Resbum

That's another good idea for mounting the temp sensor. I may go that route the next time I have things apart. This time I had so many other things to do that I went the simple way. An update on its operation. During normal fan "off" engine operation the temp gauge is exactly 1/2 way between hi & lo. With the fan controller set at 195* the water temp gauge creeps up to 2/3's, then the fan kicks on.

Over the summer I absolutely POUNDED my Pathy dragging in a 1.5 mile long fire break, and it took every bit I threw at it. So, over the last two weeks I showed it some major loving. Week 1: New front axles strut rod bushings upper and lower ball joints centerlink tie rod ends Flushed and repacked wheel bearings All new Nissan seals four way alignment power flushed brake fluid drivers side motor mount drivers side exhaust manifold currently waiting on the steering damper parts replaced the lower links for the rear axle passenger side window switch panel (my 75 lb dog likes to stand on it when his head's out the window. The knuckle head has twice rolled up the window on his head.) Week 2: Removed everything off the top of the engine cleaned out spark plug holes and top of block spark plugs ecu temp sensor distributor cap and rotor MSD coil swap t-belt, tensioner, water pump, cam seals power steering and alternator belts cleaned intake system from the air filter to the intake valves while the plenum and lower manifold were off. EGR delete because the valve was bad and I destroyed the pipe trying to get it off new PVC valve new radiator core with my old metal header tanks, everything got silver soldered. (This alone accounted for about a quarter of the money spent.) all new cooling system hoses rerouted those two stupid little hoses off the back of the plenum with longer high pressure fuel injection hose. I'd love to meet the engineer that had that brilliant idea. electric fan and thermostat swap (Look in The Garage area for build thread) cleaned every electrical contact and ground point I could lay my hands on. I still have the new battery cables to replace, and the parts are sitting here waiting til I have the time. I did a lot of other odds and ends, also. All said, I think the receipts are in the $2,000 range. I'm not going to add them up 'cause I really don't want to know. I do know that the Pathy deserved it after the pounding it took last summer. Resbum And this is why you should check the spark plug holes before changing your plugs Before cleaning After cleaning

Thanks, adamzan. Yep, for simplicity I've decided to give the Monroe a try. If it doesn't work out I'll go with something else and a bracket kit. Resbum

Thanks. You just stick the probe in the hose before you slide the hose over its fitting. Try and get some RTV along the wire, then clamp it as normal. It might take a second try to get it to seal, but once you get it, it won't leak. I've done this more than a few times and still don't get it every time. Tightening the clamp some more after a couple hot cold cycles will get a leaker to seal up I'd guestimate about 75% of the time.

Thanks for the feedback. Yep. I was going to use its specs to see if I could find a comparable Bilstein. If not that a Rancho. Most of the people here who mentioned them seem to like them. Resbum

Thanks. Unfortunately, I've had bad luck with Monroe products. How did/has it held up for you?

Instead of starting a new thread I figured I'll bring this one to the top again. I have an OE steering damper pin on the way. However, I'm having difficulty tracking down a damper that is known to fit without having to buy a bracket kit or having to pay for a bracket kit included in the price. Can anybody give me a part number and brand of steering damper for just the damper that is known to fit as OE for a 95 Pathfinder? Thanks. Resbum

Dragster started a thread last week about engine cooling and opinions about running an electric fan. I happened to be in the middle of a bunch of other work under the hood, and had decided to go to an electric fan while in there. His thread kinda prodded me into grabbing a few pics and showing how i do it. This isn't about electric fans being better or worse than mechanical fans. I've run both, and will continue to run both. Each have their own merits and shortfalls in differing circumstances. Each of us has to look at our own needs to determine which is best. I mounted the fan in the shroud. I happened to have a 20" X 20" piece of 6160 aluminum, so I cut it into a ring the diameter of the shroud opening. I then cut a 16 1/2" ring out of the middle of that. Rough up this shroud where the ring meets it, then lock it in JB Plasticweld. One tube made enough putty to secure it in eight places. Great stuff, just as good as the original for metal. Put everything together, trim off the extra and get this. Next I calibrated the thermostat to kick on at 195* and it consistently kicked back off at 185*. This is something you can do over morning coffee. That's when I did it. Take your time and enjoy the process. I have no faith in temp controllers that use electronics. This good ole fashion pressure switch type is just about bullet proof if you take the time to dial it in. Nothing against electronic controllers, but why add added complexity when about 90% of us don't need it. I also installed a new Nissan 170* thermostat in the engine. Once it's dialed in I have marks at 170*, 190*, 200*, and 212*. The red dot is 195*, where I set it. Then some RTV and electrical tape to somewhat weather proof it. This time I inserted the probe into my cooling system at the bottom of the metal pipe between the thermostat housing and lower radiator hose. I was originally going to insert it at the top of the pipe, but there wasn't enough room before it hit the thermostat inside. Installed in the truck. The controller is mounted on the shroud just below the upper hose. A note about the wire between the probe and controller. Do not kink it. It's a pressure line, not an electrical wire. I didn't have the grill on the front of the truck. When I hot-wired the fan on to test it, the flow was strong enough to suck my sweater up onto the front of the radiator. Works for me. I hope this gives people some other ideas besides mounting things directly to the radiator. I've done it many times, but it always gives me the willys to tamper with the radiator. Resbum

It turns out my Pathfinder is one of them. I wasn't going to bring it up to avoid any confusion, but since you did, I will. When I first lifted the lower intake off the engine I was like, "What the #$&*?" A very rusty dirt filled hole is all that was where the KS should be, and I couldn't find the wiring pigtail for it anywhere. Also, there was no KS in the couple other places most people relocate them to, either. I then started Googling for more info. I found two references from people who said their Pathfinders didn't come with one. One of those people specifically said he had "... the 1995 Pathfinder SE, with auto trans", that didn't come with one. At that point, knowing that's exactly what my Pathfinder is, I carefully inspected the wiring loom. I even unwrapped the tape and looked inside the plastic protector sleeve that covers the wires in a couple spots. Originally I had thought a previous owner had cut the KS pigtail off, but I couldn't find one sign of any tampering with the wire loom, and there's not one bit of evidence that the factory loom has ever been messed with before I messed with it. With 40 years of wrench turning under my belt I'm now 99% sure my Pathfinder left the factory without a knock sensor. Resbum

Yep, unfortunately. There's a fair amount of info from people that relocated it to a more convenient spot. There's also quite a few people that say theirs hasn't worked for years and they've just ignored it if the rig is working.

Thanks for the casting info. I was eyeing that very thing as I was cleaning. I didn't mess with it, but now I know. I have a VG33E block (blown head gasket), and the adapters to use all my 30's externals on it. When I build it up for the swap I'll definitely open those castings.

Thanks for the answer.

Dang, I wish I'd known about that drop down kit. As for controllers, stay away from electronic ones. I go with a good ol' fashion one. I'm old enough that I've used the basic electromechanical ones for 30 years without one failure. Something like the Hayden #3653 is all most of us need and there's no electronics to fail.

I currently live most of the time on my off-grid property in eastern Oregon. However, I come up to Tacoma about every 3 months for a week, or so. If the day trip falls on when I'm up north you could count me in. Resbum

I need some advice from long time VG mechanics. I'm currently doing a bunch of engine work that needed doing. Yesterday I got the new timing belt, water pump, and cam seals in so the front of the engine is down to the block. Also, over the summer I drug in 1.5 miles of fire break out across the eastern Oregon high desert. Because of that my whole engine compartment, and all the hidden areas on top of the engine is also filled with vegetation pieces and other debris . I'm not going to pull the spark plugs until I take off the intake plenum and clean out the holes around the spark plugs. I have all the Nissan OEM intake and plenum gaskets and everything else needed to do an R & R to the top of the engine. So, here's the question. Once I have the plenum off it's literally not much work to pull the lower intake manifold off and inspect/replace the hidden rubber coolant hoses, and knock sensor. I have a new Nissan OEM knock sensor sitting on a shelf. Is it worth proactively replacing the knock sensor while the top of the engine is tore down, or not? Thanks. Resbum. Oh, and is there anything else you VG old timers feel is worth doing while I've got it tore down?

Man, are you opening a can of worms here. Let's try talking about a less divisive topic like the current election cycle the U.S. is going through. Seriously, this topic has about as many answers as the people reading this thread. There are pros and cons to both. I'm currently doing a bunch of other work on my engine. I just bought a Flex-i-lite fan (16", 2200cfm, 11.5 amps), and Hayden temp controller. My reason for doing it is because the previous owner did a 3" body lift and the engine fan no longer lines up with the opening in the shroud on the radiator, which is mounted on the body. Last summer I had to deal with overheating issues, so I'm going through the whole cooling system while doing the current engine work. It's easier for me to go electric than to try and get OEM back to correct operation. If my fan lined up with the shroud, I had a known good fan clutch, and I wasn't having overheating issues I'd probably leave well enough alone and stay with the OEM setup. There are a lot of considerations to be made before each owner makes their personal choice. My suggestion is to do a bunch of Google searching and read as much as you can about what other owners have done, and why. Not just in Nissan forums. Fans are universal in every form vehicle. And even this post is MY opinion, nobody else. As for me doing my electric fan conversion this time: 1) I'm mounting my temp probe inside the pipe leading from the thermostat to the radiator. You do this by sliding the probe into one of the places where a rubber hose hooks up. You place a little silicon gasket material where the probe wire is and tighten down the hose clamp. In the past I've mounted the probe in the radiator fins, but have never liked doing it. For mechanical reasons as well as accuracy reasons. 2) I'm modifying the shroud to mount the fan to it, instead of directly to the radiator with those funky plastic zip tie things. For the same reasons I listed in #1. There's another consideration, also. Water crossings. This has nothing to do with electricity. Electric fan motors can get wet all day long with no issues. Fan blades flex. In a water crossing they act just like a prop on a boat. However, in an effort to push the water into the engine compartment after passing through the radiator the blades flex in the the other direction, straight into the radiator. That's why some many people wire in a switch to manually turn of the fan. By mounting the fan to the shroud I'm giving myself about three inches of separation between the blade and the rad core. Also, with the fan mounted on the shroud it pulls cooling air through the whole radiator, not just the spot immediately in from of where it's zip tied to. Another thing some people don't consider is that an electric fan will add another big (my fan is 11.5 amps) load to the electrical system. If the electrical system is in good working order and, not already close to being overloaded, an electric fan isn't an issue. Good luck. Either decision you make won't be wrong as long as you've made sure it will meet your personal needs. Maybe I'll grab a few pics today as I'm doing my install and post them here, or in a new thread. Resbum

Thanks, caddy.

Hey Brother, thanks for your service. Got 20 in myself. This is most likely a long shot, but something to keep in mind. Most mechanical ignition switches have multiple electrical contact points inside them. If your ignition switch is failing electrically not all the contacts may be getting juice when they should. All your pathy needs to run is juice to the ECU and ignition. That's an exageration, but you get the point. What makes me bring this up is the fact that you can drive it with a bump start, but everything else is dead. Just a long shot to consider. Good luck. Please post when you get it figured out. Electrical problems are gremlins and we can't have threads about how people fixed theirs. Resbum

I don't know if I'm totally losing my mind, or not. I would bet on a stack of $100's that in the past I've seen a thread(s) about using a mid-90's Mopar/Jeep ignition coil (41,000v vs oem 30,000v), with the appropriate electrical pigtail, on our VG's. Now that I'm considering doing it I can't find anything about it, except for a few vage references. Can someone who knows more than I clue me in, please? Thanks. Resbum

Got it! Thanks again, RCWD21. I literally had to loosen about a 1/4" every, and any, bolt that had anything to do with a mounting system point, except the brackets attached to the engine. I think there's a little stored stress in the rubbers still, but I hope there's less than there use to be. That probably contributed to the old mount failure. Resbum

Thanks for the quick and thoughtful replies, RCWD21. Your crossmember looks totally different than mine. Mine has no notch. It also leaves the frame rail mounting points and curves to the rear some. That's what makes me suspect it's not the one that should be used. Yours looks straight across from rail mounting point to rail mounting point, and from what I understand, that's the one that should be used. That's why I finally gave up on vage descriptions of which one to use and asked for pictures. You're the second person who said they used their auto trans crossmember. The other guy said he just drilled new holes in his crossmember. However, there is no way I can drill new holes in mine because the holes won't be on a flat part of the crossmember. They'd line up with the leading edge curve. Your help does show me that certian auto trans crossmembers will work. Thanks. As the saying goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words." So, I'm still asking for someone to PLEASE post a picture of a known manual trans crossmember as Nissan meant for it to be mounted in the vehicle. With a picture there is no doubt what-so-ever how Nissan intended manual transmissions to be mounted in our Pathfinders. Resbum

I really, really need to see a picture of a MANUAL trans crossmember as it sits in the vehicle, while mounted to the trans and frame rails. I've searched the forum and the threads dealing with the swap don't show one picture of it. Everyone talks about it, but nobody shows it. Or, I just didn't find the thead with a picture. 3 years ago I bought my Pathy from a guy who'd done the auto to manual trans conversion. I've had to go through and redo, or just plain do, a fair amount of the things needed to do the swap. Now I'm beginning to suspect they literally forced everything to line up with the mounts. This weekend I decided to tackle a broken drivers side motor mount. Now I can't get the holes in the rubber motor mount to line up with the bracket attached to the engine. They sit a little high, but worse the mount holes are an inch plus behind the bracket holes. I removed the bolts that mount the trans to its rubber mount and moved (pushed) the transfer case towards the drivers side frame rail. I also had to use a tiedown strap to pull the whole engine/trans/transfer case assembly forward a half inch, or so. Now I can just get the bolts into the drivers side motor mount, but, of course the trans bolts don't line up now. Could someone PLEASE POST A PIC OF A MANUAL TRANS CROSSMEMBER as it's supposed to be mounted in the vehicle. Or if you know what the problem is please drop a reply. Oh yeah, if it matters, the crossmember in the truck has a "P" stamped in the crossmember above the drivers side torsion bar. Thanks. Resbum

This 95 pathfinder is new to me. It came to me with an automatic to manual transmission swap. Whoever has wrenched on this vehicle in the past should never again be allowed to approach a vehicle with a tool bag in their hand, let alone do something as major as a transmission conversion. That’s a totally different story so I won’t get into it here, but I’ve had to fix and correct sooooo many things since buying it. Here’s the issue I’m posting about. The tachometer always works, it’s nice and smooth in its operation, but it’s constantly running high. At idle it’s above 1,000rpm. At 60mph in 5th gear it runs dead on 3,000rpm and in 4th gear it runs approx. 3475rpm. That spread between 4th and 5th comes out to a .866:1 5th gear, if 4th is 1:1. That ratio combined with the “low” oil filler port leads me to believe the manual transmission came from an 87-95 Pathfinder, or similar. Next, I put the rear axle up on jack stands, and with the both tires off the ground, counted the drive shaft to tire rotations. This came out to 4.6:1, which matches the info plate in the engine compartment. i.e. H46. With the above info figured out, and confirmed, and knowing I’m running 33” tires, I headed to some online rpm calculators and plugged in these values: 60 mph, 1:1 (or .862:1) trans gears, 33” tires, 4.625:1 differential gears The results came out to: 4th gear @ 60mph should be 2825rpm, not 3475rpm 5th gear @ 60mph should be 2435rpm, not 3000rpm Oh, and one more thing, the speedo/odometer are dead nuts on per GPS and some radar boards, which surprised me with the 33” tires I put on it. I just did a 365 mile (per Google maps) road trip and the odometer read 362 miles. One final bit of info, I don’t know if it matters, but the previous owner gave me the manual trans. instrument cluster and ECU that came with the donor transmission for the swap. He said the Pathfinder is still running the original automatic transmission ECU and instrument cluster. He said this doesn't affect anything so he didn't switch them out. After a couple days of searches I've seen a bunch of posts about not working tachos and erratic tachos, but nothing about tachos that work smoothly all the time except for running high. Any help from more knowledgeable members will be greatly appreciated. Resbum