Slartibartfast

Thanks guys! Good to hear the R50 guys aren't left out on this. And yeah, having it dependent on the battery and fuse links isn't ideal. I can always go back to holding a flashlight with my chin if the electrical system fails. The thread I saw the hood light in also had a glovebox light. Looks like Rob can sell the whole setup for just over $20, but I'm cheap and I had another LED panel laying around. I didn't find a plug to draw power from, so I ran wire through the dash to the marker lights (one of the pink wires on the headlight switch plug). There's no existing switch, so I made my own... ... out of a shotgun shell. I knocked out the primer bit and used a piece of plastic rod as a plunger. The rod's sprung on the front, and it's got contacts in the back, one of which is made from some of the brass I trimmed away. Now that's custom.

... that sounds like the perfect anti-zombie vehicle right there. Horde of zombies? Not anymore.

Last winter, I helped my uncle fix an ignition problem with his GMC pickup. To my surprise, it had a little light built into the underside of the hood, which struck me as a really good idea. I started to wonder why my Pathy didn't have one. More recently, I saw this thread, and read that Nissan had made such a part, but only for R50s, and only overseas R50s at that. I started wondering how hard it would be to make one. The trick is to find a switch that makes contact when the hood's open. Turns out, the WD21 factory alarm system includes one of these. It's bolted to the firewall between the brake lines and the wiper motor. If you don't have one, the junkyard probably will, and it should swap right over. It looks pretty easy to get to with a socket. My dad's R50 has no switch that I can find, so if you want to do this on an R50, you'll have to build a new bracket or something. You could just turn the light on and off manually, but where's the fun in that? I could've made this mod look pretty legit by using a spare dome light, but I didn't have one. I did however have an Altoids tin, a bit of clear acrylic, a little switch so I could turn it off if I wanted to, and one of those $10 blindingly bright 36-LED dome light panels off Ebay. I glued a folded-over metal bracket to the back of the tin so that I could bend it around if needed for clearance or to redirect the light. Then I wiped the dirt off the sticker under the hood (the one that says nothing needs adjustment) and foam-taped the bracket to it. I ran the wires behind the fiber blanket stuff, hooked the - wire to the hood switch, and ran the + wire into the passenger's side relay box. I stripped the end of the + wire, popped out the horn relay, stuck the wire into one of the holes in the horn relay connector, and then stuck the relay back in. And there was light! This mod should reduce the amount of time I spend trying to hold a flashlight with my chin, and IMO that's totally worth the $10 and the hour or so I spent on it. Now I'm looking back through that parts thread at the glovebox light. Just so happens I've got a smaller LED panel looking for a home. How hard can that be?

They came in 4.6 or 4.3 gearing IIRC, but you might be able to find lower (4.9?) gears in an Xterra. Rugged Rocks has several kits for other gearing options. I imagine most of the ratios they sell match up to ratios available for common solid front axles. If you're keeping the IFS, they have two gearsets for the r200a (front diff), a 4.9 and a 5.1. Of course the front and rear diff's ratios should be the same or as close as possible. Here's a comparison of the D44, H233b, Ford 9", and D60: Scroll down, it's the last post on the page. I have yet to read about somebody breaking an H233b. The only problem I've read about anywhere (just now actually) is that the axle can twist a little under high torque loads (big motor, big tires, low gears). Here's that thread: (It kind of turns into a pissing match towards the end, but there's good info near the start). Apparently you can prevent this by trussing the axle. I don't have personal experience with any of this but hopefully the research helps. I'm looking forward to your build thread.

Checked my PS fluid and found milkshake on the bottom of the dipstick. I think water got in when I tried to pressure wash the oil (and then the orange cleaner my dad tried to use on the oil, while the engine was still hot) off the headers. I pulled out the little catch filter thing, the oil drained out of it, and the water/milkshake stayed inside! Cleaned it up and put it back in. The fluid looked perfect underneath it, so maybe I got lucky. The fluid level does look a little high though... maybe there's water at the bottom of the system. Advice? I also swapped my bear-blinding LED domelight for a smaller one, which means I have a big LED panel to mount somewhere (I'm thinking underhood light.)

Snorkel tubing or the stock stuff? The weird stuff coming off the airbox is just a silencing system. The actual tubing is pretty much a straight shot. It's not like a Chevy pickup where the air has to go through a bunch of flattened plastic tubes from the fender. If the rear bearing was bad enough to effect mileage, I think you'd be hearing all kinds of horrible squeaks and clunks from it. Get the sensors taken care of and see what that does to your MPG. And if you think a Pathfinder hood is heavy, try moving a hood from a 70s American sled! I pulled one off a Buick or a Caddy or something a few weeks ago and couldn't lift it by myself. Even the guy at the junkyard who helped move the thing complained about the weight.

The factory intake pulls air from the wheel well. You're not gonna get much better than that short of a snorkel. I know a few guys here have tried aftermarket cone filters, but the only huge difference I remember hearing about was a whistling noise. Probably better to concentrate on what you know is wrong before throwing other stuff at it.

Good to hear you found it! Car alarms don't do a whole lot IMO since nobody pays attention to them anymore. My dad had a convertible once and lived in the same complex as a crackhead. He epoxied razor blades to the radio behind the dash... he found an awful mess in it one day but the radio didn't go anywhere.

Maybe the hose clogged, someone tried to blow out the clog with a compressor, and the hose blew off the sunroof drain? The rubber dam for the sunroof is pretty big, so I have a tough time imagining that overflowing. Looks like the front headliner has to come out to get to the hose, unfortunately. I like my sunroof because it lets the hot air vent out when I park in the sun. It's also a great place to put a turret for zombie warfare.

Sounds like you found the problem alright. Can you post a pic of what's left of the old sensor? It's tough to give advice on removing something you can't visualize. So long as we're trying, though, maybe you could JB weld something to it and back it out that way? You say there's a brass post sticking out, maybe if you drill a hole in an old bolt and glue it to the post, you could wrench the whole thing off that way?

It's probably got valves in it that get confused when fluid goes out the rear hoses and doesn't return. Bleeding the unit resets the valves and all is fine and happy. Or not. I don't know how the bugger works.

Mine's got a few more miles on it than yours (168k now) and the worst I've recorded was 14.7 mpg (winter gas, snow, mild hoonage). I measure mileage by the trip odometer and the gas pump since the fuel gauge is hell for accuracy. If you don't have the trip meter or it doesn't work, you could just write down the main odo reading at each fill-up and go from there. I got my idiot light to come on once by continuing to drive it for a few days after it hit E. I don't recommend this, incidentally, because it apparently caused the fuel pump to suck garbage out of the bottom of the tank and gum up. If your mileage really is that bad, check for codes, check the vac lines, check the MAF and O2 sensors (and check for exhaust leaks between the engine and the O2 sensor). I doubt the motor itself is the issue. A good tune-up (cap/rotor/plugs/wires) is probably your best bet here. Mine seemed to pick up some horsepower with a new (roughly stock size) exhaust, but unless yours is leaking, doing an exhaust system to save gas is going to take a really long time to pay for itself in gas savings.

IIRC the big black thing on the board is a relay, so that would make a click sound.

I'm not sure I know what you're talking about. You mean like the tie-down cleats for pickup trucks?

Might as well do 'em all while you've got it on the bench. I only did the ones I figured needed it (I couldn't find any cracks) and it still acts up in cold weather... I'm not even sure the lock timer's to blame anymore, but if I'd done it properly I could rule it out.

That's not too far from my area. What's the license #?

I'm not sure how putting one in backward would fry anything. They're diodes, so if they're not lighting up, they're not passing much if any current. More likely you brushed a + wire against a body ground while wiring them up, with the door open (dome light on), and killed the fuse that way. I've had no problems with my LED dome light, except for the "Jesus H. tap-dancing Christ that's bright" reaction at night.

I can imagine the speed sensor messing with the speedometer and the TCU, but I doubt it would do much to the engine.

When I replaced a front corner light (parking light, whatever), it came with new clips to put into the panel. I used one of those under the console and it works great. It was a bit of a tight fit and a PITA to get to but the bugger doesn't wobble anymore.

From what I've read, it's all pretty much bolt on, except that the 2WD trans (AFAIK) won't accept the transfer case. You need a trans built for 4x4. You could rebuild the transmission in his, but then you might as well keep his, part out your Roadfinder and save yourself a lot of wrenching (depending on what else his needs).

Thanks for the link! I love the bumper he's got on that thing.

I've been looking into welders too. I found an adult welding class with a local metal artist who's been welding longer than I've been alive. We went over stick, mig, tig, and acetylene (welding, cutting, and brazing). Only problem is, now I want one of each. I figure I'll make a microwave oven transformer stick welder and buy a gas MIG, and see how far that gets me. I'll definitely watch this thread for makes and models.

My mileage is more like 16 city, 19 highway. But yeah, I'd check what you've got to see what it needs before deciding what to do with it.

The most custom thing I've used was a piece of rubber hose and a plastic root beer bottle with the bottom cut off as a funnel. A while back I took an old electric toothbrush, cut the bristles off, and glued a piece of sandpaper to it... not the best tool ever but it was pretty good for model work.

There's a testing procedure in the FSM to pull codes from the transmission computer, so you might give that a shot. (I'm assuming that the diesel trans and gas trans are the same thing in a different package.) The hot selector stick is a weird one. If it's the transfer case shifter, check the fluid in the transfer case. Either the whole trans is overheating or there's a problem there. If it's the PRND21 selector... that's hooked up by a cable, there's no way the trans can really heat it short of heating the floor under it. I have heard of people feeling heat from the transmission tunnel. The only time I've noticed heat coming from mine was when I tried driving it with the transfer case boot removed, and hot air coming off the engine came in and just about seared the hairs off my leg.