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Say goodbye....

Keeping older rigs alive can be a bit like playing whack-a-mole. Hopefully the MAF mole stays down for a while! When my stock 70A alt started making threatening noises, I swapped it for a 90A Maxima alt. Plugged right in. IIRC it was actually cheaper that the 70A. I don't know that the truck needed another twenty amps of headroom, but it's got it now. I don't remember if there's a similar parts-bin upgrade for the R50, but it might be worth looking into if you've gotta get in there anyway.

man talk about going through the wringer, I just replaced the Alternator on my 2001 R50 Pathfinder 4X4 5-Speed a few weeks ago and it was not fun. It's also been my experience with my R50 you fix one thing and then something else pops up that needs fixing. After 3 years of owner ship I finally got my check engine light to go off and stay off. My advice is to keep fighting start with the cheap and easy stuff first and work your way up and good luck! Chris.

I did manage to get it apart. There are small retaining tabs top and bottom, and if you get a small screwdriver between the plug and the casing, it pops out. The "tab" I thought Iwas pushing on was a retaining bracket for the plug pins. I don't think it's all that necessary, but I glued that back into place, and it should hold fine until I can get a replacement. Upon inspection, I did not see anything obvious on the board. All the solder points still looked nice and shiny with no obvious breaks, and no obvious burns anywhere on the board. I began to doubt my earlier test results, so I connected it back up again per the diagram in the service manual. When I connected the voltmeter across pins 2 & 7, I forgot that I still had the meter set to ohms. When I applied the power, a couple of the leads I was using for power/ground were quickly smoked, and the insulation burned back (kinda like my fusible link, though these were very thin alligator clip jumpers I had laying around). I quickly removed power, and set the meter to the DCV setting, and tested again. As before, I was still reading a negative ~3V. I plugged the amp back into the truck to test the function, and it still functioned just as it had before, so I guess no harm done with my mishap.

I replaced my chinese MAF with a Hitachi hoping that will make it last longer, and it fired right up and sounded good! Now something else is messed up though I think the alternator has gone bad… Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for checking! I'm pretty sure I tried to pop mine open, as I did see a tab there. When I pushed on the tab though, it broke off and fell inside, so I quit there rather than force the issue. I'll pull it out again and give it another try. I left the panels off for now so should be quick.

I found it, but I can't guarantee it'll work in yours. The sticker says 28510 83P00 ('89-'95 according to NPD). Replaces 28510-83G00 (also '89-'95). Not listed with yours. The one that replaced yours (B8510-42G85) is listed for '87-'94, suggesting that there wasn't a design change in '89. 43G85 also replaced 28510-30R00, '89-'95 Nissan Axxess (a model that I didn't know existed until just now), which is not listed as fitting an '87 Pathfinder, which makes me think their compatibility check is whether it's original equipment, not whether it'll work. I would be kind of surprised if the 83P00 didn't work in yours--but at the same time, not that surprised that Nissan found another dumb thing to change for no obvious reason. I'll dig out the '87 manual later and see if the wiring diagram looks the same. It might be worth seeing if you can get yours open. If it's like the door lock timer, the plate where the plug is should sorta pry out where it's snapped into the box around it, and then the whole circuit board and plug should just slide out. Might be something obvious and repairable. Relay welded shut, cracked solder joint, capacitor dumped its guts, something like that.

Yes, everything start said! (I didn't know about the water passages/larger bore, I thought they just increased the stroke. For that much trouble, I'd just swap the entire engine.)

Mine's needed this done for longer than I've had the truck. I bought gaskets, studs, and a 90 degree drill adapter shortly after we got the truck, and then I never got around to it. My engine is also a little tired, and the rear main is leaking, and I've got a VG33 in the corner waiting for me to get around to it, so chances are I'll keep ignoring the exhaust leak until I'm ready to swap the engine. The VG33 has a little more displacement, larger exhaust manifold studs, a larger crank snout, a better oil filter location, and a couple of other minor improvements. It's mostly bolt-in, and will run off the stock harness/computer/fuel system if you swap a few things over from the old engine. It's also got flat belts, and a different balancer, so there's a little screwing around required there. David Carroll/Mr. 510 makes (made? Don't know that he's still selling them) adapters that replace the balancer so you can run the old V belts and accessories. You will need to modify a VG30 water pump if you do it this way. (Details in Mr. 510's VG34 build thread.) I have read that the Xterra/Frontier accessories and brackets will fit in the WD21 engine bay, but the R50 Pathfinder ones won't, though I think someone managed to make them work with a little modification. I have heard of people swapping the VG30 crank into the VG33, to keep the old balancer, but it sounds like a lot of work to use an inferior part (the smaller snout of the VG30 crank does sometimes have issues). The VG30 cams are supposed to be a drop-in upgrade over the VG33 cams, so hold on to those. The oil pan and pickup may need some screwing around depending on your donor. I've read that VG30/33 heads can be swapped, but the cooling passages are a little different due to the larger bore, so it's not exactly ideal. If I was going to pull a head, I'd just fix the old head on the bench (without a truck in the way!) and then put it back on.

a - find a VG33 parts engine and use its cylinder heads (drill your exhaust manifolds to fit the larger studs) b - find a VG33 engine and use it, Frankenstein parts from your VG30 engine (crankshaft stuff) c - find a VG33 engine and swap it in (reuse your VG30 oil pan, have someone cut and braze the AC lines to mate the VG30 lines with the VG33 compressor) Plenty of good writeups around however you decide to proceed!

Hello. I am new to this forum-thank you for including me. My 93 Pathfinder is suffering from broken exhaust manifold bolts. I read several message on this issue, here, where i learned it's a common problem, and very difficult to solve. In my case, it's on the driver's side, where there is even less access to work on it. The motor has 240 K miles, and some change, so I have been searching for an engine, hopefully with fewer miles, or perhaps someone willing to overhaul my motor. I have had mine for around 10 years and want to find a way to save it from going to the wrecking yard. Any ideas on what my options are? Thank you.

Many thanks, I appreciate it, and all the help you've provided!

The Terrano is just what they called the Pathfinder in some other markets. I may have one off my parts car. I'll dig around later and see if it's got a part number on it.

I'll leave this visible for, just a little while...

# 6 Good Bye! REAL NPORA Members, if I missed something in the above post, please let me know ASAP!

Excellent! (The FSM says to "replace the entire distributor assembly with camshaft position sensor if faulty", so you're on the right track!) Good luck, and keep us posted!

My husband reminded me that the guy left the old distributor in the truck when we bought it, so I took it apart to find the sensor and it was there, under the plate below the rotor. I've ordered a new distributor so I don't risk damaged any parts to replace the sensor. I'm downloading the FSM now to have it handy as well.

Now, don't "quote" me on this, but I thought the crank angle/position sensor didn't appear on the Pathfinder until the VG33 engine ('96 and later) as part of OBD-II emissions? Have you downloaded the FSM? The Haynes is good for better explanations of things once you know the problem, but the FSM is more detailed at helping track down the problem first.

I finished the tailgate switch- it was not effectively shorting when the door was open due to corrosion and bad contact. I cleaned it up real good, and bent the contact down a little until I got a good, consistent short, but still got an open when depressed. The mechanism itself seemed to be fine, and I could see it open the contact gap when pushed in, giving an open. It just wasn't getting a good short when in the released position. While I had it unplugged, I went ahead and tested the cargo lamp by jumpering the connector. Even with that, the only way I could get the cargo light to come on was by turning it to the "ON" position. I thought maybe it was the cargo lamp switch itself, but when i checked at the connector, I had 12v across Red/Grn and black, but 0v across red/grn and red/wht. So something else is off there.

According to the FSM (EF & EC), if the crank angle sensor is bad, the engine will still start and run in fail-safe mode. It will also trip the 'Check Engine' light (if you have one). I would try pulling codes from the ECU but honestly if the car requires a jump to start, you aren't getting charged by the alt. And if it's acting like the battery is dead... you have an electrical issue...

After finally getting the Haynes manual yesterday, I think what the guy I was talking to was referring to on this vehicle is the crank angle sensor. What I can find on parts websites, it looks like a disc with a box on one side. One or more of the fuel injectors being bad is another fear I have that may be the issue.

Hello @TowndawgR50 @hawairish Greetings from Canada. I am looking to get a 4" kit for my 1999 nissan pathfinder. Please reply with availability. Thanks

Hello @TowndawgR50 @hawairish Greetings from Canada. I am looking to get a 4" kit for my 1999 nissan pathfinder. Please reply with availability. Thanks

I at least got the rear hatch switch working consistently now, so that's ready whenever I can get the rear wiper amplifier replaced. I started to do the rear tailgate switch as well, but i only got halfway through before it got dark. It seems a little more complicated, as it really won't come out from the outside the way the rear hatch switch does (the bolts will, but the latch assembly won't). And it seems in order to access it, you've got to remove the actuator panel as well in order to have any maneuvering room. It's only another 5 screws and another link or 2, so no biggie. I'll try to finish it tomorrow. I could definitely see some corrosion around the leads, but without being able to take it out yet, it was hard for me to see how the switch actually worked.

The part # on my unit says 28510-42G00, which looks like it's been superseded by B8510-42G85. However, I'm not showing that as available either. Anyone know a good source for really old Pathfinders? Just from Googling, it looks like this was also used on some later Terrano models as well, but I really don't even recall that model.