JPpathfinder

Update. Put new timing belt in as well as new front main seals, water pump, and thermostat. Got her put back together and fired it up. It runs and idles but a little rough. No clanking sounds or ticking, but never the less rough. Dropped it off at mechanic to give it a compression test and further diagnosis. Will go from there. Feeling lucky but not out of the woods yet.

Been a while since I've posted, actually got quite a bit done but I'm afraid it may have been all for nothing. Diagnosed timing belt failure. ?. Was driving interstate uphill at 75 mph when there was a small clunk and lost all power. Coasted to a stop and had it towed to small town. Shop that looked at it not set up to do extensive mechanic work but believes it's the timing belt. Is there any remote chance that my pistons etc are not destroyed? I either have to get it towed to another shop to get into it, tow it home and work on it, or find out that there's no chance and junk a project I've put so much time and money into already. Only reason I didn't put a new one in was because I was informed that the previous owner changed it and the water pump not long before selling. Now I'm wishing I did. If I can get it fixed then I'll update with what else has been done to it.

Lol, will do. Tracked down a tire carrier 80 miles out for 70$. I will arrange for pickup tomorrow. I'm excited man, got the roof rack and now the tire carrier (hopefully). Going to see if they will send me a picture of the carrier before I pay over the phone since I'm having someone else pick it up due to my work hours. I'm sure it's right but I will feel better if I can see it first. Painting is still a ways off, will likely do some suspension work first, then need to do some body work like Bondo and maybe a new fender and hood, it's not bad but the PO bent the corner a little and the fender is eaten through in a spot with the bottom 3 inches gone. We'll see, probably half a year before I tackle any paintwork.

I found a couple tire carriers online but they want 400$. Seems steep for a vehicle that's only worth 2k at best nowadays. The Lego wheels have the fake lugs on them, they're off of a 95 se. Didn't know there were differences. I plan on painting the pathy flat tan with black accents down the road, gotta do some Bondo work in places so may as well do the paint I want eventually. How difficult is it to pull the plastic 'vent' things that are on the outside behind the glass in the back? Would it be easier to paint them while on or are they simple to take out? Not sure if I explained that well enough. Love the quick response man thanks!

Update! Trimmed rust, cleaned and welded frame solid! I feel much better about that. I found the oil leak, it was the rear main seal. Tested blue devil rear main seal fix juice stuff and next day I had no leak at all, left it in for a week then drained oil and changed oil and filter. No issues since, I don't want to tackle a rear main seal on these if I can avoid it, so that's good for now. Did minor fixes like battery strap, clips and found a new-old stock door latch rod piece. Bought new pads and rotors, haven't installed yet. Went hunting through our states largest salvage yard and picked up a roof rack for 40$. Took it to the shop and stripped it, painted it and installed it, used silicone in the holes to seal it. Looks way better now, loving it. Also picked up fender flares all the way around (haven't put on yet). Found some window trim pieces, plastic trim, cargo light cover, bolt for auto hub, and the real treasure I found is Lego wheels. Only had two, I'll use one for my spare until I can find 2 more. Wonder what they would look like powder coated black?. Although I'd kinda hate to do that to Lego wheels. There was an se-v6 there with a great interior, may swap seats and door panels next time I'm there. Did not find a rear hatch tire carrier swing though which was the initial reason I went there ?. Question- are there any tire carriers from other vehicles that will fit a wd21? I found a tire carrier for a rodeo that looked close but forgot to bring tape measure to really check. I'm mostly only concerned with where it mounts to the corner for strength, I believe I could retrofit the latch from one to another, any advice please? PS. Still trying to find a place to upload photos. Would like to show progress.

More basic work done. More work to do. 1) Had some loose wires in the engine compartment so I bought some loom and got it away from any hot engine parts. 2) Fixed the exhaust, right where the pipe connects to the 'y' just below the driver's seat. There was a 1/4 inch gap between the two and I couldn't pull them tighter. Previous owner used tinfoil, tow strap and hose clamp... didn't work. So I used some exhaust putty as well as the FiberFix exhaust bandage kit. I wish I had a before and after video, it was loud, all engine. I can hardly tell if the trucks running now since the tacho doesn't always work. Lol. 3). -Question- Found two connectors hanging down on the passenger side of the transfer case/transmission area (might get pictures later), they are both female plug ends with two pins inside. I couldn't find where they would go or even what they are for. The tacho sometimes works so I imagine it's not for that, could it be to the speed sensor maybe? I'm terrible at identifying electrical system stuff. 4) Cleaned and welded a portion of the passenger side frame that was rotting out, there's another spot behind the passenger rear tire that needs attention real soon, maybe tomorrow. There's some lines running along the inside that I'll have to be real careful with. (Tried uploading picture, gotta find a place to upload to). 5) Ordering new brake kits, there's some grinding when almost stopped. 6) Tension rod on passenger side needs replaced. It's disconnected at the rear near the boot. 7) I hate the dipstick on this motor, it's so hard to read that I over-filled it. I'm having trouble finding a flat one instead of the rectangular box version. Oil leak seems minimal, still keeping an eye on it. ? Also having trouble finding a bolt for the auto-locking hubs. People at my local O'Reilly weren't able to look it up and left me hanging. Not super competent there. But neither am I lol. 9) Boss is willing to help me build the tire carrier for the back. I'd like to have mounts for a shovel, Jerry cans and highlift. Starting to draw it out using the images from the Nicoclub manual. 10) Also bought a tire inflator and battery jumper. Working on building storage for all camping and fishing gear, and other basic items. Bought extra bulbs for backup. Still tracking down spare tire rim. Walmart has BF Goodrich all-terrain 31s on clearance from the usual $130 down to $80 so I think I'm going to snag 5 while they're still that affordable! That's $250 saved! That's about all for now, love the resources here and the support. Peace.

Bought my 95 xev6 pathy, and it's missing 1 bolt on the auto hub. They do work so I'd like to find a replacement bolt for it, did searches online but can't find it? What do I search for or does anyone have a link to the part?

Awesome and well detailed reply! I live in a very cold place, hope it's not going to be Uber problematic during winter.. never did get a pic of the wiring in the back but I did get my head-unit in for now, all speaker channels running to the cheapo computer speaker. Will upgrade later. And since the door is already chopped it won't be a big deal if I have to trim for speakers, I can do way better work than he did. Had a guy check over motor today, he doesn't think there is a coolant leak. So I won't use that stuff, I'll take it back tomorrow. My neighbor was a car dealer and diagnostics professional and personally owned two pathys so he's been a big help. My console screws are stripped out too. I'll leave it till it breaks. Also fixed the speedometer for 25$... Said screw it and bought a GPS speedometer lol. Worth it to avoid the time and headache of troubleshooting those, did that on my 86.5 hardbody and don't want to do it again, I cleaned the contacts and tightened the screws and it still doesn't work so meh! Brake cleaned the motor to see specifically where the oil leak is from and how bad it is. Will keep a close eye on it till I can decide what needs to be done or if it's a really slow leak. Think my dimmer may have been bypassed since the dash still lights up on full. I will check for the wiring for the fog lights and check the contacts for the cruise control tomorrow, thanks for the pointers. Peace!

Couldn't resist! Way too nice out I had to go wheelin'. Avoided mud due to rust issues. Did some work on it today. (2 speaker/stereo questions below) 1) Used silicone lubricant on all door locks, latches, and hinges. As well as hood latch and release, gas tank cover release, window tracks, seat adjustment rails. 2) Cleaned it out, packed full of rat nesting $#!+. Particularly under the shifter boot. 3) Used degreaser on interior parts using toothbrushes and larger brushes. Vacuumed it out, still dog hair in carpet. 4) Bought replacement mirror material for driver door, screwed up and shouldn't have put the 3rd adhesive strip across center, made it like a fun-house mirror. Oops. 5) Bought WIX air filter (need truck to last, K&N doesn't filter well enough for that). The airbox was full of nesting material, I mean FULL! 6) Installed CB antenna, ran it through door channel and along the inside between the windshield and dash to the radio. 7) Bought some head gasket sealer juice that I will use when I know I won't be using the Pathy for a day. Not positive there's an issue there but I don't think it will hurt, I smell coolant burning while driving yet there's no visible leak that I've spotted yet. 8) ? Had a sandwich. 9) Temporary fix: spray painted over rust on rear bumper. As well as on the rear wiper arm that's peeling. 10) Bought seat cover for driver side (dirty job I have). 11) Outer door handle failed and heard a clunk. Proceeded to take off door panel to find every clip torn out of panel ?. And to top that off, he cut the door open to get to the mechanism easily, which sucks but made my job a little easier. Rod is missing between Outer handle and plastic sleeve. "Farmer Joe" took an old wire and twisted it to fit in there. Rod clips are broke so not sure I want to mess with finding the parts for them. Nissan doesn't carry them anymore. I just modified his work and bent the (heavy) wire to work tighter and not fall out again. 12) LED cargo light (will eventually change all lights to LED to reduce alternator keep-up, as well as custom color choices, I'm going to run all red , dash and all, except main dome light). 13) Started to work on installing my head unit and inspecting "Farmer Joe's" handy work with the radio... Joe installed old dial radio w/ no cassette even, had to cut the plastic to fit it in (install kit will cover it though). And he has one old computer-speaker wired that sits below the center console. All wires to factory radio were cut but accessable still. Random wires running to the back cargo area that look like they may have ran a system at one point, maybe. Two tweeters hooked into loose wiring, not sure if they are the originals for the Pathy's rear. I'll take a pic tomorrow when it's daylight. This leads me to a couple questions. I've searched the forum and understand the factory amp issue when installing a new stereo. Pathy already has the antenna adapter. And I could potentially figure out which wires are power from what's already connected. I'm going to bypass amp (if theres even one left). How do I access the rear speakers and factory amps? Do I have to remove the whole headliner or do the speaker covers pop off? (95 xe-v6 4 door). I tried carefully but don't want to break clips or whatever is holding it there. Speakers in doors are shot, paper cones are turning to dust so I'll likely replace all the speakers. No woofer system, just want the factory front and rear position speakers and tweeters. (Should I even run the tweeters if I buy 2 or 3 way speakers? Won't that require a crossover/amp?). Lastly I came across a few issues as I worked on the Pathy today. 1). Center arm-rest console was"Joe's trash can, not inside, but beneath it, cough drop wrappers and such, shoved in either through the e-brake pocket or through the missing switch cover hole. The arm rest was super wobbly, the front only has one bracket to attach to, and the back doesn't clip in. Found this out after spending an hour digging gnarly coins out of the screw holes, packed full of black resin-like grime. (Not drug related luckily). But I still can't see the screw heads, it doesn't bother me that much, after I put in my Drop-Stops they sorta wedge it in place. 2) Dimmer switch doesn't dim. 3) Crude patch under rear seat floor. 4) Cruise control may not be working, I can't get it to work. 5) Has fog light button wired in but no fog lights on Pathy. 6) Power door locks confusing, sometimes when I attempt to open the passenger door while unlocked, it locks all the doors as I lift the handle. Actually got locked out today, but nieghbor has Jimmy bar ?. More to come!

Still saving for parts, I'm not driving it yet. I'm currently detailing my car for sale. Then I'll tackle the pathy head on. Oil leak then frame repair first. I'm guessing by the end of May I will be working on her.

I'm curious about the pathy's history, I don't live in the rust belt and they use sand on the roads here. My hardbody had zero rust, one of the parts trucks was almost nothing but rust though lol. Do the pathy's optionally come with limited slip differentials? I don't know if mine has one for sure. Haven't had a chance to drive it much yet. Thanks for the link to the window seals! You guys rock!

Thanks for the pointers slartibartfast, that manual will be invaluable. Did some more investigating and I'm going to need to do some frame repair, back passenger side is rotting out but still straight. I'll clean it up and weld in some new steel, then wire brush the rest and seal it with paint to prevent/slow-down any further rust development. Is it difficult to find replacement outside window trim pieces? Or am I stuck to junkyard hunting? Other minor problems are headlight mounting ring missing on passenger side, some farmyard repairs that don't bother me too bad. But I'll also need to replace the boots up front, and check brakes while I'm at it. They seem fine from what I'm able to tell without pulling them apart. Passenger mirror a little loose, easy stuff. Saving up for a collection of parts like timing belt and other engine tune-up gear to hit it all at once while I have stuff apart. May take a month to gather everything and begin the work, but I will post the progress and I'm sure find more questions as I go. Thanks again. Peace.

Hi everybody! I just got my Pathfinder today. 95, xe-v6, 4x4, 5 speed, 4 door, 130,000 miles (broken speedometer and odometer) reliable owner says add 15-20k to that number. Red with grey interior. Auto windows, locks and mirrors. You can call me JP for short. I used to own an 86.5 hardbody as well as another 86.5 and 87 hardbody for parts and an unfinished/abandoned truck bed trailer project. Sad to say I had to get rid of them due to a move over 5 years ago. The Pathfinder will be my daily driver but also designed for camping and over landing. Not necessarily extreme mudding or rock climbing. Truck has some issues that need fixin'. Starts and drives, has decent tires, drove it 70 miles to a workable location. If anyone could point me to the right threads to help out this forum noob I would highly appreciate it! Many problems I've dealt with before but tips always welcome. I have daily access to a machine shop and have intermediate skills with basic mechanics and fabrication. Just need to budget as I go. Problems at purchase: 1) valve head oil leak 2) radiator cap leak (came with new radiator in the back) 3) speedometer and odometer don't work (quit working on my old hardbody too) 3.5) tach is jumpy 4) clutch catches very early 5) hood latch release lever super tight and sticks in the open position. 6) air conditioning belt not attached (may not work, don't know yet) 7) rear tire carrier removed ? ? no roof rack ? 9) no spare tire or rim 10) minor rust issues Plans for truck: 0.1) fix above problems lol 1) new plugs wires and belts 2) better alternator 3) led headlight conversion 4) winch and mount 5) trailer hitch 6) light bar 7) basic tune up and suspension service ? warn manual hubs 9) finally paint Only had this for less than 12 hours so I'm sure I'll find more out as I dig into it more. Looking forward to being a part of the Pathfinder community, I always wanted one and am excited to get it working better than it has in the last decade or two. Thanks for having me! Peace.