Isuzu Gemini

[isurujosh]

A friend of mine has been offered a [65/ full option/turbo charged/Man tranny] Gemini for 800K. He wishes to know the following about it.

1) Z it worth it? (suppose the car is in quite good condition from outside)

2) Whatz all this fuss about gemini engines wearing out? how much z the rebuilding cost?

3) R parts very expensive? r there places where u can source parts at fair prices?

4) Any well known mechanics who are good wit reparing Geminis?

5) Z 2nd hand market really bad for this

basically what would it be like to live with a Gemini?

[milindu]

We owned the older model (32-) which ran a lot but had a lot of repairs as well (non-turbo)

Seem a decent price but the Corolla CE90 is a more reliable alternative even a CE100 for a little more.

Gemini Engines are known to catch fire at random. Never faced it personaly.

Secondhand market is lousy for the Gemini.

Not sure about parts at current. We sold ours about 3 years back.

Be a pain to maintain and run.

[lakshank]

ISUZUS ARE FAMOUS FOR BIG ENGINES. THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE MADE THE GEMINI. IT'S A NOISY SMOKY CAR WITH LOT OF PROBLEMS. 99 % ON THE ROAD AREN'T IN DECENT CONDITION. PARTS SHOULDN'T BE A MAJOR ISSUE COZ SATHOSA MOTOS IS THE AGENT FOR ISUZU. NORMALLY DIESEL PARTS COST A FORTUNE. DONT COUNT ON THE SECOND HAND VALUE. IT WOULDN'T FETCH MUCH.

I PERSONALLY WOULD NEVER GO FOR A GEMINI. WILL BE BETTER OFF WIITH A 3 WHEELER.

[ruwds]

A friend of mine has been offered a [65/ full option/turbo charged/Man tranny] Gemini for 800K. He wishes to know the following about it.

1) Z it worth it? (suppose the car is in quite good condition from outside)

2) Whatz all this fuss about gemini engines wearing out? how much z the rebuilding cost?

3) R parts very expensive? r there places where u can source parts at fair prices?

4) Any well known mechanics who are good wit reparing Geminis?

5) Z 2nd hand market really bad for this

basically what would it be like to live with a Gemini?

Looking at the license num n price, I assume this is a JT641 model u r talking about. As wth the current prices I think 800k is ok cos other similar vehicles are always higher than a gemini. We have used 2 JT600's (smaller model - one 32 n one 64) and also 2 JT641's. Both the Jt641's were full option, turbo n manual.

About the engine wear n tear...people say many things about gemini engines wearing out faster than other diesel engines but i think its not a big issue. Engines could be bought or rebuilt as well...about 2 yrs back a recon engine could be around 50k to 60k n i thnk similar prices for rebuilding as well. (one of our JT641 had a worn engine but v used it like that for 2 yrs n never ever gave any kind of starting issues, and acceleration wasnt bad either...v rnt sure whether the engine was repaired on the other one when v bought it, but it had better acceleration and never had any engine issues for the 2 yrs v used that. Also did a lot of running on that car)

Oil needs to be changed frequently.

Ive never heard bout that gemini engines catch fire randomly and I doubt it would happen as i ve never experienced it wth 4 gemini's

One thing that could be a pain could be the burning out of the alternator. But its not a big deal if u get the thing done by a proper electrical place where they would check things as the heater timer and other electrical components wthout just repairing the alternator only. Its easy to figure out a prob wth the alternator cos once its not wrkin, the blower n ac wud stop as well as the lights on the instrument panel wud b left on even when the engine is running. ( a fuse cud also giv the same situ but a simple check on that wud let u figure out wht the prob is...)

About parts...mechanical parts can b bought at many places i think n there are matching parts wth other brands. Body parts can also easily b found on recon part stores.(eg: a door wud b like ~3k. one tail light - 2.5k..boot lid - 4k...)

About mechanics...i dont knw much.. (my father used to do take care of the repairs himself as he is in the auto field)

About 2nd hand value...its kind of hard to sell gemini's to b honest but ppl who have used one b4 always prefer to buy one again.

The JT641 model is a really comfortable model with gud acceleration for a diesel. Very easy to drive. Its got 4 disc brakes as well meaning easy to stop as well hehe. I personally like the car very very much.

Just saw the post by 'LAKSHANK'

reagarding his comments.

Yes as all diesel vechiles..gemini does give out smoke but it depends on the engine..if the engine isnt bad...smoke does come only when u r accelerating..(well this cant b used to check the engine state as even a gud engine does give out smoke when revved)

about the noise...if a recon engine is used to replace a bad engine...there wudnt b much noise..but rebuilding cud give a noisy engine if not done properly.

Parts need not b bought from the agent as its really expensive frm them.

[isurujosh]

Milindu, Lakshank, Ruwds tnx so mcuh for all your input, my friend also had been looking into the forum and he's quite got to know what he wanted to know. So basically if you know the correct places and the right people that enable you to cope with a few reliabilty issues (and perhaps noice), Gemini is a good buy for the money u spent.

BDW if my friend does decide to eventually buy the car, he might need you guys to mentioned a few specific places or names of people that would be helpful when living with a Gemini. I don't think that mentioning a few names of mechanics and places with regard to a specific topic is against forum rules?

[Pericles]

Dude there should be a few pages about Gemini's somewhere on the Forum. We got to hear a lot about Gemini's coz of Dilesh

[The Don]

There is something ironic about the comment made about Isuzu diesel engines, that they should stick to making big engines.

In fact not only is Isuzu the largest diesel engine manufacturer in the world, their engines are used in quite a few cars (well sometimes not full engines but parts like pumps etc), most notably Vauxhall, or Opel as its marketed in Sri Lanka. Since GM owns a bit of Isuzu its Isuzu diesel engines that are used in Vauxhalls and they are big hits in europe.

I am not quite sure why the Gemini's went out of manufacture, though I do accept the Toyotas are more refined diesel cars compared to the Gemini's I dont personally think they are any worse than most diesel cars sold in the sri lankan market in that era. For example I also once tried to find a diesel car and my choice was the Nissan SB13, but it proved quite impossible to find a car in good order, and the ones I drove I didn't like much at all.

Incidentally I know there aren't that many but apart from the Toyota CE90's (one in which I used to travel daily very nice car) and the CE100's my favorite Diesel car is the lancer (speaking about the 93-95 model mostly brought down brand new as well). It featured a very nice 2 litre engine though was a bit noisy had excellent acceloration, and I quite fancied owning one myself though never found a good one.

Regards,

The Don

[isurujosh]

Dude there should be a few pages about Gemini's somewhere on the Forum. We got to hear a lot about Gemini's coz of Dilesh

hmmm... well i did a search on the key word "Gemini" prior to posting this topic, but all the hits belonged to topics that are irrelevant, and also the discussion about the gemini was here and there not in order at all (dint have time to look into unorganised details), datz why I decided to post a new topic to accumulate all such knowledge.

[isurujosh]

...Since GM owns a bit of Isuzu its Isuzu diesel engines that are used in Vauxhalls and they are big hits in europe...

well i think Toyota is has bought(or going to buy?) bit of Isuzu to learn a few Diesel tricks, intention is it seems, to build a diesel powered Prius hybrid

[nira74]

There is something ironic about the comment made about Isuzu diesel engines, that they should stick to making big engines.

In fact not only is Isuzu the largest diesel engine manufacturer in the world, their engines are used in quite a few cars (well sometimes not full engines but parts like pumps etc), most notably Vauxhall, or Opel as its marketed in Sri Lanka. Since GM owns a bit of Isuzu its Isuzu diesel engines that are used in Vauxhalls and they are big hits in europe.

I am not quite sure why the Gemini's went out of manufacture, though I do accept the Toyotas are more refined diesel cars compared to the Gemini's I dont personally think they are any worse than most diesel cars sold in the sri lankan market in that era. For example I also once tried to find a diesel car and my choice was the Nissan SB13, but it proved quite impossible to find a car in good order, and the ones I drove I didn't like much at all.

Incidentally I know there aren't that many but apart from the Toyota CE90's (one in which I used to travel daily very nice car) and the CE100's my favorite Diesel car is the lancer (speaking about the 93-95 model mostly brought down brand new as well). It featured a very nice 2 litre engine though was a bit noisy had excellent acceloration, and I quite fancied owning one myself though never found a good one.

Regards,

The Don

Hey Guys,

Don't write off Isuzu Engines - Even Lotus chose a Turbo Blown Isuzu 1600cc (Petrol) Engine for their last Elan in the '90s.

[Watchman]

hey guys!!

got got back to SL 2 weeks ago and havent been on Autolanka much though. been watching movies and driving around day in and day out.. (gotta catch up for 4 months of not driving)...

Anyway, i think the Gemini that you're talking about might be a JT641 (the one with the refined bubbly shape)... i drive a older one a 32-7XXX JT 600... (1500cc turbo diesel) its quite a nice thing to drive around. the size is ideal to pack 5 people, yet small enough to nip around colombo trafic.. my car has done 220,000km and so far had a engine overhaul done at around 210,000 (due to under compression). but besides that nothing big was done on it except routine replacements like brakes etc...

i'm nt sure of the market prices right now but around 6 months ago the JT 600 was going between 350,000 and 550,000... the turbo model being the high end...

though, my father said that parts have become to harder to find lately....

i'd say the car's pretty nice for a 1500cc diesel... ther's a HUGE performance diferencebetween this and the indica (1500 diesel NON turbo) ... even the 2.0L Inttercooled Turbo Diesel G.Vitara doest have that much kick...

and like Don said Isuzu is thw biggest deisel maanufacturer.. obviously they're doing something good..

[Watchman]

and to your questions:

1) Z it worth it? I'd say yes.. considering the milage it gives (9km per ltr in colombo) and the fact that its diesel..

2) Whatz all this fuss about gemini engines wearing out? how much z the rebuilding cost? well, they dont JUST wear out... 200k is more or less expextd i'd say.. it cost around 40-45k for the repaire

3) R parts very expensive? r there places where u can source parts at fair prices? well' parts arent that expensive but strting to get harder to find

4) Any well known mechanics who are good wit reparing Geminis? yeah, but there's very little unique problems in geminis.. mostly electriaal cos its a very complex wiring job...

5) Z 2nd hand market really bad for this... well, for a car thats 17 years old, it still hold a ok value...

basically what would it be like to live with a Gemini? read above post

[The Don]

Ha ha always love the high revving diesels Isuzu makes, Used to drive arround in a Isuzu cab, wonderful acceloration

[ruwds]

the JT641's we used, did like 10~12km per ltr (wasnt in middle of colombo traffic though)...but outstation did like 16~17km/ltr. JT641's got a 1.8ltr engine wth turbo.

One more point is cleaning the intercooler regularly would give better pickup cos with worn out engines, oil tends to get collected in there.

Yah the electrical stuff is a bit complex...

Some 641's got all electronic controls for ac n ventilation levels as well. (seen one wth cable control so i think some only got the auto option).

Even though the 641 is bigger than the 600, its not hard to drive at all. I started driving wth a 641 n didnt have any problems.

Max rpm on the 641 is 6k n red region is frm 5.5k the turbo used to giv the most power jus after 2k. even if ur on the 5th gear n pass 2k rpm u wud feel the pickup.

Edited December 23, 2006 by ruwds