keithb7

You could test it by taking the steering column console off, and exposing the wires on the ignition switch, and testing it with a multi-meter. An aftermarket ignition swith is reasonably, priced and easy to change. If you suspect it, just order one from your local Pep-Boys or NAPA dealer and install it. Probably cost you about $35. Wiring problems can show a whole bunch of wacky symptoms, including your problem. There is a black wire with a yellow stripe from the ignition switch, that can be again found at a connection down beside the battery box. It goes from there into plastic loom, and travels along side the positive battery wire to the starter. You could check and see if a 12V signal is being sent when the ignition switch is turned. Could check it at the switch, at the connection near the battery box, and as well at the starter. You should have 12V at all points when the key is turned. I am not 100% sure, but I believe this 12V kicks in a built in relay on the starter, wich allows full amperage from the battery to turn the starter. I think I have narrowed down my problem to several corroded areas in the starting system. Including the ignition switch as shown above. I the negative battery cable is getting stiff and quite corroded inside, all this adds up to resistance and the starter needs all the amps your battery can give it.

I took it apart so we could all see the wear and share it on here. I replaced the ognition switch today, and the intermittent starting problem is not solved. New starter, new battery and new ignition switch. Into it for about $500 now and still no fix. Pretty frustrating. I cannot seem to locate which relay is the starter relay, I'd probably try changing that if I knew which one it was. I have tried to find it in the Haynes Manual as well as the factory service manual, still unable to locate it. I tried pulling the main relay, the check relay, ignition , and accessory relay one at a time, and still the starter will crank over, so I figure I have not found it yet. Anyone know which one it is?

I am experiencing the intermittent start problem with my 1993 V6 pathy. This is a Canadian model wo we don't have an interlock relay. I have replaced the starter with a new rebuilt, and also a new battery. Battery was negligable so I don't remind replacing it with new anyway. The problem is still persistant. I also swapped around the ignition relay with the accesory relay top see if there was any difference. There was not. I decided to go into the ignition switch. It appears to me the contacts are wearing. Attached here is a photo of 1/2 of the ignition switch. Both it, and the other half are well worn. I plan to replace the ignition switch and see what happens. Will let you know. Just for the sake of having this one file for others to see and possibly learn from, here is a photo of my iginition switch. Looks pretty worn to me. A point to mention is, the switch seems to be non-serviceable and is not supposed to come apart. I pried it apart to have a look inside. - Keith

Thanks to all your input, I tackled my first 93 Pathfinder starter today. Had it replaced in record time (not counting all the time I spend reading this topic before I started). Starter came out quickly straight out the front over the torsion bar. You don't have to remove all the wiring to get the starter out this way, you can remove any wires once you get it fully out. A tip I did, that I did not read about on here was to carefully remove the rubber flaps in the inner wheel wells where they are pinned to the body. If you remove the RF wheel, part of the inner mud flaps, and the belly pan, the starter becomes fairly easy to remove.

I downloaded and read the actual manual. It states to initially torque to about 125 ft lbs or so. Then back it off and re-torque to about 7 lbs I think it was. So I thought, why not try and remove with a screwdriver tip or an allen wrench. With only 7 lbs on it, it should come off easily. It did. No tool required for dis-assembly. I believe they want 125 lbs just to set the bearing in place. Then remove torque and re set at only 7 lbs. No need for a special tool for this. 2 drill bits and a hammer handle works fine to crank up and set the bearing in place. Back off tension, set by hand, then tap it slightly tight with a screwdriver and hammer. 7 lbs is not much. It all went back together with out any special tool. Upon researching this I don't think any special ordered or fabricated tools are required. We'll see I suppose. I re-packed the bearings but re-used he inner wheel seals. They looked great, besides my wife never takes the Pathfinder 20 mins beyond home. I am not overly concerned about wheel seals and bearings with these short trips. It's a second vehicle and only gets used in the winter. Thanks for your comments everyone. I too am now a firm believer in the old "2 screwdrivers" trick.

I am trying to replace the front rotors, calipers and pads on my 1993 WD21 4x4. I cannot find the correct deep socket type tool to remove the bearing cover plate. I went to my local auto parts store and could not locate the right one. The closest I think is this one from OTC. See here: OTC Tool I would have to order this in, as they had no stock at any of their 100 stores here in Western Canada. Plus they want like $68 for it, plus tax. What did you use to remove the bearing plate? I could use some advice. Something that will accept a torque wrench would be preferred as I want to apply the correct amount of bearing pre-load on reassembly. Here is where I am stuck. You can see I need a tool with only 2 pins. Any help appreciated. Thanks, Keith

My cool brother found a free bush guard from someone in the paper. Have no idea what it was designed to fit on. He fabricated some brackets and mounted in on the front of my 93. That was 3 or so years ago and it's held up great. Here is a shot from today.

Any NPORA people in BC Canada? I was out 4x4'n today around the Kamloops area. Up Deadman Creek past Vidette and looped around to Batchelor Hills. Anyone else in my area frequent this site? Keith

I own a 1993 Pathfinder. I found a good used 92 that has tranny problems. I can pick it up for cheap and was thinking I may buy it for spare parts. Are there many differences? Both have V6. Mine has cloth seats and most every other option. The spare one must be the top model as it has leather heated seats and a sunroof. How similar are these two pathfinders other than the obvious? Thanks.

I need to replace the timing belt on my VG30. It's a 1993. I have done timing belts before on other engines, just not this one. I have a pretty extensive mechanical back ground so am pretty comfortable doing this myself. The problem is I don't have a shop repair manual. I had the 1994 manual on CD that I got off the net, but I cannot find it anywhere. Nor can I find a web site with it anymore. Does anyone have the proper shop manual? Would you be willing to attach the pages on the timing belt replacememt to an email and send to me? I think it is an adobe format, you should be able to email. Anyone? Much thanks. email to honda-deals@shaw.ca Thanks, Keith Kamloops, BC Canada

Seems to be working fine.

I have been running Mobil 1 full synthetic 5W30 in winter, 10W30 in summer. 100% synthetic oil in the engine since the day I bought it. I change the oil 2X a year. Mar and Oct. She purrs and have had no problems since I bought it. Currently at 189,000 KM's.

The Champion line of products that I have seen in Costco are made in China. I have not seen the winch but looked there at a Gen-Set and some other stuff. So take what you want from that. Me? I prefer to spend more and get a quality product that I can rely on for many years to come. (I spent 3X as much and bought a Honda Gen-Set).

That crap is such a crock of s-it. We had photo radar here in BC but it would not hold up in the courts. It is no longer a problem here in BC. It's been scrapped. It's easy to say don't speed, not so easily done every minute of every day. Everyone at one time or another gets slightly distracted, or is late for a meeting, or your kid who needs stitches. You can try your darnest to be the world's best driver but that darn photo is still going to show up in your mail box one day. And you'll be furious.

Good advise in cleaning the electrical contacts first, see if that fixes the problem. Otherwise getting at that reverse swith is not easy. I tried everything to get it out, I had no wrench in my large selection of tools, nor could I think of one I had ever seen. It is a very tight spot to get into with a wrench. I gave up and took it to a shop. I picked up a new switch from a UAP/NAPA store. Good luck.

A few weeks ago I posted my piece about installing GJC springs in my 1993 Pathfinder for the purpose of increasing load capacity on the rear end. This was in preparation for the arrival of my enclosed fiberglass trailer. We use it to haul around our toys (dirtbikes & ATV). The springs are perfect. I have included a photo of the Pathy with the loaded trailer attached. In it is about 700 or so pounds. No rear end sag at all. In the photo I am parked on a level surface, the hitch is higher than the trailer therefore it tilts up when installed on the Pathy. - Keith

Sorry about the delays people here are my before and after photos. http://members.shaw.ca/keith-barron/before.jpg http://members.shaw.ca/keith-barron/after.jpg Not great photos, it's hard to tell the exact amount of lift. They are definetly stiffer, I load my dirt bike on the hitch receiver and way less sag. Keith

3 PIAA's on the bush bar. I've had people come up to my wife in the day time (she was driving with them on and did not know it) A guy told her.."You should go see your mechanic becasue your lights are on in the day time and they are extremely blinding". Ha! Gotta love it, my wife came home and gave me c r a p saying I need to hook up some sort of indicator light so she can tell when they are on. They are awesome at night, especially in the snow. The snow just has a way of making your lights look 3X as bright.

I can share a few details if you like. The cross link arm nut was pretty much siezed in place. I heated it up with propane and used some WD40, no problem then loosening it. One of the small bolts that holds the E-Brake cable bracket to the frame, just above the wheel snapped off on me. It was a 12mm bolt head, I had removed all the e-brake mounts to allow the cable to move freely when I lowered the diff to get the springs out. There were 2 bolts on each of the brackets, so I never bothered to try and remove the broken bolt. Now there is only one bolt holding the one bracket on instead of 2. No big deal. For some reason the left rear is about 1" lower than the right now with the new springs in. Not sure why. I am thinking of putting a spacer in the right spring to stiffen it a little more, then the rear will be level. Anyone know why maybe the one side is a little lower? Could it be some other worn rear suspension part? The cross link? Everything I touched was in great shape, nothing looked worn. I do have some photos. Iget them posted. Keith

Well I finally got around to changing out my stock springs on my 93 Pathy to Jeep Grande Cherokee springs. I have the rear tire carrier and gained about 2.5" of lift. Here in Canada the darn "auto recyclers", scrap yards in my mind all wanted $40 each Canadian for the springs. I cut off the pig tails and put 'em in. An easy simple mod. Took me about 2 hours to complete this. I did not install the springs to get more lift, just because I wanted to raise it. I did it because I tow my enclosed cargo trailer, as well I have a dirt bike carrier that I use in my class III hitch to move around my dirt bike. I wanted to stiffen up the rear end so that it wouldn't droop so much when I had weight on the hitch. Now I am interested in raising the front so it sits even with the rear. I did crank up the torsion bars a bit, bit don't want to over do it and severly shorten the ball joint life. I am thinking of buying the A-Arm kit so the lift does not change all the geometry and kill the ball joints. Keith

Well, we appear to have solved our dillemma. The wife loves the PT Criuser. I found one for her yesterday. Now we have a more fuel efficient car and the Pathy! -bounce- How long the Pathy will be around remains to be seen. I must admit the PT Cruiser is a very nice, well built car. Gets very high marks in reviews and Consumer Reports. First tank though it got 24 mpg, will get better as engine breaks in. I expect 28 mpg. The Pathy is a keeper too in my opinion. We don't really need the extra vehicle, however it has cost me very little to keep and maintain. It is in awesome shape for a 1993. I am torn to sell it or keep it. 178,000 km's, and it looks brand new. Hmmmm..... :confused:

Over the past 2 weeks my wife and I have seriously considered selling her 93 Pathfinder. We are averaging about $300 (Canadian) per month in gas expenses. The cost of fuel is beginning to out weight the vehicle's benefits. The Pathfinder allows us a certian life style not easily found in more fuel efficient cars. Examples are seeing the back county in 4x4, towing our utility trailer with the dirtbikes, taking the boat to the lake, safe winter driving in the snow, having room for 5 people and groceries, attaching 4 bicycles on the rear , etc etc... Down sizing to a Jetta diesel...Well, that changes a lot of things. After much debate we decided to keep the Pathy, for now. It's paid for in full, a new car payment plus fuel expenses if we buy new, would most likely be more than $300 per month. So really we may be saving fuel costs, but over all are no further ahead. Our plan is to do some serious saving this winter, next spring re-evaluate the situation, and cosider again that diesel Jetta wagon. Anyone else thinking thse same sort of thoughts?

Holiday is real good, I scream that one out at some pretty high volumes. People next to me at a stop light must laugh. The whole CD gets me in an aggressive mood. The "F" word is very well placed through out the album. I turn it up when Holiday starts, then I find I don't turn it back down. Song after song, it ripps. Favouite, hard to say, I really like the 2 rock opera songs. The long ones that are like 12 mins long. For me, it's "THEE CD" of the 21 century so far. If you like rock, go and get it. Don't just listen to it once, give it 5 spins and you be hooked.

Green Day - American Idiot. Ever since I bought that CD back on November, it's been in my CD player about 95% of the time. A great CD, I have almost all the lyrics memorized.

I read this post with interest as I too am looking to rise up the front end to match it with the rear. It appears as they left the factory with a lower front end. I too don't want prematurely worn ball joints and CV joints. Let me know how you make out Repack. A question to anyone who has already done this... Have seen a shorter life from front end parts after you cranked the torsion bars? Keith