Some Little Problems That Could Use An Experts Advice :)

[Goosevf_1]

Hi all,

 

You may or may not have seen my "Newb" post in the welcome section, but as I mentioned, this isnt my first pathfinder, but its still relatively uncharted territory for me. Ive had a 93 xe and a 92 d21 base model. Im back in the game with my "new to me" 95 se.

 

One known issue that I bought the vehicle with was a starter issue. After extensive reading, Ive read that I need a new starter solenoid. The symptom that is occuring is this; the starter is turning, and with authority. I havent put a meter on it to test voltage or amperage but it sounds strong. The starter drive is just not engaging. So either the solenoid is shot, or the fly wheel has no teeth left. It bump starts, but thats not a habbit I like to get used to. If anyone has any other insight, I would be very appreciative of any input.

 

The other issue I noticed on my way home. When I parked it, I noticed that the front right corner was sitting a lot lower than the rest of the truck. I didnt notice anything in the ride on my way home, but Im not used to driving old suvs anymore and may have been oblivious to it. I have a feeling its the torsion bar or the shock. I do not know however, how to determine what the issue is. If its a torsion bar, where to look to find one? What is the difficulty in changing one? If its the shock, do I need to replace both of the front ones? I have Electronic Adjustable suspension. I dont need this feature, if I choose a shock that is unequipped, should both of the front ones be changed in unison?

 

Again, Im appreciative to any answer that anyone can give me to shed a little light on these items. I look forward to tearing into this beast and getting her back to where she needs to be. These are great little trucks that just need to be kept on. Im really excited to own my first vehicle again

Cheers everyone, sorry for the novel.

 

Brandon

[Slartibartfast]

My understanding of our starter motors is that the solenoid has to move before the motor engages, so my guess is that the starter is stuck in the engaged position but won't turn the engine due to broken teeth or a shot one-way clutch in the gear. That clutch is what failed on mine, though it made all kinds of noise when it went. Perhaps the PO accidentally bumped the starter with the engine running and broke the starter pinion against the flywheel? Sounds like you need to remove the starter and inspect it. That's kind of a PITA on these, but if you can get the heat shield off of the top of the starter (two Phillips screws IIRC) you'll have a little more room to maneuver it out.

 

I'd have a look at the torsion bar. I've heard of the splined connection to the A-arm or the adjusters for them stripping out and dropping the suspension. I would expect that to be a full drop onto the bump stop, though, and I'll bet you would've felt that, so you may be right about the shocks. Any signs of leakage on the shocks themselves? One of my rear ones is starting to go and I can see a dark oil stain coming from under the top cover down onto the lower body of the shock. Again, inspection will tell you what you need to replace. If the bars and/or adjusters are shot, a wrecking yard is probably your best bet.

[Goosevf_1]

Hey, thanks for the response.

 

I just bought this pathfinder, and for very cheap. I bought it with these issues so Im not sure what the symptoms were before the failure. I bought it knowing it needed a couple things.

 

Ill be taking a closer look at the shocks, but after looking at the torsion bars, Im thinking its them. The side that's sitting on the bump stop has been cranked way up already. I would guess that is maxed or damn close to it. The other side looks cranked up to but its harder to tell without a reference point. Either way, theyre both sagging quite low. Besides looking at the adjustment bolt, is there anything to look for in the torsion bars as far as wear goes? If Im going to get them from the wreckers, itd be good to know if im getting decent ones.

 

What is the best way to access the starter? Ive come to 2 conclusions. 1) pull the wheel off, inner fender and go through there, or 2) from underneath the vehicle from right around the cv axle. Ive got some looking to do.

[djratlif]

I had to access the starter mounting bolts from underneath the truck on the passenger side. Took me a minute to get the right combination of extensions/swivels/sockets to work them out of there. With all the wires detached beforehand and the bolts removed, I had to wriggle the starter out from the top. After about an hour of wrestling with it, she popped free and I was able to start fighting to get the old one in again haha.

[Goosevf_1]

access to the wiring and everything is easiest from the bottom? also, does anyone know of anywhere to get a digital copy of the fsm?

[ahardb0dy]

The FSM can be downloaded for free from here:

 

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Pathfinder/1995_Pathfinder/

 

 

The shocks have nothing to do with ride height, leaking or not they just provide dampening .

 

Check the low side and look to see how much space is between the bottom of the upper control arm and the rubber bump stop, compare the space to the opposite side. If on the corner that is low the space between the bump stop and Upper control arm is less than the opposite side you can try to raise the low side by tightening the torsion bar adjusting bolt.

 

You don't have to replace the torsion bar, you can adjust the one side, or if it keeps sagging you may want to replace both, always replace torsion bars in pairs, they only sell them in pairs anyway.

 

I would not recommend buying used torsion bars, if you do, make sure you mark them left and right front and back, torsion bars are a form of a spring, they take a memory after years of use and it is not good to reverse a bar.

 

There is a way to measure the ride height in the FSM, if the rubber bump stops are missing, see page 41 in the FA section, middle of the page where it says "except 2wd trucks" in the diagram

 

When the starter is activated by turning the key the bendix should get pushed out, (there is a large spring type part in there that pushes it out), when the bendix gets pushed out it is supposed to engage the teeth on the flywheel, it's possible ( and likely) the starter is original, I would not bother with replacing just the solenoid, replace the whole starter and save yourself the headache of having to take it back out again to replace the starter motor.

 

Here is a pic of the spring on the solenoid:

 

 

I highly recommend either a Nissan OEM starter or a NEW aftermarket one, reman starters SUCK unless you like replacing it every week or month.

 

I unbolt the starter from the bottom, not hard to do with a long extention, once un-bolted and with the battery disconnected, and oil filter removed, you can tilt the starter to disconnect the wires. I know it's a pain to remove , once I removed my starter in my former 94 PF from the top, once I went out the front after removing the idler arm.

Edited July 14, 2014 by ahardb0dy

[Goosevf_1]

I read about re-indexing the bars to get more life out of them. Not 100% sure of the process as far as where to set them to achieve proper heights.Driver side is on the bump stop. passenger side is close but not touching. Again, when I looked at the adjustment bolts, the driver side has been cranked down. probably 3-3.5" of threads showing, compared to the passenger side, which has about 2.5" showing. (rough guesses based on what I remember, not actual numbers)

[Goosevf_1]

Im going to attempt to pull the starter tonight if I can. Hopefully I can get her figured out.

[ahardb0dy]

What size tires are on the truck?

 

If the UCA (upper control arm) is touching the bumpstop, the front end is raised too high, the truck will ride like crap due to having no downward suspension travel.

 

If the truck does not need to be raised that high and it has stock sized tires I would adjust the torsion bars to proper spec on each side.

 

Re-indexing is most used to get more height for when the rear anchor has no more room to move upward in the cross member,

 

I wouldn't refer to the amount of thread sticking out of the top of the rear cross member as to determining height, simply because if the rear anchors were not installed in the same exact place, left to right, the amount of thread sticking out the top would be different but the truck could still be at the right height.

 

Better to measure as the FSM shows on the page I suggested.

[Goosevf_1]

Well now Im all mixed up. Maybe the lower control arm bumpstop? Its definately not to high. maybe this will help. I did look at all those measurments, ill be sure to follow the factory spec if I replace them.

 

What would be process to re-index them as far as figuring out the difference between the two. If they are both at different heights, and different adjustment settings, I can imagine it wont be the same for both sides. Ill post some pics of the anchor configurations tonight, hopefully that will help. This is how the truck is sitting currently. Keep in mind the front tires are 31's and the rears are stock so its a little decieving.

 

 

[ahardb0dy]

31's were a stock size, what size are the rears? they look about the same size.

 

Don't know if the rear is so high because the front is so low but the rear shouldn't be that high if everything is stock.

 

here is the "how to" on re-indexing the torsion bars.

 

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/17038-how-to-re-index-your-torsion-bars/

 

When you go to re-index, you will loosen both adjusters, than when you re-set it back up just make sure you put both rear anchors in the same place, than as you adjust the adjusting bolt you tighten each side the same and the truck should be close to the same height.

 

My former 94 was adjusted wrong when I bought it, the pass. side was lower than your drivers side, you can see how low it was here, it doesn't even have the flare on it in this pic:

 

 

this was after I re-indexed the bars ( old wore out 31's on in these pics):

 

 

this was before I sold it, on new 31's, the front did settle slightly from when I first re-indexed the bars, but the rear is no where as high as in your picture:

 

Edited July 14, 2014 by ahardb0dy

[Goosevf_1]

Fronts are 31x10.5r15 bfg mud terrain and the rears are 235/75r15 all seasons. makes me wonder if the rake was intended. the rear does look a little high in comparison.

[Goosevf_1]

The tires on yours seem a lot bigger.

 

I dont see the how to for re-indexing

Edited July 14, 2014 by Goosevf_1

[adamzan]

The front tires are stock size. The rears are an XE size.

[ahardb0dy]

what color are the rear coils?

[ahardb0dy]

The tires on yours seem a lot bigger.

 

I dont see the how to for re-indexing

 

The link to the how to is in my reply now, left it out when I first posted,

[Goosevf_1]

Found it, thanks again for the help. so if they arent the same (one side is cranked further but sits lower) is there a way to adjust them to get them even again, or would you just turn them 3 splines and then adjust the height using the adjustment bolts and let it ride like that?

[Goosevf_1]

Oh, see I didnt know that the SE had the man sized tires from the factory. I had an xe before, obviously with that tire size and assumed it was universal for the pathfinder. The more you know. Thanks gentlemen, you're helping me figure this thing out immensly

[Goosevf_1]

PS AHARDBODY, I like your sentra this is mine...

 

 

[ahardb0dy]

Thanks, I sold the sentra too ! Have a 93 Hardbody 2wd now.

 

Before you re-index the bars, look to see where the rear adjuster is sitting on the low side, if there is room for it to move up further I would try to adjust it first.

 

If you have to re-index the bars, best to take them out completely, so you can get the rear anchor arm off, than when putting the anchor arm back on, try to "clock" it further down than the way it was when you removed it, you can only move the anchor arm so much than you run out of bolt length.

Edited July 14, 2014 by ahardb0dy

[Goosevf_1]

By rear adjuster, do you mean the adjustment bolt? If thats the case, that bolt is pretty well maxed. I can't imagine being able to turn it more, and if so, not enought to get it back up off the bumpstops where it needs to be.

[ahardb0dy]

Sorry I meant to say the rear anchor, the part the bolt goes through.

 

part marked with the red asterisk in diagram below:

 

 

 

[Goosevf_1]

The way I understood it, that was what was accomplished by re-indexing the bars. Remove the bar from the rear anchor. rotate the rear anchor by 2 or 3 splines and re-assemble. Im a bit confused again lol.

[ahardb0dy]

your correct, I was just saying if there is room for the rear anchor on the side that is low to move up into the cross member than I would try that first.

 

If the rear anchor arm is already up as far as it will go, than you have no choice but to re-index the bars.

[Slartibartfast]

Basically the anchor bit on the back has a long adjuster bolt on it, which allows you to crank it a little ways up or down to fine tune it. If it's way too low, you reindex and then finish it off with the adjuster. Ever take a disposable lighter apart and move the little adjuster ring bit around the nozzle so it'll shoot a three inch flame? It's the same concept.

 

I can't imagine why somebody would've cranked it down that low (which is why I suspect that the adjuster broke off or the splines stripped), but it clearly wouldn't be the only weird thing the previous owner did. Hopefully it can be cranked back to level. Be very careful getting under it, though, until you're sure it's stable.