tacoman

Hi I thought I would post some information regarding the common fuel tank leak at spot welded locations. The problem cropped up about 2 years ago. It was the classic problem of small cracks developing around some spot welds on the underside of the tank. No dripping, just a bad smell. It was fixed using a Permatex kit with fiberglass, thick epoxy sealer (not putty), cleaner and the stop leak stuff. I cleaned it additionally with acetone. The repair looked great. Epoxy was hard with absolutely no sign of leakage. The leak just started again. The repair is starting to separate from the tank. The epoxy is very soft. I suspect there was a bad reaction from the gasoline. Its disappointing since the repair looked very good. You would expect Permatex to have figured out a material that would stand up to gasoline by now, after all that is their business. I decided to replace the tank. I purchased a Dorman tank from Amazon. It was only $74 and two day shipping is free if you have Amazon prime. I suspect shipping would be pretty expensive without Amazon Prime. The same tank on Rockauto was $135 plus $60 shipping. Also the box the tank came in says it is an 18 gal tank, not 15 gal as the product description says. I would have replaced the tank insted of trying to repair it the first time if I had know it was 18gal and not 15. I will verify on the first fill up. Anyway, the tank leakage on this year Path is pretty common and I thought I would share my experience. John

Thanks for the help on the tranny. Kinda of got sidetracked on the Detroit lockers. Thats good information also. Andreus, I would like to hear how the Amsoil additive works. Thanks Again John

I did the degrease and dumped in some Tracerline dye. It really looks like a rear oil seal and not a oil pan leak. The Tracerline works well with the UV light. The dye does not work at all using the Tracerline "Blue" light. Question really is to fix it or put a pan under it. It will need to get worse before it gets fixed. I don't mind adding oil, I don't like it leaking, I really don't want a catastrophic dump of oil on a road trip. I have pulled the tranny and it is a real bitch. I can't believe it is easier to pull the engine but you might be right. If the engine needed had other leaks, oil burn, or whatever, I would probably go in that direction. Think I will fight the devil I know. By the way Andreus, how to Detroit lockers work for you? Did you do front and back? I understand there may be some grinding required. I was thinking that my be my next upgrade. Your equipment list is a lot like mine, headers (throley), Borla catback, oil filter relocate, and Warn hubs.

Yup. Greased it when I put it in. I was careful. PO'ed that it failed with only 60thou on it. I may have been better off leaving the original seal on the car. The old man used to say, "If it ain't broke don't fix it". Seems like his advice is only right if I don't follow it. I am 95% sure it is a rear engine seal. I put some Tracer die in the engine oil. I thought it may have been transmission oil and I wanted to be absolutely sure. It looks as if it is comming out of the tranny drain hole. I will take another look at the pan though, retorquing the pan would be an easy fix. That tranny is an absolute bitch to get out.

Hi: My engine rear oil seal is leaking and probably should be replaced (95 Path). I had the transmission low oil self destruct problem a few years ago and I replaced the tranny, clutch and this engine oil seal (Nissan Part). I am not too happy with the prospect of doing it again, that tranny is one hard bugger to remove. My question: Does this oil seal hold pressurized oil or just splash. I am wondering if it is just going to continue to drip or if there is a possibility that it will catastrophically gush a large volume of pressurized oil on a long road trip. I have never had a 3.0 apart so I never seen where the seal is relative to the bearing. I have some time right now and I am thinking of replacing before it gets worse. Clutch is not slipping and otherwise everything is ok. Its not really even showing up on the dipstick right now. Anyway, if any has any experience I would like to hear it. John

Hi I installed Thorleys on my 95 about 6 years ago with a Borla stainless exhaust system. I had no real problems with the exception of replacing the studs. Some were hard to get out. The pathy is know for breaking the one at the rear on the passenger side. None of the rough running issues that you were talking about. Gas mile improved a little (1-2mpg). Power is a little better. It tends to rumble on the freeway above 65mph. I sounds a lot like your installation. I had one crack a couple of years ago. Thorley made good on their warrenty. They said the they were out of stock and had to fab a new one. They came through, but it took a couple of weeks. My question: Where did you find the headers? I thought they were out of stock a long time ago. Is Thorley making them again? Anyway. I think you will be happy with them.

Thanks for the help. I found the grandpax installation. Looked a lot like the vinyl I tried to install but it fit well in his truck. I think I may have just got the wrong part delivered. It wasn't even close fitting. It was also a different supplier. I also looked at the oem-surplus site. If they had one that fit I would buy from them. Even if my only option was carpet. Their prices are pretty good. Thanks again for the help.

The spray on is interesting but I would have make guards for the cables and the rear seat heater duct. I did a search on grandpax and didn't see where he talked about it in a post.

Hello Its been a while since I posted on this forum. I trashed the front carpets on my 95 Pathfinder. I wanted to replace them with a rubber (not vinyl) carpet replacement. I bought some stiff vinyl replacements a couple of years ago that I could not get to fit. Either a bad mold or the wrong part number. I put the old carpet back in, hassled with the supplier (Auto Carpet, $285 for a full set) for a refund which I never got. Absolute junk. Now it really, really needs to be replaced. Can anyone recommend a good non-carpet replacement. I will probably only do the front. Thanks John

Hey I tried the Metro Moulding LP-100Z moulding and it works pretty good. Looks OEM and goes in pretty easy. The only thing is the barbed tongue that goes into the crack (get your mind out of the gutter) is a little too long and needs to be trimmed back. I trimmed it to the first barb. Very easy with a single edge razon blade. It fits perfect. It looks a lot better than letting it dangle and a little better than just removing the old moulding completely. Still at $4 a foot it is pretty expensive if you are going to replace both peices on both sides.

Hey I found a generic extrusion that looks like it will work. I am going to try a Metro Moulding LP-100Z. I talked to sales guy and it is 1/2" wide which is pretty close to the OEM part. It was just ordered. It is $4 a foot. I will update the post after I see how it fits. If I forget to update and you want to know send me a PM.

Hi I am looking for the rubber trim that goes around the rear quarter panel windows on a 95. Does anyone know of a source. I am having trouble finding a source. It looks like there should be a generic fit. I have seen a couple of PFinders where it is half hanging out. It seems to be a common problem. Thanks John

More advice. It looks like you have a manual. The 95 manual trans had a problem with incorrect oil level. When it goes bad it will make noise in lower gears but not in 4th. It was corrected by moving the location the fill plug a little higher on the transmission. If you do a lot of off roading especially up steep hills the bearings run dry. There are a couple of treads on subject including the factory notice that explains everything. If you have the old style case be sure it has the correct level of lube in it. Use the correct amount of fluid. Not what the manual says or only up to the fill hole. You can either fill from the top or jack one side of car up. When I first got mine I checked the fluid level on a level surface and it gushed about a quart. I was puzzled and talked to the dealer service manager. He just rolled his eyes, shrugged and did his best to make me feel like an ignorant fool wasting his time. As it turned out it was correctly "overfilled" by a more savy service guy. There was a service bullitin on the subject that he knew nothing about. I followed his expert advice and lost the tranny at about 80k miles. Out of warrenty and out of luck.

I had the spotweld gas tank leak described earlier. It was just a wet spot on the tank. Normally I would have just replaced the tank but the only aftermarket tanks available are only 15 gallons. In my opinion, way too small. You have to remove the rock shield to see it. I scrubbed the area down with acetone, sanded it bright and used a tank seal kit that I got from Napa. The kit has a bar of soap like stuff to temp seal the leak prior to starting. Hardest part was getting the bolts to the rock shield off. They are starting to use salt on the streets and highways in Washington state and it really makes simple jobs a pain. The nuts are spot welded to the frame and those had to be knocked off and replaced with regular nuts. The seal is holding up well after a year and just judging on the size of the crack I think it will be a forever fix. I suggest letting the tank run nearly empty. Be sure to remove the cap to let the tank vent prior to doing the fix. You don't want to fight the tank pressure. I also put mine on a side hill to keep the fuel away from the leak.

What the heck is an autometer? Did you mean tacometer?