Slartibartfast

The long prime thing sure does sound like a fuel system issue. Long shot, but when did you last change the fuel filter? I had an X come in with a bad dizzy this summer. It had the usual symptoms--ran fine when cold, acted up when warm, getting worse over time. I found a whole lot of rust powder and an ejected bearing cage under the cover, so, yeah, that was an easy diagnosis. The symptoms don't sound like a match for yours, but it's easy enough to check for.

Well that sucks! At least you're not stranded without it.

You have power at the key itself, or at the switch? What are you checking at the column? Do you mean you've got no dash lights, or are the dome and headlights out too? I would check your work with the alarm system removal. If the ignition switch has come unplugged, or a connection to or from it has failed, that could explain a lot. I am assuming you've already checked the battery terminals.

4WD W/D21 did in fact use this setup, from the introduction of our rear-only ABS through to the end. We never got four-wheel ABS. I did not know that the pinion sensors stuck around into the four-wheel ABS on the W/D22. Looks like the 4WD had two rear wheel speed sensors, while the 2WD used the single sensor on the pinion. Weird thing to design twice.

It's amazing how messed up a VG can be and still run! Hopefully it goes as long as you need it to.

I found a couple of similarly failed lifters in a VG33 recently. Out of curiosity, which lifters let go? Mine lost #1 and #5 exhaust. I ask because the only other thread I've found where somebody had that happen, it was the same two lifters that let go. I ended up scrapping that engine, but held onto a few bits and pieces, including the rest of the lifters. PM me if you want a few (unknown mileage, used) lifters that don't look like they've been used as tire studs.

Nice when the junk collection provides!

That'll do it!

I don't remember doing anything special with mine, but that was a while ago. A piece of PVC that fits over the crank might work for a driver tool if you can't get it to walk in.

It's a bit of a pain to get to, but I don't remember the actual seal fighting me too hard. I heated and bent the end of a screwdriver at ninety degrees (like a paint can opener, but thinner), polished the back so it wouldn't scratch the crank (tape over the back of it wouldn't be a bad idea), put a heavy socket over the shaft, slipped the end of the screwdriver between the crank and the seal, hooking the back of the seal, and then tapped the socket against the handle to work the seal out. Took a little screwing around and tapping in different places, but it worked alright. I did the cam seals the same way. I've heard of drilling a hole in the seal, sticking a screw in there, and using the screw as a handle to pull the seal out, but I could just see the drill wandering off into something I didn't want chowdered up.

That is weird. Does the hub turn freely when it's unlocked? Maybe it's dry, or has some swarf in it from manufacturing?

The knock sensor code doesn't mean that the engine is knocking. If the computer hears something it doesn't like, it pulls ignition timing until the noise goes away, but it doesn't tell you about it. The knock sensor code means the knock sensor isn't working. The manual says to check the sensor (should be 500-620k ohms), check the harness, and loosen and retighten a couple of grounds on the engine. Diag starts on EC-320 of the '02 manual. The catch is that the knock sensor is under the intake manifold. Unless there's a VQ-specific shortcut that I'm not aware of, or you have an exceptionally cooperative pet rat, you'll have to remove the manifold to access the sensor. I had a knock sensor code on my '93 a while back. Turned out the sensor was bad. Unless you hear pinging, I would ignore it until you're back home. The knock sensor is there for emergencies, and not used in normal operation. (I have wondered if the computer might pull timing out of caution if it knows it's got a bad knock sensor, but I have found nothing in the manual to support this.)

With the shudder and the code, yeah, trans shop is probably the way to go if you don't want to chase it yourself. I would do whatever electrical checks the service manual shows for that code on the off chance it's something simple. My mom's Lexus GX470 did the same rumble strip thing when its torque converter clutch started acting up. My dad found a recommendation for some kind of shudder fix goo on a Lexus forum, and to our surprise (and to the surprise of the mechanic who put it in), the goo solved the problem. No idea if that's just a Lexus thing, or if it's worth trying in your case. I don't think a manual hub could cause that rumble if it wanted to. If you want to rule it out, lock the hubs and see if the noise goes away. I had an auto hub make noise once, but it was not a rumble. It sounded like a manual gearbox having its teeth kicked in. Scared the hell out of me.

I used this writeup and the service manual (for torque specs) when I did mine.

Try NissanPartsDeal, Amayama, and Partsouq. Otherwise you're stuck with with aftermarket. I got OE head gaskets from Amayama, shipped from the UAE, somehow cheaper than NPD had them in (I assume?) the US, so check them against each other. But sometimes Amayama turns out not to have what they think they do. I tried ordering a dipstick tube from them, only to get an email the next day that they didn't actually have it. I think they take the order and then see if they can track stuff down from their suppliers. I haven't ordered from Amayama or Partsouq since the tariffs got weird, not sure how they're dealing with that. My dad tried ordering parts from the UK recently and was told they had no idea what the charge would be by the time the stuff got here, and they just didn't want to deal with it, so they weren't even accepting US orders. I got the OE tstat and water pump ("pump ass wat" in Nissan parts speak) via NPD, NSK idler and Bando belt off Rockauto because I couldn't find OE. Can't speak to the quality of either, haven't even installed them, given the engine they were going on turned out to be a doorstop. Years back I put a Gates belt and pump on my VG30, and they're still holding up 30k later, but I've heard some complaints about Gates since.

The transfer case won't come out of 4x if it's under load. Moving the lever doesn't pull it out of 4x, it just allows a spring to push it back out when it can. If it's loaded, either by torque or because you're still on it, it won't disengage, same as you can't get a manual transmission out of gear without using the clutch or letting off the throttle. If it's real balky, change the fluid in the transfer case. My '95 kept getting stuck in 4x until I changed the fluid. That cleared it right up.

Get it as clean as you can, run it for a bit, and see what gets oily again first. Might help narrow it down.

Those shouldn't need hammering. Something ain't right. Check that the numbers on the bearings match the numbers on the box, and check that it's the right part number for the truck. I would also check that you've got the outer races driven into the hub all the way.

I can kinda relate. The PO of mine tinted both front door windows way too dark, significantly darker than the rear windows are tinted from factory. I don't know how people drive like that. I don't normally get claustrophobic, but I felt a whole lot better in there after I peeled that crap off. I've heard good things about the ceramic tint. I'd like to try one of the lighter shades on the side windows. I'm not sure how well it would stick to the sunroof, though. There's some kind of painted crosshatch on the underside that I suspect might be just thick enough to stop it laying down properly. But I've never applied tint, so I don't know. It might be a lot less fussy than I'm assuming it is.

If it's possible this started recently, I'd check for anything that might've loosened up. A friend of mine had the camber adjusters on his Blazer loosen up and slip while he was driving. I don't remember whether it pulled, but I'd imagine it did, given how off the camber was. At the tire real quick, too. You can confirm whether it's toed out with a tape measure. Don't trust the tread blocks to be lined up, I did that once and chased my tail for hours because the treads weren't quite straight. I use angle iron up against the sidewalls, propped up on jackstands (to get them away from the bulge at the bottom of the tire), and measure across. You can measure front and back, but there's always something in the way in the back, so I measure in front, and then the diameter of the tire in front of that. An alignment shop should be able to figure it out pretty quick, if you have a competent one in your area.

The outer seal on mine removed itself! Made a hell of a racket when it came loose at highway speed. I was kind of alarmed at first, until I looked out the window at the truck's shadow and saw the seal flapping around up there like the flailing inflatable tube man things outside a used car dealer. And yeah, glass on a roof is sorta dumb. I like that I can prop mine open when it's hot out, better than leaving windows down, but otherwise it's a liability. And I'm not sure it isn't letting in more heat through the glass than it's venting. I'd be interested to see what you come up with if you delete yours.

Look for a manual car wash, the kind that eats quarters and gives you time with the spray wand. Don't shoot it directly at electrical connectors or fluid caps if you can avoid it, otherwise give 'er hell. I'd spray it down before you get in there. It's much nicer working on something that isn't an oily mess.

I'd hazard a guess that the vehicle speed data point is the average of the four sensors, so it's feeding the speedo (and likely the engine and transmission computers as well) a single data point instead of four. Wouldn't explain the discrepancy between that data point and the speedo, though. That's bizarre. Maybe it's checking that average wheel speed against how fast it thinks it should be going, given the engine RPM and what gear the trans is in, getting confused because the ratios aren't what it expects, and attempting some kind of correction? I've heard of speedo calibration boxes that apply a conversion factor to the speed sensor signal. Seems like it should work, provided the speedo's getting a pulse signal, not reading the data point via canbus or something. Good luck with the inspection! Sucks the cat is still giving you issues, but at least the cooling system is finally working right.

I'll bet the fuel hose is the problem. There are different kinds of rubber used depending on what kind of fluid they're up against. I've heard of (and seen!) rubber meant for cooling systems swell and get squishy when exposed to oil. Looks like fuel line and coolant don't like each other, either. Looks like HPS makes silicone hoses. If you can't get a standard hose at a decent price (or want fancy candy-colored ones), that could be a good way to go.

Ah, that sucks. I assume those are glued to the glass, or otherwise a pain to work with. Guess you could paint the underside of the glass grey and pretend the shade's still up! Which seal is going to pieces? I ran without an outer seal (the one around the glass) for ages, and the inner seal (around the hole) did just fine on its own. I might have a spare off my parts car, can have a look for that if you want.