JamesRich

My story wasn’t off road and wasn't a pathfinder but it still sucked! I was working as a fleet mechanic for a spring water company and I took care of two branch fleets. Once a week I would go to Alexandria, 80 miles away to just check fluid and general conditions because the drivers never would. I just brought basic tools because I didn't do any major work at that branch. I drove an 89 dodge half ton pickup with a compressor on the back that had no power so I pretty much drove it to the floor most of the time. I had been ignoring a separated motor mount for a few months because after recently changing it, it lasted maybe 8 months and tore again so I wasn’t in a rush to change it again. Around 9 pm I left the branch heading home and stopped at a convenience store for a snack for the 80 mile drive home. Getting back on the interstate I punched it as I usually do and somewhere around 3500 rpms the other motor mount let go and the engine twisted over a few degrees and the fan started digging into the shroud. I surveyed the situation and decided I could use the factory jack to lift the motor and push it back in place. So while I'm under there fighting with it the only flashlight I have burns out! Going from memory and feel I finally got the motor over enough so the fan wasn’t touching the shroud and drove home at 45 mph taking off really slowly! The next day I got two motor mounts from the dealer and two new flashlights! James

The pulley from a 60 amp pathy alternator needs a spacer to fit but the pulley from a 70 amp pathy alternator fits right on. I'm not sure what year they went from 60 to 70 amp but I got mine from a 94. James

So you have a V8 in your pathfinder? Where's the pics? James

How much smaller is the factory bushing? With enough clearance you could get a machine shop to turn a sleeve to make the factory bushing fit. James

Yea I got burned by rock auto too. I never had a problem with their parts before but the reverse light switch I just got from them was shorted. As soon as I turned on the key it blew the fuse. It's not worth sending back for $10 so I got one from Orielly for $14 and all is good. James

I've had problems with the regulator before. There is a plastic clip that holds the cable sheathing to the regulator frame that breaks and lets the sheathing move instead of the cable. The window would go all the way down but not up. When I pulled it up it had a lot of slack as the sheathing would move around. Once up it stayed in place with no problems. James

So you ran the wires individually through the boot? I pulled the harness from my parts truck as one big harness and tried to keep it together with the ECU plug on one end. I guess I could cut it and resplice them all once I get them through but that would be a lot of extra work. Looks like you have a lot of fun issues to work out. Good luck! Would it be a problem to try a pathfinder MAF instead of the M30? Since your not getting any codes I would think it's a problem from mixing parts. Just a quick guess. James

Does the suzuki have a nissan motor in it or did suzuki put their own? To sell it that much cheaper they had to change something. James

That's awesome! Now I need some pics of how you ran your wiring through the cab and where you mounted your ECU. James

It's really hard to diagnose something like this without seeing the vehicle. If you are loosing brakes as soon as it dies out you brake booster could be what is leaking. Or the check valve is broken. IF the motor still has good vacuum even with the motor shut off for days the booster should still have vacuum in it. It still sounds like stopped up exhaust to me but you said you checked all that. If the air can't get out the motor can't pull any air in which would cause low vacuum. The only other thing that would cause low vacuum (other than a big leak) is if you ran the motor hot for a long period of time and collapsed the rings and it just doesn't have enough compression to pull much vacuum. Get a compression gauge and run a compression check on it. Most part houses loan them. First thing you need to do is pull the vacuum hose off of the brake booster and plug it to see if that makes a difference. James

To see if your muffler is clogged just disconnect it after the cat and take it for a drive. If you have a vacuum gauge you can check exhaust restriction with it. When you hold the motor at a rev say 2000rpms it should have more vacuum than at idle. When you let the throttle go it should jump up a few inches and then come down. If you get less vacuum the higher you rev it then it's definitely clogged. The reason you never heard what tungsten told you is because it's bull @!*%! You ever see a dragster run a quarter mile by giving it half throttle to take off? If the motor is tuned right and nothing is wrong it will go no matter how much throttle you give it. It's not normal for these trucks either. I can stomp mine to the floor and it goes with no hesitation from being flooded with air! Maybe tungsten has too much air somewhere. If his truck does this then there is something wrong with it. James

The problem with ignoring the pilot bushing is 1 when it's buzzing it is turning the input shaft slowly and makes it harder to shift. 2 If left long enough it will scare up the input shaft. I just changed mine and it wasn't really worn out but dry. That's why I always pull a vacuum on the new bushing before putting them in. James

Awesome! And so it begins! I found out about the A/C bracket too, that's why I bought a whole truck for the parts. I easily removed all the air pipes on the exhaust manifolds when I put my headers on. Sawzall!

My guess would be the pilot bearing. The throw out bearing turns all the time but only has load on it when you push the clutch but pumping it would not make the noise go away. The pilot bearing will usually make a brrrrrrrrrrrr noise as soon as you start to let up on the clutch. Then when it gets worse it will make the noise the whole time you hold the clutch in. James

Looks good! But, I think you should have left more gap between the body and bumper so you have a little flex space. You never know when you might go over a cliff backwards and end up bouncing off of a big rock, don't want it to flex and hit the body! On a serious note, you might want to make a shield for the back side of the receiver so mud doesn't get in there. If you leave the receiver in after a mudding trip it will get stuck in there. James

Check your convertor for a restriction. If the exhaust leak keeps getting worse and the power keeps going down it could be plugging up more and more. To check for a restriction I use an old vacuum/fuel pressure gauge in the O2 sensor hole. I'm not sure how much pressure is allowable but I would guess nothing over a pound when revving. You can also just unbolt the pipe from the convertor and take it for a spin. Check this ASAP. If it’s plugged that bad your holding a lot of heat on the motor that can burn exhaust valves. James

You were driving it around with open headers? I don't think I would get very far like that around here. I'd have to take the front drive shaft off too, it's blowing right on it. Now I'm waiting for my Y pipe from David so I can take it down the road. James

Finished putting the headers on, put a 90 amp maxima alternator back on instead of the factory 60 amp, put some royal purple in the transfer case and fired it up with open headers! James

With the air soft pellets watch what you buy. There are biodegradable pellets now. A little moisture in your tire and you will end up with a sticky blob. James

I run dyna beads in my motorcycle tires and I love them. I never feel a vibration from when the tire is new to worn out. I have been wanting to try air soft pellets in my pathfinder’s tires. That way when I get mud sitting on the inside the rim I don't have to shake all the way home. The only problem I see would be with plugging a leak. I would think the beads would stick to the plug and make it majorly off balance. I guess I could just go home and add more beads. James

So you don't floor it on a day to day basis? I run the hell out of mine often keeps it loose. Lol! If the exhaust just started leaking the higher noise level could make you think you are pushing it harder than you used to and it doesn't seem to accelerate at the same rate that it did when it was quiet. I experienced this when I put a aftermarket intake on my titan. I drove it easier because it sounded like I was running it a lot harder than before with the increased noise under normal driving. Just a theory though from my experiences. James

Good observations! I was in a hurry when I took mine off because it was a cash for clunkers vehicle and they were slowly crushing them. So it just bolted through the roof to give the threaded holes more support or did it also connect to a cross member to help support the weight of the rack? Would make since as I'm sure the middle feet get most of the weight. Now to see if you can make it fit in the pathfinder. James

The headliner isn't hard to remove but you have to pull all the plastic from the side walls and try not to break the clips that hold them on. What year X did you get that rack off of? I don't remember any bolts sticking up through the roof, the 2000 X I pulled my rack from had rivet nuts for all the mounting bolts. James

Running without the A/C is not an option down here for my old ass! 98 degrees with 100% humidity sucks without A/C! I do like cruising with the window down but not in the middle of the summer. James

Now you can drill them out to a larger size that won't snap off so easy. I'm going to do that to mine just because they are rusty. Yea my rear end gets noisy some time too, depends on what I eat! James