rjfortuna

Here are a few questions I was hoping to get some responses from you all about. My truck when cold idles at about 1300 to 1400 RPM It takes a LONG time to get to about 800 where it is a warm idle. It wont idle at the 800 till the needle is straight up and down in the temp gauge. is this normal? When its hot out the temp needle gets over to the right of the middle of the temp gauge when running the A.C. Its just a bit right from the middle of the temp gauge. Is that normal? I'm in Texas and it can get + 100 here. In the mid to low 90's it stays in the middle of the temp gauge. Normal? Thanks RJ

My 1st Serious off road vehicle was a FJ40 toyota landcruiser with the straight 6 and 33" super diggers. I went freaking EVERYWHERE and anywhere with it. It was an amazing vehicle. I've had bronco's blazers, numerous jeeps but nothing can touch my 68 Kaiser Jeep ambulance. It has a Chevy 350 conversion with 46" non directional military tires. I converted it into a camper. It is just Awesome. My pathy is the go-go car and when things get BAD out on my ranch in Quinlan Tx. I pull out the Kaiser. The Pathy is nothing to sneeze at in the mud tho. Impressive with the posi in the rear... RJ

Here is what I did to fix my issues. I am not a certified mechanic so at your own risk. I bought a 1989 Pathfinder. It was revving up and down varying about 400 and was idling at around 1500 when cold. This is obviously not right. I had to track down various vacuum leaks. The primary one I think was causing the issue was the pipe that came of the cat. Converter. It has a flexible tube there that connects the 2 hard lines. This feeds back into the engine as part of the emissions control. I found some 3/4 inch Silicone line. It is high heat resistant and has worked. You can find it at rubber and gasket stores and some older muffler shops. Use hose clamps and it will work fine. Expect to pay anywhere from 2.50$ a foot to 7$ a foot. My charcoal box was just GONE. It allows a vent from your gas tank and pipes the fumes to the engine to be filtered and burnt off. This looks like a coffee can when its there. There are 2 larger lines that went to mine and 1 smaller one. Put a screw in the small line closing it up and I plugged up the other larger lines and it helped immensely. I found that under the a.b. valve (weird mushroom shaped deal in front of the carb) had a bad split in the vacuum line underneath it as this valve gets horked on and pulled every time that someone takes the air filter box off the carb. Fixed that cracked line. It idled smooth at that point. I found the idle control screw under the left front of the carb and turned it down. Make sure you have the AC on if you have that option to be sure the vehicle is idling correctly when using that feature. That fixed me. Good luck.

Here is my take on the bent spedo needle. I believe when the vehicle is off there is still pressure on the spedo needle as when I was resetting mine I found that it still had left turn pressure on it at stop. So the plastic fatigues after the years of pressure sitting on it at stop. Just my take. I doubt that the tacho has any pressure on it a 0 movement. Still think mine was wrecked on front end. Evidence of gap issues at hood and fenders and some overspray on the front. Fan shroud is fubar too. Looks like the fan tried to eat it at one time. Hole worn in the top and held on w. coat hangers. RJ

Another nice thing about a standard. My hydrolics went out last weekend way back in the woods. I got it started in 1st and drove it about 40 miles to where some tools were so I could put on new master and slave. When a auto is broke, its broke. RJ

I believe that. I bet it did get hit in the front end. There is some evidence of over spray where it has been repainted. Drives good tho. No leaks. So I'm not real worried about it. I put in new hydrolics (sp) this weekend on the clutch as the others went out in the middle of the woods and I had to drive it about 40 miles with no clutch to get to my tools and the bushings and everything else looked pretty ok under there. Well, as much as I could tell with break fluid dripping in my face. RJ

My best friend builds automatic transmissions for a living and wont have one in his vehicle. "they are junk" he says. Standard is much longer lasting. Better Gas mileage. More control in the mud/dirt. Owning a chunk of river bottom land in East Texas where the mud gets INSANE after the creek breaks its banks even the road gets SUPER bad. I find that my vehicles with the auto have a much harder time handling it. (85 K5 blazer) where as the standard ones you can control the shifting and rpms and all that... The image is the road in front of my land. I just drove my Kaiser Jeep through that hole. It was about 4-5 feet deep and that BAD east texas gumbo blackland clay mud. Gordon, (referenced above) just barely got stuck trying to go around it. Standard in a ranger. My K5 has bigger tires and an automatic and got eaten for lunch out there that day.... Auto is more convenient. Both have good and bad points but if your buying an older vehicle find a standard. Odds are that you will only need a clutch and not a 1500$ rebuild...once they get into the auto they will end up replacing about everything because when they go bad it fubars other parts of it... Either way. I would rather have a standard.... RJ

Ok. This post is for both you gents. Mr. Indig... I felt froggy so decided to jump. took lunch early and tore her apart... The reset of the spedo was very successfull getting within I'd say - 2 mph and I can live with that. As stated, as easy a fix as can be expected on any vehicle, except going 50, trying to hold it @ 50 and trying to stick the doodad on there and not influence the pin. But it worked with out wrecking so I think it worked out fine. Had the book in the car sooooo...... Ok. Ghost. If you have a manual tranny and a 2wd the speed gear is on your tranny. If you have a 4x4 its on the transfer case. If you have a Automatic...I'd assume its the same. Couldnt find it in the book but I bet that its the same...Cheap book. What are you going to do... I'd pull that and remove the speed gear. Inspect it. If its warn, or fubar in any way get another. Dont know where or how much but I but that the speed gear is your issue. I had a F250 that did the same. Make sure you bring the old one w. u or know exactly how many teeth/cogs/whatever are on it or your spedo will read too fast or slow or whatever, just not right. Check that 1st. I doubt the cable is bad but inspect it as well. I also doubt that the spedo head is bad but start there. Its a cheaper and easier fix. Good luck. RJ

Shadow, If its mechanical, I'd assume that your cable is bad, but I have not gotten that into the how to book I bought. Let me look in the book this weekend about how the spedo is driven, if its got a cable, its either the cable, the speed gear or the head. I'd look at the cable 1st, again if it has a cable... ! Let me look in the book and get back 2u monday. I dont have internet @ home. Thanks RJ

Wow. Cant possibly be that easy. Thats great news. I just bought it last week and it looks like it set in the heat in Texas a while as the needle has a little arch to it where it looks like it melted. Have fixed all the other little things wrong with it like a mess of leaking vacuum leaks, totally gone rotten charcoal box...and the fact that instead of fixing the leaks, someone just cranked the idle up to god's kneecaps..... Still need a pass side front turn lens if anyone knows where I can get a deal on one. Other that that its a good truck. Very happy to find out it has posi in the rear... I own some hunting land in the river bottom and need it to GO in the mud... Thanks again for the input. it has been a great help. RJ

Hi there. I'm new to the site, but have been looking at it a fair amount the last few days. I've got about everything squared away on my 1989 v6. 4x4 pathfinder except that when the motor is off, the spedo reads 0. When its at idle and running, but not moving it shows right at 15 mph on it. I've checked the speed w. a gps and its almost exactly showing 15 mph faster than I'm going. I mean, I can live with it, but I'd like to fix it if I can. Is there a way to "true" the spedo, or adjust it so it reads right? Or is it toast??? Advice please. Thanks! RJ