^ Three things.
1) Don't have loyalty to a building. A shop is nothing without the same owner, service manager, and mechanics. Two out of three might cut it. Or might not. Sadly, you might find a competent mechanic these days, but if you find one old enough with a lot of experience and money in the bank so they're not greedy for padding a bill, they're about retirement age and you'll have to find another one soon enough. I wrote mechanic but really I mean service manager and owner. A chain seeks to grow by maximizing profits, to upsell as much as possible. They may also get the cheapest rate mechanics possible and rush them so they yank on old heater core hoses, etc.
2) Your Trooper is worth about $1500 if nothing else is wrong with it, maybe a little over $2K if the mileage is closer to 100K mi. and it is in great shape (garage kept). Places like Edmunds take into account actual selling price, while ebay listings of those which don't sell because they're priced too high, do not establish vehicle value.
NADA estimates are more of a tool for dealers than anything. KBB assumes a perfect market and top notch condition still. Edmunds is where reality lies for private sale vehicles unless something enters the twilight zone realm of classic vehicle value. To Trooper enthusiasts, perhaps yours has reached that point and is worth more than I appreciate, as I usually assume a certain amount of rust after 24 years but in some climates there might be barely any, but if you can't even get a new heater core, this is one of the factors in vehicle depreciation, that parts supplies run out.
Often such vehicles are worth more to their owner than they can get at resale, which is why so many people keep them until a major engine or transmission failure. Many people don't like buying something that age unless they're desperate because they feel the owner is hiding something while the owner knows how it has aged, and might even have receipts for repair parts under warranty still. Ask me how many times I've replaced my lifetime warranty hood struts for free on my oldest SUV.
On that note #3...
3) The way to cost effectively own that old a vehicle is don't let anyone else work on it if you can help it. Routine repairs that can be done to newer vehicles will break things on older ones, particularly when old enough that the rubber has rotted and the plastic is brittle. Fixing those things can break more things.
I wouldn't even top it off with 3 oz tranny fluid every 3 months. Check it yes, but only top it off once or twice a year. I'm not suggesting "
let it go to pot", just that 3 oz one way or the other is hard to even measure, depending on transmission temperature.
On the plus side,
assuming they put a new intake manifold gasket on, that might have been near needing replaced anyway.
I don't know a lot about Isuzu repairs, but I would try to do all the repairs yourself. You won't find anyone who will take better care of your baby than you will. Shop labor at $100/hr pays for a LOT of tools if you need them... and I don't just mean special mechanics tools, even things that just make a repair less of a PITA like a cordless impact wrench or impact driver, more lengths of socket extensions and wobbles, thick nitrile gloves so your hands get less beat up and it takes 5 seconds to remove them and go from covered in grease to eating lunch, etc., no more scrubbing under your fingernails.
I pity those who live in apartments or condos that prevent being able to DIY repairs. That can result in thousands of dollars higher TCO if you're in it for the long haul.
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