Slartibartfast

I used the same type of clamp Strato's talking about, though they weren't painted (I used whatever the local hardware store had). I'm sure there are better options, but they've worked fine for me. The fuse link assembly on my '93 bolted onto it with only a little screwing around. I assume it would be similar on an R50. If you're doing just one terminal, make sure you get the right one. I used to have everything on separate feeds from the + terminal, with a stack of ring terminals and separate in-line fuse holders for each thing I'd added on. It was a mess, so I redid it with a cheap blade fuse block with one wire going to the battery terminal. Much easier to work with. Rugged Rocks has these if you want more places for ring terminals.

My understanding is that the security system on the R50 is built in to the point where you're pretty much stuck working with it, but I've never messed with one. If the no-start started when the computer came back, the problem might be there--either something wasn't repaired right, or the rebuilder sent the wrong one back. Have you tried checking for codes? I doubt the average scanner would tell you why the security system is pissed, or let you fix it, but I'd be curious to compare what the computer thinks the VIN is to what the dashboard says it is. It may need to spend some time with someone who's got the right scanner to get into the security system. Or a locksmith might be able to do something with it? I dunno, we're well outside of my experience here.

Interesting. If you clear the code, does it come back immediately? If not, it could be an intermittent connection that goes open circuit now and then and sets the code.

No video unfortunately, but it's not too bad. I had mine apart when I got the truck because the space under the lower manifold was full of rat crap. IIRC the only thing that really fought me was the pipe from the exhaust manifold to the EGR valve. Heat is your friend there. If you can't get the nut holding the tube on to budge (or it's twisting the tube), you might get away with just unbolting the valve from the plenum and letting it sit there. Make sure you have the correct lower intake manifold gaskets. The first time I did mine, I ended up with the gaskets for a VG33, which are shaped the same but they're super-thin stamped steel with no rubber. The gaskets you want are the thicker steel ones with rubber around the ports. If you use the thin gaskets, nothing lines up when you go to put it back together. +1 for doing the plugs while it's apart. It'll never be easier. When I had mine apart, I cleaned out around the plugs and broke some casting flash off the heads so that the junk that falls in around the plugs would actually drain out as intended. If you haven't downloaded the '95 FSM from Nico yet, do that. Lots of good info for torque specs and disassembly and whatnot.

The popular swap is the VG33 from a Frontier, Xterra, or early second gen R50. And yes, the D21 bay is the same, apart from a small body lift if it's 4x4.

When I replaced mine, I knocked them out with a brass rod and knocked the new ones in with the cheapest eBay garbage bearing race installer tool I could find. Pretty much just some aluminum disks with a handle. I also used aftermarket bearings. I don't remember what brand I went for, but certainly not the cheapest available. If the bearings aren't damaged, just loose, you could just clean/repack them. My old ones looked mint--I only replaced them because I was tracking down a bearing noise and really hoping it wasn't coming from the rear axle. (It was.)

Damn, I didn't know they were that expensive! That does suck. Hopefully it fixes the problem, though.

Do they all look about the same?

The only common computer issue I'm aware of on the R50s is the idle control frying its mosfet (the thread dbot linked). The idle control mosfet issue shouldn't take out the fuel pump, though. Unless the computer gives you a reason to suspect it, I'd assume it's being troublesome by design rather than actually broken. The computer can be replaced if it turns out to be borked, but I wouldn't count on it being plug and play. You're also limited to '01/'02 for donors, because those are the only years that Nissan made the VQ with a cable throttle. Hopefully someone who's replaced theirs (or an old problem or project thread) can give you a better picture of that than I can. Good luck!

Looks like the fuel pump itself has white/blue and black wires. Black goes to body ground, white/blue goes through two fuel pump relays for some reason, through a 15a fuse, to the battery. EL-698 of the '02 manual has the wiring diagram. Check for power at the fuse, then at the first relay, then at the second relay, make sure both relays are clicking. If you have power to a relay, but it's not clicking, and the relay itself tests good, check for signal. Looks like Relay 2 is controlled by ignition signal (key on, relay on) and Relay 1 is switched by the ECM. If Relay 2 has no signal, I'd expect some kind of wiring fault; if relay 1 has no signal, I'd wonder if some anti-theft bollocks in the ECM might be playing up. Looks like one is switched on the positive side and the other is switched on the negative side, so keep that in mind while you're testing. You can get the EL section here. The diagram I'm looking at is on EL-698. There should be a "location of electrical units" or "harness layout" diagram somewhere in there showing the locations of the relays, ground points, and connectors. The fuse box diagram showing which fuses are which (they're numbered in the electrical diagrams, not labelled, because everyone likes an extra layer of BS in between you and the thing you're looking for) is in the foldout. The pump only needs 12v across the white/blue and black to run, so if it turns out to be a wiring issue, you could just hotwire it to get it going (or at least to test it). If the anti-theft is what's locking it out, though, you might not have spark or injector pulse either.

EL-74 of the '97 manual shows the dash lights running off a 10A fuse labelled 61 on the diagram, which runs to what I'm guessing is the headlight switch. I assume the + feed for the dash lights tees off of the circuit for the tail light/corner light/parking lights (first click on the headlight stalk). If that fuse is blown, I'd expect the headlights and corner lights to be out, too. If you grounded the radio to the pink/black stripe wire for the dash lights, you probably overloaded the dimmer switch and fried it. Unplug the dimmer. It should have three wires in its plug. Pink with a green stripe is the same switched + that goes to the dash lights and corner lights, pink with a black stripe is the dash light ground (controlled by the dimmer), and black is body ground. With the parking lights on, you should have 12v between pink/green and black, and if you jumper between black and pink/black, the dash lights should come on at full brightness. (Be careful not to short pink/green to black while you're messing with the plug.) If this all checks out, but the lights don't work with the dimmer plugged in, replace the dimmer switch. When the dimmer broke in my '93, I took it apart, desoldered the plug from the circuit board, soldered the two ground pins together, and plugged the resulting jumper plug back into the harness so I'd have dash lights until the replacement dimmer came in.

Running for a few seconds when you turn the key on sounds like normal fuel pump behavior. The pump's at the bottom of the pump/sender unit, and it's probably soft-mounted to reduce the noise transmitted to the body, so not feeling it running may not indicate a problem. If you want to confirm that it's running, pull the fuel pump fuse and see if it still makes the noise when you turn the key. If the pump is running, but fuel isn't flowing, it could be blocked somewhere (seems unlikely it would be completely blocked) or just out of gas. I'd add a few gallons, cycle the key a few times, and see if that gets it moving fuel. If that doesn't do it, disconnect the fuel line from the pump to see if there's a blockage between the pump and the first line you unhooked, and if there's still nothing, pull the pump and check for a blocked pickup sock, bad hose above the pump, something along those lines.

Damn. Would've been too easy, I guess. I'm not familiar with how the R50's evap system is supposed to work, but looking at the diagram on EC-20 of the '97 manual, it looks like there may be an issue with the charcoal canister itself if it's venting fuel vapor out of what's supposed to be an air inlet. I would expect that inlet vent hose to have a one-way valve in it, though the diagram doesn't show one, and the test procedure has you pinch that line off, which suggests there's no check valve. The diagram on EC-231 does show some kind of valve there, though, so, hell if I know. Hopefully someone on here understands that system better than I do and can fill you in. For all I know, you could have a blocked canister purge control valve or vac line that's leaving the fuel vapor nowhere to go except forcing its way out of the inlet. I have read that the R50 canisters can spew carbon into the vac lines, causing valves to jam up, but that's generally discovered because it's setting codes, not because it's dumping fuel vapor. Without a better idea, I'd run through the troubleshooting in the manual to test the components of the evap system and see if one of them comes up as faulty, or if charcoal dumps out when you remove a vacuum line.

'03 has an electronic throttle body, so the idle speed is set by the computer. If the computer can't bring the idle down, maybe there's something preventing the throttle body from closing all the way. I would check the throttle body for gunk or debris, but be careful if you go to clean it, IIRC the computer panics if the % open vs flow changes too quickly and digs its heels in and refuses to re-learn and generally makes a nuisance of itself. I remember reading something about cleaning the throttle body a little at a time so the computer doesn't get its panties bunched. What's the tach say it's idling at, in drive? Any codes? If you've got a scan tool that'll do live data, check your fuel trims, too--if they're way off, that could point to a vacuum leak, though I'd be surprised if it wasn't throwing codes and running like crap if it had enough of a vac leak that it couldn't bring the idle down.

+1 on checking the diff bushings. I think a couple people on here have had front end vibrations because the diff bushings gave out and let the front driveshaft run at weird angles.

Difficult to pin down when you can't make it make the noise! Doesn't sound like steering to me--if you had a TRE going out I'd expect it to creak whenever it was loaded, not just when you're changing speed in a corner. If your rack mounts were shot, you'd probably know it by the mushy steering feel and center position that moved around. Good thinking ruling out the sway bar. Seems unlikely that the hubs have anything to do with it, though you could try driving with them locked to see if the noise changes. It sounds like a strut top thing to me, but I haven't done much with struts and I don't know how they're held together off the top of my head. I'd check the fasteners you did up when you replaced the strut bearings, maybe something worked loose? If that doesn't show anything, try jacking it up to unload the suspension and see if anything moves that shouldn't.

Yikes! That's too bad. Good that the truck was the only casualty, though.

Great info dump on the trans! Also good thinking with the driver's seat, I've been hoping to find a clean-ish passenger's seat for my '93 to see if WD21 cushions swap as easily as the R50 ones do.

Wow! Yeah, that's a hell of a bulge. I replaced mine with straight hose when I did my timing belt. The belt job isn't bad. There's a whole song and dance in the manual for setting tension that I skipped and did by feel following a tutorial on here, IIRC it boiled down to putting an Allen wrench in the tensioner, pointing it more or less at the crank, tightening the tensioner nut to lock it, then making sure the belt was still slack enough to twist 90° by hand. Getting the cam sprockets off to do the seals meant making a special tool, but you can also use the old belt and vise grips. Replace everything you can while you're in there, it's not a horrible job but it's not one you want to do again because the one part you thought looked alright fails as soon as you put it back together.

Does the dash work otherwise? If it's just the lights, try messing with the dimmer control, sometimes they get janky.

Hopefully it stays fixed! I might have to look into that stuff before my next oil change. Good luck with the throttle cable.

Having seen what they're calling a Lincoln these days, I have to agree! Nissan put the fill hole too low on the manual transmissions, so the countershaft bearings starve for oil and wear out. In fourth, the countershaft isn't loaded (the trans is 1:1), so the bearings are quieter. If it's bad enough to make noise when it's not driving anything, that suggests the bearings are well and truly buggered. Manuals after '96 had the oil fill hole raised up a little to increase the oil capacity and keep the bearings happy. The trans from a 3.3 R50, Xterra, or Frontier should bolt in. Rebuild parts should be available as well. You can overfill the older transmissions (if they're not roached yet) by removing the shifter and adding oil there. More info here.

Looks clean! Hopefully the oil pressure is a sender issue rather than the engine being clapped out. Unfortunately you have to host pictures elsewhere and link them in. Kind of a PITA but the forum's server space is limited.

I haven't heard of one doing that, and I'm not sure what would go wrong in the trans that would cause that noise with no other symptoms. Clunking with the truck completely stopped makes me think it's not U joints, suspension, or a bad engine or trans mount, and only clunking in park or neutral does suggest it's somewhere in the trans. Fluid level and condition look alright? Does it drive normally apart from the noise? Reverse still works? Does it sound any angrier while you're accelerating than it does when you're stopped in drive? Is it worse in one gear than another? When you turn the ignition on, with the E-AT switch on "auto," does the light in that switch flash/flicker several times? That's how it codes for faults. IIRC it can only see electrical faults, so I'd be surprised if it had any idea what was going on, but it's worth checking on the off chance. If it is flashing, check the AT section of the FSM (get it here) for an explanation of how to read the code and what it means. Has the engine or trans been out recently? Maybe a long shot, but I'm wondering if your torque converter bolts might be loose. I've heard of loose converter bolts making noises mistaken for engine knock.

One of the options for a 3" rear lift on these are the front springs from a V8 Grand Cherokee (I've read 93-98, haven't looked into it myself though) with the pigtails cut off. I think there was also a Ford front spring that people used? Either donor should have aftermarket springs available, and those aftermarket springs might have their spring rates listed or available. This thread has some spring rate numbers for the WJ springs, might be a place to start. Sounds like they give more lift than most people need, which might be just what you're after. Does look like people have used the WJ springs on R50s as well, so, yeah, that may open up the Land Rover option as well.