Slartibartfast

Gotta love IFS. Looks like fun though!

So, we took it to a shop. The guy messed around with it a bit, called us up, and said 'It's fixed! Dunno what was wrong, but I drove it five miles and it's fine now." My dad went down to try it out. It started rough, cleared up... and went a couple blocks before crapping out again. The guy did suggest something busted and moving around inside the catastrophic polluter, but we had that replaced about a year ago with a brand-new unit. My dad thought maybe a valve was stuck, or maybe it sucked up some crud from the tank (it was quite low) and somehow screwed up the injectors, but that doesn't explain the loping when it's trying to start (which seems to indicate loss of compression, or am I full of it here?). I've had it lower on gas before, but then I did off-road it a little (bump in the lawn lol) the weekend before this went down... might have stirred something up. Drove it maybe twelve miles between that and the onset of the issue. Unless my fuel filter is somehow internally ruptured, and the gunk is jamming up the injectors, I have no idea how that would cause this issue. I don't know what if anything the mechanic tried. The guy was going to drag it back to the garage, but I just drove through town and it was still sitting beside the road where it stalled out, unlocked, with the window rolled down. I buttoned it up but didn't bother trying to start it... the check engine light was on, though, so I checked for codes. Still 55. Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I need to start doing my own repair work... this has given me a good list of things to check on.

It died just as I pulled into the driveway... seems the brand new timing belt skipped a few teeth. At least it got me home!

So I'm driving home from class today, and something doesn't feel right. It's bogging and the transfer case lever's vibrating. I make it home okay, pull into the driveway, and feel it vibrating... look down and it's at 200 rpm. Then it died and refused to start again. It was low on fuel, so we dumped some lawnmower gas in there, thinking maybe it ran out. That didn't fix it. We also tried unplugging the MAF, no change. My dad unhooked the gas line from the filter and doused himself, so it's got fuel pressure. He also pulled a wire off the dizzy and got sparks. The rotor is spinning, so, no broken belt. We finally got it to start through a long crank and flooring it. It sounded lopey when the starter was going, shakes like crazy (one hard shake at the end of each lope, if that makes sense) and when it did start it bogged like crazy, like it's only got three or four cylinders going, but it wouldn't keep going for long. It will rev past 3k, so it's not in limp home. I checked the computer, 55, no malfunction. No black smoke. It also backfires when it won't start. We think the timing may have slipped on the crank. We had the belt done very recently. It ran fine when we picked it up... Any ideas?

To the best of my knowledge, there's no bendix in a Pathy (older cars use bendix starters, which essentially fling the pinion into the flywheel; newer cars use solenoids). There is, however, a one-way clutch in the starter pinion (so that the starting engine won't curbstomp the starter when it fires up), and that can fail. Mine did, and it made godawful squealing noises instead of turning the flywheel. Yours engages (solenoid works), it spins up (contacts/motor are good), but sometimes (and without godawful squealing) fails to turn the flywheel? Either you've got a very quiet and inconsistent failed clutch, or your flywheel's missing a few teeth. (Or, now I think of it, something is horribly wrong with the starter solenoid that's allowing it to close the contacts for the motor without popping the gear out.)

All looks good... nice job guys

See you all on the other side.

Good thing you caught it early. Maybe try removing the trailer harness? Couldn't hurt to trace the wiring in the FSM, at least it would show which connections etc to check.

I wish they gave tickets for exhaust around here... I live next to a cop who's got a straight-piped Dodge diesel that rattles windows. I left the lights on... again. I'm considering re-wiring the headlight switch to the ignition... on the bright side, the check valve hasn't buzzed once since I WD'd it. Also, Buckryp, dunno if I did it right, but I pulled out the upper valve of the EGR (don't remember offhand which is the EGR and which is the BPT), shot a little WD in there, and worked it around until it quit sticking... between that and patching the rotted-out hose that hooked it to the exhaust, the truck seemed to find a missing cojone or two. I didn't pull the other half, as it looked like a PITA...

No removable plate. It's not that terrible to take apart, though... if you're careful you could pull the deck out, take it apart, resolder the bits for the screen (or perhaps the bulb died?) and stick it back together. Mine came apart pretty easily, but I had no intention of putting it back in... (Should've saved it, everything worked!)

If it looks like cherry syrup, it's good. If it looks like strawberry milkshake... that's not good. I've heard that some newer Nissans (like my dad's 06 or 07 Frontier) have a design flaw that allows the radiator to separate inside and mix coolant and ATF. I haven't heard of it happening with an R50, though, so unless something is horribly awry... My only thought is that the knock code might be confusing something. My (limited and WD21 specific) understanding is that the computer goes into a limp mode when the knock sensor goes off, and that it communicates with the transmission computer. The symptoms sound more like a computer issue than buggered mechanicals to me, whether or not the knock sensor's setting it off.

... what is this, I don't even... why would somebody do that?

Looks brown-grey to me.

Just tell him you're on the fence... if he doesn't get any other offers, you may get it for cheap enough that you won't mind it sitting until you get time.

Little late, but... I figured out what causes the flex. When you shut the carrier, there's a little skid on it that rides up onto a plastic pad to align the latch mechanism. Mine didn't flex because it didn't hit the skid (the skid was badly worn). When I realized that the latch was hitting wrong, I raised the skid. Now, the carrier hits it, and when it rides up and over, it bends the panel out. Note that this only causes flexing when shutting, not while swinging in general (what I was thinking this was about before). Now that I've got the latch lining up properly, the panel deforms, and the worn out bushings are rattling...

I think I figured it out: http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=32832&hl=carrier

Two for one! The curved bit is dark grey (same as Kyle's, anyway), and the brownish is the grey-brown. Wrecking yard selection is limited around here! And a proper dark grey shot:

I've never heard of anyone doing it, but I can't imagine why it couldn't be done. You'd need manual locks and windows, of course, and a switch to turn the courtesy lights off (if so equipped). You'd have to fab up the hanging hinges, or maybe use something made for garden gates or something. I'd be a little worried about parking it with no doors, though. Territorial cats get in, squirrels get in, and these things are easy to steal. Depends on where you live, of course. For the smoke, maybe try taking the carpets etc out and leaving them out for a while to air out. When I spilled pine-scented kerosene in the back of mine, my dad and I pressure-washed the carpet and pad at the self-serve car wash, vacuumed them dry, and put them back in. It didn't eliminate the smell entirely, but it helped... a year or so later I can barely smell it unless I put my face in it. With cigarette smoke I guess you've got the seats, door cards, headliner, and pretty much everything else, though...

I've only been into a WD's door panel, but that's a bit of a PITA... not horrible, just a bit of work where you can't see what you're doing. Unless yours it making grinding noises or something, it might just need some grease on the gears/joints. The WD's door has these nifty little plastic clips in the linkages... you twist it and the metal push rod comes right out. I don't know if the R50's set up similarly. That said, I cleaned/greased the actuator in mine... and it made the problem worse.

Well, I finally got the little bugger out. I think it was installed before the body was mounted to the frame... not enough room in there to swing a dead cat. I checked it as explained in the FSM, and it tested good. It's got a floppy little ball valve inside that shuts it down if it's not upright (so it can't dump fuel into the canister if the truck flips over). I couldn't get it open to clean it properly, so I shot some WD-40 into it to see what that would do, and it came out looking like tea... it's probably just gummed up in there. I shot a little lithium in there as well, blew it in as well as I could, and re-mounted it. I doubt I fixed anything, but at least I know it still does its job.

Okay, so, I pulled the 'fuel tank' line from the canister, and blew into the hose... and triggered the buzzing noise! I'm sure now that it's the check valve, which is probably OE (judging by the rust on the clips). I'll pop it off and see if I can clean it out... I'll probably end up replacing it, assuming I ever pay off the timing belt job. Thanks for the ideas, guys... I'll update with what I find in the valve, if I can get it open that is. Edit: Devonian, I'd almost lay money you'll find some of that red mud up in there.

So, I had a look at the canister today. It's not terribly heavy, doesn't slosh or anything. I looked up the test procedure, and while I didn't test the valve with vacuum, everything else seemed to work properly just sucking on a hose. (cough, hack.) Looking at the FSM (page EF & EC 141 and 142), looks like there's another valve (the fuel check valve) which hooks onto the tank. I might just test this too... after I properly test the canister. Whatever's wrong, I'm pretty sure the check valve is what's making the noise. Come to think of it, I could probably test the valve without removing it... I'm guessing the line from it goes right to the canister. I would've gotten to it today, but then I realized the spare tire carrier wasn't shutting quite right, and tried to adjust it... great fun. (fffuuuuuu)

Hmm... I'll yank it tomorrow or Friday, and see if there's anything wrong with it. Thanks! Good to hear mine isn't the only one that does this.

No worries, it didn't come out of the diff.

Well, it did it again today... without me beating on it. (Tank was almost exactly, on the gauge anyway, half full.) I parked it, shut it off, and a second later it makes the noise. It did sound more like a groaning/venting sort of noise than anything mechanical (and it's definitely not the fuel pump). I didn't get the gas filler out in time to see if that would change anything. (The cap looks new, and the little white sprung bit moves freely.) When I did take it out, it made a nice loud hissing sound (like it often does when I pull the cap). I looked underneath (didn't take the tank cover off) and all the hoses etc looked solid and dry. The canister looked good too, but I don't know what a bad one would look like (besides physically broken, which it doesn't seem to be). I'll follow the hoses and things when I get a moment and see if I can find a plug/kink/etc.