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In Mr. 510's VG34 build thread, he found that a camshaft retainer bolt had somehow backed out and allowed the cam to walk forward, which he figured was the cause of the weird tick he'd been hearing. Something to look for when you get the valve cover off. I don't know that this would explain the popping, but if the cam journal is gnawing on the lifter, maybe that could be hanging up the valve and intermittently preventing it from closing properly, causing what I assume is a backfire. Only popping when it's heat soaked still has me thinking it's got a sticky valve, but that's not a failure I've chased before so I don't know how common/likely it would be, and I don't know that it would explain the racket in the video. Too bad the snake oil didn't help. If you suspect the injectors, check the spark plugs, see if they're all about the same color on the business end. (The #6 plug is a notorious PITA, but is possible to remove with the right combination of extension/U joint/swearing, or the factory tool kit that may still be under your back seat. Blow out around them first if you can, dirt and mouse crap tend to settle in there.) If they all look about the same, I doubt it's the injectors. Wouldn't explain the tapping, either. If you do need an injector, avoid the cheap ones. Cuong Nguyen tried some and wasn't impressed. Black soot could be leaky injectors, but it could also be a bad temp sensor telling the computer it's colder outside than it is. Condensation on cold starts is normal. I doubt it's the cat. The cat on my friend's Blazer failed and all it did was rattle. We cut it open after replacing it and found that the honeycomb had broken free of the can, bounced around inside, and gradually beat itself smaller so it rattled more and more. I don't think it ever threw a code, it just sounded like something was gonna fall off. Long shot, when it's running, try pressing on that heat shield over the exhaust manifold with a long screwdriver or prybar. If the noise suddenly stops, the heat shield is loose. It doesn't sound like a heat shield to me, but they can make a hell of a racket when they break loose. I once drove back from the coast convinced that something in the drivetrain was about to fail, only to discover that I had a loose exhaust clamp. Wasn't nearly as regular as your noise, though, and didn't match engine RPM like yours is doing. Long shot, have you tried running it with the drive belts off? Not for long (it'll overheat if run too long with no water pump), but if you crank it up and the noise is gone, could be a bearing going. My alt sounded pretty ominous when it started to go. Your noise sure does sound like it's in the engine, but it doesn't hurt to rule out the cheap stuff first.

https://youtu.be/QYSKgeSd5Gg

Is it losing oil or coolant? Is the noise louder under load, right after startup, or when the engine is cold? The exhaust popping has me thinking you might have a valvetrain issue, possibly a valve hanging up. I would be tempted to try a Berryman's or Seafoam intake treatment on it, see if that cleans up some crud from the offending valve stem and gets it moving properly again. Maybe add a little ATF to the oil to clean it out from the inside, without the risk of dislodging an oil-passage-clogging glob of schmoo with a harsher crankcase flush. You could also remove the valve cover and dig around for anything obviously visually wrong, but that's a bit of an undertaking on the driver's side because of how the plenum lays over the driver's side head. These are known for exhaust studs snapping and causing leaks at the manifold. Mine's got at least one busted stud and has leaked there for at least as long as I've had it. It mostly makes noise when it's cold and/or under load. If your noise is consistent regardless of engine temp or load, then I doubt it's an exhaust leak. And, yeah, hopefully the last guys who had it apart last used better-quality studs than Nissan did. That said, exhaust leaks can be deceptive. My friend installed an exhaust manifold gasket backwards in his Blazer once, and it sounded like a much more expensive problem than it ended up being. I thought it had a collapsed lifter until I noticed the gasket was sticking out where it shouldn't have been. I also doubt it's the bottom end, but you can test that by unplugging each spark plug lead, one at a time, with the engine running. No spark means no fire, which means much less load on the bottom end. So if you pull a plug lead, and the noise stops, then you know it's bottom end, and you know which cylinder has the problem. This helped my dad diagnose a bottom end issue in his friend's Triumph (which turned out to be a bad small-end conrod bearing). This is also an easy way to zap yourself on the ignition system, so, fair warning there. If you track the noise to one cylinder head, and the snake oil doesn't clear it up, you could just pull the one bad head and either swap it for a used/reman head, or take the old head to a machine shop to see if they can sort it out. Rockauto lists reman heads, looks like they only have the passenger's side in stock though. Swapping a head is a fairly major engine surgery, but I'd expect it to be cheaper and easier than replacing the whole engine.

I pretty much just did everything you are about to do lol. Ball joints, sway bar end link, tie rods, centerlink, idler arm. I didnt mess with the axles though. I would definitely look into buying a good brand of kits. You might aswell replace as much as possible honestly. The stuff really isnt that expensive. I got the whole tie rod assembly as kit. Its a TRQ from 1a auto for just over $100. Didnt see the point in trying break all the old tire rods apart. Popped one joint and unbolted the idler arm and the whole assembly came out. Its not a super hard job. Just go slow, pay attention how everything comes apart. There is a video on you tube of a guy pulling the hubs apart. Just search for our year model pathfinder ball joint replacement. On the axles and hubs i would pull 1 side and put it back together asap just so you dont forget how it goes or get parts misplaced. If you get lower ball joints with the grease zerks be sure they are 90 degree ones. Mine are straight and il never be able to get a grease gun on them. Had i known that before i probably wouldve just got non greasable ones. Once you get the hubs loose you may need a hand getting the knuckle off and holding everything together. I started out just wanting to do ball joints. After i got in there i pretty much have a brand new front end except for the front strut rod bushings which im about to order. I would get a pickle fork for sure. The narrower one seemed more helpful for me, the tie rod pickle fork i think. I bought 2 pullers and niether seemed to really work very good honestly, another reason why i just replaced everything. I used 2 jack stands, 2 jacks to help lift the a A-arms for angles and such and holt the knuckle up instead of letting it droop down. 2lb sledge for banging on the pickle fork. Bearing grease. Check your brake pads when you pull them, might aswell clean your slide and re lube them also. Time and patience it can be done. Dont force anything and strip something out. If it doesnt feel right, its probably not lol. Yup i slide my tires under the frame right below the front of the cab just in case also, actually had an extra jack stand so i poked it under there also just as a back up.

That sounds pretty metallic. I don't think that would be coming from the manifold. The sound has a really solid ring to it, manifold leaks don't have that type of ring. How does your oil filter look? edit: it seems louder on the driver side, maybe its head related?