sewebster

Installed an antenna, replaced a tail light assembly, replaced a seat belt, installed that critical lower fan shroud piece...

You don't have to take the engine out

In another thread I made on this topic in the garage section, it was explained that apparently the differential case for the LSD has a smaller interior than the open version so the locker won't fit. By differential case what I mean is the "container" that attaches to the ring gear that contains the spider gears... Pics in FSM... but FSM doesn't mention the relative size. Shrug.

I hear two things. The ticking when you rev it, and the "choking" when you let off the throttle. The ticking sounds consistent with exhaust to me, but hard to tell for sure. The choking is likely different than mine since you don't have a stock intake, but I wonder if it's the EGR as suggest by silverton. Perhaps try pinching off the hose to the EGR valve (I used vice grips) to prevent it from operating temporarily, then rev the engine as before and see if it sounds different.

I'm the moron I guess. I'm not saying that removing the shields is going to instantly kill anything, but I'm pretty sure the temperature of stuff in the engine compartment will rise a bit. So, for instance, insulation on wires near the exhaust could become brittle faster etc. Or it could be that the Nissan engineers put them in solely to frustrate you. I doubt they were too concerned with the resistance change due to temperature, they just picked the shields/manifolds as a convenient place to add some grounds since they stick out.

Yes?

Kinda sounds like an exhaust manifold leak, yeah. Unless you put a funky engine, you don't have DOHC, and you do have hydraulic valve lifters though You might be able to just tighten the exhaust manifolds, they can loosen. Even if this doesn't solve your problem, it might change the noise slightly, which would at least tell you if you found the problem. To actually replace them you need to replace the gaskets... and possibly the manifold to downpipe gaskets too. Lots of people have broken exhaust studs though... which means you might need some more of those, and potentially have a huge pain removing the old ones...

I'm thinking either some electrical supply place, or maybe even something like home depot to try to get some strapping to ground pipes and stuff?

So, as a final follow up on this issue. It turns out I had two problems. One was my oil pump was toast. The other, which I just finally actually figured out was correctly guessed by B in the first response. The EGR was sticking occasionally causing the idle to be terrible when it got stuck open. The reason it was sticking was that the "vent" line for the EGR control vacuum circuit was plugged into the evap canister valve. It is supposed to be plugged into the air hose between the filter and throttle. Oops... though, I'm fairly confident it was actually hooked up that way when I bought the truck.

It seems that this problem has been solved by replacing the fan clutch with a junkyard unit.

Sometimes bleeding brakes can be a pain... air gets stuck and it's hard to get it out. During the process maybe try hammering on the brakes a ton of times occasionally (with all the bleeders closed). Like for 30 seconds straight, pushing really hard over and over.

Well, sounds like you have some issue with the wiring or ignition switch or something. The starter solenoid I believe both makes the electrical connection to spin the starter and also pushes the pinion gear in to mesh with the flywheel. Perhaps during the engine work some damage was done to the wire to the solenoid such that it doesn't have enough voltage to activate the solenoid. This is a common problem, hence the relay mods that lots of people do.... You could try wiring up the starter as you did on the vehicle, with the ground jumper and main positive connection, except don't connect the wire to the solenoid. Instead apply 12V yourself from the battery or wherever?

Ah, right, so the thing that is incompatible is the large housing (shown in fleurys second pic) that the ring gear bolts on to... the part that spins around on the big bearings also shown in the pic.

So, "everyone" always says that you can't put a locker in a WD21 rear diff with LSD, so an advantage of having an open diff is that at least you can put a locker in it. In another thread in the R50 section: http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=31208 This was questioned... but no one responded. What is the incompatibility with the LSD?

It should be hard for the belt to jump anywhere, but, assuming it happened, then yes, if one of the cam sprockets is where it jumps, then only that cam will be affected. If it jumps at the crank sprocket then both are affected... My friends minivan has an idler pulley in between the two cam sprockets and lower that the belt has to run around. Presumably this is to increase the contact area with the sprockets (more teeth engaged) to reduce jumping? Kinda disturbing.

Yup.

Yup.

Try the starter connected to the truck wires, but not installed? edit: actually I guess that won't work because the starter wouldn't be grounded. I had a starter on a chevette cause sparks because the housing was broken and the gears were grinding, but I gather thats not the case here

No, just make sure you tell them to do it. Ideally there is no problem, or if there is some small nick or something hopefully they can buff it out or something.

I mean, I would certainly be checking the mating surface wherever it is leaking (either the crankshaft or the seal housing thing)...

Ok, I didn't take any pics but here is where the grounds attach: Driver's side: to a spade terminal on a bolt directly below the evap canister. Passenger side: to a spade terminal on a bolt just in front of (towards the front of the vehicle) the fuel filter (and down a little bit). This one might be hidden behind some stuff, like the main engine ground. I would not be surprised if either spade was broken off. Both are on the vehicle body if that wasn't obvious.

I was going to say that the price seems somewhat reasonable to me... but I've never paid to have that done. I just get the impression that just removing and installing a transmission is about $1000.

Yeah, probably getting your belt wet isn't the best idea, but I really don't see how it would cause it to jump if everything else was adjusted properly etc.

-replaced my fan clutch -replaced my egr valve and solenoid (twice) before discovering that the reason the EGR gets stuck open is a problem with the evap canister edit: subsequently discovered that the egr system isn't even supposed to be hooked up to the canister, my vacuum lines were just connected wrong (I think by the previous owner... I would never do that, would I? ) -installed an ash tray, hub cap, and rear window trim

I've just seen it posted on this board a million times. Hopefully someone else will chime in...