bigmatt

OK, I noticed the rust problem on my 01 Pathfinder when I replaced my Struts back in April. Spent 3 months getting ready for my wedding and once the honeymoon was over I dug out the Recall notice and took the vehicle into the local dealership. I figured I'd add my experiences for future reference. First, the Damage. When I replaced my struts (April) I noticed a rust crack on the fender. I could stick a screwdriver through some areas of the crack but it was not seperating. If Nissan had not issued the recall, I was just going to cut out the section with serious rust (2" x 8") and weld in a steel patch. 4 months after I originally found the crack (last week) it had opened up to a hole 1 1/2" wide x 8" long. It wasn't rusted, it actually started peeling back the strut tower mount. Pic below So I called the dealership and they took a look. When they put it on the lift and took pressure off the strut tower the gap closed back up. The first 2 spot welds had broken and the strut tower was peeling open like a sardine can. Dealership said it was repairable but not driveable. They overnighted in the parts and I should have it back Monday or Tuesday. I was curious what the fix so I dug up the full recall notice and the detailed fix. If anyone's interested you can read here http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/docservlet/Artemis/Public/Recalls/2011/V/RCRIT-11V244-1111.pdf The one thing that I noticed is that the inspected areas (Area 1 and Area 2) are not really the bad rust areas or even the failure areas. They are the areas the repair bracket bolts to. As long as the steel in that area is solid the bracket will reinforce any weak areas and prevent further failure. Bigmatt

My understanding was the jeep springs were for a subframe drop (4.5" of lift). I did consider replacing the spring with OME's, but I would still have needed new shocks. If I was going to keep the vehicle long term I would probably have gone OME's all the way around, but home ownership has made me wish for a truck for a couple of years now. Probably going to pick one up in a year or two and trade in the pathy. Next weekend I will replace the struts call it good for suspension upgrades. Bigmatt

Ok, finally got the pictures loaded up. Yes, my existing springs are wore out and so were my shocks. With this mod I was able to replace the shocks and fix the sagging rear end for $80 First is the shocks installed. Not very impressive, they just bolted into the stock location. I only took pictures of the Passenger side. The shocks will also fit around the AC lines on the drivers side Next is the stock ride height Air shocks at 50 psi. Ride height increased by 2" And here is where I routed the air lines to. I picked up the compressor for $25 at Kmart. It has an automatic shutoff at a set pressure so I should be able to set the pressure and leave it plugged in in the rear storage area. If it works the way I want it to, it'll air up the shocks to 30 psi every time I turn on the ignition. Bigmatt

Nope, This is on a 2001 R50 5 speed. As far as I've read this hasn't been done before so I figured I'd do a quick overview. Bigmatt

So the wife went out of town this weekend and I finally got some time to take this project on. The shocks are Gabriel Hi Jackers off a 2005 Silverado 2wd. Extended and compressed lengths are very close to stock. This project starts with making the shocks fit. The top mount needs a bushing machined to fit the stock 12mm bolt. The bottom mount needs to be reamed open to 5/8". If you need to ask how to do this then this project probably isn't for you. Bolt on the new shocks, route the air lines to a convenient area and enjoy your new ride height. I mounted the air valve in the rear cubby on the passenger side of the vehicle. It's convenient to get to and out of sight. I measured the stock ride height at 19" to the trailer hitch with no load. After I sat on the bumper (~225lbs of dead weight) this dropped to 17 1/2". With 50 PSI in the shocks the unloaded ride height increased to 21". With me on the bumper this dropped to 19 1/2". This should let me load up with 3 friends and a weekends worth of camping gear and not have to drive on the bumpstops. Photobucket is not coperating tonight so no pictures yet. I'll try again in the morning. I think I covered the majority of the details, if anyone has specific questions let me know and I'll do my best to answer. Bigmatt

How good are your struts? I've got a passenger side that's about shot and it does the same thing. The sound you're hearing is the wheel bouncing off the pavement. This also causes the wobble. Bigmatt

Trouble shooting was a 1 step process. Have your codes read, autozone does this for free. Mine gave me a Misfire code and a Primary ignition code. This told me either plugs or coils. As far a difficulty, the #6 coil pack is the easiest to get to which is why I put my Suspect coil from 2 years ago in that location. Getting to 1-5 is more difficult because you have to remove the engine cover and several other items to get to them. It's an afternoon job at the most. Just make sure you have a good socket set and plenty of extensions. Bigmatt

I swapped out the misfiring coil pack today. Misfire is gone for now. I installed the Standard Motor Products Part # UF331 through Rock Auto. Take a look at the picture of the two coil packs They are identical, except that the Nissan logo on the boot has been scraped off and so has the Part # on the LH side. I'm thinking Standard Auto buts Nissan units but in order to import them they have to remove any association with Nissan. So if anyone is looking to save some money on replacing these I would look at the Standard Motor Products brand through Rock Auto. Bigmatt

That looks about the same as mine. I think mine's a U-haul brand but the mounts are the same. I've never had any trouble with it. It'll handle being grossly overloaded (20 mile trip riding hard on the bump stops) and it's just low enough to keep you from dragging you bumper on the ground when offroading. Plus it becomes a really convenient place to put your ORV stickers. Bigmatt

I've got Kuhmo Road Ventures in 255/70-16 and have never had a problem with the rear rubbing. That's with worn out stock springs and flexed to the max. However the fronts do rub when backing out of a friends driveway at full lock. It happens almost every time. Almost no flexing at all and I have never had it rub going through any other terrain. Bigmatt

On mine I have a noticeable lack of power (running on 5 cylinders instead of 6) and just above idle the engine vibrates quite bad. Enough that the shifter (I have a 5 speed) moves side to side about 1 1/2 inches when I give it some gas. I throw 2 codes when this happens. 1320 which is a General ignition fault, and 1306 which is misfire on cylinder 6 (1301 would be cylinder 1, 1302 would be cylinder 2, etc). My guess you issue may just be engine tuning. I can't say I've ever tried to hold the engine at 1500 in neutral, but it may be just the way the ECM is programmed from the factory. Bigmatt

I'll order the irridiums from Rock Auto and if my current plugs are OK I'll just hang on to them as spares. Any suggestions on the Coil Pack? They're all within $3.00, but I know there was an update along the lines (marked with a black sticker) and I'd like to make sure I get the updated ones. Bigmatt

Well my Misfire is back. It has been missing on and off for about a month now but it always went away after going a mile or two down the road. I had Autozone run the codes and I came up with a misfire on cylinder 6. For reference the coil pack on 2 was misfiring when this happened before (read above) and I had swapped 2 and 6 when I changed my plugs. So it looks like the coil pack on 6 is the trouble one so I'm only going to replace that one for now (don't have the cash for all 6). My question is what brand coil pack would everyone recommend. Rock Auto has 3 brands listed. Standard Auto Products, Airtex and AC Delco. Anyone have any recommendations? I 'm also going to replace the plugs again while I'm in there. Are NGK Irridiums still the plug of choice? Bigmatt

I actually averaged 16.3mpg over a 400 mile trip with ~500 lbs of gear and towing a 3000lbs trailer. that is running alternating tanks of 89 and 93 octane and with the cruise set at 70. This is also with a 5 speed and 4.3 gears

Just out of curiosity, since when did Rancho offer a 3" lift for the r50's (the 97 has it listed as a modification) Bigmatt