MrJim

I am just getting over a nasty bout of the Norovirus (love traveling)... But I am back in the world of the living again. I still need some assistance too with locating the "wire under the battery" that when ran through a relay is supposed to cure the starter issues with the Pathfinders. Maybe someone has a photo they can share. The article that was sent to me was very good, but I am still having trouble isolating the specific wire in question. ------------------------------------- That would be good. My Pathy is down at the moment unless I push start it. I would be happy to drive to you if you can point out the wire that needs to be altered. Thanks for the offer...

This was a great thread... Thanks for the info on the infamous click click click then maybe starting issue that we know we all have from time to time. I am going to buy a relay tomorrow and give it a try. I will let you know what happens. Jim

So I had the oil leak issue that the oil change place in Arlington caused and so I haven't been driving my Pathfinder much because I was waiting for it to get warmer before I fooled with it. So, I sat for a couple of months and I moved on the 1st to a new place and it just clicked when I went to start it. I charged the battery for couple of days on 2 amps and still nothing. The weird part is when I held the key in the start position for a minute it shuttered once and I hear a clattering noise in engine compartment. I went up there and was listening, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. It sounded like the distributor was the source of it and I put my hand it it. It jolted the crap out of me with a shock and I had to disconnect the battery to stop it from whatever it was doing internally. I was completely confused by this. I reseated all plug wires and did the same thing again and again it started some kind of electrical arcing ir or on the distributer. I pulled the battery cable again to stop it. We used the clutch to start it on the hill and it started very easily doing it that way. That was just plain weird, but it looks like my starter may have kicked the bucket. Its the arcing thing that is so odd to me. Anyone ever see anything like that? MrJim

That was just crazy. Its lucky that you stopped it before it got out of control. I had a friend once who I was on a road trip with in an Audi 4000 and the Cat caught fire and we could smelll something so he pulled into a GAS station and got out at the pumps to look at it when it suddenly burst into flames and we could do nothing but get way back. It burned fast and was intense. We just knew it was going to cause the pumps to explode, but it didn't. There were perfect pools of aluminum underneath where the wheels once were that looked like silver hershey kisses. We were lucky that no one got hurt.

I will throw my two cents in. When I moved to Washington in 1992, it was during a severe winter storm. I was driving through the very mountainous part of NE Oregon the roads were encased in about 3 inches in slick ice. I was driving a Ford Taurus and towing a Uhaul trailer. I grew up driving on wet clay roads of Georgia so I know how to drive on ice. As far as I am concerned, speed is the enemy on ice. It does not matter if you have four wheel drive, rear wheel drive, antilock brakes, or ? If you are going too fast, there is little you can do on ice in an emergency. I was driving in a very icy area full of curves and hills so I was only going about 25 mph as a 4wd Toyota truck flew past me with two guys inside who were laughing at us as they passed us. Well, about 10 minutes later we came around a curve and saw the two guys standing on the side of the road with a shocked look on their faces as they watched the Toyota in the middle of the road slowly turning in a circle perfectly balanced upside down on its roof. Now that is Karma in its finest moment. Moral of the story is slow down on ice. Snow is one thing, ice is another.

Well, I would not even consider swapping out my 3.0 ltr/5 spd combo. My truck has be bored over on its last rebuild, has headers and custom exhaust, plus cold air intake. These things combined have given me a strong little tank of a Pathfinder. I love the way it responds and sounds on the trails. It never disappoints. At one point, my ex wife had a newer Pathfinder and hers had the 3.3 and did not feel any stronger than mine in anyway.

Well, I think that a locker makes a huge difference on the trails, but even a locker can't get you out of every situation and I think that a winch should come first. I know that I get so used to having the winch that I put myself in situations that can get me in trouble when I am driving a rig without one. A winch should be first, then lockers for sure, and to top it off you should get good sliders. Some other things to consider are a strong fast air compressor to be able to air down on the trails, a nice roof rack to carry shovels, hi-lift jacks, extra spare tire, etc. If you spend allot of time on serious trails, then an ARB bumper would be a good investment and a good aftermarket rear bumper would not be a bad idea either. A body lift is a cheap way to get better tire clearance without changing the geometry of the driveline. Hope this helps... MrJim

I agree. The hosting company I was with really did not make it easy for me to transfer it out of my personal name to Scott. Scott had to call them a few times even after I sent them authorization in email with his name and all info they asked for. I am glad it all got worked out and that it is not just going to waste anymore. I have www.nissanpathfinders.com on my windows too.

Thanks for that. He called one evening when I was out at the Casino for a comedy show and I didn't get the message until late that night. Call me again during the day and I will help get the changes made. Sorry about that. I have no plans tomorrow after about noon.

I am really aggrevated with www.needa.com. That is who was hosting that site and they have got chaos going on interally right now. They have billed me for old sites totalling $150+ in a single month. I called and spoke to the owner Kelly and he had assured me that he was going to fix it, but it just got worse. They are sort of holding the cards right now so I am not sure what to do. I thought it was all taken care of. I will continue to look into it. Sorry everyone...

I know all too well how bad it feels to see my Pathy in a salvage yard. I am so glad mine is back on the road again (and off road again). It had to make him sick to let it go. We should make a pact to remove all NPORA stickers from now on if any of our rigs have to go to the big salvage yard in the sky. MrJim

Okay, I know it has taken me awhile to get on top of this, but I made the necessary changes today to www.nissanpathfinders.com so that when you enter that domain name, it will automatically put you on www.nissanpathfinders.net from now on. The changes have been made at the web hosting company, but it could take up to a day for you to see it in effect. Its time to clean things up and make it all work as it should again.

Its MrJim and I wanted to tell all of my family at NPORA to have a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year! Why don't we post one photo each here on Christmas evening that best represents what it meant to you this year!!!

I heard something one Sunday in church years ago that I thought was really significant and I even wrote it into the notes section of my Bible. Basically it was about asking yourself why your best friend is your best friend? Was it because they had a cool job, nice clothes, flashy car, or was it because they did something that meant something big enough to you that you wanted them as a friend. Its funny that I had never thought about that before. My best friend at the time was just a friend of a friend for awhile and then we started hanging out. One weekend I rolled my Ford Ranger (night I first played the quarters game - long story) and he lived in the next town about 15 miles away. I had no way to work and he volunteered to drive to my town every morning, pick me up, drive me across town to my job, then he killed time for a hour before going to his own job. He would come get me every evening after work too. It was such a selfless thing to do that he has been a very close friend every since and that was 1985. He is still back in Georgia, but we talk almost daily as though he lived around the corner. Thing like that and things like what you all did for me to get my Pathfinder back humbles me and wants me to do all I can for people around me daily. Merry Christmas!!!!!

Dang. I missed this... It sounds like a cool idea... Next year. Merry Christmas everyone!!!

It sounds like they are doing good things with it. It just sucks that they are going to keep it down for so long...

Yeah I am still stumped on this one. I think that there is a bad rear mail seal leak though. It all started when a local oil change outfit didnt get all of some engine flush out when they did an oil change. It really sucks, but its fixable. It has not lost any power. Its begging to run, but I have to fix this before it damages it. I am driving it sparingly until I get it resolved and keeping an eye on the oil level. When its a little warmer and dryer I will get out there and get er done.

I like the this idea. Several years back I tried to get this idea going too. I thought it would be cool to have a meeting place where we could go at a restaurant or tavern once a month to hang out, then go hit the trails either before or after.

Wow, that is harsh. I know you were sick to see your Pathfinder in this condition. Jim

I had the same brush guard on my Pathfinder before the ARB and it actually saved my bacon just as it came from the factory. I had one major goof in the past 10 years where I misjudged a landing area for a jump. I ended up going over the side of a cliff high in the mountains and hit a tree on the way down that kept me from really falling a long way down. I was fully in the air and hit a tree that smacked me backward like a spring board onto the side of the mountain. I was sure the front of my rig was going to be totalled and I was afraid to look, but when I did I saw that it only caused a small amount of damage on the right fender where the wrap around hit the fender. It was a small dent and I could not complain. When I replaced the brush guard I decided to go with the ARB winch bumper which is indestructable, but it was spendy too. I am 100% happy with the ARB bumper but it does add allot of weight to the front of the rig. The guard you have will give you some protection like it is. I don't know what all you could do to really beef it up but its better than nothing and I love the look..

Hey to Everyone! I have been out of it for the past month or so. I had 2 surgeries that were minor things really, but even still they have been enough to make me disappear for a bit. I am supposed to go back to work in a couple of weeks and until then I have some pretty heavy meds that are making me sleep alot. They were outpatient surgeries to fix torn tendons and stuff so its nothing life threatening or anything. I just wanted to let you all know why I have not been online too much lately. The weather is getting cold and icy out there. They have been talking about snow, but we really haven't seen much of it yet. When the snow starts falling, I will be out there looking for people to rescue with the Pathy. Thats always fun! Okay, so I will check in again soon... MrJim

Wow, am I reading this right? Did I get TOTM? How cool is that??? I had a surgery about 10 days ago so I have been a little out of it so far this month. THANK YOU --- THANK YOU --- THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am loving my Pathfinder and being able to get back on the trails again after such a long break from it all. Thank you everyone for everything!

I will be there if we can get a few others to come too. I think that is in Kent, isn't it? I would love to be a part of things like this. I would love to get a few together to go in and volunteer at Childrens Hospital from time to time also. I used to do that with a group of coworkers when I was at Microsoft. We could go there and cook a really big dinner for the families who where staying there while their children were in the hospital. They were so appreciative and it is such an easy thing to do.

I had done an oil change recently where they could not get all of the engine flush out of the oil after replacing with new oil. After the shop doing 2 oil changes and still not getting all the old oil out, I finally drained it for 5 days with plug and filter removed. I also ran a couple of quarts through it after it sat for 5 days. I managed to get all of the old stuff out finally and then I put 20w-50 GTX Castro Oil along with an oil treatment additive. It is running smooth and quiet again, but I am pretty sure its going to lose oil if I drive it at highway speeds again. I will do that tomorrow to make sure. so far, it does appear that I am losing oil from my Pathy at highway speeds and not so much around town. I notice that its smoking more lately too. I see a small leak underneath that was not there before the original oil change, but really think that most of the leak is getting past my valves internally. It still has all the power and runs strong, but I really going through some oil. I don't want to screw up the engine so I am hoping to find the source of the leak and deal with it before it really does any damage. What ideas do you guys/gals have that I should be looking into?

Wow, that is a bummer... I bet it has some to do with all of the crosses around the place where people have died. I wonder if they are doing things to make parts of it safer? Its a shame that it will be closed for so long. I love that place... Jim