Slartibartfast

I would guess the texture on the gasket caused variations in how the metal pitted. Sucks about that cam bearing. If you have a parts engine, you might as well see if it's got a better head. I don't know how tolerant these motors are of that sort of thing but it would suck to get it back together and have to take it apart again.

Tested at both sides of the rear tee tonight (one side connected, then the other). I got 1500psi out of both sides. Maybe all this power bleeding finally shifted a stubborn air pocket? I was hoping to find a smoking gun here. I hooked everything back up, started the engine, spun up the rear end (wheels still off), and tried the brakes. The hubs stop spinning nice and quick, but turn again if I breathe on the gas. I have no idea how well they're supposed to hold against the engine/trans, but after watching some guy on the Facebook group do some kind of brake stand drift around a parking lot, I'm guessing they don't do an awful lot at the best of times. I just expected more than "adequate" from them with the prop turned all the way up. I guess the test is whether the pedal feels right. It feels like crap right now, but I think that's the air that got into the front circuit before (figured I'd be replacing something so I didn't bother rebleeding the front). I'll deal with that and then see if the pedal feels any better.

That looks like an ATX14A. If you're trying to fit it to a truck that didn't come with it, you may be in for a hell of a fight. I recommend tracking down the service manual for the truck the case came from, both to see what the various things do and to see what you're in for. I had a look at the TF section of the '03 R50 service manual (mine doesn't cover the diesel models, though) and holy crap is that thing complicated! It's designed to offer an automatic mode (clutch AWD, like some Subarus). The front driveshaft gets power through a wet clutch assembly like an auto trans, so it's got a pressurized oil system, complete with an electric backup pump to keep pressure up when you're stopped or going backwards. Much of the section is devoted to troubleshooting the various trouble codes it can throw. Its control module ties into the engine computer, trans computer, and ABS. If a simple push-and-pray is what you're after, you might have better luck stripping the linkage off a TX10A (manual transfer) and setting it up with some kind of homemade servo system.

The temp sensor is one of the things the ECU uses to determine fuel mix. A cold engine needs a richer mix. So, yeah, a problem on that circuit could definitely be causing it to run rich. How tight is the connector on the temp sensor? I solved an intermittent stalling issue on mine just by tightening up the plug on one of the idle air components. I used something pokey to sort of squish the female connector pins a little tighter so they'd grip the male pins better. The connector felt pretty loose when I checked it, and much tighter afterwards, and the truck hasn't stalled at idle since. Weird that the new valve is already taking on water. I'd be tempted to drill a small hole in the bottom of the casing (smallest bit you've got) to allow it to drain. Where's it coming from?

Yeah, I don't think that ring's supposed to look like that! Having the heads skimmed is a good idea given that the head gasket was damaged. Good to make sure everything's flat before reassembly. I think most pistons are cast aluminum, though some have some kind of steel structure cast inside to limit their warpage with heat. I'd assume the VG33 is the same.

I finally got a brake pressure gauge. It's a little fiddly to set up in each location to test (disconnect the line, connect it to the gauge, bleed it, set up the phone to record the gauge, then get in and press the pedal) but it's nice to have some actual data to work with for a change. I started at the master and got as far as where the hard line from the frame meets the soft line to the axle so far. I'm getting good pressure there (I can max out the 1500 psi gauge if I stand on it, and that's with the engine off), so the problem must be downstream of that. Hopefully tomorrow I can narrow that down and find the component that's been eating my brake pressure. I also verified that my prop valve works. I've got it turned all the way up for testing (seems to be passing full pressure), but with it turned all the way down, I couldn't get the pressure over 700 psi. Kinda weird to think about having too much pressure in the rear circuit at this point. Seems like a nice problem to have.

Sounds like a hard shift to me. Any codes? The diagnostics for shift shock in the '03 manual suggest checking the accelerator pedal position sensor, line pressure, control valve assembly, various clutches and bands, and (if it's just from first to second that's harsh) the trans fluid temp sensor. I'd start by checking the pedal sensor because it's the one thing on the list that's not in the transmission. Looks like it's got two sensors inside. I would assume one is for the engine (drive by wire) and the other tells the trans computer how hard to shift and when, but it looks like both go through the ECU, so I could be wrong (maybe they're redundant in case one fails).

I saw one on a Pathfinder on Craigslist a few years ago. I'd never seen one before, and I haven't seen one since. You might be better off reshaping a visor meant for an S10 or something.

I had no trouble bypassing mine. Sounds like something was connected wrong or left live with a cut end flapping in the breeze and it found something to short to. I'm not sure how a shorted-out amp would take out the headlights unless you somehow fried one of the fuse links at the battery.

There are different-sized speedo gears available for these. There were two final drive ratios and two tire sizes available, so rather than make different clusters for each combination, Nissan just used different tooth counts on the gear for the speed sensor (or speedo cable on earlier models). This might help clear things up. More part numbers here (second to last post).

That was properly wallered! I'll bet it rides a hell of a lot better now.

If the ECU isn't throwing a code for the missing sensor, I would assume it came that way. I know I've seen at least one other post on here about a Pathfinder with (for whatever reason) no knock sensor and the harness taped back. The ECU does not rely on the knock sensor to set fuel mix or timing under normal conditions. The service manual suggests that it's only there for emergencies. Something goes wrong, the engine starts knocking, the sensor tells the ECU about it, the ECU retards the timing. I'd expect yours to run the same as any other Pathfinder under normal conditions; it just wouldn't know to retard the timing if something went wrong.

I have replaced all the soft lines! I had braided steel on for a while but the more I researched them, the less I trusted them. They're uncoated and apparently those ones tend to abrade themselves to death under the braid, and I never noticed a difference in braking performance vs the rubber lines anyway. Switching between rubber and braided lines didn't get the rears working, either. At this point I'll probably end up replacing hard lines.

I don't know for sure if it matters on an R50, but I've heard of it causing problems on some domestic rigs where one shoe tends to have a longer lining than the other. The FSM labels the leading and trailing shoe separately but doesn't appear to say anything about there being a difference between them.

Tried pressure bleeding tonight with an old inner tube connected to the res cap. I got a surprising amount of air out of the driver's rear (especially considering we two-man bled the SOB twice last weekend), and the rears seemed to grab slightly better (might've just been that I didn't have the wheels/tires mounted up), but the pedal still felt like crap and no amount of pedal pressure would hold the rears against a light tap on the gas pedal. I hooked the front brakes back up (had them unhooked and the port plugged from earlier testing), pressure bled all four (few more bubbles out of the driver's rear), tried the brakes, and after one push they went to complete crap. Looks like the line to the fronts didn't seat quite perfect in the master and fluid blew past it, so now the master probably has air in it again. I hate brakes. I'll be out of town until next week, and the pressure gauge should be here when I get back. Hopefully that'll help me track down what the hell is wrong with the rear system.

I've never messed with an LSV so I don't have much to go on there. I guess you could remove the spring between the bracket on the axle and the LSV (if you can without screwing up the adjustment on the bracket) and see if the LSV arm moves freely or if it feels like it's catching on something. The shoes aren't on backwards, are they? I've heard about guys accidentally swapping front and rear shoes and having issues, though I don't remember popping being one of them.

And who selected the font for that table?

The R50 got a facelift in between those years that changed the shape of the headlights, so I doubt they'd bolt up without changing a bunch of other parts as well.

The bleeder threads just push the tip of the bleeder into its seat in the caliper, and the tip/seat are what holds back brake fluid with the bleeder closed. The threads themselves aren't the seal (unless you've got the caliper open and a mityvac on it). I suspect the threads in the caliper are what's wearing, not the bleed screw itself, unfortunately. Good to hear the tape works.

Odd that they're all swollen. I've replaced a few coolant hoses on my '93 but only because I was in there anyway. I've heard of coolant hoses going mushy from oil exposure but given that your HC test turned up negative and your coolant isn't scummy I doubt it's that, unless the PO did something dumb. Hopefully new hoses are all it needs and the bubbles and level drop are just due to refilling w/o burping.

I would hope that one of the mechanics this thing had been to would've tried that, or the gallon (at least) of brake fluid I've put through the system over the past few months would've dislodged whatever's still caught in it just by brute force, but it's not like anything else makes sense at this point. I've got plenty of spare reservoir caps so I modded one today to take a valve stem. I'm not sure how much pressure the res will take but I've got spares of those, too. I'll give it a go while I'm waiting on the pressure gauge. I did try a mityvac, but the threads on my bleeders aren't what they used to be and the vacuum just sucked air around them (between the bleeders and calipers). I've read you can wrap the bleeders in teflon tape, but haven't tried that yet either.

Is that rebar?

Right! Forgot about that one. Good to hear it's running right with the old parts. Definitely irritating to not know which of the left-over parts are usable and which were the problem, but at least now it's not holding up your build!

It's a dual-circuit system, and yes, the correct calipers are on the correct sides with the bleeders up top. ABS is now bypassed, no change. The line between the prop and where the ABS was has been blown out with compressed air and didn't spit up anything unusual. I didn't blow out between there and the flex line yet. I bench bled the master again, hooked it up, then my dad and I bled the hell out of it. The rear flex lines show little to no squirm when the brakes are applied, though the calipers do clamp (I removed both, put them back on, and they pushed the pads back up against the rotors). Blocking off the front brake port at the master does not change the rear brakes at all. Adjusting the prop valve does seem to have some effect, but the rears still suck no matter where the prop is set. When bleeding, the system sounds like it's pushing air through something, but no air escapes the bleeders, and the pedal does not pump up. I'm ordering a brake pressure gauge. We'll hook that to the master, determine the pressure available to the rears from the master, then check after the prop, then work our way down until we figure out what's eating my brake pressure.

The bubbles coming out of your radiator suggest that combustion is leaking into the coolant, and the pudding in the cap suggests coolant's getting into the oil as well (though I have heard of some cars developing similar schmoo from doing mostly short trips and never warming up properly). Odd that the plugs look about the same and the leakdown test didn't pin anything down, though. Maybe the leak only opens up when the engine is warm? You can test the coolant for hydrocarbons to confirm that the bubbles are exhaust gas. You can also heat up a little oil (just a drop from the dipstick) on a piece of foil with a lighter to test for water. If it just gets hot and smokes, it's just oil; if it sizzles and pops like when you drip water into hot bacon grease, there's water in there.