost. The truck belonged to a scrap yard and although the mileage may have been accurate there was a lot of damage to the box including the roof being caved in at one point and was leaking. Wood interior was heavily scarred on the walls and floor, back door bowed and required weatherstripping, a/c didn't function, etc. So about another $4,200-$5,000 in repairs plus ramps. Think we'll pass on this one. Thanks for the input. Going to look at a workhorse step van instead.