Slartibartfast

Could also be the rear hatch sensor flipping out. I don't know if R50s have the same crap sensor as the WD21s, but it's a common WD problem.

No problem!

I guess it could be a slipping belt, but I've had mad belt slip and never felt that. Do check your steering fluid res, Kingman's theory makes more sense than anything I've come up with. I believe there is an air bleed, but I'm not sure where it is.

I just can't see how one side would sag that much, and the other wouldn't. I've also never seen a Pathy riding that low. The only way for it to do that without the help of a hack mechanic or a Sawzall is if the T-bar splines failed, either where it mates to the lower control arm or where it mates to the adjuster. The PO may have tried to adjust it back up (maxing the adjuster), but if the splines are indeed stripped, there's no amount of adjustment that'll fix it--the bar will just spin in whichever end is stripped. Same thing happened to this guy:

Do you have a limited slip rear axle? If those get filled with standard gear oil (without the required LSD additive) they tend to lock up. Also, 2WD Frontiers have diff locks?

That is the hood switch for the alarm system. Looks like yours got hit with something and the plastic broke, it should look like this: It should have no effect on the engine. Should be an easy score at a wrecking yard, or just cut it out and forget it. I've got an LED hood lamp running off of mine. Any codes?

I agree with adamzan, "like I'd thrown a switch" sounds an awful lot like a dead torque converter. There's a procedure in the FSM to check for trans trouble codes (which would tell you if you had a solenoid out). It's in the AT section (download link around here somewhere).

I have no idea. Look at the old sensor and see if you can match where they come out?

My bet is on loose/corroded connections at the battery. I'd be surprised if the fuse links were the problem, given that it's intermittent. If cleaning/retightening the connections doesn't do it, have the battery load tested before assuming it's the problem.

Basically the anchor bit on the back has a long adjuster bolt on it, which allows you to crank it a little ways up or down to fine tune it. If it's way too low, you reindex and then finish it off with the adjuster. Ever take a disposable lighter apart and move the little adjuster ring bit around the nozzle so it'll shoot a three inch flame? It's the same concept. I can't imagine why somebody would've cranked it down that low (which is why I suspect that the adjuster broke off or the splines stripped), but it clearly wouldn't be the only weird thing the previous owner did. Hopefully it can be cranked back to level. Be very careful getting under it, though, until you're sure it's stable.

The notchy steering is an odd one. I would examine the steering shaft all the way down to the rack and see if maybe something's pressed up against it, or something's come loose behind the wheel (hopefully not the steering lock trying to kick in). Since it goes away at speed though, maybe the problem is with the power steering system. Maybe the pump is going out, or the center seal in the rack is sealing, then not sealing, then sealing again as you turn? I think most people find TDC with a ratchet and a pipe or a breaker bar with a socket on the crank pulley. Just turn it over slow and watch the marks. I'm not sure what the proper method is for tightening the pulley, sorry, but I do remember a guy who held the pulley in place with a strap wrench and said it made his harmonic balancer fail. If yours is a manual, you could just leave it in gear and let the drivetrain hold it. Replacing the tensioner's not a bad idea, but really, if you're doing that, you might as well do the belt while you're at it; you'll have to reset the tension either way. What mileage is it at? I kinda like multiple belts... nice to know that one failed pulley can't take out the alternator, power steering, and A/C all at once.

I did the same thing for my driving lights and the factory fogs, and used the headlight high/low beam feeds to power the relays. The actual hazard switch ended up on the center console.

I'm on the east side and nobody even thinks about rust. Most of my friends have older cars in poor condition with no rust issues, and now that I think about it, I can't remember seeing any rigs at the wrecking yards with holes in them, with the possible exception of a 70s or 80s Fiat convertible that had been left for years with the carpets in and the top down. It looks like the DOT here uses a deicing solution and lots of sand rather than rock salt. The few rusty trucks out here (that don't predate unleaded gas) are the ones bought at auction from the east coast where people know better, and sold here where they don't. I looked under a few Yotas at a dealer that shouldn't have been parked near a road, let alone driven on one. (My Pathy was an east-coast rig, unfortunately.)

Mid 93+ are electronic, driven off a speed sensor on the trans, and there is no cable. If the odo is dead and the speedo still works, then it's not input related anyway. A lot of people swap out the whole gauge cluster, but I imagine you could take yours apart, clean up the gears back there, maybe roll them back and forth with your thumb to free up whatever's binding, and get it working again. I assume the odometer is powered by a little motor, which has to push against whatever dust/dirt/gummy lube is on the gear train and in the number wheels. Suddenly it has to move five wheels at once and it gives up. No guarantees (haven't had my cluster apart) but I've been surprised at the mechanisms that will come back to life after a good cleaning and a little fresh lube.

I'm not familiar with the new part, but I too would expect it to fit right. There were two types of sunroof on these IIRC, a factory install and a dealer install, so perhaps it was made for one vs the other (your VIN should've pointed this the right way though). I would figure out where the four inches can most easily come out of it (without making the corners sit wrong--may require multiple cuts), cut it out, and then glue it in place. If you use a black glue (or go over it afterwards with black silicone), the cut spots shouldn't show too much.

Some WD21s did come with auto climate control--saw one in a '93 at a wrecking yard. I haven't worked with one but they look like a PITA to troubleshoot. Doesn't sound like the problem is in the climate control system, though. Multiple things down on voltage suggests that the problem is the same between them. Have a look at the EL section of the FSM and see if you can find something in common for those systems--a ground point, a fuse link, a body harness connector, something like that. If the connection's bad enough that the meter is reading low voltage, it shouldn't be too hard to pin down the problem.

I don't know about the price quote (never had AC work done). You can do the compressor yourself, but unless you have a vacuum pump and a charge kit you'll need to have someone who does swap out the drier, vacuum the system down, and refill it. Make sure it's not something simple/electrical first though, when the AC on my friend's van quit it was because the electrical plug for the high pressure switch popped out.

Yikes! That's not good, but at least you know. I'm not sure how it would cause the stuck gear indicator, though.

My understanding of our starter motors is that the solenoid has to move before the motor engages, so my guess is that the starter is stuck in the engaged position but won't turn the engine due to broken teeth or a shot one-way clutch in the gear. That clutch is what failed on mine, though it made all kinds of noise when it went. Perhaps the PO accidentally bumped the starter with the engine running and broke the starter pinion against the flywheel? Sounds like you need to remove the starter and inspect it. That's kind of a PITA on these, but if you can get the heat shield off of the top of the starter (two Phillips screws IIRC) you'll have a little more room to maneuver it out. I'd have a look at the torsion bar. I've heard of the splined connection to the A-arm or the adjusters for them stripping out and dropping the suspension. I would expect that to be a full drop onto the bump stop, though, and I'll bet you would've felt that, so you may be right about the shocks. Any signs of leakage on the shocks themselves? One of my rear ones is starting to go and I can see a dark oil stain coming from under the top cover down onto the lower body of the shock. Again, inspection will tell you what you need to replace. If the bars and/or adjusters are shot, a wrecking yard is probably your best bet.

Cool! Enjoy having dry feet Probably good to treat the driver's carpet with bleach or something if you haven't yet, just to prevent mold from growing.

If it's getting power fine from the + side, that leaves a bad ground. Not too hard to check, just run a wire from the - side on the motor to a known ground--bare metal under the dash, the pin for the door holder-opener thingy, whatever's handy. So if the + lead is good, and the - lead is good, and your motor is good, then either the switch is shot, or the resistor pack is shot. My understanding of the speed switch is that the actual current reduction is done by several resistors (the resistor pack), which the switch engages in different configurations depending on the speed selected. More resistors = less current available to go through the blower motor, so the lever just wires the resistors in or out. So 1 would be all the resistors, 2 would bypass one of the resistors, raising the current, three would be just one resistor, higher current still, and 4 would be all four resistors bypassed (full power). Those resistors do heat up with current, and are known to start fires when the air box fills with leaves and pine needles--my '95 has a sort of shield to prevent this, but apparently the early models didn't. Anyway, try bypassing that (it's the thing sunk into the air box behind the glove box, pretty near where the motor's at--look for the pinned thread on cleaning it if you can't find it) if the ground checks out. You have the manual climate control with the fan speed slider, not the automatic one with the temperature slider, right?

Sounds to me like the hose has come off the drain. You may have to pull the headliner to figure out where it's supposed to go and repair it or run a new one. Even if the seal is leaking, the drain should take care of the water. On the WD21 the hose comes out in the rocker panel, but I'm not sure where it comes out on the R50.

Glad it helped!

The way I understand it, the AT WD21 didn't come with a starter relay--that is, the ignition switch has to pass full power to the starter solenoid. The inhibitor relay just breaks the circuit if something's off (not in gear, whatever)--like a checklist, right. IIRC the manual trans rigs do have a proper starter relay (triggered by the ignition switch, connects + to the starter solenoid), so that may be what O'Reilly's is showing. Some people wire a starter relay into their A/T WD when the ignition switch gets too worn out to reliably power the solenoid. If you suggest a bad relay, there are lots of relays under the hood, switch it with another and see if that changes anything. The service manual has a diagram of which relays are which--I ended up labeling a bunch of mine with a Sharpie so I'd know what I was looking at. I unplugged my alarm once, just to see what would happen, and the truck still started. Some say it's got an ignition kill feature and two fat wires that have to be joined; maybe mine's PO bypassed that already. Not much help there, sorry.

Pictures of the parts involved will help!