OR99.5Speed

Welcome! Mom lives an hour north of Jacksonville!

Well, it depends on what style you like. In all honesty, both the SE steps and the LE boards are fragile. If say you are off-road and hit either on a rock, either would bend, dent, or break. If you are looking for an almost indestructable, heavy-duty type of running board look at rock sliders. I guess you could call them running boards, as you could use them that way, but they are designed to protect the rocker panels and doors from rock damage and clearance issues while off-road. I don't know off the top of my head where you get them though.

It sounds like you are right on all counts. I'm not too worried about the cat and O2 senson, they have 103k anyways. I can always hollow the cat out in 2 minutes if I need to on this one. But sounds like a good idea not driving. If I don't make it to Indiana for a meeting on Sunday then I can't attend school in the spring, so that sounds waaay too risky. I'm asking about stuff now so I can see what my options are and how much I should be expecting to pay for a full engine rebuild. If I rebuilt it I would want a VG34 stroker, but then I imagine that's gonna cost some serious money. I really really wish that Xterra motor would drop right in but I'm not the pioneering type when it comes to cars. I also wish the 2001 Pathfinder engine would work, but the same issue with OBDII and ECUs would be present. What is the normal compression for a good engine? I have an appointment at the dealer at 3pm today to get a compression test. I'll let everyone know what the results are.

Cool, I appreciate the help! 20w-50 sounds like a good idea. If I were to rebuild the engine I would have to find a good mechanic who could do it (and I don't know any at all) so it seems like it would be somewhat of a crap shoot. I was thinking either factory rebuilt or a used engine out of a wrecked vehicle. There seem to be more people wrecking Xterras than Pathfinders! I wonder if an Xterra engine would fit right in? Maybe use an Xterra ECU? I know that when the Xterra got the Supercharger in 2002 the hood had to be raised to accomodate the supercharger. Wonder if the Pathfinder hood is tall enough? Here is an Xterra Supercharged engine, don't know if it would work or fit: Xterra Engine Regular Xterra VG33E, says it will fit Pathfinder: Xterra VG33E VG33E used engine: VG33E

Wow, so that's how you do it! Nice job Brad! Glad I looked at this tread, it can help me out with my problem.

If it was the head gasket, your old oil and your new oil would look kinda like chocolate milk. You would also have white smoke coming out of the tailpipe. I forget what gas in the oil comes from, but I want to say valve cover gaskets but don't quote me on that.

No, there is no knocking. When the engine is three quarts low (I know, I know) you can hear a tapping while sitting inside the truck. Obviously the tapping frequency increases with revs. When the engine has the normal amount of oil it seemingly runs fine, possibly with a slight loss of power, but at the same time I'm not beating on it in this condition. The engine makes the normal amount of noise with the normal amount of oil. I'm just wondering what caused it. I've never heard of an engine going from no consumption to 1 quart/100 miles.

Hmmm...thanks for the advice! After talking to Dad it seems the best thing to do is to suck it up and get the engine rebuilt. I remember from my 4.0 Jeep days that if you were going to tear into your engine you may as well get a 4.7 stroker kit. Since the VG was used in the 300ZX of the 80's there has to be somewhat of an aftermarket, and the 3.3 can't be too much different. My question is: Since a mechanic is going to be replacing the internals or at least going to be in the vicinity is there any performace internals such as pistons, etc. that would give more performance to the gutless 3.3?

While I have 255/70, I know you can run 265/70 and that is the same height as a 245/75. Tmorgan has 265/75! You will be okay.

Another thought: Would the 3.5L be a bolt-in deal? Would my manual transmission would bolt-on to the 3.5 without issue? Is the transmission the same? If I had to replace the motor I would look at this route. Thanks!

Yeah, I had no idea it was this bad. Also take into consideration that it has been run with a quart of oil in the motor for around 50 miles at highway speeds. This is bad! On another note, I have a 600 mile drive up to school. It is mandatory that I get on campus or else I can't go to college, so I don't really want to risk a breakdown on the way. Do you think with constant topping off oil I could get there or should I just let it sit at home and fly to school?

HOLY CRAP!!! Oh my God! Dad was thinking more along the lines of $300 for new rings. Oh my God! F#CK! Sorry but that's quite a lot of money on top of needing a new A/C compressor, OME suspension, some sort of pulley up front, failing sunroof, and new tires in the future! So this thing is gonna cost me around $4,400 to fix. How much would this thing sell for with the bad motor? Think I could get $5,000? I just got offered $4,500 on trade, but that was before I knew about this.

Yeah, I just don't have any proof that it was Firestone's fault. Hell, I don't even know what is wrong, other than the fact that I burn a crazy amount of oil. I mean, this is insane. I have a 600 mile drive back to school coming up, so I have to buy a case of oil! Is there any viscosity or weight that I should buy that may help slow the consumption down? Just looking to get max miles out of these quarts. Also, has anyone heard of Auto RX? I have seen rave reviews on other boards and knowing that my engine has sludge I need to try it. At this point I have nothing to lose. So is it just the piston rings that could be bad? How much $$$ is it to replace these, paying a mechanic? It sounds like a daunting task.

Guys, no distributor on the VQ engines in the 2001+ Pathfinders. I'm a detailer, and I hate cleaning the engine just because of the "what if it doesn't start" deal. As said before, don't sit there and blast the connections. Don't spray the fuse box either. What you need is a good degreaser to spray before water hits the engine bay, then wash off the degreaser with a weak shower of water (avoid the powerful jet stream when you hose it off) . Then use a product called 303 Aerospace Protectant. This gives off a nice gloss and actually does protect and condition the rubber hoses and belts that suffer in the dusty, dry, hot conditions. Have fun!

Welcome man, sounds like a nice ride! So I'm guessing you chainsmoke?

Well, if you get tired of that look with the huge "Pathfinder" logo you are more than welcome to trade racks with me! Sorry to be of no help, but I know they can be removed. Just throwing out an idea, is the gasket from the air dam to the rail sticking to the rail? Good luck!

Okay y'all here's the deal: It's been about five days since I found out my car is burning oil. Since then I have driven 400 miles, most of it at around 80 MPH and 3500 RPM today on a highway trip. I FOUND OUT IT BURNS A QUART EVERY 100 MILES!!! -alcohol- My rear bumper above the tailpipe is black. I think the rings are shot, and the oil in it looks sludgy and black. I have no idea of what Firestone did to my truck, not sure if it was them or if it was some freak occurance. Before all of this I did not ever notice the truck burning any oil. The motor runs pretty smooth. I haven't gotten it compression tested yet, but before I get the problem diagnosed a compression test is in order.

It's not. It drives fine with the exception of the blue smoke under throttle.

Well, what I meant when the oil light came on was that it flashed momentarily in a tight tire-squealing turn. This has happened to me before in our old E30 BMW so I didn't think much of it. I hadn't heard any tapping or any other odd noises until a couple of days ago. And when I heard the noise at startup it subdued, so thats why I just went on my way. I feel like a dumb blonde! The only other time the light came on it also flashed momentarily a block away from the Nissan dealer. That was the day I heard the noise. Either this is Firestone's fault or the unsavory mechanic who replaced my starter's fault. Not to have a defeatist attitude or anything, but I think it would be a little hard putting another 1,000 miles on the truck to get back to the Firestone place two months and 3,000 miles later and get on their case about underfilling my oil when they changed it. The odds just seem too much against my case. The only reason I went to Firestone instead of my trusted mechanic was that I needed a reciept to get my tags renewed, kinda a long story there. I'll have to get it compression tested by my mechanic in Bloomington. So if it's burning oil it's the piston rings are shot? How big of a job is that?

Haha, I totally have knocked mine off twice since I've had it...it's a simple deal and takes 12 seconds to put back on. And RowOSU, I hate how my IU parking pass hangs weird, against the windshield. Why did they design it like that? I just don't get it...

So the vibration is say, sitting at a red light in Drive? The vibration gets better when the truck is in Neutral, right? Sounds like bad mounts of some sort, just don't know why this early.

A few days ago I took a right turn hard and the low oil light flashed momentarily. I had a lot of things on my mind and didn't think much of it. A day later I started the Pathfinder and heard a bad tapping at startup. I didn't think much of it, just thought it was the lifters getting a little loud. I turned up the music and went on my way. A bit later into the drive I still hear this tapping! I think "oh hell, my engine is gone!" I go to the Nissan dealer where my favorite tech was waiting. The tapping was really, really loud. We shut the engine off, and check the dipstick. The dipstick was bone dry! So that means the engine is at least a quart low. We put in a quart and check the dipstick. Still dry! So he gets another quart and checks the dipstick. BONE DRY! So I'm like, oh crap, lets try a third quart. Finally the dipstick reads full. I was three quarts low! I don't know why because I got an oil change at the Firestone place about 800 miles ago. I park the truck in the garage and there are no oil drips. Today I was in my car and my mom was following me in her Murano. I had to goose it to pull in traffic. Under full throttle my truck left a huge cloud of blue smoke! Same at speed; if I pretty much floor it blue smoke comes out of the tailpipe. There is no smoke at startup. What is the cause?

Hey this is OR99.5Speed's Brother. I drive a Maxima with the Vq30 in it. Same set up as yours. I know the mechanics of the engine. Your problem is a coil-pack isn't working properly? If so You have to determine which coil-pack has gone bad. Not sure how many miles your have, but If you have money to blow you might as well just buy 6 of them. If not you can determine the problem with a thermo gun. Which unless you are a professional mechanic you will not have. So either take it to a mechanic, or your dealership (They will charge you 95 per coil and an hours labor). I hate going to the stealership but I think that is your only chance, or buy 6 coils. -Alec maxima.org BTW there are two Dave B's ask for Dave Burnette.

I think that those plug wires are the wires on the coil pack that you aren't supposed to bend. If you do they will break and the coil will break, therefore not giving the cylinder any spark and rendering it dead until you replace the entire coil pack. That rectangular plastic box is the coil pack. One of your six coil packs is bad. The pack is not servicable, and a new coil pack includes that hose thing and such.

Okay here you go: The 2001+ Pathfinder has a distributorless ignition system. So, from my understanding, you have a bad coil pack. You have the same engine as the Maxima's, so the coil packs are on top of the spark plugs. There is one coil pack per spark plug, so six packs total. I can tell you that when replacing the spark plugs on the VQ engine you have to take off the coil pack. When you take off the coil pack be very, very careful and make sure you don't bend the hose-like thingy. My brother did this in order to put the coil pack in easier he took off the hose and bent it, accidentally ruining the coil pack. So he had to drive to the Nissan dealer on five cylinders. I understand from my brother that while these coil packs can fail like in your case, they are not a maintenance item like a spark plug. I don't know how you find which coil is bad. If you can find which coil is bad and need to order one but don't feel like getting ripped off by the dealer you can order from Dave Burnette. Dave works at South Point Nissan in Austin, TX as a parts man. He is second to none in Nissan knowledge and is one of the nicest people you will deal with. He is a legend on the Maxima community, everyone orders from him and everyone has been more than satisfied. Call Dave Burnette at (888) 254-6060.