sewebster

Not particularly

How can a potential measurement between ground and ground be -12V? If he grounds terminal B, and ECU pin 17 is a -12V then there's going to be a lot of current flowing through that wire, unless there is a resistor in there somewhere, which is not indicated in the schematics?

I'm not sure my post was wrong exactly, you added additional information I guess grounding the B terminal is a good idea. I'm not sure if that's the one he grounded though. Also, apparently it didn't work, because he is now reading 13 volts at pin 17? There is some sort of problem, also indicated by pin 16 being out of range.

Sounds like you are on the right track, but if everything checks out I would definitely look into tire balance/tread separation etc. could be some sort of premature tire problem, but it shouldn't be...

How does the truck run with the maf unplugged? It should go to failsafe mode and rely on the TPS to determine the mixture. RPM limit of 3000... Certainly MAF ground problems exist, but I haven't had them myself, so I don't know what is supposed to be grounded. I find the diagram confusing. Maybe when you ground one of the wires you fool the ECU that your MAF is just totally busted and it goes into failsafe mode? But when you hook it up "right" it sends the wrong signals and your engine stumbles? Guesses...

Heh, that's pretty wild, I guess it is not a big deal then!

I just re-read the thread. Adamzan posted above that those lights mean bad alternator, which you confirmed by measure too high a voltage.

17 volts sounds like too much. Probably you have a problem with the alternator or some voltage regulator?

Hehe, thanks

Pics or it didn't happen.

Thanks for the education guys. I guess I really didn't know anything about car audio. I now wonder what I've really done by modifying the audio system that was in the truck when I bought it. There were 2 speakers in the front doors, 2 in the back panels, 4 tweeters and a sub. I just removed the tweeters and sub and got the other 4 speakers working properly (some stuff had come disconnected). But maybe the reason it sounds bad now is that I have only half a component system or something. Probably worth investigating. I'm assuming though, that there is an even lower tech version of all this, where you just have a speaker set with one element per speaker that is designed to produce the whole frequency range (albeit poorly). So I guess you need to be able to distinguish between that and the low frequency part of a component system. I was getting hung up on the terminology before. To me, coaxial and component are two types of cables.

As soon as they put it all back together, double work has to happen

Hmm. I don't think any of the three wires are ground. Check the schematic again. One wire goes to pin 16 (MAF signal), one goes to pin 17 (unknown, but could be to control the wire temp) and the other wire is +12V. I think the ground is supposed to be through the maf body or something, but it sucks? If you grounded one of the wires, that could be the problem. At least according to my reading of the schematics...

Ah, sorry, I misread that it was $69 for just the valve

So the crossover is some other box you have shoved under your dash? Or is it integrated into one of the speakers?

Pin 17 does connect to the MAF as well, so you should ensure that wire is also good... it might be used to control the amount of current flowing in the wire (wire needs to stay in a certain temperature range). The third wire to the MAF seems to be connected to the positive terminal of the battery through a relay. I don't really understand the MAF grounding situation.

Why is a component speaker supposed to be better than a regular speaker where you just run some wire?

Cleaning the CV joints and replacing the boots is more work than just replacing the CV itself, because you need to remove the CV to rebuild it. Rebuilding is cheaper than replacing because the boots are cheap. However, if the joint is damaged due to dirt inside then you probably just want to replace. It COULD be worth doing the rebuild for more reasons than just saving money if you believe that your CV is a high quality OEM one and the replacement is a cheap piece of junk. It's probably hard to tell how good the replacement is... Usually you can tell if a bushing is bad by grabbing whatever is connected to it and seeing if you can wiggle it. If you can it's bad. Also, if bushings are all cracked then they are usually bad. Certain bushings it can be hard to tell their condition if they are under a lot of preload and you might only notice when driving, or if you take things apart (compression rod bushings possibly). T-bar boots aren't a big deal IMHO. The ball joint dust covers being broken will certainly accelerate the death of your ball joints, but if there is no play in your ball joints currently (jack truck, try to wiggle wheel) then replacing them isn't going to change anything in the short term, but you should do it before they get too bad.

How can a PCV valve cost $69? Isn't that insane? I thought they were like $5.

That's pretty crazy. Maybe your RMS is cursed.

Your pin 16 results are bad. See EF+EC page 129 of the 95 FSM. If you pass the other MAF tests in the FSM by measuring resistances in the maf and by probing the maf at the connector when running, which it sounds like you do, then you have a problem with your wiring between the MAF and ECU. I don't know what pin 17 does. Edit: FYI, if you haven't read this chapter, might be helpful... http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/pathfinder/1995_Pathfinder/ec.pdf

Presumably having OD on enables an overdrive gear where the driveshaft spins faster than the crankshaft. So you are basically choosing between a 3 speed and 4 speed transmission (I assume this is how many speeds are in the pathfinder automatics).

Right, basically what I was advocating for would appeal to people who prefer manual transmissions for whatever reason (logical or not). It would just remove the annoyance of stalling/clutch burning in offroad use, especially if you aren't very good.

Mine sounded like a mega-jet. I replaced it with one from the pick-a-part. I'm not sure how much quieter it really is since I basically haven't driven it yet, but it no longer makes a terrible screeching noise at high RPM. If I wasn't already at the pick-a-part I would have just bought a new one though. Maybe I still will if it isn't much quieter in general.

Hardest think probably is trying to figure out one design that everyone wants (how many gauges, size etc.). Do they do different colours in the same run, or do they need a minimum order for each colour?