Slartibartfast

There are two temp sensors. The one for the dash is one-wire. The one for the computer has two. If the plug for the two-wire is damaged, that could well explain why it's running rich. If it's not the sensor, and it really is struggling to come up to temp, that suggests a stuck or missing thermostat, which could also explain it running rich. If you're looking for the plug for the one-wire, I would try a few sizes of spade terminal and see which one fits. I suspect the stock plug is just a spade terminal with a fancy plastic case on it.

Not immediately ringing bells, but I'll have a poke at the manual. What are the wire colors for that plug? Should help narrow it down.

Sounds like the last guy had no idea what he was doing! Lucky the valves didn't get et. You'd need the spark timing to be pretty far off to get misfire codes, but you could still be losing performance if it's off. Spec is 15 degrees BTDC plus or minus 2, at warm idle. (If you set it cold, it'll be off once it warms up.)

These aren't great on gas, but it should be getting better than 11.5 on the highway. I would check the timing (instructions are in the service manual, free download from nicoclub) and see if it's got any stored codes. Check/clean the MAF, check for vacuum leaks. Maybe throw some injector cleaner in the tank on the off chance it does something. Good thinking doing the timing belt right off. I did the same when I got mine. I also changed the fluid in the transfer case and the transmission, and added an aux cooler and external filter to the trans cooler lines in hopes of keeping the slushbox alive (so far so good). Who knows what maintenance a $300 truck has/hasn't seen over the years. I haven't heard much about the K&N filters that makes me want one. If you do get one, be careful with how much you oil it. I've heard of the oil fouling MAF sensors.

I remember someone ages ago punched a couple of holes in a Nalgene bottle and ran that for a washer res. Might be below the standards of this build, though I knew shocks could get complicated, didn't know the springs did too! I would not have expected the order of the springs to matter.

Trailmaster used to make a 4" kit that dropped the whole front suspension down, like a subframe drop for a unibody truck, but that's long since out of production. Otherwise, no, you're not gonna get more than 3" out of the IFS. Body lifts are still available, though. I remember a few people here running 3+3 and 33s (3" suspension, 3" body, 33" tires) back when I joined. Beyond that, yeah, you're looking at hardcore custom fab.

Looks like the OE part number is 472101W700. If you can find the original listing, it may list what it fits.

Is yours round-dash or square-dash? If it's square, get the '90 manual off cardiagn.com. Round, use the '94/'95 from Nico.

Here's a guide to manual-swapping a '96-'99 truck. (Not mine, all credit goes to Keith Maddox.) Not sure if the guide talks about the oil or not, but in case it doesn't, you want GL-4, not GL-5. AFAIK the VG33-powered R50 got the same manual trans as the VG33 W/D22 (first-gen Frontier and Xterra). The W/D21 trans should also work, but Nissan did a dumb with the oil level in the early ones, so if you have the option, I'd look for a '96+ donor. VQ35/manual R50s do exist, but as Hawairish said, they are quite rare. Good luck finding parts. There was a guy on here a while back having a hell of a time finding a flywheel for one. Either way, I would look for a manual R50 with the same engine and something wrong with it. Part yours out to fix it, or part it out to swap yours. Saves you finding all the pieces separately.

Sadly Nissan did not put a Shrader valve on the rail. The service manual says to plumb a pressure gauge in between the filter and the rail. You want around 34 psi with the engine idling and the vacuum line to the regulator hooked up, and around 43 with the vac line off. (If there's fuel in that vacuum line, then the regulator's toast.) You'll spray fuel from hell to breakfast if you open the lines while they're pressurized. The manual says to pull the fuel pump fuse, start the engine, wait for it to die, and then crank it a few more times to be sure. This may be difficult given how yours doesn't really run. Worst case, let it sit overnight to hopefully bleed the pressure down, and then separate the lines with a rag wrapped around the bit you're separating in case it's still pressurized. Both procedures and specs are on EC-37 of the 2000 service manual, free download from Nicoclub. I'm guessing the truck sat for a bit after the belt failed, given the dead fuel pump. How bad did the old fuel smell? Hopefully it hasn't gummed something else up. I would be surprised if the fuel filter was bad enough to cause a no-start, but I would still throw one of those at it while I was in there. Pull a spark plug after it runs/dies. If it's wet, then you know it's getting fuel. If it's getting fuel, my next guess is timing. Did you mess with the distributor? Do you know that the last guy didn't? I would try adjusting the timing around and see if that changed anything. (If you don't think it's been messed with, mark it first so you can put it back where it was if you don't get anywhere.) If the distributor has been out, it could also be a tooth off. I doubt the knock sensor code is related.

Does sound like the motor's on its way out, but you might get a little more life out of it by making its job easier. Roll the window all the way down and lube up the channels that the window slides in with silicone spray. Use the straw to get it down in there. Try not to get it on the rest of the window. Spray some of the same on a paper towel and wipe it into that bottom seal that's catching. I would also clean the glass, on the off chance there's something on the glass that's helping it catch on the seal. You want the spray that dries. The dry stuff doesn't pick up dirt the way wet lubes do.

I'm not sure what would cause that other than junk parts, assuming the plugs and boots are OK and the plug wells aren't full of oil. I'm assuming the mechanic swapped them around to confirm that the coil pack was the problem, and it wasn't the same cylinder each time. Were the old plugs oil-fouled/unusually worn/tested bad, or were they replaced as a "while we're in here?" I'd be surprised the valve covers leaked enough to lose that much oil. There's an oil cooler that also tends to leak. Unfortunately the early VQs also tend to burn oil. My dad's '03 burned a quart/1k miles. Ran fine, but smoked out the parking lot on a warm start. (We suspected valve stem seals, but never tore it down to find out.) I don't remember it having coil issues, though. Looks like you can still get OE coils from Nissan. They ain't cheap, though.

The '04 service manual (free download from Nicoclub) says P0183 means the computer is seeing a higher-than-expected voltage from the tank temp sensor circuit. EC-293 describes the code and says what the voltage should be. Looks like one side of the sensor goes to the cluster, and the other goes to the computer, so if you've only buzzed out the wiring to the cluster, looks like you have another one to chase. There's a diagnostic procedure starting on EC-296. Run through that and see if you get anywhere. I would also unplug the sensor and pump and make sure there's no continuity between the sensor and any other connection on the level sensor or the fuel pump, on the off chance something is crossed up internally. I don't know if this is even possible (looks like the connectors are separate and the sensor is a sealed unit), but it would be pretty quick to rule out.

Sounds like a wheel balance issue to me. If this started suddenly, after driving in mud or deep snow, check that the back side of the rim is clear. A big wad of something stuck back there will make it shake like hell. If you suspect the tires, visually inspect them (make sure they're round, no weird bulges), and if they are, rotate them (fronts to the rear, rears to the front). If it clears up, one of the wheels that was on the front may have thrown a weight. You could rotate one side at a time to work out which wheel has the problem. I would expect a dragging brake to cause a pull, not a wobble. If the wobble is the same whether you're on the brakes or not, I would not assume it's related. That said, probably best to get the brakes working properly before chasing the wobble at highway speed. While you're under there, check for anything obviously loose up front. Wheel bearings, control arm bushings, tie rods, ball joints, rack bushings, strut tops.

Check the center console by the E brake. If there's a switch with a red LED that says something about sensitivity or mode or whatever, that's for the alarm. Also look in the engine bay, inner fender on the driver's side. Should be a black megaphone looking deal if it's got the alarm. I don't know that they were standard equipment, but they certainly weren't rare. The hot wire should be easy enough, though the starter is a bit of a pain to get to. The starter motor has one big wire (to the battery) and one little wire for the solenoid. Attach a wire to the solenoid in place of the standard wiring (don't remember if it plugs in or bolts on), hook that to battery +, and if the starter is good, that'll make it go. Unhook the battery first! It's easy to arc a wrench between ground and the positive battery cable.

Score! I wondered if the Jeep disco setup was what you were hinting about in the last post.

I had a similar issue with mine for a while. I replaced a bunch of stuff (starter, battery, positive cable, inhibitor relay, ignition switch) with little effect. Turned out it was the stupid alarm system. The weird part was, I had already removed the alarm brain and joined the starter wires together at the end of it, so it was the harness itself that was causing problems. I don't know if there was a loose connection somewhere, or if my splice had somehow failed, or if the extra six or seven feet of wire was just dropping more voltage than the circuit could afford to lose. What I do know is that it has not acted up since I got that trash out of there, and unlike the rest of the stuff I'd tried, it didn't cost me anything. The alarm system was installed as an afterthought, so for the most part it connects between existing plugs in the truck's harness. Removing all of it requires removing the driver's seat, kick panel, and carpet edge trim, and the steering column clamshell. The alarm is the square box with the hole in the top, not the rounded one (that's your ABS computer). Follow the harness, undo the plugs, get the alarm harness out of the way, plug the truck's wiring back into itself like it was meant to be without the add-on crap in between. There are a few wires scotchlock'd in, and a couple wires going through the firewall to the hood switch and the alarm siren. Those are bundled with the fog light harness, so make sure you know which wires are which before cutting stuff. The alarm wires have labels printed on them, and AFAIK nothing else in the truck does, so if in doubt, look for that. If you can't be arsed to tear it all apart, take just the clamshell apart (very carefully, the screw posts inside are brittle) and follow the wires from the ignition switch to its plug, and then to the plug just after that one. Undo both plugs, push the alarm harness out of the way, and plug the ignition switch into the main harness like it was supposed to be. The door lock wiring will still run through the alarm brain, but AFAIK it should still work fine. If it still has problems, I would check the ignition switch, clutch switch, inhibitor, battery terminals, all that kind of stuff. If you need help troubleshooting the circuit, there's a diagram on EL-12 of the '95 manual, available free from Nicoclub. Auto and manual are different, but on the same page, so make sure you're looking at the right diagram. Also looks like they drew the battery backwards, so that's fun. Mr. Reverse did a writeup about hooking up a starter relay, so the starter solenoid gets full power even if the signal from the key switch is weak. (The wiring for manual trucks is like this from the factory--IIRC this was just a workaround for the jank way the inhibitor works on the auto trans trucks). I did a similar bodge on a friend's Toyota, and it worked great, until the key switch finished dying and stranded her at the grocery store, and I had to talk her through hotwiring it with a paper clip. We replaced the switch with a pushbutton, which also worked great, until she started it in gear one day and hit the garage wall. So that's something else to keep in mind--there's nothing to stop you from starting it in gear if you bypass the inhibitor by wiring straight to the solenoid. My parts car had a wire from the starter solenoid tied up near the battery (just touch it to the + terminal to crank), which would've made it real easy to run yourself over. Worked, though.

That sucks. I remember someone had the same problem with a set of GM wheels, and had them bored out to fit. Might be an option?

You could probably get a set of the stock roof rails from a wrecker. They're just riv-nutted to the roof. The screws are JIS, like Phillips, except you'll likely round them with a Phillips bit. You may well round them with a JIS driver too--they're quite small, and I think there's some kind of thread sealant on them. I don't think I've seen the clamp-ons used on one of these. I guess if it works?

If it turns over, and has spark, but won't even pop on ether, my money's on the timing. I would stop turning it over and check that the timing belt hasn't skipped a couple of teeth. The VG33 has less valve/piston interference than the VG30, so you're more likely to get away without valve damage, but there's no sense in poking that bear any harder than you have to.

Do the VG33 R50s have oil coolers? I thought that was just a VQ thing.

I had not seen that bag solution before. Looks like a solid option for an occasional-use light-duty sorta thing. For extended use, I'd expect the straps to dig into the door seals, and the bottom of the bag to chew up the paint on the roof, especially if dust gets in between. Sounds like they flap around if you don't fill them completely. I would also expect anything heavy to roll around in there. If it's that or a basket, I'd trust the basket more. Might also be worth looking at the clamshell ski boxes. My dad's Audi had one when he got it. It was not what I would call solidly built (the lid flexed like the plastic toboggan I had when I was a kid), but it bolted to the factory rails, could be locked closed, and seemed like it would keep the contents at least mostly dry. Might have slightly better aero than the bag. Again, not sure I'd trust it for heavy stuff, not least as I don't remember it having any tiedown points inside, but it might be worth a look depending on what you're planning to fill it with. If you park in a garage, and especially if you're planning to lift the truck as well, I would measure the garage door height and consider that when designing your roof storage. I'm not sure who would win if a roof rack fought a garage door, but it probably wouldn't be you.

Are you sure it's the rack that's bad, and not the bushings that hold it to the crossmember? I remember hearing about those going bad and letting the rack slop from side to side. The oil leak may have sped up that process. Could be an easy fix. It can be tricky to tell where an oil leak is coming from. Sometimes you have to clean it up and keep an eye on it to see where it's coming from. The valve cover gaskets are probably bad if they're original. Look for oil residue around the valve covers. Rear main is a possibility (mine's been leaking for years), but it wouldn't be oiling down the rack. If it's coming from the front of the engine, that could be the cam or crank seals, which are behind the timing belt. Not a horrible job, but there are several "while you're in there" parts that'll need doing, and it's not something to half-ass, given it's an interference engine. If you can do the work yourself, both could be cheap fixes. If you're paying for labor, especially if you're paying "go away I don't want to work on leaky junk from the '90s" rates, then, yeah, that's gonna be an issue. Looks like a clean rig from what I can see in the pictures, apart from the pep boys fender vents.

EL-146 of the '01.5 manual has the full diagram. It shows three fuses (weird setup), but two of them are for the other two power sockets, which it sounds like yours doesn't have. The lighter should be on fuse 13, 15A. Using a voltmeter or a test light, check from a known good ground to the fuse (check for power on both sides of the fuse to rule it out), then from ground to the center contact of the 12v socket. That'll give you some idea of where the circuit is broken. If it's hot all the way to the socket, check the ground side. Looks like the lighter socket has two ground points. I'd be surprised if they were both bad. I would also be surprised if the wire itself failed (that's what the fuse is for), unless your BIL tried again with a much larger fuse after the first one popped, or one of the wires was previously damaged in a way that made it weaker than the fuse. If you want an always-hot socket, you can run a wire from the battery with an in-line fuse holder. I added an outlet to the back of mine like that. Just remember not to leave stuff plugged in/turned on when the truck is parked, or it'll drain the battery. I used one of those lighter socket pumps a couple of times. It didn't blow up the wiring, but it wasn't good at blowing up tires, either. I remember letting it run for like half an hour trying to air up a passenger car tire with a slow leak.

That's a surprisingly tough one to track down, especially as I've never worked with the throttle body injection system and don't have one to go look at. This is the only diagram I've found that shows it. Nissan calls it "Connector, B," which doesn't tell us much. Weirdly it has a different part number depending on which transmission you have. 14876-12G00 if you have a manual transmission, 14876-12G01 for automatic. Looks like it was supposed to have a cap on the top fitting. The vacuum diagrams in the manual are in schematic view, so I can't tell which bits connect where. But I can see which vacuum lines connect to the manifold. There's one from the air cleaner (for the vacuum motor that controls the flap that makes it suck warm or cold air), one from the AB valve (looks like that stands for Anti-Backfire, bleeds air past the throttle body if there's excessive manifold vacuum?), one from the carbon canister, one from the solenoid for the EGR valve (though it looks like that port is on the throttle body), and one from the air injection solenoid valve. I would check that those systems and their vacuum lines are still present, and if they are, follow the vacuum lines back to the manifold to make sure they're still connected. The picture of the manifold in this post shows a very short vacuum line coming off of that connector. Maybe it had been cut for a while, or maybe whatever it hooked to was supposed to be nearby. This guy figured it was smog related and blocked it off while deleting the rest of his smog gear. If you can't work out what it's for, I would put vacuum caps on both nipples (on the fitting, not your own, unless you're into that) and leave it alone.