87BeachCruiser

I like that the back wiper is still on there.

Since I'm sure y'all were losing sleep at night wondering whether I'd got this sorted out, some pictures before the final tape up. I'm very happy with the result- lights are brighter, switch works properly, and there is a very satisfying audible 'click' when I turn on the lights and brights. Tapped in at the passenger side, combined the highs and lows and ran across one wire for each (Low - yellow; high - red), and one for each ground wire. Relayed. I got a set of PIAA 4" spots for free, so next job is to install those, then get a nice waterproof relay box. I'd also like to get a fuse box and get rid of all those inline fuses (red and orange are amp and CB) at the battery at some point. Thanks for the help.

I crawled under an Acura last night myself. Nice car- Legend LS, Type II, two grand. Auto, for my ladyfriend. At the end of the day though the dude had zero maintainence records, and despite his assurances that t-belt, head gaskets, etc. had been done I had to walk away. Sigh, I bet a 230hp Honda is nice. Happy Birthday y'all!

Ooh, good idea for a thread, favorite hiding spots... I've had cars and trucks turned inside out before... best spot is somewhere you need at least a screwdriver to access. I like under the middle console. Perhaps I've said too much....

Somewhere there is a great thread where everyone listed their preferences for each. It was the thread where one of the WA guys (87Pathy?) mentioned that he used some crazy heavy duty gear oils that he got in 5 gallon buckets. I can't find the thread though... if anyone else has is saved please post a link. That's my favorite, but there are many on the subject, and most importantly if you have a 5 spd read the TSB regarding fluid level.

I'm probably too new here to yell "search!" so I did it for you: http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=17447&view=&hl=snorkle&fromsearch=1 Just search for "snorkle" and you'll get lots of hits. Also scan through the member rides section. PVC pipe would be a good, watertight solution, why not?

Kiwi Pete, thanks for posting that stuff. I am looking at the diagram from the 94 FSM, and if (big if) I'm reading it correctly then it confirms what I thought, the black from each is the ground. I still can't figure out why everyone says ground is in the middle. I feel like I'm missing something obvious. Anyway, I won't be back under the hood until Thursday at the earliest, so I'll report back with some pics. By the way I took a look at your truck and it is awesome. I won't second guess you on anything regarding electronics. That thing has about as many gizmos and whizbangs as a nuclear submarine. I thought I was cool with my stereo and CB.... fugheddaboutit.

Pictures are worth a thousand words and I was close to that already! Thanks for the response- if the middle is definitely ground than it's a red hot, red ground and black hot to each socket, which makes no sense. It would also mean that there's two different colored wires for R&L high beams, two different colors for R&L ground, and two of the same color for R&L low beams. But I'll definitely try it again that way and let you know how it goes. Thanks. Confirm for me that there are six different wires coming from the headlight switch that I need to connect to the relays- two grounds, two highs and two lows. Yeah?

More stupid questions, went back last night and thought I had this figured out but it's not working: In the "headlights performing poorly" thread it's stated: "the ground wire in the harness is the one in the middle. if you're looking at the harness head on, from left to right, it's high beam positive, ground (negative), low beam positive. a ground wire is any wire bolted directly to the frame. so if you don't want to mess with the harness's ground/negative wire, that's no problem as it's general practice to bolt a wire to the frame and use that as a ground wire." Does this jive with what others have found? I rewired one side to stock just to check it, and here's what I found. In the mess 'o wires up by the driver's side front fender, there are four red wires with blue 'bands' or horizontal stripes, each one having a different color stripe running along the wire ('vertically' or whatever): Black = right (looking from in front of truck) low beam. Yelllow = right high beam Green = left low beam Blue = left high beam Then there are two ground wires (also coming from the switch) that are black w/ red (or maybe brown, can't remember) horizontal stripes. These do not go to the middle of the light sockets, they're on one side. I can't imagine that Nissan would run a red (hot), a black (hot) and a red (ground)- that doesn't make sense to me, although the wire in the middle of the socket on each side is definitely a red wire.... On the Daniel Stern site it says: "SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR GROUND-SWITCHED SYSTEMS Many Japanese vehicles, as well as a few others, use a "ground-switched" headlamp circuit. In these circuits, the headlamp and beam selector switch break or complete the ground side of the headlamp circuit, rather than the feed side. On these systems, it's imperative to use both negative and positive existing headlamp wires to trigger the relays. It is tempting to run the existing headlamp feed wire to relay terminal 86 (trigger feed) and simply find a convenient ground for relay terminal 85 (trigger ground). However, this will not work with ground-switched systems. Run the vehicle's existing feed wire to terminal 86, and run the vehicle's existing ground wire to terminal85." So I was running the grounds (black w/ red horizontal stripes) to the 85 terminals, then looking to ground the headlights on the truck somewhere... anyway, this looked good to me but when I hooked it up, nada. I appreciate any input here- is the middle (red) wire on each harness definitely the ground? That would then mean the black wires are either the high or low beam feeds. Help! If I can't get this figured out I'm gonna have to drive the truck into mid-town, leave it parked somewhere and let the NYPD blow it up with a robot. Thanks.

"Loaded with 100 pounds of fertilizer, but no the kind that would explode, police said." The truck was full of ........! Eh, filter ruined the joke....

I started to rewire and relay the headlights last night and got something wrong. Headlights came on as soon as I connected the battery and were SMOKING hot. Anyway, before I go back tonight and try to sort it out, I had a couple questions: -I assume everyone is tapping into the wires from the switch up front, somewhere around the air intake? Does anyone know offhand what color is what here? I thought I had it figured out (used a meter) but obviously got something switched around. -What's the best thing to insulate the crimped connectors at the relays and the other splices? You just tape the hell out of it? -Did you solder or make new connections at the bulb sockets? Or just splice in close to those? -Did you rewire ground all around or leave the stock ground? And if re-wired, grounded to the chassis somewhere or back to the battery? Thanks for your help.

I'm in the market for some auxiliary lighting and it is shocking (pun intended) how expensive the name brands are. Been searching CL and other places to find 'em second hand. I imagine the el cheapo Autozone lights are as crummy as they look?

I don't blame you. If you ever get the urge to scan the TBI section (EF&EC is it?) that would be awesome. Then we could just add that to the 94 manual (is that the earliest electronic available?) and we'd be close to a full FSM.

What are you doing with the hard copy you have for the 87? I might be interested in that. I think all the Pathfinder FSMs are out there on line except the TBI models. I've been working from a MFPI one... it'd be nice to have the proper one.

Does is sputter at 2800 and then go past it or is it running in safe mode (won't go over 3K)? I ask because I have that hesitation at roughly 2800 - 3K and then it's fine above it. I'm throwing Crank Angle Sensor Code but haven't switched out the distributor or otherwise gotten to the bottom of the problem, so I'm interested in what you find. There's a few similar threads on both that 'hesitation' and lots on problems with the trucks running in safe mode. Sorry I'm no real help here, just interested in your problem.

Rockauto was having a blowout sale on the hatch lifts this week, more than half off, but I do like the 'whack it with an axe' idea. http://www.rockauto.com/RSS/vehiclefeeds.php?carcode=1211768&m=wc&l=en&html=true

That sounds right. When the lights were on, and the brakes applied, it was only slightly brighter (to the point where I'd occassionally hit the hazards when slowing down fast in heavy traffic), and now it's much brighter (second filament). And when the lights were off, when I hit the brakes it would engage the whole circuit, inluding dash lights. Like I said, should've checked the bulbs first, just assumed they were the correct ones, and that the 'only slightly brighter' was why everyone was talking about adding a third brake light.... good thing I never got rear-ended, although I admit there was one REALLY close call at dusk when someone probably couldn't tell the difference.

Hey everyone. Figured I'd update this in case anyone else was ever searching for the same problem. I thought it was the U-Haul wiring, although that wiring was done up nice and clean... I started fiddling around under the dash, thinking something was crossed up at the pedals.... then just kind of gave up. I don't drive too much (living in the city) and the problem never bothered me enough to dig into the dash. Well, had some brake work done (new pads, caliper, etc.) and when I picked up the truck the mech said I had the wrong bulbs in there, 1158 instead of 1157 or something like that. Sure enough, solved the problem, and my brake lights are brighter compared to tail-lights as well. So there you go, nice and easy. Should've been the first thing I checked...

Yeah, what the hell? "I know whenever I boost a truck the first thing I do is top off all fluids and check the tire pressure." I saw from the insurance thread that it looks like they took it off-road and beat on it (got to be kids, right?). Is it possible they put a dent/hole in the oil pan or knocked the hell out of something else underneath? Anyway, glad to hear you got it back, and negotiated an ok deal with the insurance co. Best of luck getting back to form.

'87 'California car' in westchest for 1300... low miles, auto, looks good http://newyork.craigslist.org/wch/cto/1564123293.html

Need to get yerself a set of these: BP, you and I have similar brush guards (attached to frame at bottom and through bumpers), except mine doesn't have a winch platform down low, just a bar. Any problems using that as a recovery point? If it's attached high and low to the frame it's gotta be fine, right? Thanks.

There was an 87 two door in Clifton NJ on CL, over in the for sale section of npora, looks like now deleted though so maybe it sold (was asking 1650...). There's a rusty 95 in Park Slope, Brooklyn for 600 bucks. Runs, according to the CL post. I don't think it'll be that hard to find something, but CFC didn't help. My truck had no body rust when I bought it last fall (but it lived its life in TN). You live right up by Harriman SP? I drive up that way a lot (Palisades), done some hiking in the park, nice area. Any trails up there?

Hey all, have some q's on the Pathfinder. Two days ago had the oil changed, and a new fan clutch put in, and yesterday drove 250 miles out of town. While driving the truck started to hesitate, or stutter, while cruising at 3k rpm. Felt like it wasn't getting fuel for a second. Not when I hit the gas, only when keeping light and steady pedal pressure around 3k. Put some 93 octane and injector cleaner in it, damn near bankrupted me, thought I had the problem solved for twenty minutes and then it came back. Happens in all gears, or def in 4th and 5th. ECU spit out crank angle/cam position sensor. Then I did the no. 5 diag with the truck on, it gave no codes at idle then I ran it around 3K and it gives the three long red blinks- crank angle again. Taking off the filter box I noticed one of the vacuum lines (the one that goes from a post behind the throttle body to the underside of the hot air thingamabob inside the air box, for whatever that's worth) was disconnected. Cleaned the MAF while I was there, shearing only one of three screws. Neither of these seemed to make a difference, although when I put my thumb over the vacuum line it definitely made the idle steadier. Also, the fan clutch doesn't seem to have worked as advertised either. It's noticeably louder, but I was hoping for something that spins at a much lower rate than the motor when cool, and that is not the case with the cheapo replacement. It's a little better, I guess. Some other background info- I bought this truck in the fall and it ran great. Then I got paranoid about the timing belt and had it changed (along with all the other stuff one does with that job). Ever since then I've had various problems with the truck. It ran like total garbage shortly afterword, and spit out the CAS and fuel temp sensor codes. I was convinced the mechanic didn't do the t belt right, he convinced me to pay him for a tune up, which I did, and the truck ran pretty good at that point (I didn't recheck the ECU here, should've), although it idled a little high and took longer to warm up. Somewhere about this time I lost my tail-pipe (muffler-back) and my mps went from roughly 17 to less than 12. I'd be surprised the exhaust would have that much effect on mpgs but I could be wrong. Same with the idle- when warm it drops to 700 then changes it's tune w/ the muffler and jumps back to 1K... point being I'd be surprised if all this had much to do with the exhaust but would that effect the way the motor runs that much? Anyway, all this brings us to today... after playing with the MAF, idle, etc., and getting nowhere I've got my head down in the passenger footwell and I hear this sloshing, squishing sound. Sounds like water in the blower motor or something, but unaffected by heater fan speed, BUT much louder and more pronounced when I got on the gas (in neutral). When listening from the engine bay around the fuel filter you can't hear it- engine's too loud. Redneck stethascope on the fuel filter and around there- nothing. Looked under the truck and I think there's some extra oil around the pan, etc... actually kind of looks like there's some splatter marks around...none on the driveway though, so maybe I'm seeing things (this is a couple hours and couple beers deep). I'm out of town, no lift or jack stands, but I'll take a closer look tomorrow. My questions: 1. There's no way someone could dump enough oil on/in a starter or other component that'd it be audible, right? I'm just crazy, right? What's making that noise? Sounds like a washing machine behind the firewall. 2. Could simply not having a tailpipe have that much impact on performance (idle, mpgs, hesitation at speed)? 3. When a crank angle sensor goes, doesn't it crap out entirely? As in, the truck won't start or will run in failsafe mode or something? Or will a new distributor solve all my problems? What other things would trigger that code? 4. Are there better mechanical fan clutches (or flexible fans) or should I just try an electrical fan? I drove around for a little while without a fan at all (cold start to the New Year in NYC) and that was the best for warm up and idle drop when warm. Although the idle still doesn't drop as quick as I thought it would. Besides the hesitation at cruising altitude and terrible gas mileage, the truck seems to be running pretty good, good acceleration out of the gate, etc. It is having trouble finding an idle when warm though, kind of trying to sit at 700, dropping precipitously, jumping to 1000, hunting around, etc. Anyway, thanks for reading (sorry for the novel) and I appreciate any thoughts. I'll take a closer look underneath and re-run the ECU diagnostics tomorrow and report back. EDIT: the reason for all this extra info in paragraph two there is 'cause if one of you says "your %$#@! mechanic has the belt off a tooth and that's the source of your trouble" I wouldn't be surprised- I trust the guy not to screw me but question his talent.

My first car, a POS 78 Pontiac Le Mans, had only the windshield antenna (two separate ones running up the middle and then left and right along the top) and it received FM just fine. For whatever that's worth....

Huh, I learn something new every day: "New Zealand Land Transport Safety Authority requires all vehicle modifications are certified by an approved engineer." I guess this is a bit more involved than paying an NYS licensed mechanic cash to overlook that little crack in the windshield and give you a sticker?