lgranch

Ok guys and gals I have a problem- My son has a pathy also and since he is in jail for the next 90 days I get to try to fix this. (He was in the wrong place at the wrong time- a lesson for some of you younger forum members but not a cause for this post) The passenger door will not open at all. The inside handle feels like it is disconnected. The outside handle does not feel like it is completely pulling teh opening mech. The pull for the lock feels like it unlocking the door, but I can not be sure. The key does NOT go in the lock from outside at all- it just refuses to go in. The electric door lock does not work and the window does not go down. Obviously I can not take the inside panel off because the door is shut. Suggestions?????

Yes the bushings are replacable, but be carefull in who supplies the bushings. I bought a set of urethanes that were support to fit. Without modifications there was NO WAY. I was able to press them in after I had cut the bushing. Factory rubber bushing are support to be easier to install, but I have never tried. If I have to do this again I would try to find a 2 piece bushing that presses in from each side of the arm. BTW my 91 had the same problem you ar ehaving and this fixed it perfectly.

For the record, since you had the heads off to take the pics, what type of head gasket did you use? A multilayer metal or a graphite one. Also did the old intake manifolds show signs of leakage?

Ok I am going to say something very unpopular. If I have it correct this engine is new to you SteeevO. No not a new rebuild but just new to you. Do you have any history on the motor? Was there any indication that the RMS was leaking before the shop worked on it? Now if the shop got the motor for you and warrentied it stop reading right now! If you supplied the motor..... then it may nto be their fault. Please not I am not saying it is not their problem, just not their fault. It is the shop fault IF they put in a poor aftermarket RMS, or they did not install it right. However on any high mileage motor the rear crak bearings can take a beating if lube is not good all the time. This can cause the crank not to turn true, if this happens no RMS will hold for more than a few minutes. The RMS will cover up only a small amount of TIR that is why there is a specification on the crank TIR. Did they put in a cheap aftermarket RMS or install it wrong.... well you will never know. From 30 years of rebuilding motors of all types I will say that RMS leaks are a crap shoot all the time unless the crank has been checked and put into spec. Sorry for the disenting opinion

There are 3 people I use for parts. Transtar, Axiom, and Transtec. All are on line but all of them stopped giving pricing online. you have to call. Your RE4R01A is a tough tranny to work on. but replacing the pump is an easy job. don't bother with a used tranny pump because that is a common part to go bad. You could also try Phoenix trannys. they have alot of kits, but I just have never used them.

OK you got me by the socks. I know VG30i and VG30 motors well. NO VTC sensor. so which motor is this???? I was going to look it up for you but I can not find it. As for service manuals. I give you a hayes for the price of postage... thats what they are worth. Chilton is not much better. If you really want to keep the pathy buy the factory manual about $70. or subscribe to an on line manual service like I have or use the one that someone here on the forum posted a while back

Coolant runs through the intake manifold on a VG30E motor. You will see two holes in the intake per cylinder. The large round hole is the air/fuel mix intake. The smaller oval hole is the coolant. If the gasket leaks you can get a pool of coolant in the valley of the block. I have put alot of VG30Es together over the years and I'll tell you I have never seen one of these gaskets leak. However there is always a first time. Check the intake gasket carefully for a sign of a leak. i have also seen people use the wrong gaskets. The gasket should be metal with a rubber insert to seal the head to the intake. Any other type of gasket is just wrong. Good luck. resealing a head to the block is a tough job to get this right and have the gasket not blow out

Let me know if you find any US dealer that has these parts. I have come up blank everywhere in NE ohio that I have tried

Over time I have replaced about 12 studs on the pathys. They cost about $1.25 at Auto Zone. They are the right studs. Pound them out with a hammer, pull them back in with a air wrench. Job takes about 10 minutes max per stud.

For the record Slick the 55 chevy has been sitting in a garage for the past 34 years. All the stainless is there and rust is only surface. I do not think it will be making the trip to CA very soon. Fordsho90 - I'll keep you in mind. I am still thinking about how to do all this.

I have not posted in awhile. health wise it has been a bad winter for me and I now have come to the conclusion that I really can not do the projects I use to do when I was 40. (OK I'm one of the old ones out here) We all know that pathfinders are a great vehicle, but way too soon they will be a listing in Hemmings as collector vehicles. I have too many projects to complete before I die so what do I keep and what do I get rid of. I have a 55 chevy 2 door hardtop that needs completing. I think I'll keep that. I also have a 95 5 speed pathy and a 91 auto pathy. The 91 has a built motor (overbored everthing new, I mean everything) with no mileage on it. The 91's problem is body rust, not much but some and all repairable, the frame is perfect. The 95 has blown head gaskets, a perfect body and some frame rot. It is obvious what I was going to do but I know that I can not physically do the work any more. The obvious would be to sell the pathys, but in the Cleveland area I could get as much from a wrecking yard as I could trying to sell them. My guess is about $300 for the pair. (Pathys around here are CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP). I could fix the 95 and get maybe $500 for it. The motor in the 91 has over $700 in new pistons rings rods etc alone. I am looking for ideas people. You west coast people may want parts, but it is a LONG way to CA or WA.

So they figured out that the password and login was compromised and changed it??? The password no longer functions. Just when I needed it to

I am a bit curious. If you had paid the couple of hundred more for the lower mileage motor, would everything had been there and in good shape or would have been the same just lower mileage? Do replace the injector gaskets when you reinstall the fuel rail. A motor with that much mileage is likely to have those o rings leak air. This would not be a good thing.

Studs are a dealer item that pricing can be good to absurd depending on the dealer. $1.25 is an ok price. Just use harded metric washers from anyone. You must insist with the dealer for the bolts for the turbo. Otherwise most of the parts guys are just plain stupid and tell you that there is no difference. The packages are marked differently from Nissan. I have replaced many studs. I like 88's statement about using bolts. I have every belief that would work fine. I do not recommend PATZX300's statement about drilling it out. These aluminum head can be very tricky unleass you know EXACTLY what you are doing. The water passages are very close to the stud holes. If you are not a machinist or very skilled in rebuilding engines, you could be asking for trouble. One slip and you are done, the head is toast with no repair posible. I do have spare dissasembled heads for a VG30. I also would guess that Ksar9 does also. Good luck

Go find a bottle of RXp. I know places like Autozone carry it. Dump it in the tank and run half thru. Get the engine good and warm (slightly overheating is good) and get the pathy tested. RXP does not fix the problem it fools the test equipment. The test equipmet should see CO2 not CO. However there are some states (california) that this may not work. Ohio, NJ, CT no problem.

Slick, Slick say it aint so.... you hit the cam sprocket bolts with an air gun??? Dangerous move there. Ok for subborn bolts like that you use a chain type vise grip, wrap it around the sprocket and then use a breaker bar to loosen the bolt. Put it back the same way. AS for TDC. maritime man is correct except you will have the heads off and you can see the piston when it hits TDC. Just remember that it comes around 2 times so when the timing mark is close to point then it is on its compression stroke. Stop the piston at the top and leave it there do not touch the engine crank again until you have finished the timing belt install. Since you are not replacing the T belt you will not be using the marks on teh belt for alignment. I say this because the marks only align about every 50 rotations of the engine. This is because of the number of teeth on the belt. The marks are really only good for the first time you install the belt, unless you get very lucky. (88 back me up here you know that I am correct) I think you said you were not removing the front timing cover. Without doing that you can not see the marks on the crank gear. Now generally that does not matter because Nissan forgot to mark the block on almost every engine. So you just use TDC on the piston. Just take care it is not about TDC it needs to be exactly TDC. Then just line the cam sprockets with the marks on the backing plate and install the belt. Real simple.

It is common for these engines to jump by a tooth. I think it has something to do with the belt design. There are two different designs. One with round shoulders and one with very square shoulders. Just reset it back the way it is suppose to be when you put it back together. Did n't you recently have a problem with emissons?

First let me say never replace a brake hose with a used one. But this is not a dealer only item. Most all auto parts places will have them for reasonable money. Since you found this it should be replaced because it is a source of potential brake failure. However I will be very surprized if this is the reason for the antilock light to go on and off. There just is not a connection.

If someone knows the item number for ARP head bolts for the VG30 please let me know where. I have always ended up with other brands because no one can find the bolts.

I have the same problem on a Ford. While fluid level and master cylinder are potential problems this is most likly a sensor going bad. Since it goes out on its own and comes on without touching the brake this is not w "real" problem. Now I am assuming that the brakes appear to work fine. If so then there is a short, or a loose connector, or corroded connector, or bad sensor. These systems are designed to fail on. Therefore if you stop getting a clean signal from the sensor the light comes one. The antilock and brake light will always come on together if the problem is in the antilock circuit. The brake light comes on by itself if there is low fluid or a broke line or even a burned out bulb in the rear lights. It would not come on and off if any of these conditions occurred. (ok maybe on the trail a low fluid problem might cause an on and off) Start by pullin gthe fuse to the antilock circuit and see what happens. But don't leave the fuse out forever, just find the bad signal.

Slick there is one big caution if you replace the head bolts. For the record the factory manual says to replace the head bolts everytime. These bolts are stretch torqued, meaning they give a little when torqued. Now that is the official line, many people have just used the same bolts over again. My local Nissan garage does not even have a set of head bolts in stock. The caution is if you buy a new set ($65) be careful of the washers that come with the set of bolts. Nessain used 2 different washers. One washer has a larger diameter than the other one. If your VG30I needs the smaller washer and you use the larger washer the embossment around the head bolt will fracture when you tighten the bolt. A small head crack is likely, but metal chips in the engine are a given. These washers are very close in size but side by side you can see the difference. The best way in my opinion is just reuse the washers that came out of the engine even if you use new bolts.

Well the problem is not what will fit, but what do you do about the sensors and computer. If you do not want to swap out your computer and the wiring harness then you are stuck with 1990 to 1995. Pre 1990 did not have a knock sensor so the computer will fault without it there. Of course you could add one. Post 1995 again the issue is the sensors. They are slightly different and produce different voltage for reading. You did not say which tranny you need, but if you are changing out both then I guess it doesn't matter.

a couple of comments: to GHSER7. I have pulled heads on a VG30 motor lots of times. I always pull them in place in the engine bay if I can. Removing the engine will more than double the work required to fix the problem. You just have to do things in the right order. Also if you replace the head bolts (I have done it both ways) be careful. You have to check washer clearances very carefully or you will crack a head like I did once. SLICK: ATF out the tailpipe???? I have a hard time understanding how ATF can get past the Cat. As for fuel smell in the oil. That is very normal. Well normal for any vehicle over 50,000 miles. The rings start to loosen up and when the engine is cold there is lots of blow by into the crank case. If you change the oil and smell the fuel 20 miles latter in the oil then you may have a problem. As a general statement the oil traps all sorts of contamination from an internal combustion engine, including heavy metals. That is why most states treat waste motor oil as a toxic substance but allow industry to treat oil from manufacturing facilities as nontoxic. Just keep the oil changed about every 3000 miles and everything should be fine. -bounce-

Yes the 2X and 4X wheel frames were very similar. The basic frame is the same, however I can not tell for sure if all of the welded brackets on the 4X match the welded brackets on the 2X. Pre 1990 was the era of 2 door pathfinders. Those are different. Before any of the forum comment I said different not worse. Now you can find 2X drive pathys but I admit there are not many around. I have only personnally seen one. Make sure that you take pics every step of the way. Luvmypath had taken pics of the transplant and posted them.

As it has been stated only the Pathfinder frame will fit. They are all the same from 1990 to 1995. Your best bet is to buy a rolling chassis, not just a frame. That will give you additional parts that you are likely to find bad on one of the Pathys. Things like control arms. There are many frames available in Washington State. Gundies in Bellingham 1-800-444-4344 have several. Gerrys 1-800-848-5578 in Kittitas has a couple, and Andersons 1800 359 7163 in Walla- Walla has one. All are priced under $1000. There are many in canada also, but since I do not know the geography of BC I do not know how close these people may be. Go to Car-part.com and enter the info You may figure out that many are close to you. If you were on the east coast you could get a frame very cheap, but of course you would have to find a wreck from many years ago to find one with a good frame. That is possible here in that while many Pathys in the yards are picked over for body and mechanical parts, most of the frames are still there. So a 5 or 10 year old roll over is possible to find. I am really interested in trying to assist someone who is going to tackle this frame transplant. I think I am too old to try it myself, but who knows.