RF600

I will notice a slight shake from time to time but I think that might be the road. I am working on a face lift for the Pathfinder. When I am done I will post a pic up. I figured since I had the fenders off anyway I might as well deal with the faded paint on the bumper and grill. It looks different with the different color compared to the faded paint.

I have pulled the passengers side fender and there are a couple cracks. Not as bad as the drivers side. I'm adding some welds in hopes that it will keep it from cracking more. The rear fender mounting, next to the windshield, was cracked almost up to the top of the fender. I welded that up.

I finally got really tired of the squeak and tore into my Pathfinder to find it. I could push on the dash and it would go away. So with that assumption I took the dash out. Still had a squeak. I took other pieces out 1 by 1 hoping to find the cause of the squeak. Couldn't find it. The drivers fender had been replaced before I bought the Pathfinder. I figured that would be my next thing to take off. After I got the dash back in I took the fender off. Sure enough I found the cause of the squeak. The metal had broken around the spot welds. I could tap on the body with the fender off and hear the squeak. I put vise grips on where it was squeaking and drove it, no squeak. I have not driven it since I welded it up. I can bang on the body and I don't hear a squeak. I believe I got it. The pic, on the left is the windshield and the right is toward the front of the rig. You can see where I got rid of the paint to weld. All 3 places were cracked. The one to the right in the pic went all the way to where it meets the fender. Probably 2-3 inches long. I welded and took down the weld so the fender would bolt back up. I took the passenger fender off to check and there is 1 spot that is cracked. I will deal with that tomorrow. Anyway here is the pic. I hope this helps some of you because I imagine mine is not the only one that has cracked.

That is up to you if it is worth fixing. Depends on your money situtation. Do you have another vehicle or were you waiting for the Pathfinder to die then get something else? If you fix it yourself you probably can get parts fairly cheap at the wreckers if you wait for sale days. Then your time to put it back together, unless you have a shop do it. If a shop does it they will want to replace everything. Balljoints, bushings, shocks, probably tie rod ends. That is probalby the only way a shop will let it leave, if they even want to mess with it. It would cost more for a shop to do it. Weigh the good and bad and deceide. These types of decisions are never fun.

The lower piece was the same 3/16" plate. The material I bought was not long enough so I welded 2 pieces together. I used the same 3/16" plate to go where the tow hook mounts. It is a brace that is mounted pretty well. I wanted to keep it simple. If you are not looking for it I doubt most people would notice. Here is a side pic. If you measure off the center of the bumper the plate sticks out about 2 1/4" off the bumper.

With the shock off does it sit level? If not look at torsion bar or brackets like Kingman mentioned. The shock only keeps the suspension from excessive bounce.

What I didn't realize is when I get out of my truck I slide my leg down the nerf bar. With the grip tape on the bars I need to be careful or I will not have any skin on my calf.

I didn't want a 50lb piece of metal hanging off the front. I don't wheel the pathfinder so it is more of a glorified fog light bracket. I still need to reinforce the bumper some. Most people call brush guards a damage multiplier. That is why I wanted to keep it short and simple. When I get a side pic I will post it up.

This isn't necessarily hardcore fab but I thought it should go here. It is kind of a push guard. Nothing that will last longer than the rig itself. I placed it where I did because I didn't want to take it off if I had to get at the fog lights. I plan to get 2 4" driving lights and place them on the top bar. I first used cardboard to get a basic shape of what fit the bumper. When I was happy with the piece I used 1/4" plywood and cut the template. I used the template to guide the plasma cutter. There are 3 bolts that mount the trim piece below the bumper. I ran a piece of metal across the 3 bolts and bolted it to the trim piece. You can see it in the picture. I ran a brace off that bar to where the tow hook mounts on both sides. I'm a little pissed at myself. The bottom bar isn't level. I don't want to take a cut off wheel and re weld the thing so it will stay a little off. Oh well. I'm glad it was for me and not someone else. I still have to have the paint stripped off the bars. Then paint it. All things considered I think it turned out pretty good. I used 3/16" plate. In material I only spent $25. Then it was my time to put it together. I don' have the driving lights yet so until then I won't paint it because I don't know if I want to weld a tab onto the bar or mount directly to the bar.

I went and picked up some nerf bars from Precise1. Holy cow the amount of metal on the frames that I had to drill through. I smoked my drill. It was ancient anyway. For the grip tape a friend of mine suggested calling a skate board shop. They sell grip tape that is approx 9"x33". Measure what you want. Get a straight edge and a razor knive and cut away.

I broke one of those. It was a cheap auto parts store one. I put an oil filter relocation on. Much easier to get at.

I keep a variety of end wrenches to use as special tools. They are not my normal wrenches. If one needs to be cut, bent or whatever no big deal.

One thing to consider is your speedo will be way off unless you correct it. The po of my Pathfinder put a 235 tire on. The speedo was about 10mph off at fwy speeds. By the time I got the right size tires, I figured I had about 25k more miles on the odo than It should be.

Take your time. Like others have said, don't get too happy with the hammer. Don't continue to hit the same spot every time. Hit different spots. When you think it is seated, go around it one more time to be sure.

I had a stutter from 2500-3000. It happened under steady throttle. Decel and accel was fine. Turned out the cam sensor in the dist was bad. You can't buy just the sensor. I got lucky and a used dist did the trick.

I'm running 33% coolant in my car. I think about 15% coolant in my bike. Too much coolant is bad. Yes water cools better than antifreeze. The summers get hot here. There are people who only run water and water wetter during the summer months.

Put in a used dist. That seems to have fixed my stutter between 2500-3000 rpm's. A little more test driving should tell me. I hope it is solved.

Well when all else fails start from the beginning. I figure it is good to laugh at yourself from time to time. That's all I can do. The used dist seems to have fixed my stutter between 2500-3000 rpm's. After looking at the dist that was in my PF someone had been into it before. Not sure if it was a re-builder. The gear and the shaft had been marked and some sharpie on the side of the housing. At any rate I'm glad it's fixed. Now to fix the A/C so I don't roast this summer.

Well......It is fixed. I had a friend come help me out. We started at the begining. Make sure it as actually on TDC and went from there. Here is where I feel a little stupid. Not sure how I managed it but it was 180 out on the dist. So got it flipped and it fired right up. I'm glad that was all it was.

Has anyone ever checked their cam sensor? I get a small fluxuation but not what I thought I was supposed to get. Can someone confirm about how much it might fluxuate?

I looked to see if there were any codes stored. I get a 55. No malfunction.

Hopefully I can explain this properly. The timing belt was replaced last spring and was driving fine. I have a stutter around 2500-3000. I thought I would get a used dist and see if that helped. The dist that was in my PF I was only able to get the timing set to 10*. The used one I could get it to 15*. The used dist at 15* would give me a hesitation on accel. I attempted to pull the used on out and put the original one back in to verify the stutter. Now it won't start. Have spark and fuel. The plugs aren't soaked but I can smell fuel on them. I checked the cam sensor and I am not getting the 5-0 volts like the manual says on either dist. I have incredibly bad luck for both dist to be bad or I am not doing something right. I get a solid 12v when turning the dist shaft. I can hear the injectors spraying and turning off. I am connecting between #3 and #4 like the manual says. I even tried the other 2 wires in case I had the connector backwards. No dice. The fuses are good in the panel inside. So am I missing something? Or bad luck having 2 dist that don't function properly?

My pathfinder was doing the same thing. I added an extra ground to the mas. I put a new connector on also. I have read that the mas will drop the ground, not sure why. That is a possibile fix.

It will get better. After you fix everything it will be better. I have 1 more thing to address. Hopefully it will be fixed for a while after that.

When my IACV was acting up it wouldn't hold an idle. I have heard that the MAS drops its ground sometimes. Mine was acting weird and I cleaned up the mas and no help. I put a new connector and added a ground for the MAS and I have not had a problem since. When the MAS would drop the ground the truck wouldn't hold an idle. I replaced the IACV first and the controller. All good for a while then I did the MAS connector and ground. So far so good. Not sure if that helps or not.