Towncivilian

Lucas Oil Stabilizer is 140wt gear oil without any additives. All it does is thicken up the fluid, dilute its additives, and cause cavitation. Read this article. This is a virgin oil analysis of Lucas Oil Stabilizer: As you can see, it contains no additives whatsoever. As said before, all it does is raise the viscosity of the oil in question and dilute its additive package. You should replace the seals instead of trying to use band-aid snake oil to slow the leak. If you want to use thicker gear oil in an attempt to slow the leak regardless, run 75W-140 at least. Many gear oils contain enough LSD additive for many differentials. If you hear chattering, you need to add some additive, otherwise it's not necessary. If there is Advance Auto Parts in your area, buy 3 quarts of Mobil 1 75W-90 gear oil online, use discount code VISA and pick-up in store to get the fluid for $22.97 plus tax. Our rear differential takes a little less than 3 quarts, so try to be careful during filling to avoid much spillage. It'd be okay to top up with whatever else you have laying around since most of the fluid will be the M1. Or you can buy an additional quart or use a fluid pump. I'm fairly sure that M1 contains LSD additive; as I said, if you hear chattering with the current fluid, add some LSD additive.

Read the official recall TSB to see the repair levels. Yours doesn't look too awful compared to some photos I've seen, I think Nissan would repair that. Look at the TSB to see for yourself. I don't know all that much about rust prevention since anything but surface rust is pretty much unheard of on Floridian vehicles - mine has no rust at all. If one kept up with undercoating and washing salt from the underbody well, this would probably be a nonissue (but don't quote me on that one).

Here is the TSB in question. Sorry, I don't know anything else, just thought the TSB might help.

R50s are unibody, they don't have a frame in the traditional sense, only a subframe. The frame is not rotting, the pictures and rust issue are in the driver's side wheel well. The passenger side is also checked/inspected.

http://s2.postimage.org/b8glhtw5j/DSC_0165.jpg From this thread.

Factory fill was "Genuine Nissan ATF", according to the FSM, which was probably Matic D. Dexron IV does not exist; VI does. VI is synthetic and a licensed fluid, so any fluid you buy today will meet the minimum spec. Dexron III and its variants are no longer licensed, so you are never truly sure whether it meets the spec anymore.

I'll probably go with the Yokohamas, since I feel I've gotten my (well, my parents') money's worth out of my HT/S tires and I can't think of a reason to complain about them (other than the fact that they're getting bald, I mean). I'm also thinking of replacing struts all around since they're undoubtedly getting tired at 130k miles.

Here is some interesting reading: http://ultimatecarforum.com/smf/index.php?topic=3797.msg41045 Of course, these tests obviously don't replicate conditions of an engine, but still gives you something to think about.

I wasn't going excessively fast - one needs speed to merge on the highway sometimes! I was going maybe 50mph and I started to accelerate (not WOT or anything crazy) and started hydroplaning. I'll look into those suggestions, thanks B.

It's been raining all day. On the highway on-ramp I hydroplaned going about 50mph after starting to accelerate to merge, and I ended up facing traffic. There was a cop who pulled up who asked if I was alright, and asked if there was any damage (thankfully there was none). I said yeah, and then he asked if I wanted to just continue driving. I said yeah, and we waited for traffic to clear out of the right lane and I slowly merged and got off at the next exit, which was my destination anyway. The cop followed me for a while. This is the on-ramp in question: http://g.co/maps/9yv2h This is the second time I hydroplaned severely and ended up facing traffic, with no damage. Last time was here: http://g.co/maps/vcjhp My tires are getting pretty bald, so I need to get some new tires soon. I currently have Yokohama Geolander HT/S tires. I never go offroad, have a worn stock suspension, no 4WD, and an open diff. Anybody got any tire recommendations?

My PCV valve broke in half when I was removing the lower intake manifold since I forgot to unclip the hose clamp and move the hose for the valve itself. We tried to use pliers to get the chunk of valve out but it slipped through into the valve cover. I had to finger my engine for like 15 minutes to get all the chunks out. I'd say that was stupider. If only plastic were magnetic. I'd say BowTied's suggestion would probably work the best.

Found a blurb in the "changing transfer oil" section in the '94 Hardbody FSM that says "When changing transfer oil completely, Genuine Nissan ATF or equivalent type DEXRON II or gear oil (75W-90) may be used. Do not mix Automatic Transmission Fluid and gear oil." So throw in some M1 75W-90 in that and be happy!

There isn't a way to tell if it's an HD trans from the exterior, right?

Well, the '94 (and 95) Pathfinder FSM claims Genuine Nissan ATF (which is probably Matic D) or Dexron II for the t-case, so basically use Dexron III. I have no idea if gear oil will work. The '94 FSM says 2.32 quarts. There are H223B open diffs, I have one. 94 FSM says 2.96 quarts, same as my R50 diff.

Are you sure the dipstick is original and/or accurate?

I wouldn't run that stuff, 85W is out of the specification range in the FSM, and as you said it is scary cheap and there isn't much detailed info about it. It's a shame that none of the boutique fluids are easily available locally, that would make things a lot easier. Merry Christmas, by the way!

Apparently the fluid you linked isn't GL-4, 1994SEV6. Read here. I'd definitely go for the Redline MT90 now.

The manual transmission for the R50 is the FS5R30A, which was also used in WD21s. Manual trans Pathfinders do not have the power valve screws. Other than that, I don't know of any significant differences.

Yes, Ashland is Valvoline. I can't tell if it's GL-4 either. I guess you can try calling Valvoline and asking them at 1-800-TEAM-VAL.

What year R50 is this? Is it a Pathfinder or a QX4? The turn signal assembly is secured by a couple clips (at least on post-facelift R50s, 99.5 and newer), the whole assembly just pops in and is secured by those clips and one screw at the top. I'm not familiar with how the headlight is secured so I have no idea. Tell him to grease his driveshaft(s) and check (or maybe change it, it's like $25 for 3qts of M1 75W-90 @ AAP as you know) the rear diff fluid level. The multi-purpose grease for the clutch pedal will probably solve the squeak. The FSM specs lithium-based grease with molybdenum disulphide. SuperTech grease w/ moly from Wal-Mart should work fine.

Nowhere in my posts did I say "throw this $3.94 quart of snot in your crankcase". I posted that there is a significant amount of anecdotal data that claimed MMO was successful in freeing stuck lifters and doing some slow, gentle cleaning and linked to said data to have the OP decide whether to run it or not. As for overfilling, it is reasonable to assume that quantities over one quart extra can result in the crankshaft hitting oil and causing aeration, which obviously is not good. There is probably some margin to allow slight overfilling - after all, quick lube shops make mistakes and sometimes over or underfill and we don't read too many stories about people's engines blowing up as a result.

Yeah, NAPA's site really sucks sometimes. I searched for "gl-4" and all I found was tractor fluid as well.

Any chance you can find the oil listed online @ napaonline.com?

Oh, sorry, MMO = Marvel Mystery Oil. You can find it at Wal-Mart and pretty much any parts store. Their instructions say to substitute 20% of your motor oil's quantity with MMO, i.e. if you have a 5qt sump, use 4qts of motor oil and 1qt MMO. It's safe to use for an entire oil change, and probably not a bad idea to run during winter for easier starts since it thins out the oil. Maybe go with a pint to avoid excessively thinning the oil, I don't quite recall how much it thins a typical 5W-30. You don't necessarily need to change the oil to add MMO, just drop in a pint or whatever, overfilling will be alright as long as it's not over a quart or some ridiculous amount I think. Some of it may evaporate/burn off after a couple thousand miles. I've never used MMO except in the gas a few times, YMMV. If you want additional reading, there's a giant 14 page thread on BITOG here and general search results for "mmo" on BITOG here.