carwilef7

Do they make one of these for R50's? And how the hell would you route the hoses? Not that the filter is hard to get to, it's just that it's damn near impossible not to spill oil all over the steering gear and front crossmember (and the ground, the dog and the cat, and any adjacent turtles) when wiggling the filter out

Stay away from Vizio - Mine died after 20 months. Currently have a Toshiba 40" - and bought the 4-yr warranty too.

I only get about 15-16 MPG in city driving, and that's after installing new air filter, fuel filter, plugs, wires, cap and rotor, resetting the timing, and any other thing I could think of when I had some stalling/starting issues (MAF and Coolant Temp Sensor turned out to be bad). I agree with the others' posts about tire pressure and stuff too.

bans nytros for not understanding that the "stupid" part was the Autozone trim hiding the rust, and the deferred maintenance - previous owner was probably some silly little girl who inherited it from her parents and was pissed that it wasn't a cute little Neon ( POS )

I ban TerranoNZ for reminding me of the places I never got to see last time I was in NZ

I had some of those codes at one time, but they seem to have stopped once I fixed the flooding problem (coolant temp sensor - never got a code for it though) seafoamed it, and ran it hot -+3000rpm - occasionally by going 65mph w/ the O/D off. That burned off the goo. Good info to have though - if it comes back. THANKS!

I joined this board well after all of this was in the works, while I was fishing for answers to truck problems (to which I received warm and helpful replies - in contrast to sarcasm and sarchasm on other boards), but it's stuff like this that makes me realize there are places in the world - and on the net - where people actually give a rats a**, and it proves we're not all a bunch of self-centered troglodytes! Go MR. JIM, and thank the rest of you for being good people. I'm proud to belong here. <<wandering off to paint on a cave wall....

I ban Kingman for banning older people who are probably younger than me - and for the public urination sticker.

It's sad - I've seen some cool older rides in the Clunker lot - and I'm still pissed off that I can't buy Pathy parts (even non-running ones) off a clunker. Good for the dealership, in this case, and a big whack on the head to the Xterra dumpers!

To each his/her own, i guess. IMHO, as a bass player and sound tech, no factory speaker or stereo was ever worth a plugged nickel after a couple of years. The electronics are cute, but not robust enough to withstand the constant motion, and the speaker materials are cheap and deteriorate rapidly. My aftermarket stuff (listed below) has done over 60K miles and still sounds great - and that's after being in a Honda Prelude (totalled by someone else), a Dodge Intrepid (POS engine locked up) and now in my Pathfinder. No matter what ya do, it's a good idea to bypass the harness wires to the speakers and use beefier ones for less voltage loss. You don't necessarily need Monster Cable, but double whatever gauge you have as stock.

I agree w/ Creekkid - dump it and get a new one, especially if it's a factory original. Same with the speakers. You can get a decent head unit for less than $100USD and an excellent one for not much more. Add at least one set of good speakers for $50 - $80, and you'll be amazed at what you've been missing. I've had a dozen or more used vehicles, and the stock radio is always the first thing to go out the window.

Me? I lie and tell people I'm an artist or a writer - so they'll leave me alone. I actually do paintings of writers painting typewriters. And if that doesn't work, I can always go back to testing cup holders Really, though: I've been a fish cook, a gas station attendant, a shoe salesman, a welder/fabricator, a carpenter, a furniture maker, a cabinet maker and welder in the same shop (!), a mobile home set-up person, a contact lens warehouse worker, a cell phone box labeler, a conveyor system tech, a student, a bass player, an astronomer, a model train scenery specialist, a photographer, and a general renaissance man (read - slacker). On account of having no intention of ever growing up, I refuse to plan my career while I'm still in my 40's.

Thanks! I'll look into that.

Has anybody tried interrupting the MIL circuit to the ECM to install a switch? I don't want it glaring in my face all the time, but I would like to be able to read it out occasionally. I keep getting a P0420/0702 - R cat efficiency code, and I've determined that I don't need a smog test in my part of VA. I do, however, find the MIL annoying, and it doesn't look good if you go in for a safety inspection (same theory that they'll do better work if your vehicle is clean inside and out - looks like you're particular). I would still like to be able to flip it on if something goes nuts and the truck starts running bad while on the road. Lost an engine in my last car and the light was flashing for about 20 seconds before it locked up solid. I fail to see the point in spending big $$$ to replace the cat. The FSM and Haynes both show that the light is fed off a 10A bus with some other stuff in the dash cluster, and the ECM apparently just closes a contact to ground when a code is set, but I just want to make sure I'm not going to fry something inside it if I interrupt that circuit. I've also been trying to run the truck hot - O/D off and 3000 rpm for several minutes at a time - to try to burn off the gunk that remains in the cat after a bunch of fuel mix issues - all of which are resolved now. Seafoam helped - and actually made it stop throwing a code for the L rear O2 sensor., and I think that code was also a result of the fuel goofiness. I still get the 0420 code after resetting and going about 100 miles, though. Anyway - any ideas appreciated!

The thing about CFC that annoys the hell out of me is that I'm one of those "poor" folks who drives a pathy in the same year range as all those clunkers - and it makes no sense to me that they can't sell the parts off of them to help mine run up to snuff. Good that they canned the program, because if it had become permanent (never an option due to the cost) ppl like me would be forced to ride the f'n bus or drive total junk. It's not just Obama - government programs almost always have the opposite effect from the one presented to the public. It was a sop to the car companies from the beginning.

College? we don' need no steenking college! Seriously, Community college ass degree. I wonder about christian colleges, christian day care, and especially christian car insurance - do they cover acts of god???? Also, how the hell do these ppl hand out biology sheepskins when they deny evolution while watching the bird flu morph into something really nasty? anyway, What would Jesus drive? It says the apostles were all in one Accord, - but if you wanna walk on water, I recommend a pathfinder

Try bypassing the factory amp (if you have one) and the harness. Kind of a PITA, unless you have some spare speakers laying around, but I'd bet the harness is messed up or unhooked somewhere - possibly inside one of the connectors. Since you say you can read impedance at the head unit connector ( I assume the speaker side) try the head unit side. Also, some newer head units refuse to work if there's even one speaker lead loose. Some will come on, but not put out sound if the antenna ground isn't right, or if some other ground is iffy. I once had an Alpine that would do that unless the power antenna wire was hooked up to the key-switched 12V line.

Sorry to rehash this, but maybe it'll help someone out: For some time I had been having hot-start flooding issues with my R50. Finally found the cause to be a bad coolant temp sensor (the one the computer uses to help determine fuel delivery, not the gauge sending unit), replaced it and no more flooding. Never got a code for it ever, just happened to run across the idea by googling, and found mine to have crazy high resistance while hot, but normal when cold or after waiting 20 minutes. Then, the MIL light came on and I kept getting codes for a bad L rear O2 sensor and sometimes for R catalyst efficiency (P0159/0708 and P0420/0702). My theory was that all the flood-start drama had gooped up the cat and the sensor, and it just needed to cook off. On Sept 1, I seafoamed the intake and put some in the fuel tank, then drove it normally for a week. Changed the oil on Labor Day (7th) and read the codes out/reset (with the screw-turn method). Have been over 100 miles since then - a mix of short city trips and 65 mph runs - and the MIL has not come on again. I think the seafoam did the trick! btw - I'm really impressed that an engine with 149k on it - with no signs of a rebuild - will make a vacuum gauge sit rock-solid at 20 in/Hg, and bounce down, then up, then settle back exactly like it's supposed to when I snap the throttle!

Precise1 - Sorry - didn't mean to blow you off. You had no way of knowing the pipes weren't in ideal shape. I guess I'm bad about asking questions and then dwelling on them and winding up on a whole other trip when someone does reply. I'm still interested in those hub center caps, btw. Tomorrow, I'll try to post a pic with the one I have and some rulers so we can see if they match before we negotiate.

$3400???????? Didn't pay much more than that for my whole truck! Try a used trans.

Will do! Thanks for the ideas!

Welcome! A ~ $20 Haynes manual and the FSM (found one for '97 - free at pdftown.com) are almost essential on the electrical stuff. And people here are quite helpful and know their stuff. Just ask for help.

Good idea on the torch-cleaning. It occurred to me to switch them - trouble is I don't think the wires are symmetrical in length. In other words, the right sensor wires won't reach the harness if it's in the left pipe. Also not big on pulling anything just yet for fear of breaking rusty pipes. Dunno how old they are - truck has 149K. Seafoamed it today and blew tons of crud out the exhaust. Runs like new, not that it ran bad after my initial going-over to replace filters, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, etc. When I first got it, the plugs looked like they'd been in there since Nixon was president. Anyway, I'm gonna run it a few days, reset the ECM again, then see if I still get any codes. If I do, I might try to torch-clean the one that's acting up - and attempt a switch - before replacing it.

Wait, wasn't there a hooti and the blowfishii???

having always been a cheap bastard, I've used Dawn forever - and a stiff brush. Pretty sure the plural of Elvis is "Elvi"