MrJim

They come folded down to about a 1/4 size to begin with, but you are right. I want to see this go to as many places as possible and for that reason I would need it to be larger so everyone could sign it with a small note and their user name on NPORA. Maybe it could just be a poster of me with my Pathfinder and everyone could sign it one by one as it traveled. Then they could take a snap shot with it and post it on the site. I could track it on Facebook with map and daily blog. The "lifesize" standup looks like it would cost about $112, but shipping would be the main issue. I will pay for the creation of whatever we decide to do and then I will ship it to first member overseas somewhere. I think it would be good to start compiling a mailing list so some planning could be initiated. So, a large poster? What do you all think? Then we could see how creative the photos could get about how and where the photos are taken. I would pay to have it shipped back to USA once it has done a tour abroad. Hopefully, individual members can pay the postage to pass it along from one place to the next, except for the big shipments across the pond. What do you all think? MrJim

A friend came up with this idea to print a life sized photo of myself in my NPORA short and send it to one NPORA member across the globe for them to take photo in their town/country, sign/date the back, and forward to another NPORA member. It would be like the Flat Stanley Project, only it would be MrJim of NPORA. It would be fun to see how creative (but in a nice way) people could get with it. Here is the Flat Stanley website but it would be a larger stand-up image of me in NPORA shirt and hat. I am open to ideas on this. I could do a stand up photo of me in NPORA shirt and hat, or of the Pathfinder itself (not quite lifesize), etc. I think it could be a fun way to see our different members and where all we have members around the world. What do you think?

Thanks...

Hmm, I just assumed it was like a 1 yr warranty. Les Schwab here sucks at warranty stuff that was special order. They just try to stay out of it. I am sure I have paperwork for the winch in my glove box. I will pull it out this weekend and take a look. Thanks for pointing this out to me.

Its been on there too long now. I got it in like Oct of 09. Unfortunately, I didn't really put it to the test until last November when I needed it and it was an epic failure. It works some, but its not pulling 8000 lbs. Not even close.

Its possible that I just got a lemon. All I know is that this winch is really weak.

That all sounds about right. I do have nice snatch block and tree straps too. Its just a piece of crap winch. Warn shouldn't have put their name on this batch. An 8000 cap winch ought to work really well with our rigs. I would guarantee that this winch does not pull anywhere near that much weight before it bogs down and stalls. I have even respooled the winch a couple of times, thinking that maybe the cable was binding up or something. I would like to try one of those synthetic rope winch lines. That looks like a no brainer to me if they are as strong as they claim to be. No cable splinters in your hands, no awkward tangling in the spool, or at least not as much.

Yeah, I paid way too much for this one too. I got it at Les Schwab and paid a huge markup on it. It was easier at the time because they just added it to my account. Like you said, if it was just a lack battery power, it should have killed my engine too, but it didn't. Its pretty crappy. Its mostly for looks now. It might get me out of a slight jam or keep me from sliding off a ridge, but overall it really sucks.

I don't really think so. My engine didn't stall. Just the winch did. So its not like it took all of the amps to zero or anything. The winch just slowed down and stalled completely. and it did it more than once. The Warn winch that I had years ago was a 9000 or 9500 lb capacity and it never failed me once. As far as I know, this is the same alternator and even a better battery so it shouldn't have stalled out pulling a small Mercedes up a hill in 6" deep mud.

I will tell you that the M8000 Warn winch that I added to my Pathfinder last year has really disappointed me more than once. In November it completely stalled while pulling a smaller new Mercedes out of a muddy yard. There was an incline, but I had to use the Pathfinder to get the car up most of that. I even doubled the line back that should have supposedly given me 16000 pounds of pulling power, but there was no way that car weighed that much and the winch stalled. It is installed correctly and I even upgraded the battery just for the winch when I bought the winch. Just keep this in mind when you consider a M8000 for your Pathfinder. Next time, I will get something with much more guts to it.

Yeah, that is what I am hoping for. I have even thought getting some Russian videos (movies) to see if i can start to pick up some words in real time would help, but wow they talk fast. My hat is off to people who are bilingual.

Well, I have had allot to be thankful for in recent years. NPORA coming together as a group and helping me get my Pathfinder back was something that I will never forget and it is things like that which caused me to start thinking about ways that I could give back in general. A nearly 4 year divorce left me with little monetary value, so I looked for other ways to give. My niece, "Krissy" has done so many humanitarian things in her short life that she inspired me to get into Mission work. She has been to Haiti more than once in the last year and has helped them rebuild after their earthquakes devastated the region. I was accepted as part of a 9 person team with my church to go to Tobolsk, Russia to help build parts of an ongoing mission there, who's primary focus is drug and alcohol rehabilitation. This part of the country has a very bad economy and yet heroine and vodka are very cheap there. There is no real legal drinking age there either, so you see alcoholics who are not even teenagers yet. This will be the first of many missions that I hope to be able to participate in and I am new to this so the fund raising part of this is new as well. In addition to the cost of each team member that will be $2500, we are raising an additional $6000 for the mission itself. I have been writing letters to friends and family, as well as going door to door seeking donations for this cause. Literally every single dollar counts and if you would like me to mail you an information packet from my church, please let me know your address. For those in the US at least, this is tax deductible because every penny goes to the church for this mission directly. I am learning Russian and I am attending training classes with the other team members to learn what will be expected of us while we are there. Any words of encouragement, or ideas for fundraising from those who have done this before would be appreciated. There is a way to donate to the church directly online too. As I said, every dollar counts so help if you can.

Thanks. I will try that. I am going through ALLOT of fuel lately and it is "sometimes" misfiring. I have new plugs and wires in it, plus new PCV valve. I am not sure about my emissions, because I think we took out the Cat when I added the dual exhaust. I have to check. Its been a few years. Tell me more about using water to do a decarbon service?

They sell o-ring replacement kits for a reason. They must go bad from time to time. Its a first for me, but I have not seen it all. Yet.

I think that it has to be an issue with damaged or shrunken injector o-rings. Your right about having pressure tests done. I need to do that. I see that Walmart offers a fuel injector cleaning for $18. If I have bad o-rings, that won't do anything for me, but I wonder what they do exactly (because its just Walmart and only $18)? I have seen reputable shops with large machines that they hook to the fuel rails and it washes them out methodically, but Walmart may just put something in your fuel tank? I am curious to find out.

Whenever anyone asks, "Do I owe you anything?", I always say, "Just never drive past me if you see ME on the side of the road". I have said that enough times, that I really should never be stranded for long if I break down. Well, that is the plan anyway. We will see how it goes.

Yeah, they were hot... I guess I should have played that card. You would think I would know all the tricks by my age. No, I behaved myself and just told them to be careful as I unhooked and refused their money. I am slipping in my old age huh?

That sound good. I am excited to see that we now have over 80 members showing on the map (there were only 39 on it a few weeks ago). We still have about 5400 members to account for. If you know someone who is not on the map who should be, give them a poke to remind them to add themselves. It only takes a moment.

<br><br>Yeah, I haven't accepted a tip for this since I was a teenager, but it does deserve a tip if anything ever did. You are saving them hours of waiting for tow, the cost of a tow, and you are putting your own vehicle at some risk. Not to mention your fuel. Just the first day of snow this week, I was offered "Lumpia" by some Asian women after helping them (hopefully, that wasn't foreign language for hot sex, because I told them no thanks), and someone asked if they could buy me a coffee, and then later that night two attractive women who I towed about a mile and half up steep hill to level ground, offered me cash, but I told them I was just happy to help. <br><br>Its just fun to do I think. Its certainly not about being an Angel of mercy or something. Its more selfish than that. Its fun to get out and see what your truck can do. Its satisfying to be able to drag yourself and another car up roads that most can't drive up by themselves, and it does make you feel good to help people when they at least show gratitude. Most don't. Most do not even make eye contact because I think they do not want you to ask for payment or something. Knowing that, I am pretty quick when the tow is done. I disconnect, wave them on as I get back into my truck and head on my way. <br><br><br>The people who really let you know they appreciate your help can really make your day. That's the best payment I could expect.

Well, of course I like legal public wheeling. How many times in the year can you get to go offroading to the grocery store or the bank? The down side is that at 16 degrees outside, my doors were frozen shut today. Then I realized that my transfer case shifter was frozen in place and I could not get my transmission shifter into 1st until truck was running for few minutes and had warmed up. Windows were frozen shut too. Crazy.. I wouldn't want to live in this year round, like Alaska or something, but its fun for a week or two at a time here in Washington.

I am glad it was helpful to you. Thanks for the positive feedback.

I have 185,000 miles on the odometer.

I did keep them. They are bagged and ready to use and certainly if anyone needs them, I would be happy to send them to you. My inner bushings were bad, but I do have a couple of used ones that are in good shape in my tool box if anyone needs them as well. Just let me know.

I will let someone else answer the grease question who may know better. It sounds like you had a time with it, but that it was really needed too. Glad to hear that your ride is better too.

Many of you know that I have been battling very weird oil issues for just over a year now. It all seemed to focus around an oil change on my Pathfinder last Winter where they used an engine flush that "seemed to be forever stuck in the motor throughout multiple oil changes. Even then, it would quickly break down my oil too. It was so odd. I could putter around town, or on the trails for hours and days, but if I hit higher RPMS, like jumping on the freeway, my oil would quickly thin and start blowing past the rings until there was no oil. It even seemed to smell like that engine oil flush every time we spelled it. I have to say that this may finally repair this unending nightmare that I have fighting all year long. So my oil issue was not my pressure sending unit as i thought. The more I read about it and think about it, the more I think that my friend Rob is right with the whole fuel injector idea. I was reading several accounts of bad O rings on the injectors causing gas in the oil, causing it to smell like mine and in turn breaking the oil down quickly and the leaks happen faster as the RPMs are higher and the fuel pressure increases. I have to say that was pretty damned ingenious of him to to put all of that together. I have been watching videos on how to remove and service the injectors tonight and except for removing the intake to access the driver side injectors, it doesn't look that hard. I was even thinking about looking into 300z rails and injectors, because apparently they have a much higher flow rate and that was one of the main reasons that the same engine as the Pathfinder has more HP in the 300z cars. I am really excited about maybe finally winning this battle. I am sorry for not hearing this more openly when Rob brought it up before. I think he really has this pegged and now I just need to do the work to find out. Either way, new injectors couldn't hurt. just like on my truck, if you have gas smell in your engine, and it appears to be breaking down the oil consistency as soon as you rev higher and start to build higher pressure. This could all come down to bad O-rings no longer sealing the injector properly. OH, there will be a video, especially if this fixed my issue. Making a "how to" removed, refurbish, and reinstall your Pathfinder O-Rings would be a good one to have out there anyway. I have high hopes that this could finally be the answer to this crazy problem with my oil. I can't tell you how excited I am to think that six small injectors or even just their O rings could be causing all this. Be sure to stay tuned as I am hunting for injectors and injector kits. We will see shortly......