amr40509

Have you taken that boat to a scale or are you going w/ the published weight? I'd guess you are at about 5500 lbs if that is what I think it is (21' Four Winns Funship). I tow a boat that, ready to go to the lake, scales on a truck scale at about 4500lbs. Going camping in Kentucky's mini-mountains with the boat I've had about another 500lbs of gear in the boat and the truck full. I have NO problems with my '06 (just like the '05) Pathfinder. I have towed the boat about 6K of the 31K miles I have on the truck, and have had no problems at all. Pulling out at the ramp I take it slow and easy. When the ramp is wet/slick all the way up I put it in 4HI, but would bet that I could get out w/o it if I needed to. My father in law pulls the same boat up the same ramps w/ a 2wd pickup, just keeps fresh tires (Bridgestones) on the truck and goes EASY on the gas. The only time I've really needed 4wd at the ramp was a camp ground ramp that was covered in wet sand/mud from the water having recently dropped. Regarding going down the ramp, I also use "N" when backing down so that the truck isn't pulling too. I have slipped backwards a few times, everyone does this from time to time w/ a big boat. Just keep in mind that when the boat floats, it won't be pulling you anymore, so you won't go in the drink.

Yeah..... off road driving an automatic....I've found that my left foot works just fine for brakes.

I guess this is a non-American version? See the turn signal on the front fender and euro front plate... What is the real purpose of Hill Decent Control? I've off-roaded my Bronco for years and never thought of needing something like this. Does it slow you down w/ brakes of just compression?

I used the Mobil 1 truck/suv, but I really doubt there is much difference. If I go to buy oil next time and they only have the regular Mobil 1, or there is a price difference, I wouldn't hesitate to use the 'normal'. I used the Nissan filters, bought 10 of them and 10 of the oil drain plug crush gaskets online. The factory filter was hell to get off, that was on TIGHT. I had to dent it up pretty good to get it off. I don't know how much of it is break in and how much is the oil change, but I have been getting better and better mileage. I've driven just over 1K miles since changing over to Mobil 1. I've gone from 15.2-15.7 in town to 15.9-16.3, and about 21 pure highway to 22. The biggest difference is in towing though. I tow a boat a lot and was getting 11.4-11.6 mpg. Last weekend I towed about 250miles and got 13.6mpg. I used to have a VR6 Jetta, they have aluminum oil pans and mine hit a chunk of ice on the highway in the winter and knocked a golf ball sized hole in it, but I didn't think I had done damage. The oil pressure light failed and I drove about 5-7 miles. Parked and let the car sit. On start up the light did come on and I shut it off. On inspection there was very little oil on the ground so that means that before parking I drove w/o oil for awhile (at 70+mph). I had Mobil 1 in the car. No engine damage, just replaced the pan, refilled the oil, and drove it for 85K more miles (including 3 seasons of autoX racing). Car ran like new when I sold it.

I just changed to Mobil 1 last weekend in my '06 (just under 3750 miles) and the truck is noticeably smoother and quieter. I haven't had a problem w/ 'dry' sound on start, but my truck typically doesn't sit for days at a time, just overnight. The higher revs are normal on start, I think every car I've ever owned has done that. Haven't tested highway mpg yet - but drive the same commute every day and have picked up 1/2 of a mpg of mixed city/highway on that this week. I will test towing the boat on the interstate this weekend (previously got 11.3mpg like clockwork on the drive to this lake w/ the boat in tow).