Towncivilian

Have you maintained the tranny fluid? Got an auxiliary cooler and/or in-line filter? The in-pan strainer/filter is more like a rock catcher.

I assume you mean "Lubegard". Lubegard makes good products and their products are used by many transmission shops. I'd say try it, I've never heard of it doing any harm. I'd use one bottle of Lubegard Red to start with.

Ugh, if you do this get STP (blue bottle) which actually has some additives, ZDDP for one, instead of being useless 140wt gear oil with nothing added to it which just dilutes the additive pack in the oil. I think both will thicken up the oil about a grade anyway. Or maybe just run some 15W40 HDEO, but I'd hate to run that in the winter. Probably better than adding gorilla snot to the oil, though.

I know that the temps are fine right now, I was just thinking ahead. Perhaps something is clogging an oil passage somewhere? I dunno.

K&N oil filters are nothing more than Mobil 1 filters with the weird nut thing on the bottom for a socket insert. If you can get M1 filters for cheaper than K&N, go with those. If you have Advance Auto Parts in Oregon, you can order online and use discount codes to get em pretty damn cheap. They are good filters, though! Stick with them. At first I thought your noise might be related to the oil filter (some have lousy anti-drainback valves which can cause noise or rattle on start up sometimes, but then again isn't the oil filter vertical on the 3.3L?). How cold are winters in Oregon? Perhaps 10W-30 is not the ideal weight for wintertime.

Yeah, what brand and weight of oil and what oil filter do you use?

Did you get the PCV valve changed too?

What's the manufacturing date of your QX4? 2001.5 Pathfinders have revised coil packs which apparently correct the issues of the 2001 models. While there doesn't seem to be a 2001.5 QX4 FSM, I'd imagine the coil packs were still updated along with the Pathfinder around the same timeframe of the changeover. You can also PM me your VIN and I'll look it up in the FAST system.

Remove the trim bezel and verify you're getting power to the socket first? Maybe there's a wiring fault or a blown fuse somewhere... unless the heating element is just dead.

I think mine does this too (moving steering wheel w/ engine off making a clunking sound)... does it really matter? Steering is fine otherwise, although I could use an alignment.

I dunno, I didn't ask. R50 w/ VQ35DE has upper (aluminum) and lower (steel) oil pans, though.

The shop lost some coolant when they dropped the oil pan, so they probably didn't top off enough. I probably do have a very small coolant leak though as the bypass hose is covered in white residue, especially near the bottom of the overflow tank: But the level in the reservoir never dropped noticeably. Anyway, I think some air burped when I ran the heater, so that would explain the loss of coolant (I hope).

To post images properly, do this: [img=http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss210/tony242000/IMG00128-20111012-1317.jpg] Here is your image fixed: Though you already posted this here, I dunno why you posted this topic again

Filled my coolant overflow reservoir to the "MAX" line. Took about a quart. Dunno how it got empty, maybe from using the heater (hey, my feet were cold).

Changed the front headlight bulbs. They were the eleven year old original ones. They were replaced by the cheapest $11 pair of Sylvania bulbs. They are noticeably brighter than the stock stuff, but it's not a significant difference. I hope these last a few years at the least. I don't buy into the SilverStar scam of x% brighter. Yeah, sure, but the bulb only lasts 4 months! The faithful OEM bulbs will live in the glove box as spares.

The manual trans requires 5.375 quarts! The fluid capacity is listed in pints. Also, use GL-4 gear oil only. If you use GL-5 this can harm the brass synchros IIRC. The transfer case can use either ATF or gear oil. Those of us with automatic trans generally use ATF, and manual trans pals use gear oil, just to prevent intermixing of fluids should a leak spring. Use GL-4 only here too if using gear oil.

This might increase the cost depending on how the dealer does things, but have them replace the PCV valve as well. It's under the lower intake manifold collector and is a PITA to replace. I don't know whether the dealer will remove the lower intake manifold to put threadlocker on the screws, but if they do it shouldn't be much extra cost.

No R50s come with this washer filter. Ones from a Maxima and Quest do not fit in an R50 washer tube. A 4Runner filter will not fit an R50 since it's a strangely shaped tube, not just a fill hole atop the reservoir itself as in a WD21.

Indeed - all the talk of "special break-in oil" is just from the molybdenum and other anti-wear additives from the assembly lube mixing in with the oil.

I believe ZDDP amount is capped in today's oils due to potential poisoning of catalytic converters as you said - however, wouldn't this only be an issue if the engine was burning a significant amount of oil?

Just use an HDEO/diesel oil such as Rotella 10W-30, it has plenty of ZDDP (zinc) - about 1150 to 1200 ppm - which should work fine for break-in I think.

Don't use premium fuel in an engine that is not designed for it. Higher octane fuel is more difficult to ignite, and if an engine is designed for say 87 octane fuel, then it can't advance timing enough to compensate for the higher octane fuel, and performance and/or mileage will suffer. I'm assuming WD21s take 87 octane fuel, so use that only. Seafoam is a relatively harsh solvent, which is probably okay to use in gas, but I'd not use it in the crankcase since there is potential for large chunks of deposits to break loose and clog oil passages. I'd prefer to use Chevron Techron or Gumout w/ Regane as a fuel system cleaner as they both contain large amounts of poly-ether amines, which were developed by BMW and Chevron and are designed to not leave their own deposits after cleaning.

Have you changed the fuel filter? A flush on high mileage transmissions without previous service is often questioned, but unless the transmission is already slipping, etc then it's generally safe. A "flush" today is nothing more than using the transmission's own pump to exchange all of the fluid. To be safe, you can do a pan drop to change the in-pan filter/strainer and then do several drain & fills within a week or two to exchange most of the transmission fluid if you are still hesitant about a flush.

I bought a new housing; the old one was cracked and let water in, and the parking filament on the bulb had failed, so I figured I might as well replace the damn thing to avoid eating bulbs. It came with a bulb and socket too. Looks like it's aimed better, but the pattern and color isn't the same as OEM... but whatever, good enough for me for only $17 shipped vs. $64 or whatever the OEM part is.

Replaced the front driver side combination lamp housing, changed engine air filter (old one was ok, but Wix has double the pleats, more filtering is always better), installed a missing screw holding in the A/T charging pipe, and replaced the blank clutch faceplate with one that doesn't have a hole in it, since I'm not using it for routing wiring at the moment.