Slartibartfast

I'm still trying to work out just how a mouse would get in. I know they can get through tight spaces, but could one really squeeze past the air grates? Or would it find its way in with the wiring harness and crawl up the floor vents? Might be that you have a rubber plug missing somewhere. I suppose if nothing else works you could pull out the carpets, stick a garden hose in a vent and just go for it and hope the corpse washes out. I'm sure it would leak into the dash, but if you do it on a hot day you might get away with it. I'd still be tearing the dash apart... I've driven with half a dashboard before and I'd rather do it again than wait for the corpse to dry up.

VGs are all interference (except for the motors put in Mercury Villagers, apparently) and I've never heard of a VG30 (what you have) shredding a belt without lunching valves. Your compression test sounds promising though. What are the numbers? The service manual specs between 173 and 128 psi per cylinder, no more than 14 psi difference between cylinders. I don't think the distributor would jump unless there was something horribly wrong with it. Are you sure you got the timing belt lined up right?

If the AT temp light comes on, the trans is probably roasted already; from what I've heard it doesn't kick in until the trans is good and overheated. Some guys run a temperature gauge. I just put a cooler on mine and figured that would keep it under control. Interesting about the resonator, I didn't know they went that far. Mine doesn't have the bit going across. The pipe leading to it is actually pinched off shortly after the air intake, so I'm not sure what the rest of it's for. Couldn't hurt to trim it down a little where it's chewing up your rad hose.

Yep, normal, sort of like how your shoes squeak on highly polished floors. If you were making tight turns with it in 4x it would bind up and then the tires would sort of skip, or else make the driveline bind up until the truck wouldn't roll without considerable application of power. Long story short, if it's in 4x going around a parking garage, you'll know something's wrong. And you're right on the transfer case. Even if your hubs are stuck (or you just didn't disengage them), if the stick is in 2h, the front end is not driven by the transfer case.

+1 on the magnets. Mine was the same way, always popping open because of the flogged out clips. I took the clips out, epoxied a hard drive magnet to the bottom and a smaller magnet to the top (a good chunk of steel would probably work just as well), and it works great. No rattling, no popping open, and it gives me a great place to remagnetize screwdrivers when I'm working on it. Doesn't seem to affect my phone or ipod either, but I'm not planning to set my laptop over it.

The ATF dipstick is on the passenger's side, behind the valve cover. I dunno why they put it there, it's a PITA to pour fluid into! These have two big places where they rot out. One is below the rear seats, where there's a lousy seam that traps moisture. Mine had a hole about big enough to put a cat through that I didn't discover until I thumped on it a bit. The other is the rear frame above the axle. I thought mine was okay when we got it, until I pulled a wheel off and hit it with a screwdriver. Hopefully yours is solid, it seems like more of a salt state issue (mine was from NY and had spent time in ID). There's a frame rust repair thread that'll give you examples of what to look for. Either way, can't hurt to wash out the frame rails. I suspect mine had a good cubic foot of dirt in there. Set the trip odo on your next fillup, drive it a while, fill up again, figure the amount of fuel used and the distance travelled and do the math. The gauge is a very vague indicator.

Someone put up a really good link the other day with the proper wiring. It shows the plugs and their pinouts, with color codes. I can't say I've ever actually seen the stock CD player but I imagine you can just remove both units at once, leaving the plug at the back which you can then hook an adapter to if necessary. I have no idea if a later model radio will fit this plug, but I suspect you could compare the info for yours with the info for the vehicle the radio was meant for and rewire as necessary.

Calculate your mileage next time you fill up to give you a reference point. Highest mine's ever given me was 19mpg, and that was all highway driving. I usually see 15-16 city. Tune it up, re-do the vacuum lines, check sensors, etc if it's much below that. Mine made that same noise when I got it, the power antenna mast was still there but stuck, and the motor at the bottom was just spinning itself around. I bought a cheap replacement mast off Fleabay and put it back together, and it's worked since. It's sort of a bugger to get to (I pulled the wheel off and went in through the bottom). Or you can just lop off the powered bit, throw a whippy antenna on there, and call it done, but I kind of like watching the power antenna work. My parking brake (disk) didn't do squat, so I adjusted the cable. I think the parking brake shoes themselves are worn; even after adjustment it barely holds the truck on a slope. One of these days it'll bug me enough to actually do something about it. And that's one old auto trans! How's the fluid look?

You're rolling hanta! Hope the shop vac works. Does the square dash have the vents on the ends, where the doors usually cover? You might get lucky with a coat hanger through there and knock the mouse out into the open. Even if I got him out I'd want to tear into the dash to clean it out... that's just nasty.

The smooth-face hood is actually making a difference? Even with the backs of the vents trimmed on mine I can't imagine it passes enough air to matter. Probably less air goes through those than gets blocked by the 'nissan' emblem on the grille. Besides, if the non-vented hood was causing overheating, I'd expect the people who run bug guards to have trouble, and they don't seem to. I've seen some nice looking 'universal' vent kits on Fleabay lately. The Pathy hoods are pretty flat so they shouldn't be too hard to mount up.

The beer can repair sounds good to me but I'll check out the patch kit, thanks!

My dad's r50 has been making odd exhaust noises, so he took it to a mechanic, and apparently the driver's side secondary catalyst is cracked (common problem but it's out of warranty). We live in an area with no emissions testing, and replacement cats are expensive. Has anyone put a test pipe on an r50 exhaust? Any chance this would throw codes or cause other issues? If so, any recommendations for an aftermarket cat?

From what I've heard (never been under the hood of a 4-banger Pathy) the transmissions are different, or at least different enough that they won't bolt up. You would also need the wiring and ECU for the VG30. Best thing would be to find a wrecked or rotted VG30 Pathy in your area to use as an organ donor... then you'll have all the bits you need.

Fixed the rear cargo light for good... wired it to the tire carrier switch instead. This turned out trickier than I'd expected so I made a video of it for anyone else who wants to give it a go: I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out! Maybe not good as new, but it didn't cost me a dime and I don't have to grope around in the dark for the light switch anymore. I also changed the oil today... first time doing it DIY. Gotta get one of those relocation kits next time around!

Cleaned up a little failing paint on the roof, resprayed the lower bars for the roof rack while I was at it. Turned out alright for an afternoon rattlecan job.

Control arms are one of those things that go by different names. On here they're usually called UCAs (upper control arms) and LCAs (lower control arms). Could be worse, the rods that hook the back of the LCA to the frame are tension rods, strut rods, or compression rods depending on who you ask!

The FSM specifies compression at between 173 and 128 psi, with a limit of 14 psi difference between cylinders. It's possible that the valves are just opening and closing so far out of time that compression is down, but I have no idea why #1 would be so much higher. +1 on holding off judgement until it's timed right. I'm just amazed that it runs at all!

Might be a little steep, depending on body condition. My SE was $1600 with a bad tires, a little body damage, dead speed sensor and cruise control, pine needles in every crevice, and a recent t-belt job (that we had to re-do a year or so later). We've put easily that much into it again. If it's clean/nice/recent (proper) belt job, $2500 isn't bad.

+1 on finding a new shop. Possibly they mean that the screw adjusters are maxed out, but they're apparently not that tough to re-index (there's a how to on here somewhere). Even if they're saggy I can't imagine it would bugger the alignment, unless they were bad enough to make it run on the bump stops (and I can't imagine that happening unless a previous owner tried to lower it). I'm running 31s, the front end's a little saggy, but the alignment shop had no trouble with it.

Was this before or after the issue? If some fool's been hacking at your wiring, your starting problem is likely related. Good to hear he/she failed... it's a pretty sad car thief who can't boost a WD21!

I think DRL was a Canadian thing. FSM should still cover it.

I haven't heard of a header restriction based on transmissions, but then I wouldn't know. I'm sure someone with a manual can tell you one way or the other. I want to say the injectors are the same but I could be wrong. I've read that the fuel rails are the same, so if the 3.3 injector plugs don't match your harness, the 3.0 plugs should slot right up.

Cool... any idea what blew them?

I doubt you'll get it completely dry but it's about all you can do. Wouldn't hurt to shoot a little fresh water in there before you button it back up to flush out any residual coolant. There's also coolant in the overflow tank, so don't forget to drain that. Probably easiest to pull it and dump it rather than stick a turkey baster or something in there.

They both have to work for the truck to start. Download the service manual, the electrical system shows how it's all laid out. Failure of one of these relays would explain the no-start but not the power failure. That sounds like a fuse blew, and they don't generally do that without provocation. Also the AC has its own fuse (radio and dash illumination are both on the Room Lamp fuse IIRC). So, +1 on checking the fuse links. The thing that gets me is that it crapped out while being driven, but now you can start it. Are the battery cables tight/clean?