Slartibartfast

Tonight I figured out how to reattach one of the exterior vent trims behind the rear quarter windows. I took it off a few weeks ago (hoping to paint it without having to mask around it), which turned out to be a bad idea--two of the clips disintegrated, as did one of the clip mounts on the vent itself. Parts are available, but also expensive. Turns out that the orange clips that hold the interior trims in place will totally clip into the holes for the vent trim, provided they're oriented right. I epoxied a couple spare clips to the back of the trim and got it all back together. It's a small thing but it's nice to have the back of my truck not look like a molting bird with its earholes showing. After seeing Hawairish put a gas strut on his tire carrier a while back, I've been wondering how hard it would be to do the same on mine. The good news is that it was actually pretty easy. The bad news is that the strut I had in the bin to test with is completely whupped, so I need to pick up a replacement before I'll know if my setup is actually good for anything.

That's why they're called Jesus clips. "Jesus! Where did it go?"

The evap system's purpose is to prevent fuel vapor from escaping the truck, so yes, a fault with the evap system could leave you smelling gas. I haven't messed with that system but my understanding is that it holds fuel vapor in the charcoal can and then vents it to the intake when the engine is running. If that purge solenoid has charcoal stuck in it and isn't closing properly, then fuel vapor could be wafting out of the air intake when the engine's off. There was also a recall on R50s for the gas filler neck rotting through and dribbling gas when you filled the tank. Probably unrelated, but worth having a look at if you haven't.

I'm no drum brake expert either. But I remember my friend's van had a vibration in the rear brakes, and we replaced the drums, and the vibration went away. The drums we took off looked fine, but we didn't have a way to check for runout. I think his just sort of developed, though, it didn't show up suddenly after a brake service like yours did. How's the hub surface that the drum mounts to? I'm wondering if maybe there's a lump of rust scale or dirt or something that's gotten in between and is preventing the drum from sitting flat. The E-brake procedure sounds reasonable to me--it's the same hardware as your normal brakes, but with the e-brake, you're not dragging the front brakes at the same time.

Looking at EC-13 of the '97 manual, that line should go from the BPT valve (what it's connected to currently) to a steel hard line below it, which goes under the plenum forward to the EGRC solenoid valve (which is how the computer controls the EGR, so no surprise it's throwing an EGR code with that unhooked). There are two hard lines under there, looks like you want the shorter one, though it should be pretty clear which line doesn't have a vac hose on it. You might have to feel around under there to find what you're after.

Stumbled on this today (linked on the forum facebook page). It's focused on the HB pickups, but confirms that they didn't get Consult until '96, and the WD21 wasn't built past '95.

A friend of mine used something like this on the carpet in his van. It wasn't clean when he got it, and it was pretty awful after we tore apart the engine through the doghouse and laid out the parts on the floor. I was sure it was trash, but to my surprise he got it presentable again (presentable enough for a clapped-out van, anyway) with a spray product like what you used. IIRC it had some kind of bristle brush built into the nozzle. Sounds like what happens whenever I'm stuck cleaning something

I know if you stop and hold the brakes while they're hot, the pads can deposit patches on the rotors and cause vibration (I assume shoes and drums can do the same?) but it doesn't sound like you did that. I'd open it up again and see if something came loose.

Nice work man! Check the wire to the aircon clutch, maybe you forgot that one while the engine was out?

The yellow/white switchover method seems unnecessarily fiddly. Let us know how it works, though!

Those little power strips are great for indoor stuff but I don't know that I'd trust them in an engine bay. It wouldn't be that hard to splice six power feeds into one big one inside the box and then run the one big one to the battery.

Unfortunately I don't think WD21 Pathfinders ever had Consult. There's no mention of it in the service manual. There is a check connector, but it's not Consult. EF&EC-17 of the '91 manual (or EF&EC-16 of the '95, not sure which you have) shows the location of the check connector for the engine computer. Should be hanging behind the hood release, though it may have been ziptied up out of the way at some point. There was apparently a diagnostic tool that plugged into this, but AFAIK it was just a push button and the same two diagnostic lights that are on the ECU so that you can monitor things while driving or just run codes without removing the passenger's seat to access the computer. I set up a version of this using a writeup on the Infamous Nissan forum and mounted it to my dash. Not what you were hoping for I'm sure, but it's what we've got.

+1 on that fuse box! I might have to snag one of those. I like the idea of the relays with fuses built in, but with no cover over the fuses, I'd worry about dust or water getting into the relays or screwing up the fuse contacts. I've bought relays with those same clip-together plugs on them (for my overkill trailer light converter) and ended up ditching them and just wired the relays with standard spades. Those plastic plugs took up as much space as the relays did, and seemed like more trouble than they were worth for what I was doing.

Reviews look alright. I'd want to have a poke at it and make sure it's actually sealed right before mounting it, given the price point, but sometimes the cheap stuff is good. I got some really cheap round lights for a lawn tractor (and as bed lights for a pickup) and those have held up just fine. The translations on this stuff are always amusing. I get what they were going for with "Strong Penetration," but I'm more confused by the "subversive spot and flood optic system." Then there's the claim that they're "non-padiaton." I assume they meant "non-radiation," given the radioactivity symbol, but why spec that? I mean, they're gluten free, too, but... I bought something a while ago (forgot what) that came with some kind of warranty/review card. The back had a picture of a girl with her hands over her face, palms forward, with "help me" written across them and a five-star rating next to her head. I'm still not entirely sure what they were going for with that.

The q&a below the listing says the center bore is 108mm, so yeah, you can just measure your hub size and go from there. I don't know what it should be offhand. I like those wheels though!

Looks good! LED underhood lighting is one of the most helpful mods I've done to mine. I do recommend putting a fuse on that circuit, especially with the wires going through a hole in the sheet metal like that. A grommet or even just some tape around the wires where they go through the hole isn't a bad idea either. The idea is not so much that the LEDs could draw too much power but that the wiring could rub through or get pinched somewhere and short to ground. Even a crappy in-line fuse should be sufficient for a low-draw system like hood lights.

I didn't know about the swash-plate aircon compressors until recently. That's a cool bit of engineering right there. The compressor cutaway diagrams in the '97 and '03 manuals are almost identical. The ID# at the bottom is different, and the arrows pointing out components are styled differently, but the discharge capacity and piston stroke are the same and the diagram itself appears unchanged (as far as I can tell). That said, FactoryNissanParts shows part 936000W010 for a '96-'00 and 926004W00A for '01-'04. Different mounts for the VQ, maybe? The Rockauto catalog also shows different part #s for two of the three options available for an '00 or an '01, though the last one they list is the same, strangely enough. This raises the question of why yours is cycling. "For air conditioning systems with the V-6 compressor, the clutch remains engaged unless: the system main switch [I assume this is the aircon switch on the climate control head], fan switch, or ignition switch is turned OFF. When ambient temperatures are low or when the amount of refrigerant is insufficient, the clutch is disengaged to protect the compressor." Maybe your system's low on gas, and it's cycling because it's drawing the low-side pressure down too far and tripping the cutoff?

Nut/bolt should do it. You may need to adjust the switches afterwards (via the two nuts holding them in) for the difference in thickness of the bolt head.

Good luck! Take your time and don't forget to flush/replace the cooler/lines. That is surprisingly clean for a junkyard part!

Yep, anything connected straight to the battery is always hot. If your fuse block hooks straight to the battery, anything connected to it will remain live at all times unless otherwise switched. If you want what you're hooking up to only work if the ignition is on, you have two options. One is to tap into the factory ignition circuit. The other is to switch your separate fused line with a relay (with the coil connected to ground on one side and ignition-switched power on the other). That's how I set up my center console. I wanted it switched with the key, but I didn't want to saddle the ignition circuit with what could be a pretty substantial load (I've got a small inverter and two 12v outlets in there). If I overload it, or something shorts, I'd much rather pop one fuse and lose my cell phone charger than pop a fusible link and lose everything switched by the key!

BleepinJeep did a good video on rewiring a Jeep fuse/relay box, but it looks like it uses different fuses from what the Pathfinder has everywhere else, and I'd much rather have the same fuse size throughout so I can swap them around in an emergency. I tried to puzzle out a Subaru fuse box once, realized it had all kinds of weird connections inside (fuses feeding other fuses?), and gave up up on it. I think I used this one for mine (don't remember the brand but it looks like what I've got). I haven't run out of connections yet, it uses the same fuses, it's covered, and it fit nicely onto a flat spot on the bracket for my power steering reservoir. I wrote which circuit was which on the cover with a paint pen, but it looks like other similar boxes come with spots for labels.

Changing the fluid shouldn't hurt anything. Consider adding an external cooler while you're at it. Mine was pretty dark when I changed it at 230k.

^ This. I ran a bunch of circuits to my battery with individual fuse holders flapping in the breeze until I got tired of it and redid it with a blade fuse box. Easier to get to, doesn't look like a rat's nest, easy to disconnect something if I need to. The box I got even has little indicators that light up if a fuse pops. Check the combined amp rating of the fuse box to be sure it can take all the circuits you're routing through it, and size its wire to the battery appropriately. I've got three factory Nissan fog light rocker switches for the aux lights on mine (factory fogs, driving lights, aux reverse lights). I've got them set so they only come on if the circuit they're tied to (low beam, high beam, reverse lights, respectively) is hot and the switch is on. This way they're locked out when the switch is off, and automatic when the switch is on. The wiring on mine is laid out like this: + wire from whatever circuit enables that light (low beams for fogs, high beams for driving lights, reverse signal from the trans for reverse lights) to the rocker switch, rocker switch to the relay coil, relay coil to ground. Battery + to the fuse, fuse to the relay contacts, relay contacts to the lights, ground the lights to the body. (Because my switches have indicator lights built in, each switch needs a ground as well.) So for, let's say, the fogs, if the low beams are on, and the switch is on, current flows through the relay coil, closing the contacts, allowing power to flow through the lights via the heavier-gauge fused circuit. Turn off the switch, or turn off the the low beams, and the relay coil loses power and the contacts open.

From what I've read, it should bolt right in. If your old trans died a messy death, be sure to flush or replace your cooler and its lines before installation.

Hmm. Didn't think about heat rating for the cap. I'd be curious to see how hot that section of harness actually gets. It's not bathed in coolant or buried so I wouldn't expect it to reach the operating temp of the engine. Looks like caps are available in a 105°C (221°F) flavor if you'd rather play it safe.