Slartibartfast

Hmm... never washed out the frame rails, left what I think was a mixture of cigarette ashes and coffee in the console, left several varieties of french fry under the seats, parked it under a pine tree for ages, and did this to the ignition wiring: That's a knot. They crimped in a new section, then (was it too long? were they out of crimp fittings?) they cut it in half and literally tied the loose ends together. Edit: turns out the PO installed the cheapest timing belt he could find, and tightened it down way too far. That said, I've spilled both fake blood and pine-scented kerosene onto the rear carpet, hacked a power outlet into the dome light to run a little vent fan, 'fixed' my worn out rear hatch struts with a coat hanger and some duct tape, and installed two switches for one set of lights... I don't intend to be a PO, but if I become one, doubtless someone else will curse me.

Mine seemed to pull a little harder after having the exhaust done. Then again, it sounded like a shop vac before, and I was used to guessing the speed by sound... I may have just been putting my foot in more. And yeah, unless it's thumping against something, the knock code shouldn't come up.

Be careful with flat towing, especially if it's got the auto trans. The user manual says to avoid flat towing when possible, and to pull the prop shafts when there's no other option. Should be okay with the manual, but check for yourself.

I use rust converter, it's not cheap and it's toxic as hell, but it's supposed to kill the actual rust. Then you wash it off and spray over it. So long as the loose stuff is off, it should work... there's a fair amount of the stuff on my '59 Triumph project car. So long as the prep work is good, the paint should stick.

Mine broke too, but I ripped it out and glued a couple of magnets in its place. Ghetto, yes, but at least it doesn't rattle anymore. I even have a convenient place to magnetize screwdrivers when I'm working under the dash! The FSM only shows the rear-opening hatch, and doesn't say much about it. If you're not proud, you could probably score a latch mechanism from something else at a junkyard, then hack it to fit.

I don't know, we had a mechanic do it when we got the truck. It ran quietly (well, except for the usual exhaust etc) for a year or more before the noise started. Something to check, though. Hmm... off to stare at the crank pulley to see if I can get a wrench on it...

Last fall, my dad and I swapped out the accessory belts in my Pathy, and apparently left one a little too loose. It started squealing at startup and under acceleration. By the time we got around to tightening it, the squeal turned into a constant sort of whine. Even with the belts tight, something was still squealing. Pretty much since then, it's whined whenever I'm close to 2k RPM. No missing, no loss of power, no CEL, no weird sounds at any other speed, just this sort of warbling whine (not very loud, and not grinding or whistling). I've taken all the accessory belts off, and it still whines, so it's not the alternator, water pump, power steering pump, fan clutch, air conditioner compressor, or idler. It doesn't care what gear I'm in or how hard I'm pushing it or anything. Last fall, I had the oil changed at an iffy-lube sort of place, and it turns out that they overfilled it a bit. It's higher than the little crosshatch bit at the end of the dipstick, but I'm not sure by how much... hard to read on the cable part. It's leaking all over the front diff and crossmember, but it's been doing that since we got it. My dad and I think it's the pan seal, and aren't terribly worried about it. We suspect that this is coincidental to the noise, but on the off chance, there it is. I suspect that the harmonic balancer (which is built into the crank pulley, right?) went bad when the belts were acting up, but my dad says the noise doesn't sound like a balancer to him. He thinks there's something wrong with the mechanism driving the distributor (which looks new and feels fine). The timing belt was done 1-2k ago (165k overall). We're at a loss, so rather than replace things and hope, we're taking it in on Friday. I'd still like to figure out what's making the noise, if only to shut it up until then. Any ideas? Thanks for reading.

Cleaned mine today with CRC tuner/contact cleaner. No issues. Wasn't too dirty, but I had it out anyway, so why not. Thanks for the write-up!

Pulled a bunch of belts off, put them back on, scratched my head at the weird little resonator pipe hooked to the airbox, and wondered about a squeak in the driver's front suspension... and rebuilt my computer fan rig that keeps the car cool when I park in the sun.

Looks good! Might have to do that on mine, my 'emergency' stuff is taking over the cargo area. Also, is that mud, or do you have a dog with a weak stomach?

If it does interfere with the handbrake, you could always use the Hardbody-style brake... there was a huge thing on how to rig those in a month or two back. Would be nice to have proper cup holders etc.

These things are known to make it to 500k without a rebuild, just a few timing belts and maybe lifters. Unless yours has been truly thrashed, a little cleaning would probably make a whole lot more sense. The farthest I've been into mine was doing the drive belts, so I'm no help beyond that.

Check your oil, make sure it's getting up there, get a louder stereo. Are they ticking all the time, or just at startup?

I'll bet the power feed for the cruise switches comes from the same place as the power feed for the lights, and the sliding contacts behind the wheel are a little dirty... when the lights are on, there's just enough power to get through the gunk/corrosion. Anyway, the having to press the button several times thing definitely sounds like dirt in the contacts. My horn quit a while back because of built-up crap in the sliders, but worked again after a little cleaning (through the side, I couldn't figure out how to get the wheel off). I've never actually used my cruise control, so I don't know if it works.

At least it was quick...

I imagine the stabilizer does exactly what it's supposed to: it cuts down on vibrations. Without stuff shaking around, the bushings/joints/etc last longer. I'm not sure about 2-3x longer, but whatever. It's not designed or expected to do anything about the conditions that straight up break parts... sort of like how running shoes will protect your knees, but won't do a whole lot if you jump off a roof and land on your feet in the parking lot. The reason for the 2WD inner TREs is the hole size in the CL, correct? There's got to be a straight TRE out there that'd fit the hole if it proves to be an issue... not like you're not cutting a new adjustment sleeve anyway. Anyway, Tungsten, hurry up and break this thing. Can't wait to see how it holds up.

The clock backlight goes out when I turn my headlights on too, I think that's normal... the main dash lights illuminate it then. I don't have the PRND21 lights (the ones on the dash, correct?), so I don't know about them, but they may work similarly. Keep looking for wires, I guess. Is the dimmer getting power?

I missed the bit about reverse. Yeah, reverse is the first thing to go on these... the cooler clogs, the clutches don't fully engage, they slip, and they wear out. IIRC, the material wearing off the clutch worsens the clog. Maybe try bypassing the transmission cooler (not like you need one in -28C, right?). If the cooler's clogged, but the clutches aren't fully hosed, this might get it going again. Past that... I dunno, are there junkyards on Hoth? Xterras and later Pathfinders have more durable automatics that'll bolt right into a WD21.

I've heard you can clear 33s even without a lift, but that's on the alloy ("lego") rims. I know the steel rims are narrower, no idea on backspacing etc. If it needs an alignment, getting that done could help. Also,

^+1, the trans gets confused and locks into third, which isn't much use when you're stuck in a snowdrift. Shut it down, start it back up, and see if it goes then. If the E-AT light's flashing, the trans computer thinks something's wrong; normally it'll illuminate at startup, then go off. (I think it stays on if you've got it in 'power mode.') Failure with these is usually more gradual. Unless your torque converter gave up, my money's on the computer being confused.

I'll bet the condensation is from the A/C condenser.

I've heard that you can just slide it forward... I pull mine out so I can see what I'm doing. It's four bolts (and a plug if you've got heated seats), not too difficult. Mine had the same issue a while back. It would work just fine until it warmed up, at which point the computer would start referencing sensors, clearly something was faulty, because it started twitching out (dipping and surging, stalling at stop signs, the works). Never did figure out what was wrong... but my dad and I messed with the TPS and MAF plugs, packed them with dielectric grease, and bumped the intake around a bit, and it hasn't acted up since. I suspect the TPS plug or wiring was the issue, though when I took it apart it was totally clean inside. I never checked for codes, but it never triggered the CEL.

Are you a wizard? More to the point, can you do a write-up on that? Mine took a couple hours each time. Imagine if that seam above your hand was 1" lower. Right where your knuckles are. The manifold to plug distance is the same, and you probably don't even notice the 1" difference in height, except that the firewall's in the way.

The easiest way to tell is to look at the back of the rear axle. It should have a radioactive-orange sticker that says 'LSD OIL ONLY.' If it's got that, it's LSD. The other way is to do a burnout on gravel. Two tire marks? LSD. One tire mark? Open. I think there's a 'Do I have LSD?' thread pinned somewhere.

Is it jacked up while you're doing this? Maybe turning the wheel a bit would improve the spline alignment or something?