Slartibartfast

Approaching 165k... I have a short commute, so maybe next year. LOL

I'd be surprised if a cat went bad that suddenly. And yeah, you might be able to get to the ECU on a two-door with the tilting seats, but on a four-door, unbolt it and pull it out. I didn't just find quarters, I found the PO's french fry collection.

Nice jacks. Doesn't look right, but I've only ever jacked mine up from the axle. Also, the whole truck's leaning a little, possibly because you've got a jack on the side there. That is quite the angle on the panhard. It's meant to do side-to-side, yeah, but it's meant to do it at stock height. Lifting without dropping the mount changes the geometry. The one spring looks a little bit off, but I'm betting the 1" lean is coming from the panhard.

Probably a lot of wires etc... pull it out and check before you start making holes. I'd be inclined to put one in the back. It's not like you need two up front, right? Put a hole in the back of the center console (or inside it) and hook it up in there.

Just curious, why is this?

I've done the above twice on mine with no improvement. I think I've tracked the problem to the set of contacts behind the driver's door lock cylinder, but I have to tear into it again to be sure. In the mean time, a spare key is a wonderful thing.

Key to on doesn't mean the car's running.

Why? It'd be that much harder to paint it pink!

... is there some option for power seats I've never heard of?

I think the seat heat controls are on the center console, so yeah, that'll have to come out. There should be two (or more, depending on what options yours came with) blanking plates on there. Mine's got everything but, and the front two spots are blanked. You can pop out the plates, pop in the factory switches, and iirc they'll plug right into the harness. They might be tucked in/under the carpet or other wiring, so dig around a little. The console's a bit of a pain to get out, but one or both seats are also out, it'll go a lot easier. No idea on the timer, though, unless that's part of the switches. You could check the online Factory Service Manual wiring diagrams. Full interior replacement's not a bad idea. Smells seem to like WD interiors. I spilled some pine-scented kerosene (long story) on the cargo area carpet once, tried to spot-treat, took it out, pressure washed it, vacuumed it dry... and a year later it still smells. Oh well, better than cigarette smoke, anyway.

You can burn steel wool with a 9v battery. Anything that'll combine with oxygen will burn, given the right conditions. The purpose of torching a drain plug isn't to burn it, anyway, it's an attempt to break up the corrosion holding it in.

Weird that it would drop that quickly, and go that low. Maybe get the battery tested? When the battery in my dad's TR4 went out the voltage varied by how fast the engine was going. The headlights would actually get brighter when you hit the gas. I'm afraid the only place the sun's out 24-7 is in the arctic, and that's only half the year. Tropics sound good though.

Was this an automatic transmission or a manual?

Washington's a little weird. It's illegal to flash your brights to signal, apparently because people were warning other drivers about speed traps. Everybody out here does it anyway. I considered rewiring my control stick so that the pull position would flash the fogs instead, but didn't figure the cops would think it was funny. Pretty much all I could find about driving lights was that you can't have more than two, or aim them high enough to blind other drivers. Fogs have a wider beam, so they make lousy headlights and glare a bit on other drivers. The center console's got two lousy cupholders in it. I dunno how the Altima console's set up, maybe you could graft the two together? Or get one of those fold-down holders. We had quite a debate about cupholders a while back...

I'm in the process of doing mine tonight. I'm taking a lot of pics so I should be able to do a write-up. I WD'd the hell out of the lock mechanism and the connecting rods, figuring they needed it, but found the actual problem in the little box that actuates the locks. It had a set of contacts in there that were pretty scummy and worn. I cleaned them and haven't had it fight the key or shoot the locks up and down since. I can unlock all the doors with the key but it won't lock them, so I'm taking it apart again to fix that. Anyway, it's LOADS better now... pics to come. EDIT: Scratch that. I cleaned out the actuator, the contacts of which were a little gummy. It no longer actively fights the key, or at least it hasn't yet. However, it's still flipping the locks up and down (more than usual, actually), and it's stopped locking the doors when I lock the driver's side with the key. I can unplug the actuator and the other locks are still tripping out. This tells me that the problem's in this bit behind the lock cylinder. I was cold and had no idea how to get this bit out, so I left it alone for now. It's been doing stranger things than usual since I drenched it in WD40. I figure it's just dirty, and the WD's made the bits of crud move around. The little baffle on the outside of the lock broke long before I got the truck, so I'm sure all manner of crap has gotten in there. You guys are making me feel stupid... how do you get the lock cylinder out of there?

The not-revving-past-3k means the computer's put in fail-safe mode. Given the whole running backward thing I'll bet it's getting all kinds of dire warnings from the knock sensor. If you want confirmation, do what he did and try a timing light. Also, thanks for bumping this, I had no idea it was even possible to run a VG30 backwards.

Oh, 4chan. I like the sandwich sword idea, or you could just pull a needle out of something else. A clock hand could be fun, and not too difficult. Just cut the remaining needle to the point where it'll fit the clock hand.

... that would explain it. I'll pull the panels and clean up the mechanisms, and see if that helps. I pulled the alarm module before I saw this. I'll give it a look over just to rule it out. The truck seems to operate fine without it (backed it out and parked it in a different spot), and the locks still work, but I can't say whether it did anything to improve them (gotta love intermittent issues). It's got a little switch on it (labelled SW2) which sticks out through the side of the case. It's in the middle now, but the silkscreening on the board shows it on the far left. Something to do with setting up keyfobs?

Mine didn't come with a keyfob, the PO lost it (I've sometimes wondered if it's jammed somewhere with a bolt up against the lock button). The unlock button on the door panel unlocks them alright, but half the time they lock again on their own, or as soon as someone shuts the door. I've done the lock timer twice. Pathy be trippin.

I haven't yet. I've considered going through (or at least unplugging) the keyfob receiver that's under the driver's seat, but I haven't tried it yet. I'll let you know if it helps.

When my horn quit working, I cleaned the sliding contacts behind the wheel, and it worked again. I think after a while the grease/dust/hair gets too nasty to put power through.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that it's not the alty that's the problem. I've gotten DOA parts before but three in a row seems a little suspicious. Check the connections?

Hardb0dy, sounds like a weak battery to me. It started slowly because it wasn't getting a lot of power, you shut it off before it could recharge, then it didn't have the cojones to get the motor going. Unless it's making horrible noises it's not the flywheel and I doubt it's the starter. (When mine went bad, the bendix quit working, so it would just sit and squeal.) The only way this could be the starter would be if there was a great chunk of something high-resistance in the starter solenoid. Unless someone went out while it was parked and ran the starter until the coils burned up, it's either a bad connection or a weak battery. (Maybe the door didn't quite latch and the dome light stayed on?) OP, good to hear.