Roo

I'm not mechanically inclined enough I think though.. I wouldn't want to mess up anything important like a timing belt. I was actually taken into the shop while the truck was up on the lift and the mechanic pointed out all of the spots that were leaking and I saw them for myself with my phone's flashlight. I am fairly sure that they aren't trying to pull a fast one.. I spoke with some friends who have japanese brand cars and they've gone to this same shop and they always says good things about them and the work they do. I'm totally not going haphazardly to shops and trusting them without talking to people and doing my own research

A bit of an update for those who are interested.. I took my Pathy to a trusted Japanese Auto Repair shop and discovered a lot more problems than I originally had anticipated. My mom noticed that I was leaking oil under where I normally park, I checked it out for myself and there's quite a few spots. So I immediately booked an appointment the next afternoon to have my truck looked at, for free, by the repair shop and they told me that my engine was bleeding oil everywhere, not specifically the engine but the oil pan, gasket, etc.. I was also told that my clutch is practically non existent and since it's my primary mode of transportation I was warned that I should baby it for as long as needed until I have enough money saved to get a new clutch. I was also cautioned about my timing belt, as the mechanics found that there was a Nissan stamp on my belts, we don't know how old it really is.. Every 60k miles it should be replaced and at the moment it's unknown if how many miles it has on it. Scary stuff.. All in all, for a new timing belt, clutch, and to fix everywhere that's bleeding oil will run me about 1800. Since I am still paying it off and have about 1800 remaining on my financing, with my down payment, I will end up paying close to 4k for this truck when everything is said and done and it's 100% mechanically sound again... though I hope that because it's a 90's Japanese car, once this is all done it will continue to run for a very long time. I've heard of Nissan's running well into the 400k mileage mark, along with other Japanes cars, Toyota's, Honda's etc.. Let's hope for the best, right?!

True.. Asking around for trusted friends and relatives in the area is probably going to be a good place to start and go from there. Thank you, I'll definitely keep your tips in mind! That's also a great point about the cost being so cheap that the quality of work is being questioned; we do get what we pay for...

Right?! I was thinking that at least one store / shop that I visited would have at least pointed me in the right direction or gave me an address to a shop that'll do the complimentary "this is what your ECU is complaining about" test... Overall I found my experiences with shops good, until I mentioned that I had a 95, then it felt as if my experience went downhill.. I was considering just taking care of that ahead of diagnosing the CEL, if it's indeed the vehicle's speed sensor that needs to be replaced that may be cheaper than getting the CEL diagnosed then spending probably double the money when I could have saved it in the first place getting the speed sensor replaced. Would you, and others, recommend that I do my own research for a reputable shop that works on Nissan's OR go straight to the dealer where I know I'll have X fixed but pay a premium to have work done at a dealership? I also had another question... how much do you, or anyone else, think a new clutch would run me? .. that is a shop installing it as I don't have the tools nor know-how to complete a clutch replacement on my own (and to be honest I'd be a bit afraid to do so!! I really don't want to break my primary mode of transportation..)

I'm suspecting that's what it is as everything else appears to be mechanically sound. I slid my passenger seat forward all of the way and there are two screws holding the cover on top of the ECU, sadly I looked around the house and I don't have any tools to either A) take off the seat completely, or remove the screws at an angle.. If I could have easily gotten to it I was going to find out which CEL codes it is outputting to avoid paying the fees at a shop to diagnose it for me. Would you believe that every auto parts store who offers free CEL diagnosing can't and/or won't diagnose my 95 pathy because it has the OBD1 thing-a-majig? I think that's silly... "Oh we can help you! What year is your vehicle?" "It's a '95!" "... ooh... I am sorry but we can't help you". I don't see why auto parts stores don't keep the tools around to diagnose pre 96 CEL's. Unless it's all just a grand scheme to keep the car owner oppressed! haa.. kidding, but seriously! >_>;

I think I'll try to slide my seat forward today and see if I can have a good angle to view everything. That's a great idea!! I may look into doing that just for future use

Hey, thank you! I now have my eye on one of the stickers.. specifcally this "NPORA" one. While my Pathy is still 100% stock and I've never been one to have stickers on a vehicle of any kind, I am quite fond of that one in the picture .

I was thinking that too.. as nothing else seems to be out of place and it hums along for being 20 years old with 216k miles. I am only going to assume that it'd be the better course of action to self diagnose it rather than pay the $115 that the Nissan Dealer is asking for to diagnose it for me. Though they'll give me a print out of everything that's "wrong" or out of place with my pathy. Can I see the LED's without removing my passenger seat? If I can then I think I can totally diagnose it myself and bring information to a shop about what is wrong with my truck.

Holy crap, $800!! I wasn't expecting that much.. a few hundred at best is what I had in mind xD time to start saving! It'll definitely be worth it though to ensure the life of my truck and its engine. I think it'd be a good thing to have that done before I buy a new clutch and tend to the other things that need attention on my truck though. I have been babying the crap out of my clutch though so that I can extend the life it has left in it. I see, I need to use my truck enarly every day haha, I'll need to plan that out and see if enough research will make me comfortable enough to attempt to fix my cluster. It would be nice to have a working tachometer for the first time.. though I suspect the speedo may be more intense to fix as it seems to have a mind of its own in regards to what it wants to do. Usually when starting out it doesn't read my speed at all till I am going about 25-30 mph, but more recently with all of the driving I've been doing (it's so much fun!) it likes to quit picking up my speed entirely and go back to zero. Craziness, I just want it to work properly more than I want my tach... If it's an easy fix I may attempt to do that on my own, though I read somewhere around the fourms that it may be the vehicle speed sensor which is in the transmission, I have to be honest I am quite afraid to do any sort of work no matter how easy it may be around my transmission - probably for good reason too.. Ha, no worries.. I am in the 98012 area, though from where I am at exactly Google says I am roughly three hours and a half tank of gas away from you. Maybe when the timing is right we could hang out! I definitely want to get a new timing belt and an oil change before taking my baby on its first roadtrip to make sure I have enough confidence in it, you know?

I bet it's running great I have 216k on mine and it's running so great for its age. Once you get a new bumper for yours it'll look great and you'll feel a lot better about it, that along with the interior it'll be tip top!

hey Carl! welcome to the forum.. I just joined myself and have found a ton of useful information regarding my pathfinder, I hope you learn what you need to know to properly take care of your truck

I'll definitely look into removing the instrument cluster one of these days when I am feeling brave enough, ha. Being pointed in the right direction is at least a good thing though, so when I take it in for whatever the problems may be I'll be able to speak knowledgably about what's wrong and make sure the shop doesn't screw me over. I swung by an O'Rielly auto parts store today and got my battery, starter and alternator checked and they're all fine. I was told that my alternator may be on its last quarter of life though.. just something to keep in my mind and add to my list of things I need to get done for to make sure my pathy keeps running for a very long time. I'll also be going by a Les Shwab tire place tomorrow morning and getting the free safety check done, I don't hear anything wrong with my brakes, suspension or anything else they check for - but alas there could be something unseen I am unaware of, I hope for the best though! I was also told, in my introduction thread that I should definitely look into getting the timing belt replaced as it should be done every 105k miles, and if it's been replaced once I need to seriously look into another.. do you or anyone else have an idea of how much that should cost and if I should take it to a shop or pay the extra bit to take it to a Nissan dealer to ensure it's done properly? I feel I should err on the side of caution with something so vital and bring my pathy to a Nissan dealer and pay the dealer fees.

Hey there! Welcome to the forums... I knew that truck looked super familiar! Great looking one you have . Very similar to mine...

That's true! I am very glad I happened to stumble across this forum and hope to greatly expand my knowledge of cars and specifically my own pathy in the years to come. ^_^ I'll definietly be taking it in small bites and not trying to digest everything all at once, nothing is learned that way, step by step!

I don't think I'll be removing it just yet, though I think getting a fob just so it doesn't bark at me needlessly will be a good idea - even though I've driven family members cars that were equiped with alarms and I never used them. Besides how often do you hear a car alarm going off and instead of thinking that something was wrong, you thought "stupid people, turn off your alarm"! xD

Okay thank you that's probably a good rule of thumb to follow especially as I don't want to pee away the money I spent and will be spending for payments all because the timing belt decided to take a crap on me. Any idea how much a new one will cost and should I go to a general automotive shop for it? I picked up the service manual but have yet to read it thoroughly, and will be getting my hands on an owners manual too as one wasn't included for me when I bought the truck. I do have a plan of sorts of things to get done to ensure that my new pathy continues to run for a very long time.. at the top of the list is the timing belt, then an oil change and various filters, I think after that I'll replace the clutch since it feels like it's slipping but not too bad especially since I am babying the truck as a whole. Awh shucks.. you're too kind! At least you have the silver/champange Pathy too, I think the color is absolutely beautiful the only other color I'd want to have is White

Let's hope that I'll be improving my mechanic skills instead of keeping a mechanic happy as the latter would imply a crying bank account!

Wow, that's excellent information, I'll definitely be buying a fob off of eBay and programming it myself! Yay for doing things on my own. I guess this starts the road of completing projects by my own hands on my pathy. Fun stuff!!

That's excellent information, thank you! Although my mechanic skills are about as good as using a screwdriver without knowing really what I am doing... are these issues fairly easy to fix and for someone such as myself who doesn't have very much knowledge about working on cars? If they're both pretty easy I suppose it'd be worth a shot though, get my hands dirty and all of that good stuff and learn more about my pathy as I do it! I'll check out the Garage Section before bringing it to a shop or dealer to have it looked it . Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hello! I recently found this awesome forum and I'm sure glad I did . I have some quirks with my Pathy, as all used cars have their unique quirks but I was wondering how I should go about getting them fixed - none of them are a necessity to be fixed and I think it gives my truck character but it would be nice if the essentials worked as intended.. This quirk is really not that important in the grander scheme of things, my tachometer hasn't worked since I bought the truck, the dealership even mentioned that it hasn't worked since it was sold to them, some times jumps all over the place while never reading my engine speed correctly. Often times it'll sit at 0 rpm's while on the freeway and some times while at a stop light it'll be over redline, I think it's quite confused. Along those lines is my lazy speedometer, it regularly doesn't pick up my speed until I am going about 25-30 mph then it works fine even when driving under 25 mph. Not that it's a big deal, it has never failed to work but I would much more like it to work than my tachometer as I feel my ears are a better judgement of how many rpm's I am at. The second thing, again which is not important in the grand scheme, is that I appreantly have an alarm system on my Pathy? I was pumping gas today and the drivers side door was ajar slightly then all of a sudden it decides it wants to make its presence known.. this is the second time it has done this. The first time I was parked at home and peeling off tape that had been left by the dealership and it started going off. My only fix is to put the key in and turn it to accessory which seems to stop the alarm from going off. And last but not least, I have a check engine light that has been my new friend and it has been on since I bought my truck. I've given a quick peak at the engine, checked the oil and whatnot, nothing seems to be out of place but it could be unseen to my untrained eyes. Though even with the light on, I don't notice anything wrong with it driving wise. SO, should I take it to a Nissan dealership to see if I can get an actual key fob for it and have them diagnose everything and give me a list of the things that aren't up to specifications? Or what would be the best course of action to take with all of the facts considered? If you want to see my beautiful Pathy I snapped some pics hours after I bought it and have them here . http://imgur.com/a/DDvQK

That's so awesome! Looks way better than mine haha... in time I suppose I can ascend to higher levels of awesomeness with my Pathy . As for the timing belt, I have no idea, nor did the used car dealership have any information on the maitenance history of it... I do know that the oil was changed semi recently... the sticker on my windshield says that I have 2k more miles to go till I need my oil changed again, will probably listen to the sticker as I don't know how well it was taken care of before me. Though I am going to baby it and keep it happily running for a very long time, first car love and all of that good stuff! But I digress, I'll be swinging by a respectable shop once it's financially feasible and get a print out of everything that's wrong mechanically speaking with my new Pathy. Another tidbit that I didn't know, apparently I have an alarm system? Though the key fob apparently had not been with the truck when it was sold to the dealership, when I stopped to get gas today it started going off with the drivers side door unlocked and open while fueling up, the only fix is to put the key in and turn it to the accessory setting.. I suppose I should swing by a Nissan dealership and talk to them about it and see if I can get an actual key fob? When and if I do that, I would also like to get my tachometer and speedometer fixed... the tach never worked and randomly jumps all over the place as it doesn't know what's going on, and the speedo some times doesn't pick up that it needs to do something till I am at 25/30 mph then it works fine. Aaah the quirks of a used car! Overall I am LOVING it, I should probably make a post in the correrct category though about these quirks and the best way to go about fixing them... this is my introduction post afterall and wow it's getting long! Thank you!! I am quite happy I found the Pathfinder and you fine folks. I'm definitely looking forward to the nice long life that I know is still in my Pathy...

Mine is silver! I've always wanted a silver car and now... I have one! I am so happy with it..

Mine is either "my truck", "pathfinder" or... "the silver chariot OF GLORY"... emphasis on OF GLORY while speaking. xD

I just bought my 95 XE with a five speed and it has 216k miles on the clock, it's running great!!

Thank you!! The interior has a few issues but nothing you wouldn't expect from a nearly 20 year old vehicle, it's very clean though and and everything works as it should. The only major thing I've noticed so far is that the clutch slips a little but not bad and has plenty of life left in it for around town driving and jotting back and forth to work and home. I do think it'd be a good idea to take it to a Nissan dealership to get it looked over and let me know of any unforseen issues I don't yet know about, in time though! Today will be my second day owning it and I am very very happy with my purchase and the truck.. it's the first Nissan I've ever driven and in my family. I'm so happy with it