Citron

The plug was easy. I couldn't get the compression tester threaded in.

Twist shouldn't be an issue. You are checking the fluid in park with the engine running right? The owners manual should have capacity specs. If not, download the service manual and that will tell you.

Powder coating would be the most durable, as long as the metal is prepped correctly. You wouldn't have to worry about it for years. However, spray enamel would be fine, you may need to touch it up every so often though.

Scratch what I said. I am not familiar with your pathfinder and since writing the above post I have learned that auto pathfinders have a drain plug on the tranny pan, so no need to drop the pan unless you are also changing the filter. The torque converter also does not have a drain plug on these, so a flush is the only way to get the fluid out of the torque converter. Torque wrench is not needed. Follow an alternating pattern on the bolts.

The majority of my experience is on Fords, I used to work at a Ford dealer. I do hear you about the Germans. One of the worst items I replaced was the coolant temp sensor on a v8 Passat. It is under the intake on the back of the engine. That was another hour trying to thread it in, gave up and tried the next day and it went right in. The second was a tranny cooler line on a jeep grand Cherokee.

Yeah, I tried straightening the hose a few times. Guess I will continue and eventually get it. Try removing the passenger head on a 4.6l crown Vic. You need to remove the passenger motor mount and drop the engine down so the valve cover will clear the AC evaporator. I work with a lot of engineers and they seem like decent people, but I think they must be sadist.

So, I spent 45 minutes tonight trying to thread the compression tester into cylinder 6. It threaded into the other five just fine. I even threaded the spark plug back in twice to see the angle. I tried every angle I could. Any ideas, other then pulling the upper intake? I know I will get it eventually, have had similar problems on other vehicles, and it usually ends up falling in even though I didn't do anything different. Still would like others ideas.

Bought some jy manual hubs. Took them apart and started cleaning all of the old grease and rust out of them. Found that one of them has a bad bearing. Gonna see price and availability for a new bearing tomorrow.

Unfortunately, I am not that familiar with Nissans. Usually, they are located in the intake air ducting. Thinking about it, your vehicle has a MAF sensor, they usually also read air temp all in the same sensor. The FSM should help in figuring out if you it is included with MAF, separate our both.

The fact that it gets better with temp would rule out TPS in my opinion. There should also be an intake air temp sensor. This tells the ECU the temp of incoming air so it can adjust the afr. If it is not working, then you would have a lean condition at low air temps. Can the ultra gauge display real-time sensor data? If so, monitor some of the suspect sensors while changing load and rpm and see if they respond as they should.

Does the ticking noise go away when in gear, or under load?

For 3k drop a v8 in the r50

When I lived in Alaska, a lot of people swore by the fuel additive Heet for water problems. I never used it because over use will dry out seals and gaskets, but a one time use wouldn't hurt.

If I can get it running better. The engine is weak, it struggles to go up steep hills. I have had it stall under load a few times up steep hills, which is no fun. I think an engine rebuild or replacement is in order.

Just a thought, but could you have water in your fuel. Colder climates seem to have issues with that during winter.

Agreed I thought the same thing about the pump.

You want to wire the backup lights to a switch on the dash?

Wow, someone actually made an auto tranny with a drain plug! I don't think I have ever worked on one with a plug. Does the torque converter also have a drain plug on these? On the auto's I am familiar with, to get all of the fluid out, you also need to drain the torque converter, it holds another few quarts.

Lets see if this works. Went out the other day for a run in the snow.

So I tried posting photos from links from Google Photos and it says that the image extension is not allowed in this community. Is Photobucket and the only one allowed? I really don't want to signup for yet another photo site, I am already on google photos and shutterfly.

You need to drop the pan anyway to change the fluid, for $15 why not change the filter?

On older Fords the oil pump was driven off of the distributor shaft. You could chuck a drill to the distributor shaft and pump oil around the engine without cranking it. That is the best option as cranking is still moving parts without oil, albeit slower than starting. Will that work on the vg30?

It is usually a good idea to run the same fluid in the transmission and tcase. That way, if the seal fails there is no mixing of different lubricants. So ATF if you have an auto, and gear lube if a manual.

You might want to check the wiring schematic and make sure nothing else is fed off of that fuse. Sometimes other small systems will be fed off of a common fuse. They don't always list everything in the owners manual.

I have only lived over here for a year, so I am not all that familiar with the area. I have heard of a few roads going from the hood canal area over passes and into the Wynoochee lake area that are supposed to be washed out difficult to cross. Sounds like a challenge to me.