br2an

Oops! I apologize! I never even looked at "Mr. Reverse" signature. I'm not knocking it. Like I said, it works. But those safety devices (like clutch switches) weren't installed for "intelligent " people. (never saw kids left in a car even for a second?) I just thought that it should be mentioned that where for the last 10 or so years somebody may have owned their pathy and it would ONLY start with the clutch pedal depressed (or for auto the shifter in P or N). (heck, with the problem, it didn't start at all) Now, after the mod, it will start without the clutch depressed (or in any gear) Just thought a warning might save garage door (or more). Brian

Smitty Glad I could help. (makes my day when one of my ideas work ) Brian

MatterHorn; You should mention that your fix bypasses the neutral safety start on autos (or clutch safety bypass on standards). The actual path of the wire from the ignition to the starter is a bit more complicated than your sketch shows. With the safety disclaimer about starting in any gear aside, that is a quick and simple solution to an annoying problem. (And a good working sketch too.) Brian

If you want to check for sure if it is the water pump, remove the belt altogether. Running it for 10 - 15 seconds without the pump circulating antifreeze won't harm anything. (especially if you do this when the engine is cold to start with) I would want to make sure it isn't the idler pulley that keeps tension on the the timing belt. It would be a pain to change the water pump and find out you have to go back in there again for a pulley/bearing. Brian

ewolf Try removing the access plate over the top of the tank and take a look at the top of the pump sending unit. You have to pull up the carpet to get at the plate, only 4 screws hold it on. Look for gas/wet area. Sometimes the seal leaks where the sending unit goes into the tank, sometimes the top of the sending unit rusts out, and sometimes the fuel lines rust and leak. (had all of the above happen to me.) Yours only leaks wit a full tank so it doesn't sound like a line. Brian

Check your timing. It usually doesn't get thrown off much with just a change of wires but in your case it may have. I know mine will idle real low if the timing is set back even 3-4 degrees (and idle high if advanced a bit too much). Brian

That sounds like how you check for loose wheel bearings. Do you mean the bearings should be packed only when you adjust them? I can only remeber packing bearings on older cars (rear wheel drive) when the front rotors were taken off to be re-surfaced. I still can't see how the garage can tell him the bearings need to be packed. Is front bearing failure a problem with Pathfinders? Brian

What are the symptoms? Or is this a part of regular maintenance? I don't think mine were ever done (60,000 mile coming up) and do you think they should be repacked? Thanks, Brian

Usually the side that it pulls toward is working right. The other side is not grabbing enough. Remove pads on right side again and check that they don't have grease or some other contaminant on them. Also check that the piston(s) are not stuck and that the slider pins are free to move. (Any noise when you hit the brakes? My first brake job, when I was 16 yrs. old, and I put one pad in backwards. Never got out of the driveway and knew something was seriously wrong. Never happened again.) Brian

2 possibilities. 1 - Have you tried a priest? Can't remember the name of them, but just rent the movie "The Exorcist" again and early on it should give the name of the order of the priests that still perform exorcisms. ( It took 2 of them to get the devil out of Linda Blair, your Pathy may need more). 2 - Can you somehow trace the history of your pathy back to the steel foundry? Any possibility that your Pathy has the remains of "Christine" flowing through her pipes? I can't think of any way to eliminate this one except to let her run her course. Piss off some bill collectors, Ford people, Nissan 'stealers', (sh t, anyone you don't like). If they touch your Pathy, 'BAM!" she takes them out. For a while, your Pathy should work better, look better but the ending I'm not so sure about. (If none of the above helps, at least it might make you smile.) Good luck. (and I hope someone else here can be of true assistance) Brian

I don't think the alternator is the problem. After the jump start it worked great. So alternator must be charging battery ok. I think (guess may be better) that your troubles have not ended. Try cleaning battery terminals and all connections going to starter. If you shut down in an isolated spot (or heaven forbid, stall in the middle of the river) and it doesn't start, your 4 letter vocabulary will increase exponentially. NOTHING pisses me off more than a problem that comes back (after I think it is taken care of). Hope I am wrong here. Have a good weekend! Brian

Check your battery cables first. (clean/retighten) If it is an autmatic, try holding key on start and jiggle/move the gear selector. (Try neutral.) Pull the starter ignition wire (small one that does Not go back to the battery) off from the starter solenoid. There should be a plug/connector back about a foot from the starter/solenoid. (There was on a four cylinder I last worked on. Yours could be different.) Have somebody else turn the key and check if you have power on the ignition wire. If there is power on the ignition wire, it seems to indicate a bad solenoid/starter. If there is no power on the ignition wire, then it could be a fuse blown, bad connection, bad ignition switch, neutral safety switch or ??? Good luck Brian

If you find any front end parts are worn, you should request another wheel alignment. I can't imagine giving a vehicle an alignment without checking that the frontend parts are within specifications. It is impossible to set the toe-in correctly if the tierods have play in them. Likewise setting castor/camber with bad balljoints. Brian

I have replaced studs on other vehicles and they were all pretty much the same. Steps were: 1 jack up vehicle and remove wheel 2 remove brake caliper and rotor 3 hammer out broken stud (from the front) 4 install new stud from back and install above items in reverse order. I usually put oil or some lubricant on the new stud to help it seat in. Also, it sometimes helps to partially seat the stud before installing the rotor. Just put the stud in hole (hub), spin the lug nut on the stud and tighten until the stud 'pulls into the hub'. One last note: Since I have NOT even replaced the front brakes on my pathy (rear ones last year but front still good), I am only assuming the rotor and hub are separate and not a single unit (like older style pickups and very old American built cars). Good luck Brian

It sounds like you have covered a lot of areas without any luck. When you checked your plugs, were they all fouling (black) or just some of them?? The reason I ask is that a leaking fuel injector (or two) can cause similar problems. However, it would be very unlikely that they would all go bad at once. Brian A

Hi; This happened to me last year (when the cold weather hit) and I found the solution on the old Mr Jim's site. The fuel line between the two fuel injector racks was leaking. I just tightened the two hose fittings with a screw driver (the hose is very short and hard to see, it is right in front of the engine, at the top and buried under something) I just lifted the hood one morning when it was cold and started it up. I went to the front and looked down at the hose and I could see gas leaking out. For some strange reason it stops leaking after it runs for a while. Hope this helps. Brian A