Help for a newbie Mu owner ?

[Mark Smith]

Hi there,

I'm just about to fork over my hard earned pennies for a Mu, and just having some final jitters I guess :-)

Any badness I should know about and look for when buying a secondhand Mu ?

This one does look in very nice condition, it's a 3.1 1995 with 62,000km and 5 speed gearbox.

I've also got some questions (as I've never owned a diesel or 4wd before) :

1) What are the locks in the front wheel hubs really for ?
2) Should they be set to free the bulk of the time ?
3) How long should the glo-plugs be heated up for before starting ? (I'm guessing that is what the button on the dash does)
4) How long should the engine be allowed to run for before switching off the ignition ?
5) How good an off-roader is the Mu ?
6) And what tweaks can be done to it to make it even more fun ?

I'll admit I'm not a 4x4 experienced person (not much call for them in the UK) but since I'm a Kiwi-wanabee I'd like to find out, the reason I chose the Mu was that I liked it's shape, nice and chunky with lots of metal :-)

In the UK I had a Smart and a Lotus Elise ... so the Mu will be an interesting experience :-)

Thanks in advance

Mark

[James W]

Things to look for:
A lot seem to have leaking steering boxes.
Do get a compression test done. It will save you thousands.


1) Front hubs are to engage/disenage that axle to put the vehicle in 4WD, that plus the gearstick in 4WD.
Automatic hubs are no good... useless. Bend down on one knee, if they say "Auto"... you need new ones.

2) They should be free all the time you arn't in 4WD. Do not drive on tar seal in 4WD. 4WD's have no center diff and will chew out your tyres and strain the drive train on hard surfaces. All wheel drive vehicles have a center diff to take out those problems. Thus "All wheel Drive" is not the same as part time 4WD's.

3) The glowplugs should unless faulty be automatic, wait untill the light goes out then crank. My MU is about a second on glow, through to 4 Sec's really cold.

4) Turbo wind down or rather cooling, the turbo which runs at exhaust temps and is lubricated by oil must have a flow of oil to cool down or it will burn the breaings. One minute for city driving, 3, 4, of 5 minutes if ya been really flogging it. A judement call

5) Well... open to opinion... But I think they are pretty good staight of the car yard compared to some.... Good is relitive.... What do you want to do with it?

6) Tweaks plenty and this is the place to find out... How much do you want ot spend?

[geeves]

One other thing to mention after seeing the previous cars. Remember this aint no sports car Dont expect it to corner like one. The Mu is better than most 4wd but it is double the hight and weight of a Lotus elise and 4 times the weight of a smart but at least theres room for some camping gear

[Mark Smith]

geeves said:

One other thing to mention after seeing the previous cars. Remember this aint no sports car Dont expect it to corner like one. The Mu is better than most 4wd but it is double the hight and weight of a Lotus elise and 4 times the weight of a smart but at least theres room for some camping gear

I thought I noticed a bit of a difference while driving it ;-)

Thinking about that ... how available are strutu braces and such for the Mu ? Or will I need to make my own ?

Actually the Smart is about the same weight as the Elise .. 690Kg

Regards!

[bigblackmu]

Things to watch out for with the MU :-

1. Power Steering box is prone to leaking - check fluid levels and around the box for any signs of oil

2. Rust behind the front seats and in front of the back seats on the floor - the carpet folds back so is nice and easy to check.

Although I highly rate them and coming from alot of sports cars it is very fun to drive, and intimidating to look down on people , also very capable offroad. ;D ;D

[Andrew]

1) What are the locks in the front wheel hubs really for ?
These lock the fron wheels so you have "4wd drive".

2) Should they be set to free the bulk of the time ?
Yes,

3) How long should the glo-plugs be heated up for
before starting ? (I'm guessing that is what the button on the dash does)
Glow plug light on the dash ( like a coil ) will go out when its ok to start the engine.

4) How long should the engine be allowed to run for before switching off the ignition ?
I give mine 30 secs if its been on the motorway, 1 min for a really long trip, to the shops and back 10 sec maybe .

5) How good an off-roader is the Mu ?
LOTS of Fun.. !!!!

6) And what tweaks can be done to it to make it even more fun ?
How big is your wallet ?

[Roger]

I thought the auto-lock hubs were introduced on the 3.1 motor vehicles??
Maybe your MU has had manual ones installed.

Does anyone know for sure?

[justin]

No, only the XS models in 3.1 sported them to start with, (94+). Mine has good ol standard manual hubs. Then I would imagine they became standard on all models from say late 95 onwards
J

[Andrew]

THe "X"range of MU built from 1994 onwards came with the auto hubs.

This was the XL and the XS models, these then came std with future released models of Isuzu.

There were a good idea, however its an even better one to remove them if you have the $$.. I know ever since I have replaced mine the pieve of mind has been well worth it.

[Roger]

Andrew said:

THe "X"range of MU built from 1994 onwards came with the auto hubs.

This was the XL and the XS models, these then came std with future released models of Isuzu.

There were a good idea, however its an even better one to remove them if you have the $$.. I know ever since I have replaced mine the pieve of mind has been well worth it.

When I was shopping for my MU, I found that the 3.1's were all auto hub. Also, Joe's 94 is an XE model with auto hubs. How many variants are there?
Cheers

[justin]

I must admit I thought it was only the XS that had auto hubs, velour trim, electric folding mirrors and a fancy steering wheel in the 3.1

Didn't even know there was an XL, and mine plain old 3.1 came with manual hubs as standard. J