OR99.5Speed

Damn, this thread has me all over it. Hmmm...when I bought my Pathy, I purchased Philips Vision Plus headlamp bulbs. Those look great in the headlamps and have been a good choice. If I were to do it again, other than projectors/HIDs I would have put the OSRAM Silverstars in. However, the Philips are just fine and look pretty stock. If I didn't know they were aftermarket I wouldn't think anything of it. Now, the same time I bought the Philips I bought the PIAA Ion Crystal lights, the same as Dan had. I installed them June 2005. The light is super cool looking...it looks yellowish green from far away, but if you kneel down in front of the light its even more green. We don't get much fog, and I would say the factory fogs are a purely cosmetic item regardless. I was quite disappointed at the longevity, as the bulbs burned out last month, ironically a day apart. Guess the last one felt really lonely, I don't know. I did get the PIAAs for $50 a pair at LTB Motorsport somewhere in Florida. It was a good deal at the time, but definitely not being that they don't last. Now I am looking for a better bulb. I kinda found the yellowish hue distracting at night, with the white headlights and yellow fogs, the beam pattern was weird. You could use Lamin-X over the fogs. I have only heard of this, but it does give off that Lexus yellow look.

Hmm...I get a clicking noise too in the Bose. It happens with a fairly new CD, mostly burned ones. The clicking is more pronounced in the later tracks than the first several. I will pay more attention to the matter. Circuit City also told me that if I get a new HU I will need to get new speakers as well. Being the no-income student with good taste, I am now living with the Bose setup but also have a 10" Kicker Comp sub (cheapo $80) with an Alpine V12 amp, forgot the wattage. It is connected to the factory stuff using a rear line-out, basically it is wired to the rear speakers. Obviously, a sub/amp combo wired to a factory HU will sound less controlled than one wired to an aftermarket HU would, but the sub takes over the low notes that the speakers have trouble with. Using the "Audio" button, my BASS is -5, TREBLE is +3, and the FADE is +2. This makes the sub less pronounced, letting the door speakers focus on the high notes instead of struggleing and using too much wattage on the lows. It sounds pretty good too; I have a spare Kicker comp that I will probably use. We are going to build a new box out of MDF and bridge the Alpine. I want to paint the box the Titanium color of the bumpers of the truck and stick a 2002 Nissan hamburger on there, maybe with a "Pathfinder" badge. Dreaming, I know... Now back to college finals time... :oops:

Just came back from ripping some donuts in the Assembly Hall parking lot, man was that fun! All I could think is that I was Mika Hakkenen in a Mitsu Evo in the last stage of a Swedish rally...doing 4 wheel drifts and powering out in 4wd, yanking the handbrake, doing donuts in 2wd *which melted the snow!). Only problem is that I was going maybe 40 mph in some areas, and you know how the snow gets bumpy? I think that and the cold weather just completely killed my front struts! The whole front end is squeaking like hell! Oh well, I had a blast!

Haha, yeah Pezzy, my rear end isn't as light as yours... I love laughing at all of the SUVs in the ditch who were driving like maniacs...I saw a Forester slide through a stop sign and T-bone a car. That was pretty crazy! I love the change analogy...I was thinking about it and it got me to coast much more and not hit the brakes. The engine braking really helps too. I'm just really, really amazed at why there are 2wd SUVs on the road...a 2wd Dodge Dakota was sliding BACKWARDS down the road! I couldn't believe it. My friend from SoCal was just standing on the fraternity house front lawn in the snow...he didn't know what to do. He was just amazed at this phenomenon. Also, it seems like hardpack is my favorite to drive on, obviously ice the worst, but I had no idea that slush was so slippery! Good lord, the Pontiacs, etc. have been spinning their front wheels all day! So much fun! I love the snow!

Just got back from going to the repair shop 20 miles out of town, a trip I was forced to make before finals and going back to Atlanta. I did WAAAY better than I thought I would. The tires also did better than I thought they would. We have gotten maybe 3 or 4 inches here, not too bad. When I left the dorm it was still powder, decent traction for what it is. The roads are now covered in that black slush. In two wheel drive, just to see what it would do, the Pathy was really, really sketchy. Not only could it hardly get out of its way from stop, it would lose traction while in motion and start to swing around. I left it in 4wd the whole way except for that experiment. I did hit a patch of ice going downhill at maybe 15 MPH. I corrected my slide like a pro but the Tundra behind me didn't and he did a 720 but somehow didn't hit anything! There are a bunch of rich Long Island, Chicago, etc. girls around here in there BMWs and Benzes. The real fun was seeing them stuck on the side of the road calling Daddy and telling him they need an X5! Ring, Ring..."Daddy! Like, my car is like stuck on the side of the road and it won't go anywhere! Help me! If you loved me you would have gotten me a Cayenne!" ABS works well too. It didn't take me long to practice threshold braking, where its enough to get me slowed down but not enough to slide the tires and activate ABS. I also learned that ABS acts differently in 4wd, letting a bit more lock than 2wd, to allow a little bit of snow to build in front of the front tires. Overall, a great experience. I haven't gotten the chance to rip some donuts yet! -bounce-

The Excited Southerner's first time driving in snow will be in a few hours... I have hardly seen snow living in Atlanta, now in Bloomington, IN he will have 1-3 inches. I don't even have an ice scraper, but I'm nervous and scared. My tires are crappy and 50% tread, not really helping the matter. Plus, I don't know how to drive a manual in the snow. The Pathy slides a lot in the wet, what do I do for snow? Wish me luck!

You need a new starter. I had a 1996 Jeep ZJ that did this at 125k miles. It started in the winter, as the battery had less charge so the starter has to work harder. Eventually it would not start, so we tapped the starter with crowbar and it worked. It started like this for two weeks until it finally crapped out. I bought a remanufactured one at O'Reillys for like $60 or something like that. Get a new starter pronto or you will need a tow. As mentioned before, check the obvious like white corrosion at the battery terminals and loose connections at the terminals. Thats about it, but I'm 99% sure it's the starter.

Cool fix! This also has happened in my brand new Xterra. The Patfinder's passenger front window is so slow to go up, and the passenger rear window has trouble doing down. I sure hope this fixes it!

Holy Crap you are a god! I've been wanting this, see my avatar? Thanks!

There is however a slight problem that I will have to figure out. There is now a rattling, sounds like a loose heat shield, around 1500 RPM. When I go to wash the car I will listen out for it. It sounds like it's coming from under where the front passenger's footwell. The shop is 30 minutes away, plus the labor was so cheap I really don't see it necessary to hound them on this one. Knowing that they replaced the A/C belt and clutch, I wonder what this is?

YESSS! I just picked up the Pathfinder today! They replaced the clutch with the genuine Nissan kit, resurfaced the flywheel, and got a new A/C belt plus putting the rearview mirror back on for... !!!$408.77!!! (Plus clutch kit cost of $300) Not too bad at all, considering all of the labor involved. The clutch feels so light it's crazy. I know this is how they felt when new. It's truly insane how heavy my old clutch pedal was, 4000x more effort. Feels GREAT!

No, its not really. As I said, I got my 1999.5 with everything but leather for $8,000! With 92k miles on it. All I can tell you is to buy from a private seller. Typically less BS too than the dealers. Buying mine was a bit of a crapshoot with no previous maintenence records, but all has been well for the past 10k miles with only maintenance items replaced. If I were you I would get a BMW, but that just me!

Well, you can choose from a Jim Wolf Technology Pop-charger intake JWT Or a Weapon-R intake Weapon-R Or an HKS intake HKS Not too sure of what the best option is for you, but there are also cams, chips, and high-flow cats and mufflers. Nothing else other than that. You could look into regearing, but don't know anything about that one.

O'Reilly's is awesome. The only auto parts store I go to. We have one in Chattanooga!

No, his is a 1999.5 Pathfinder, being that it has the new front end, etc. along with the marginally more powerful engine (and 200 more lbs.). It was never mentioned but I would not be surprised if there were some changes to software in the model year change. But then again, I have a 5-speed so I make those decisions Mine was built 1/13/99, and mine was one of the first ones off the assembly line for the 1999.5 year. Chech the door jamb on his for the production date. P.S.- When ordering parts, I always tell them mine is a 2000 instead of a 1999, as there were no mechanical changes from 1999.5 to 2000 as opposed to 1999 to 1999.5. Just a tip...

I can't answer your question, but will say that my Pathfinder is getting the clutch replaced as I type this my a mechanic. I feel for you, there was no way my buddy and I could do this job with the T-case involved. Good luck!

Okay, my clutch just went out on my 1999.5 with 100k miles. I have has this problem too for a while, in all seasons and temperatures. I will try to put it in first at say a stoplight and it will refuse, so I typically run it to fourth say and then try again. Reverse sometimes has this same problem. I am relieved to hear this is a clutch problem. Is your clutch not as smooth and light as it used to be? Does it engage at a different spot in the pedal travel? You clutch may be worn but not to the point of slipping yet. When these symptoms started, I had about 92k miles.

Do you have the factory housings in your bumper? Or do you have the black covers where they would go?

Too cool!

I have heard of people with the Hella 500s swapping in the KC Daylighter bulbs and relays and VOILA, a very bright light on the (relatively) cheap! Try it, that would seem like the best bang-for-the buck solution!

They are giving you how much!?! Thats a pretty generous settlement, count yourself lucky. Here is from when I bought mine if you go the R50 route: When I bought mine... For that money, I would buy an E36 BMW. Just make sure you have a little bit of change left over. Or you could buy a 3rd gen Toyota 4Runner, I miss mine so much! Possibilities abound! Keep us posted!

Yeah, I didn't even think to ask about a warranty. His labor is way cheaper than the repair shops in town (he's about 10 out) and was kinda suggesting how backwoods he is. What would a reasonable warranty or guarantee be? I was hoping at least a couple of thousand miles, but he isn't a chain, just him and his son out of a garage.

Just called Dave B. on the idler pulley pricing. The A/C pulley is $38. The Power Steering pulley is $69.53. Don't think that one is the problem. The A/C belt is $13.90. For about 10k miles, whenever I turn on the A/C i get an unbelievably loud groaning. Golden Isles Nissan said it probaly was the compressor clutch. Well, Dave said it was probably the A/C idler pulley. I also know that I need to replace the belt from when I got the Optima and saw how worn the A/C belt was. I think I'm also gonna order the A/C pulley and belt.

Yeah, I didn't think so. Thanks though, Slick. I called some shops today. There is a local shop, Autotech, which I have never seen but understand that it is a somewhat country father and son operation. Thats fine. They quoted me 5.5 hours of work for $55/hour. Thats around what, $300 for a clutch job? That doesn't seem bad, and it includes resurfacing the flywheel. I also asked him if I can order ATE blue brake fluid and Hawk pads, he said they would do it. About that metallic sound, he offered a good idea. He said that some of the VGs have the idler pulley go, he said from the description that was probably what was happening. Any suggestions? Thanks for the help guys and gals!

Wait, wait, wait! You know I own an R50, right? I thought the ZJ coils worked only on the WD21 Pathys. I was planning on getting a set of OEM rear coils from the parts guy, Dave B. because in a year or so I can just go OME or AC. But if the ZJ coils work I would be interested.