Slartibartfast

+several million on not tightening them with a giant rattle gun. My dad and I spent a few hours last night getting one wheel off the Scout because some idiot had run them down tight enough to strip them. They'd turn, sort of, but they wouldn't loosen. We had to drill holes in them and beat them to death with cold chisels and a BFH just to get the wheel off. Never had a problem on the Pathy though, just thread them on by hand and then tighten. I used to just put the lug wrench on, run it down, and jump on it once or twice (I don't weigh much). I checked afterwards with the torque wrench (80 foot pounds IIRC) afterwards and found them slightly loose, so I use the wrench now when possible.

That... is odd looking.

Is the exhaust supposed to be pointing at the bumper? I think I'd start there.

That sucks! Oddly I found a thread about GM AC compressors which suggested that the ceramic seals they had were crap, and there was a new rubber version that the remanufacturers were using which didn't leak. I wonder if there's something like that for these, or maybe something from another unit that would fit.

I had never heard of the VCV until now, and looking at the manual, I have no idea what it's for. I saw a test on Youtube recently where the guy took a jar, put a piece of hot charcoal and some torn up cardboard in it, then hooked a hose from the lid to the intake manifold. He had another hose to blow air in through. It made gobs of smoke and found the leaks pretty quickly. Might help if your leak isn't where you'd think to spray ether. Also you might want to take a closer look at the MAF. My friend's dad's Buick was running really lean, white spark plugs, a mechanic had told them the intake manifold gaskets were shot (common problem with that year apparently), but we couldn't find a leak. Turned out the MAF was so gunked up that it took several sprays of contact cleaner and gentle wiping with cotton swabs to get all the muck off it. If cleaning the VCV helped, you may already be onto your issue though.

I cleaned mine a couple years ago IIRC and it's been good since. It was doing the same thing, one would come on before the other, or both would come on and then one would crap out. I just cleaned out the contacts (fine sandpaper), re-bent them a little (test it with a multimeter before putting it in and you'll save yourself some hassle), and it's worked just fine since. I did end up relaying the lights, so that's likely part of it. I've had circuits look fine to the meter but crap out when asked to pass amps. It could be a bad ground, but I'll bet it's just the switch. It's not that the contacts don't touch, they just get crap built up on them that doesn't conduct so well. Kind of nice it's got the two sets, really. I'd rather lose one headlight than both. I ended up using one set of high/low contacts to throw the headlight relays, and the other set to power the fog and driving light relays. That way my driving lights go off with the high beams and it's harder to accidentally blind someone.

I just had a look at the '03 manual. The lower control arm has a standard round bushing at the front and something weird at the back, but it's a different kind of weird.

Hmm... right. I would start by checking the motor mounts and the trans mount. If the engine and trans are sitting funny, the the trans shifter (and maybe the transfer case shifter as well) could be fouling on the floor or binding up on the rubber bits. I've read that body-lifted Pathfinders won't go into 4LO without modding the transfer case shaft, and I imagine a trans rolled to the left side could cause something similar.

I found oil around the same place on mine a while back, then it quit leaking. AC still works. Thanks for the info tmoore, too bad the part isn't available. I imagine a ceramic seal would be a PITA to install without shattering it, though.

And how much you want to spend!

Middle aged people with big money want the cars they wanted or had as kids. Whether those cars hold up long enough to become collectible is another question entirely.

Or beef up your center console, have a friend stand on it with a potato cannon, and your Pathy is now a turret.

You might check the alternator and water pump before putting the belt back on to make sure they both spin right. If one of them seized up, it could be what caused the belt to fail.

It didn't overheat until it seized, so I would imagine it'll be alright with a new rad and belt.

How's it do when you're in 4LO?

They make you convert to OBD2? That sounds like a massive PITA.

I'm no MT specialist, but is there an adjustment somewhere on it? Or any chance air got into the clutch lines during the install?

My guess is that the shared green is a ground, and on your MT box, it's supposed to ground through the case. No idea why they'd be different, though. Maybe it grounds through the TCU?

If it's random (not in sync with stuff spinning in the trans), I'd take a look underneath, see if maybe something is in fact stuck up in there and banging against the shifter. I guess it could be a bad motor or trans mount letting the whole thing move, if the engine wasn't running well, but that doesn't make sense with it only happening in second gear. If you put your hand on the transfer case shifter, can you feel the kicking there, too?

Check the bottle if you still have it (or if you recognize it at the parts store). From what I've read, a lot of oils say "LSD compatible" to signify that it's compatible with LSD additive, not that it already has the stuff in it. If it actually has additive in it, it'll probably say something about that on the label ("additive not required" or something).

Yep, bypass the amps. Here's how I did mine: What's happening is that the amps are turning up the sound to the main speakers, which means you aren't turning up the head unit as far as you do in your brother's truck. Since the subs aren't run through those amps, they're running at a much lower volume.

D'oh, just saw you have an automatic. I'm not sure I've ever seen an aftermarket auto shift knob. IIRC there's a rail shifter available that'll work though.

That sucks!

Drill a hole in a pool ball?

Makes sense, especially because the stalling is when it's warm! MAF plug and wiring look mint inside and out, but the plug does have a little wobble to it. Something to keep in mind at least. It stalled out really badly today (while driving, not even at a light) and I pulled over to investigate. Turned out I'd forgotten to plug the EGRC solenoid back in. That probably wasn't helping matters. My next test will probably be the oxygen sensor, though; a friend followed me over a pass today and said he was smelling dirty exhaust and seeing little puffs of smoke. That can't be helping matters either.