IndianRider

the earlier R50's were never know to have an accurate auto temp control ( manual dash turn knob for temp. setting) anyways .. dont know about the digital ones they put on later ..

the passenger side cam shaft seal is more prone to leak .. by leaking, i dont mean leaking tons of oil..a very slow gradual leak which doesnt even feel wet in my case..ususally the oil from the leak is all caked up and kinda hardens up ..but its visual and if u use a tiny screw driver to scrape off the the caked oil ull know what im talking .. i didnt have any signs of leak on my driver side camshaft seal and the crank shaft seal so i left them alone.. if u got the patience u can change all 3 ..

i know his is not a 99.5 pathy coz when we were ordering parts i rememebr it was the pre. 99.5 pathy .. .. but it has the newer pathy updated looks like diff. head lights, digital heat, a/c and radio controls .. etc.. etc.. but i didnt know the 99, 99.5 and later had a slight power increase or different computers .. so the later pathys were infact programmed differently ?? well, guys if thats true, try driving an older R50 and an updated pathy 99 ( stil lthe same 3.3 VG 33) and u WILL DEFINITELY see a difference .. and ull LOVE the 99 and later pathy tranny .. and if its true, can u program the 96 pathy to the 99 pathy ECU specs.. ?? but im still waiting for more comments from the pathy brain childs on this before jumping to conclusions..

really makes me wonder if the tranny was changed or programmed differently..

yeah, new air filter .. always replace it regularly .. my pathy is extra well taken care of .. regularly replace the following ..plugs, oil, air and oil filter, tranny oil, clean TPS, clean throttle body, diff. oils etc.. tranny is buttery smooth too .. am just confused ..and maybe jealous.. coz my buddys 99 LE which pulls so strong in 4th without dropping in 3rd on steep inclines is unbeleivable to me .. it was never taken care of either until he met me when it had 200K miles.. so i had to convince him about maintenance and did his timing belt/water pump/ tranny oil/filter change, new rotor, dist. cap, new air filter ( old one was BLACK) .. put new plugs and wires, cleaned the TB which was bad.. but even before all that it ran great .. makes me think he broke it in the perfect way when new and mostly highway miles so its still running great..

hi all, just took a 800 mile trip to st. louis in my friends 99 Pathy SE, 4X4 (3.3 VG 33) with 217 K miles .. I am so shocked to find out that the transmission behaves totally different than my 96 pathy SE 4X4 with 113 K miles.. for example, if im in cruise control at 70 mph where the grades are pretty steep going uphill, the 99 pathy shifted down to 4th gear from lock up mode and pulled like a freight train to keep the speed at 70 mph before going back into lock up mode.. but my 96 pathy, shifts into 4th for like 2-3 seconds, then suddenly shiftsdown to 3rd gear taking the revs to over 3500 rpm to keep up the speed going up hill till it goes back into 4th and then lock up mode after the road is straight again ..actually, ive never seen my pathy pull hard even in minor uphill in 4th gear, it almost always drops down directly in 3rd gear ... ive done than trip on the same route over 50 times and i know my pathy has to shift down to 3rd to keep the speed upto 70 mph and the motor is working hard .. i couldnt beleive his 99 with 217k miles NEVER even shifted into 3rd to keep up to 70 mph .. and we are talking about me never hauling more than 1 passenger on mine and i was hauling 1 person on some stuff in his 99 pathy .. checked gas meilage, got 17.2-17.5 mpg exactly the same range as mine.. we are also talking about my frinds pathy that have never been maintained.. just occaisonal oil changes..i had to do his timing belt and water pump when he has around 200k miles in his.. also did his tranny oil and filter change, plugs , rotor and distriboutor at 200k .. cant freaking beleive it still runs like a champ .. is the tranny shift point programming different than the 96 SE and the 99 LE ?? man his 99 felt so much better ans the motor wasnt even shreiking in 3rd..couldnt beleive even in the steepest grade his pathy pulled so strong in 4th gear.. how does ur alls pathy behave in uphills ?? are certain tranny models programmed differently ?

2100 rpm @ 60 mph ??? interesting .. .my 96 se, 4x4 is at 2300 rpm at 60 mph fully warm with torque convertor locked up .. bone stock .. motor, tires etc .. and i get 17.5mpg on the freeway mostly in cruise control and 15.5 mpg in city when driven gently ..

i got a .7 mpg increase after i cleaned my MAF on a 96 SE with 103 k miles .. i have never bought a car under 100 k miles and the first thing i do is throttle body clean up, new plugs and oil and MAF cleaning .. and i always got an increase in highway mpg ..from 27 to 29 mph on a 92 prelude, si, from 30-34 mpg on a 88 camry dx .. its so easy on the r 50, sits right on top of the air box tube housing ..1 min to get it off .. unplug sensor .. remove 2 screws .. 2 minutes to clean it with an alcohol swab .. on the pathy, right now im getting 17.5 mpg on highway mostly cruise control, and 14.5 - 15-5 mpg in city driving ..

ADMIN, whats that warn 0% next to my username ?? dont see it on any other profile ?? :o

jb3829, where did u get the poly sway bar busings from ? how much if i may ask ? good to know the kyb front and rear combo perform great considering the price ..im thinking about the same setup too ..

its sad the R50's dont have that much of an aftermarket support compared to 4-runners .. but ppl can still contribute to this thread .. as for factory nissan parts, i get mine through courtesy nissan in texas .. http://www.courtesyparts.com/ ask for Matt .. hes a cool guy .. reasonable shipping and genuine parts..

$1300 for a MAF sensor replaced at the dealer ? can dealerships be that &^%*@$# ruthless ?? :furious: i think once u buy ur MAF sensor for a lot cheaper and replace it in like less than 2 minutes u can call them and give them the royal shaft just because u felt like it ..

ur right $550 is not cheap .. but they are still relatively cheap compared to the cams ($400-700), exhausts ($400-900) and other performace parts for my 99 kawasaki ZRX 1100 .. if u look at the cost of a motorcycle vs cost of a pathfinder , it feels like the pathy parts are a lot cheaper ..or maybe motorcycle accessories are a rip off ..

u mean a crack in the oil pump "housing" ??? maybe the crank seal was leaking and needed replacement.. maybe they busted the oil pump housing when they were trying/prying to get out the crank seal ( oil pump housing right below the crank shaft) .. not impossible, but improper leverage can make it happen.. gotta be careful with messing around the crank seal shouing area.. read that somewhere in the manual or forums.. how come they didnt diagnose the crack the first time u got the seals replaced ? how did the crack show up after they replaced the seals ? think about it ..

no i didnt rev. the motor until the smoke stopped coming ..like i said, there wasnt much smoke coming out even after i put more than 1/3 of sea foam .. so i revved it for maybe 30 seconds then drive 2 miles to work .. then after 4 hrs, i was driving back home and thats when the check engine light came on ..so maybe i didnt burn all the seafoam out and it was super concentrated there causing sensors to trigger.. im not worried about it coz i got the check engine light twice before in HOT conditions driving in 3rd in the smoky mountain range on 87 octane .. so in HOT summers on long trips i put in the next highest octane gas (88 or 89) and haul ass and never got the light to come on again..

just an update... did the sea foam cleaning at lunch at noon .. drove back to work ..2 miles no problem .. driving back home from work at 5 pm , 5 miles later, CHECK ENGINE light came on .. took it to autozone .. forgot to get an exact printout of codes , but were in the 300 series.. O2 sensor malfunction on bank 1 , sensor # 2 (left ?) and multiple cylinders misfiring codes .. asked them to reset it ..went out for a 30 mile freeway ride, kept stomping on the throttle at times to get the crap out .. drove with OD off at 65 mph, like near 4,000 rpm to open it up and let it burn up the carbon and seafoam .. no diff. in running, still smooth as before seafoam .. check engine light didnt come on this time .. still runs smooth ... no problem yet and i think its nothing .. just carbon burning / emissions prob. threw the sensors off..

sorry for the late reply Rorkis ..dont know why i got an email alert a week late.. anyways, No , NAPA gave me the quote just for the timing belt, water pump and thats it .. usually i dont think shops know or include vehicle specific problems .. for example the vg-33 and maybe older pathy might leak at the cam seal esp. on the passenger side .. maybe some vehicles have other stuff that needs replacement .. so i kinda had to let napa know about the cam seals and tb tensioner .. but still ..i dont have a lot of money to spend.. i spent a whole week on diff. forums ..then got parts from nissan, did it myslef.. was it hard ? yes , for a first timer like me with decent mechanical skills.. is it impossible ? NO ..if u take ur time , follow instructions and tips on forums, u can get it done ..i just rechecked, and rechecked the timing belt allignment marks over and over again .. turned crank over a few times with a wrench ..didnt feel any resistance .. once i was sure, i fired it up and bingo ..right on .. good luck to u if ur doing it urself ..we are always here to help with tips ..

just did the seafoam at lunch hour .. poured 1/3 in gas tank and have around 5 gallons left in gas tank so that must be PRETTY concentrated in there now .. started the pathy, then disconnected the brake booster line and let the motor suck in around 1/3 of seafoam.. the pathy would die with the vac. hose off, so had to manually keep the revs up with the other hand .. it didnt smoke a lot at all .. just saw more white smoke than usual but def. not what ppl. have been saying or no black smoke at all .. have 1/3 left.. any harmful effects pouring it in the motor ? does the engine oil need to be changed immediatly, like say 25-50 miles of driving ? dont really notice a "smoother" idle or revving effect.. maybe the product does clean crap out and itss hard to notice .. the 96 pathy has 113k miles and was running strong and silky anyways ..

wow .... the price for a timing belt/water pump change is still high .. i was quoted $400 (parts & labor included) by NAPA and i still said, screw it .. i can do it myself.. got the parts from courtsey nissan for around $250 .. tb + water pump + cam seals + tranny filter + all rad. hoses + thermostat + dist. rotor cover .. after running into problems with getting the crank pulley off and $12 later for a pulley "extractor" not the traditional pulley "remover" from NAPA + 2 weekends later i did it myself .. ive put 3k miles and it runs like a champ .. no squeals .. an i followed the manual and took tips off here .. :o touch wood !!

merlinx, how are the gabriels and monroes holding up from autozone.. looks like my local autozone carrys them and are the cheapest option ..i dont do any offroading.. how many miles did ur pathy have when u replaced them.. is the ride FIRMER than stock ? did the side to side swaying in turns stop ? can u give me the gabriel and monroe part #'s or models u got ? thanks...

hi all .. got a 96 se, 4x4 with 111 k miles.. feels like the truck wobbels a lot in turns and swings side to side.. still got the stock struts and shocks.. ive searched but couldnt find anything except that everyone is using EMU, KYB, Blistein, Rancho shocks etc..etc.. all way too expensive for me.. I dont do offroading at all .. so all im looking for some decent cheap coils for the street.. i want a firmer ride than the stock saggy ride and reduce body roll/sway .. any suggestions for cheaper alternatives ? also, im planning to get the cheapest front struts and rear shocks from autozone .. front gabriel struts for $49/ piece and $21/ piece for gabriels rear shocks .. i just want something better than the saggy stock ones.. aslo do i need to replace the front coils at 117k ? if so any suggestions on cheap but decent coil springs for front and rear.. thanks ..

yeah ..ill call the dealer .. the tranny guys said all they needed was the production date of the pathy which is on a sticker on the drivers side door frame ..

i was looking for the tranny codes online but couldnt find them .. could only find tranny codes for the frontier pick up ..

hey all .. my buddys 1999 Pathy LE , 4x4 busted its tranny @ 220,000 k miles .. we are looking for used trannys online and found a 2000 4x4 tranny for a reasonable price.. but my question is will the tranny fit the 1999 without any mods .. ? also, does the replacement tranny have to be out of an LE ? or would an SE fit too ? are there any differences in gearing etc?? can anyone clarify that please ?

hey all .. finally got it all done saturday .. had a scare when the tranny didnt want to engage immediately .. found out when i changed the tranny filter, and refilled the fluid, i was 1 1/2 quart too low ..shifts smooth as silk now .. so remember after replacing tranny fluid, run it for a while and keep checking the fluid after warming the pathy up .. check level for the next 2 days to be on the safe side.. thanks for all the tips..