colinnwn

Has anyone replaced the brake booster themselves? I need to replace mine. It looks completely impossible to disconnect the pedal from the pushrod unless you have the arms and hands of a 6 year old. I've had a sucking sound in the cab during cold starts the past 2 winters. I could fix it by pushing the seal around the pushrod further down and spraying some silicone lube on it. But for the first time I heard it when it was about 80 degrees out, so it seems it is getting worse. I can't even get my head in there enough to see the pushrod connection very good without crushing my glasses. I remember being frustrated just trying to get silicone lube up there the last 2 times. I guess I need to put my contacts in to get a better look.

As I remember there is a box you can plug in behind the driver's tail light that has the 4 prong trailer light adapter. Are you wanting to skip that box? Can you just order it, or get one in a junk yard? I think that would be easier if an option. Sent from my FRD-L04 using Tapatalk

Are you sure your radiator fan clutch hasn't bit the farm? That's what I'd suspect first. When my radiator fan clutch died (and discovered the fan hub had cracks), I removed it, and replaced it with an electric radiator fan. I love it. Here is my post about it. http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/39670-electric-radiator-fan-conversion-on-vq/

I forgot to address your power and error code issues. What are the actual error codes? I'm not aware of a low fuel economy one. The very first thing I'd do is replace your fuel filter, and check your spark plugs. I was having an intermittently rough running engine, with occasionally a specific cylinder misfire code. I was convinced it couldn't be my spark plugs, because they should have 40k miles of life left. I had already bought $350 worth of coils, fairly convinced that was what it would be. Turns out I forgot I had to replace the spark plugs with lesser quality ones. They were 10k over their predicted life, and were in bad shape. If you are actually burning oil, it will be obvious on your plugs. But this shouldn't have hurt your coils. Next I'd look carefully around all the rubber hoses and air intake on your truck. Mine are getting cracks, and I've had to replace or repair them. This would definitely lead to lean running. After that, I'd suspect a failing fuel pump, and would figure out a way to check the fuel pressure before spending the time/money to replace it. Finally I'd suspect either an 02 sensor or MAF sensor. But those I would expect to have error codes to lead you in that direction.

Mine had been losing oil fairly rapidly, and I could smell burning oil at stoplights. But there was no indication of the engine burning the oil on the spark plugs, or tailpipe. The 1st mechanic thought it was the valve covers leaking, and he replaced the gaskets. This helped a good bit, but not completely. I took it to a 2nd mechanic for a 2nd opinion, who re-torqued the covers (commonly necessary), and told me that I did have some leaks around the oil pan, and a weeping main seal. He didn't feel like those were worth addressing. I didn't ask for a quote on either of those, but he said if I ever need to replace the clutch, that would be the time to do the main seal too. Now I'm down to losing 1 qt every 1,000 miles, which is tolerable for me. Fortunately it doesn't seem to leak in the driveway. And I haven't smelled burning oil at stoplights the few times it has been cool enough to have the windows down. But the real test of that will come in the fall. Finally if you have an automatic, I'd check the oil cooler gaskets, which are very common leak points. There is at least one post on this forum about it. I don't remember reading about the PCV TSB from Nissan you mentioned.

My center console lid vinyl is starting to crack. I was ready to just pay the $130 for a new one, until I realized I'm burning 1 qt of oil per 1000 miles, which reminded me she won't last forever. The lid doesn't look re-coverable. But has anyone been able to do it, or come up with another creative solution? Also my steering wheel leather at the top is deteriorating. Has any taken their truck to a reupholsterer to get their wheel rewrapped, and was satisfied with the results? I've tried a bunch of store wheel covers on my old Scout and I hated them all. Sent from my FRD-L04 using Tapatalk

I swapped the electrical plugs and the hoses several times and several ways, and got no flow out of the front washers, and still a strong flow out of the rear washer. Then I blew out the lines one at a time with an air compressor. It seems there was something at least partially plugging the main hose to the tank. I also removed the rubber L fitting at the pump to the hose for the front washer, which looked restrictive and unnecessary. Between those 2 things, the front washers started working almost as good as they used to, but I don't feel like 100%. Sometime I may replace the entire hose run. Looks like it is 7/32". Thanks for all the tips. The link to NicoClub was especially helpful. Growing up in Houston, where we had 5 cm long water roaches, a roach in your washer tank doesn't sound too bad. The only time I find them objectionable is when I'm not paying attention and a live one runs across my hand or arm.

I took my jets out of the hood, and pulled the hoses off at the T. As it visually appeared, I have no check valves on the front washers. Blowing through them, they seem to flow as good as I'd expect. I broke the hose retainer putting the hose back through. Running the pump with the hose removed at the T, the water only comes out about 1 inch, and I can pretty easily stop it with my finger. All this is pretty hard to judge good/bad since I don't know what it was like when it worked well. When I was holding pressure, I didn't find anything dripping from the areas where the hose runs back to the pump. I removed the wheel well liner. It's 3 pop rivets, and 4 screws. I broke 2 of the pop rivets. Fortunately I bought extras. The washer pump setup is crazy. I can't figure it out. The service manual has incomplete information. There is no detailed view of the reservoir or plumbing. There is an electrical functioning description, and a hose routing diagram that only shows 1 hose per pump. This is inaccurate. There are 4 hoses, 2 hoses per pump. One hose from each pump combines into a T. Then each pump has another hose. All 3 hoses route back along the wheel well into the body of the truck. This is insane. There are only 2 places it sprays water, front window and back window. At first I thought maybe the washer motors don't have the typical direct intake into the reservoir, and the 2 lines that T together were the intakes from the top of the reservoir. There doesn't seem to be a way to remove and reattach the pumps to the reservoir unless they are permanently cemented in. But I don't think the 3rd hose can possibly be the intake, because all 3 hoses are going away from the reservoir. I'm not sure what I can do to test or remove them, since I don't understand what the heck is going on with them. Only thing I've thought I could try is swapping the electrical plugs and the 2 hoses that don't T together, so in theory that would be using the old rear pump to spray on the front windshield.

These are other great ideas to try. Thanks. Unfortunately where I rubbed in the pure silicone already doesn't look that great. But it is still better than it was. I will try some of these other products.

I think pollen would stick before it dries, but after it is dry I doubt it will stick more than anything else. My roof rack mounts, the paint is peeling and exposing the metal. I need to repaint it. Sent from my FRD-L04 using Tapatalk

The alternator guy just called. He said there was a bunch of oily carbon soot in it, and the brushes were worn. He's going to clean it and replace the brushes for $65. That's all worth it. One fancy alternator shop quoted me $175 to rebuild mine. And I looked at how much the regulator was for me to replace. They are running $160 and up! One guy was selling one on ebay for $20. But the picture looks like it is for a different application. Sent from my FRD-L04 using Tapatalk

By accident I discovered rubbing 100% silicone clear caulk into the black plastic molding where it has gotten chalky looking, makes it look like new. Those Renew Wipes sold at home centers for $20 for 4 wipes also work well. But they seem like heavy duty Armor All, and are only guaranteed to last 6 months. This is a lot cheaper and I feel l like it will last longer. Sent from my FRD-L04 using Tapatalk

Interesting development. Although my problem hasn't recurred since the junkyard alternator was put in, a local alternator shop says my old alternator tests fine. He is going to go ahead and open it up and check the brushes. But he says worn brushes shouldn't have caused a voltage spike. So I guess it's either an intermittent fault in the voltage regulator that has passed for now, or something completely unrelated to the alternator. Sent from my FRD-L04 using Tapatalk

Hi, Does anyone know how to remove the plastic A-pillar covers? My sunroof (I think) is leaking again down the A pillar. I need to check that the drain in there hasn't come disconnected. I've run a wire down it, and it seems clear. Thanks.

So I finished replacing my alternator. I am going to get my original Hitachi alternator rebuilt and have it on-hand, since consensus seems anything but a new or rebuilt Hitachi alternator is unlikely to last long. But because I didn't want to be down for that time (little did I know the lower alternator bolt would break and leave me down for a week anyway), I got a junkyard alternator. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a Hitachi one from the junkard. It was a 13900 built in Malaysia. It was a greasy mess, so cleaned it with a can of CRC Lectromotive electric parts cleaner, which worked great, and got it tested at Autozone. It turned out I couldn't see well from the top, so I was wrong about not being able to get my arm between the battery tray and the power steering pump. I'm 5'6" and medium build with fairly large forearms, and I could do it with a fair amount of struggle. If you were significantly bigger, especially in the forearms, you might not be able to do this. Any specs quoted below are from memory, so I recommend verifying in the FSM before doing this. Here are my steps - Remove the plastic windscreen on the underbody From right behind the steering rack, reach up and remove the alternator ground screw Use a flat blade screwdriver to push the plastic latch on the wiring harness off the metal bracket attached to the alternator Put a magnetic finder on the alternator mounting nut (to prevent it from getting lost, you don't want to lose this in the power steering rack) Loosen the nut on the front of the idle pulley FIRST! Release the belt tension by unscrewing the bolt on the bottom SECOND! - Otherwise you'll screw up the tensioner mechanism Work the belt off Remove the battery and plastic tray Optionally you can loosen the alternator top bolt, and remove the bottom bolt to possibly gain a half inch for doing the 2 steps below. I was able to barely do it without loosening the alternator. From the top, remove the voltage regulator plug (release button faces the firewall) From the top, remove the positive lead by pushing the rubber boot out of the way and removing the nut Here is where my truck will deviate a little bit (I have an electric radiator fan) - remove the radiator fan and shroud Break both alternator mounting bolts loose Unscrew and remove the top bolt from above Find its nut with the ear below your engine Remove the bottom bolt from below There is no good way to describe how to jigsaw the alternator out of position, but you basically have to move it a little to the passenger side, and bring it forward in front of the radiator. It will take some wiggling and muscle to release the alternator top mount from the engine bosses. Be a little careful, in the manual transmission, the oil level sensor's plastic socket is right below the alternator. Carefully bring the alternator across the radiator to the driver's side, and then Tetris it out between the radiator and anti-sway bar. There is an inch more room here that makes the difference After the 2nd replacement, I decided not to reattach the metal wire harness bracket to the new alternator. The wiring harness seems much stiff enough to support itself. Work the new alternator back into position the same way the old one was removed DO NOT USE lubricant on any bolt threads or nuts. Wash them off with parts cleaner if necessary. You may want to replace the lower alternator bolt if it looks corroded. The head of mine broke off when tightening it. I believe it is a M8 1.25 20mm flanged head bolt. I used a class 10.8 I found at Autozone. Put the top bolt in first Optionally put in the lower bolt, but you could wait until after you wire the positive lead and you might gain half an inch of clearance for the positive lead and voltage regulator plug Get someone to spin the top bolt for you while you get underneath the car and start the top nut onto the threads, and get the ear seated against the alternator mounting arm From the top, reattach the positive lead FIRST! If you try to do the ground first, you'll be unable to correctly seat the positive terminal between the two nuts on the positive stud of the alternator without cracking the plastic insulator. Someone did this to the junkyard alternator I had. So I swapped the insulators with my old one. From the top, reattach the voltage regulator plug Reattach the negative lead from the bottom Tighten the alternator top bolt (60 NM) Tighten the alternator lower bolt (30 NM) Put the belt back on Finger tighten the idler pulley nut and back it off a quarter turn Tighten the tensioner belt (I have another thread with guidelines for this. The short version is hand tighten with an extension and no wrench, then use a wrench 2 full turns for a new belt, and 1.5 turns for an old but good belt) Tighten the idler pulley nut (25 NM) Reinstall the radiator fan and shroud Reinstall the battery plastic tray and battery Reinstall underbody windscreen

I just finished replacing my alternator, and used the same belt from this thread. For the last couple months before the alternator had gone out, I had been getting the occasional startup belt chirp. I had been planning to tighten it up another half turn. But after the alternator replacement, starting from a removed, old but good condition belt - I again hand tightened the tensioner with just the extension, and did one full turn with a wrench. That seemed too loose by pressing on the belt, but I actually didn't try starting it up. I did another half turn, for a total of 1.5 turns, and then the belt felt appropriately tight. There was no chirping on startup.

I got it done, it took about 5 hours. And then in a second it was undone. I will write up my version later. But when I got to the last step of tightening the lower bolt, the head snapped off. I was using a torque wrench to the factory recommended 26 nm. The only thing I did wrong was there was a little bit of corrosion on the threads, so I used a dab of antisieze. I knew there was a danger of overtorquing with antisieze, but that's the first time it's happened to me. Now I get to do it all over again. Sent from my FRD-L04 using Tapatalk

Hi, I'm trying to replace my alternator. I've seen some reference online to either 1) removing the mounting bolts on the alternator and then removing the voltage regulator control plug, ground, and positive from the bottom. I don't see enough slack in the leads to remove them after removing the mounting bolts. It seems any attempt to do that with the alternator just hanging in there by the leads, would also wreck the oil pressure sending unit, as one attempted to put enough torque on the ground and positive bolts to loosen them. or 2) removing the battery and battery tray, and removing the voltage regulator control plug from the top, and the ground and negative from the bottom before removing the mounting bolts. My battery tray appears to be spot welded and glued in. There is no room to get your arm down in there to get to the voltage regulator control plug, around some other wires and power steering items. I do have an electric radiator fan, so once the alternator is removed, getting it out will be no problem. I'll either pull the electric fan out, or rotate the sway bar up, and pull the alternator out from the bottom. Anyone ever done this and have ideas? Thanks.

I've decided to get a junkyard alternator to swap in, so it will be ready to drive Wednesday. And I'll send my bad one to a rebuild shop so I can replace it when the junkyard alternator dies. Does anyone know where the part numbers are on the Nissan/Hitachi alternator to verify I am getting a good original equipment alternator, and not a crappy rebuild or Chinese one?

That Optima is only a year old. It had a Bosch AGM for 2 years that went bad, but not due to overcharging I ever saw. It had another Optima before that which made it a total of 10 years in 2 cars. I was suspicious that the alternator had completely died for the last mile. I wonder how many years of life it took off my Optima. Sent from my FRD-L04 using Tapatalk

Hi, Has anyone had this happen or have suggestions? I was driving home about 2 miles from the house, and all of a sudden the following happened ABS light came on solid Both the brake light and battery light started fluttering on and off rapidly The A/C blower spun down for a second and came right back on My radio volume got very low (I assume the amp shut down) I finally thought to look down at my ScanGauge and the voltage was fluctuating from 18.3-19 volts After about a mile, it went back to 13.7 volts and all the other symptoms above stopped except the radio amp didn't come back on, for the rest of the drive home. I popped the hood and found the battery had been outgassing acid from the vents. I was leaving town in another car, so I wasn't able to do any further investigation. When I get home again, should I put the battery on a tester, or just assume I need to replace the alternator or have it rebuilt? I figure it is the voltage regulator. But I thought it was weird that the voltage went back to normal. So once I saw the battery I wondered if it had an internal short. I'd replace the alternator myself, but my truck has an oil leak and I'm not sure I want to deal with the mess. Thanks.

Not enough preload on your bearings? Sent from my FRD-L04 using Tapatalk

I followed my hoses from the base of the jet to where it enters the wheel well, and I don't have check valves. Can anyone send a picture? I was wondering if they weren't replaced when my hood was painted. The jets worked fine for a year after the paint. How do the jets come out? I expected a nut at the bottom. It feels like sort of a triangle that you'd squeeze together and push them out. Though the sides didn't seem very flexible. Sent from my FRD-L04 using Tapatalk

Sorry Tapatalk only showed the first reply when I was writing this. Sent from my FRD-L04 using Tapatalk

Yeah I would have asked the guy why he did that. Would have been worried of hidden engine problems. The 3.3 liter engine had a belt that you definitely want to do the scheduled replacements on. The 3.5 has the chain that I've never heard of doing preventative maintenance on. Sent from my FRD-L04 using Tapatalk