sewebster

Well, when you pump with the engine off you are just depleting the power brake vacuum... so when it's firm that's just plain on full-manual brakes. Nevertheless, even with power brakes the pedal shouldn't fall too far before braking happens. Probably it's unlikely that your "problem" is that your power brakes suddenly started working though...

I've been seeing the oil light come on occasionally at idle (in my 91) recently... but it only happens when my truck idles too low (like 500 rpm) for some unknown reason. I have an aftermarket gauge installed and the pressure is always pretty low at idle (correct or not), so I figure that my problem here is just something causing too low of an idle, not an actual oil pump problem. The pressure is good when revved up. Anyway, I'm not trying to get into my problem here, but maybe you could just have too low of an engine speed to get the pressure needed? I figure this isn't really SOOO bad, because the engine really needs the oil pressure when spinning fast, not nearly as much at idle.

Well, if that was the actual problem, and it's gone away, I wouldn't do anything, but if it comes back, you could open the reservoir and poke around. I'm just guessing though, I had an issue with this on another car, not my truck... so who knows.

Level sensor in the brake fluid reservoir stuck?

What are the symptoms of a broken fuel regulator? I just had my plenum off to replace injector seals and didn't replace it (though I did replace the o-ring for it). I also wondered if I should somehow be checking my injector function while I was in there, but didn't have the time. Other than trouble codes or smelling gas, how do you know if your injectors are working properly?

I just recently put a ton of work and money into restoring a 1991.... I learned a lot doing it... but I kinda wonder if I should have spent that much money. One thing to consider I guess is if the truck you have right now is the one to put the effort into, or if you would be better off junking it and buying another one (even another 1994 Pathfinder) to put money into. This is going to depend on stuff like frame and body rust etc etc.

I exploded my muffler by having my ignition timing 180 degrees off If you have your distributor out, I think the easiest way to figure out #1TDC on the compression stroke is to remove the passenger side valve cover. Then line up the marks on the crank pulley. If all the valves are closed then you are at the WRONG place. If NOT all the valves are closed then you are at #1TDC on compression stroke.

Thanks guys!

Test results: Current outside temp is around 40F. With truck cold I can spin the fan about 3/8 of a turn before it stops. Seems smooth. No noticeable play. When I start the truck the fan spins very quickly, tons of air moving. Revving it causes it to spin faster. Cannot be stopped by cardboard (not even close!). Drove the truck around on the side streets until it warmed up. This took about 3 miles/10 minutes. The gauge was at about 1/4. The heat was pretty hot. Now with the truck running the fan is spinning slower, but the engine is idling lower now too, so I would guess that is major difference. Still can't be stopped by cardboard. Revving increases fan speed. Stopped the truck and spinned fan by hand while everything was still warm. Spins not as far now, more resistance, I guess because it is warmer. So does this all make sense? I guess it's working? I think the only thing that I find odd is the fact that it spins so fast when cold... but maybe it's really spinning a lot slower than the engine. Of course an e-fan would have been off basically the entire time I drove around...

I've found that a cheapish aluminum level can sometimes be quite straight. Not as good as a proper square, but waaay cheaper. If you try this and find that your head is flat, then it probably is. If you find that the head seems warped then you might not be able to tell if it's the head or the level.

I just stuck pins through the wire insulation and connected my multimeter to those.

Isn't that the opposite of what Precise1 wrote above?

I think it's in the EM section?

Looks like a ground?

There is a diagnostic procedure for the crank angle sensor in the FSM.

Ok, I will check this stuff out. Thanks guys. I haven't seen any fluid or noticed any play, but I think it does make a bit of a squeaking sound at idle...

My fan seems to spin pretty fast all the time, even when the engine is cold. With the truck off I can rotate the fan fairly easily by hand, so clearly it isn't totally seized... I'm not used to non-electric fans. Maybe this is normal. The truck also seems to take a little while to heat up... and the thermostat is pretty new, so I'm wondering if the fan is the problem...

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but you're sure that engine is turning over, and not just the starter spinning. If not, could be a bad starter solenoid. edit: oops, I'm an idiot, you already wrote that the rotor was turning, nothing to see here, move along...

I would fix all those problems. Busted O2 sensors can totally screw things up...

Umm, what is the ABS brake motor anyway? Where is this?

There are actually marks on the shaft/gear you are supposed to line up (details in FSM). I think it is supposed to start out so that the rotor is pointing further to the right of the #1 position, because it rotates when you install it and the gears engage. But you really need a timing light at this point... even once you install the distributor on the right tooth, you should rotate it to achieve 15 degrees BTDC (once it's warmed up).

The picture shows an AAC valve. What does AAC stand for? I thought there was another valve for idle control?

Cool. Do you have to drain your tranny fluid to do the swap? Is it just a simple pull out the connector and switch gears thing?

So, I think my truck came from the factory with 235s, and now I have 31s. The circumference ratio of these two tire sizes is 1.073 (235s are 28.9" in diameter). But the speedo gear ratio is apparently 19/17 (4.3 gears). 19/17=1.118. So instead of the speedo reading 7.3% too low, now it would read 4.5% too high (if I got the 17 tooth)? Seems like if I switched to the 18 tooth instead I could get it to read 1.7% too low, which would be closer... Am I doing something wrong in my math?

My motor was basically fine, but the insulator that held the brushes tight had broken. Easy fix.