~Ben~

Has anyone ever built or found a place to hide stuff in their pathfinder? Whether its cash, or house keys or illegal substances ( ), I'm just wondering if anyone has one of these places. Ideally, building a safe underneath the car somewhere would be best, but that could take a lot of welding and you'd definitely proper placement so you don't mess anything underneath the car up. Anyone done this or had ideas for this?

I have the same problem, just haven't gotten around to fixing it yet. For me, its just a small part of the window seal thats no longer there. Its weird, because its a perfect piece of it missing; almost as if someone cut it out rather than it just got weak and broke. If its not the window seal, could it potentially be a problem with the door itself? Maybe it got dented or warped over time, and it doesn't touch the window seals anymore. That would give only a small hole, but apparently it doesn't take much to get a lot of noise. Maybe you could set up a test to see where the problem is coming from. Have one person sit on the inside of the car, and watch the door. Have someone else use a hose to spray the door from all angles (obviously with the door closed and window up). If the person inside notices any water coming into the car, he should be able to locate the hole causing the noise. Just some ideas for you, might work, might not.

Do they make washers big enough for that though? I guess I could just go up to Home Depot and check myself

I busted my passenger side front wheel well the other day offroading. A small (width) mudhole turned out to be a bit deeper than I thought it was, so the front end slammed down harder than I intended to and the tire busted the wheel well. Luckily it wasn't too bad; besides a small hole I rubbed into it before I realized the problem, its just that the screw and bolt holes ripped enough to make it come loose. I took the wheel well off and everything's fine, but I'd like to put it back on. I can post pics a bit later if I need to, but I figure its pretty self explanatory. The holes are just too big for the bolts to hold the front part of the wheel well in place anymore. Since the rest of the piece is fine, I'm thinking I could probably just get new pieces of plastic and connect them to the wheel well to make new screw/bolt holes. Is this my best plan of action? And if it is, are there actual parts out there I could buy pre-made for certain bolt sizes, or will I need to buy my own pieces of plastic and create the pieces myself? Also, are there any real risks I face while not having a wheel well? I figure I shouldn't offroad while its off, but just on the pavement, are there any problems? Thanks, Ben

Yeah I was thinkin I might change the belts anyway; belts are cheap to get so I might as well. And like you said, it's probably shot anyway since its been squealing for so long. I went out the other day to see which one felt loose, and I'm pretty sure it is the fan belt. The descriptions you gave help, I can probably do it based on those. But if anyone wants to get pictures, that'd be helpful too. Thanks guys

I posted a couple months back about a squealing noise I had when starting up my car... Someone suggested my belts were probably dirty (which made sense, considering the mud in my engine compartment), so I sprayed on belt conditioner every now and then and the problem seemed to not be quite as bad anymore. Recently though, the problem has actually gotten worse, to the point where every single time I start up the pathy, I hear the squeal. Sometimes its real short, sometimes its louder and actually lasts for a good 20 seconds after the car has started. Conditioner doesn't even temporarily fix the problem anymore, and 95 percent of the time I start my car I hear this noise. After talking to a few people who know things about cars, I've figured that its probably a loose belt, and more than likely is my fan belt. I can't think of anything else it really could be, so I'm almost positive that this is what it is (although I guess it could be a different belt). So my question here is how exactly would I go about tightening a belt? Do I need to actually buy a new belt and install it or do I just need to tighten the one I have? I watched a friend install my new AC belt, so I kinda have an idea of what to do, but I'm not sure enough to go ahead and start messing with things. So if someone can give me a detailed explanation of how to tighten my fan belt, that'd be real helpful. Pictures obviously help to; its a 95 so if you have a WD21 taking pictures of your belt to explain what you're talking about would definitely be good. And of course there's always the chance that I'm completely wrong about having a loose belt and that its actually something different; and if you know what that is, then please tell me and what I can do to fix it. Thanks

Well I haven't personally done many mods to my pathy yet. I've just got Warn Manual Hubs, and a slightly upgraded sound system (Sony Deck and 4 Xplod 5x7 speakers). My friend (who used to own an r50) had a MagnaFlow installed on his car, for something like 40 bucks, which included a new muffler too. Sounded real good, once i get a job this summer i"ll probably do the same. I can't really remember what the name of the place was that did it for him, but its somewhere out near the Matoaca/Colonial Heights area. Near where I go to school actually, so its probably a ways to go for you. But might be worth it, since it won't cost much. I'll ask my friend tomorrow what the name of the place is.

Welcome to NPORA! Looks like we got two things in common here; not only do I live in Richmond, VA as well (southside, near Meadowbrook Highschool) but I also drive a '95 XE that is burgundy/red. Where exactly in Richmond are you? Oh, and for the CV's.. I had one of mine crack about 6 months ago and I had my uncle replace it. I'm pretty sure the part cost around 75 bucks, but don't quote me on that. I don't know how much the labor would normally cost at a dealership or anything, my uncle does most of the stuff to my car for next to nothing.

Welcome back Jim

There's a pic of his X in his profile, just click his name Slick Welcome, nice lookin rig

In regards to pretty much all off-road trucks, not just pathfinders. But I just noticed a couple of these in the past week, and I was wondering. I've seen a few lifted trucks that have obviously had more than a few mods added, and in the rear their shocks on each side are in different spots. The left one is behind the rear axle, whereas the right one is in front of the rear axle. For the life of me, I can't figure out why these trucks would be like this, but I figure its some sort of mod, since both trucks I saw were definitely modded. Why exactly are the shocks like that? And does it matter which side is in front and which side is behind the axle? And what's the point of it? Thanks, to whoever knows the answer

Pretty sure this is a pretty common problem with Pathfinders. Mine does it too (not often, but sometimes) when it's cold. Every now and then when you go to unlock the doors, it'll unlock then relock immediately. I'm pretty sure it was posted on here before somewhere (so you may want to try the search feature), but I read that you can actually fix this problem. You have to take apart the door panel and find the locking mechanism, take it apart and clean it out and then put it back in. Over time the mechanism gets sludge or some sort of gunk in there that makes it mess up the locking every now and then (not sure why its usually when it's cold). Cleaning it out should keep the problem from happening, or at least as often. Try the search feature though to find the topic, cause I may not completely know what I'm talking about. I'm just going on memory of what I read on the topic, I've never actually cleaned mine out.

Well my pathy is stock, so it probably is faster than the majority of the pathys on these forums (no big tires or anything). Obviously its not that fast, it is only a pathfinder afterall, but unless I'm dealing with mustangs and BMW's and whatnot I can keep up with most cars. Surprisingly I rarely deal with any actually fast cars trying to pass me, the only ones that try that are usually old Mexican trucks or some old 4 cylinder Honda civic. My pathy's no speed demon, but I'm pretty sure she can take on a 87 Toyota Pickup. I will admit to tailgating occasionally, though its more minor tailgating. As in, I'm probably closer than I should be, but I'm not so close you can't see my headlights. I only do this when I get real pissed off at a car (it does something stupid to me) and I only do it until I get a chance to pass them. Most of the time I just hang back a good ways and when I get a chance to pass, then I go because I find it more enjoyable to pass cars at higher speeds. If I'm right on their ass, I don't have much of a chance to accelerate before I pass them so its less fun.

I drive to the point where I almost NEVER get tail-gated. Nor do I get passed that often. So when someone does tail gate me, I know they have to be an idiot because you just have to be an idiot to be trying to faster than me. Most of the time what I do if someone decides to tailgate me (and its rare) is I'll give a quick tap on the brakes (not enough to really engage them, but enough for the lights to come on) and then I'll floor it and leave em behind me. What's even more fun is when they try and go around me once they've been tailgating and I floor it and don't let them pass me... Trying to act tough and pass me just doesn't work. By the way, is there any way to somehow install a switch that'll turn on the brake lights without actually engaging the brakes? That'd be a really useful tool for when someone tailgates, you can just turn on the switch and they'll lay off you, but you're not in danger of causing a crash or anything. The reverse lights would be pretty cool too.

Wouldn't this burn up the E-brake pretty fast though? I do like the idea of installing twin E-brakes, that'd probably be a pretty easy mod to install and would work pretty well. How expensive is an additional E-brake though?

Well it doesn't deal with tailgaters very well, but I've "modded" my car so that my front wiper fluid nozzles point forward rather than at my windshield. Gets pretty fun when you have a convertible in front of you or a car next to you with his window down(since the nozzles spray slightly right/left); you can spray the person pretty easily and it takes them a while to figure out where it came from. Pretty easy "mod" to do on most pathfinders I think, although mine mightve been easier to do since its more worn down. But you just take the end of the nozzles and pull them up out of the hood then turn them around. If you wanted to make it more secure you could use a drill or weld small pieces of metal into the holes to make them hold the nozzles in the opposite direction better. I'd like to see if I can reverse my rear wiper fluid nozzle though, then I could get the people behind me too.

Wish my engine compartment looked like that.

Thanks for the info guys, I figured it was something else I needed to lock individual wheels. And good to know that locking only one (if I somehow accidentally do that) won't hurt the truck. As for my old Auto's, all I really know is that the Hub had somehow stripped (or one of the pieces on the hub) so when the axle was turning, the hub wasn't connected to it to make the wheel turn. Apparently it was the one on the passenger side, so it didn't have anything to do with my ripped CV boot that I had replaced earlier.

If anyone remembers my topic about my 4wd no longer working (I got stuck in my own ditch because of it), well I just got it fixed yesterday. But instead of getting new Automatic Hubs (which would have cost more), I got the Manual Hubs for my car. I pretty much know how they work (pretty simple really), but I did have 2 questions concerning them. 1. If I were parked and somehow one of my Hubs was locked, but the other one wasn't, what would it do to my car when I started to drive off? Chances are, I wouldn't make this mistake but it is possible for someone else to come along and mess around with my lockers and make one of them locked. Could this potentially break my axle or parts of it? I wouldn't think locking only one hub on pavement would be a good thing... 2. Now that I have manual hubs, I was wondering if I now have the capability to lock only one side of my front wheels (by locking only one hub) when in a situation where it'd be better to have one wheel locked (one with better traction) and leave the other unlocked (one that's stuck in mud with no traction). I know there are lockers out there that can lock down specific wheels to give the best traction, but I wasn't sure if these Manual Hubs have the same benefits. I really hope they do as that would be a huge help when off roading... And if anyone has any other information about Manual Hubs (their experiences, tips and things that could go wrong with them), I wouldn't mind reading it as well. I don't really wanna test them out until I know everything I need to know. Thanks, Ben

I installed speakers in my front doors too (I have a 95), along with the same speakers in the back (where there are also tweeters). I've had them in for a good 6 months now, and haven't had any problems with how they sound (they sound awesome), so I would assume that the cross over is built so that the highs do come through your new speakers. Also, when I first installed the speakers, I tested them out before actually putting them in the door ( as in, wired them in but held the speaker outside the door and tested it) and the highs came through it just fine. It was far enough away so that the sound coming through the tweeters was separate enough for me to hear the speaker by itself. So I'm pretty sure that your tweeter in your speaker is working, as I'm pretty sure that it works in mine.

Got it.

I've had a mild case of that problem before; occasionally when I go to unlock it, it'll unlock then relock real fast. It only ever does it once though, the 2nd time I unlock it it works normally. If it ever gets real bad though, I'll do what you said, it seems pretty simple. Thanks

I doubt it'll be enforced. And if it is only your average lift (something less than 5 inches maybe) you can always play stupid and just say you bought the car how it was, and didn't realize it had been lifted. Why would they pass a law like that though? The whole state of Virginia would be in an uproar if they banned lifts here, I don't think the rednecks could live without their lifted trucks.

So I had someone move the car backwards in 4wd while I checked out the CV's. Turns out my passenger side one turns, my driver's side one doesn't. So now I've narrowed that down; I know the problem is on the driver's side and I know it doesn't have to do with the connection to the hub. Sooo... any ideas on what the problem could be now? I'm willing to test things out, as I'd kinda like to fix this problem or at least identify the exact problem on my own. The driver's side (the side where the CV doesn't turn) IS the side where I had the boot replaced. So I'm expecting that has something to do with the problem, although I don't know what. Thanks for the help so far, though . Hopefully I'll have the pathy back in 4wd soon and I'll show that ditch who's boss

Well the guys that replaced it are my grandfather and uncle. They've been around cars their entire lives, and always know pretty much everything about anything... At least its always seemed that way. They've been fixing cars for my mom's side of my family forever. And they own their own garage where they work on cars for a living. I pretty much trust them, I really don't believe it was put back together wrong... although its always a possibility. Putting it in reverse and checkin out the CV's sounds like a good idea. Could probably do that pretty easily. If the CV's move, then its a problem outside the CV's right? And if they don't move then it would be a problem inside the CV's, with something else not engaging to make them move? CV definitely isn't broken though, I checked it out and while I don't have the most extensive knowledge about cars I feel pretty confident I'd have known if something right there was broken. And it doesn't make any noise or anything.