Slartibartfast

Banned for suggesting time is exponential!

The fuse links are intentionally undersized. That's what makes them the weak link, so they burn up before the harness does. Looks like they're usually four sizes smaller than the wiring they interrupt, which matches your observation that a wire which should be 12ga to take the rated amps appears to be 16ga. Blade fuses would be more convenient, but might be tricky to size properly. They don't work the same as fuse links. Fuse links are slow-blow. A blade fuse might pop for brief overloads that the fuse link never noticed, and if you fixed this with a bigger fuse, it might not fail for a lower-but-sustained overload that would've taken out the fuse link. I'm not saying that it can't be done, or that it would definitely change the failure point enough to matter (surely it's not on a knife's edge if they trusted it to fuse links in the first place), but I don't know how far I'd trust it. I've never had to replace a fuse link on mine, so I'm inclined to leave well enough alone. If I was going to reengineer them, I like your idea with the screw terminals. Make sure you get the special fuse link wire, sounds like its got special insulation so it doesn't start a fire when it blows.

Banned for clinging to a dead past!

Makes sense it's momentary so you don't leave it disengaged by accident.

Pipe wrench

Drop-downs and a VCR would've been pretty impressive in the late '90s.

Those two switches are for entirely separate systems. The interlock switch is for the starter motor. If the starter interlock is on, the starter will only run if the clutch pedal is down. The interlock's meant to stop you from running into parked cars/garage doors/etc if you forget it's in gear when you try to start it. With the interlock switched off, you can move a disabled vehicle a short distance using the starter motor, or reach in and fire it up without getting into the driver's seat if you're sure you've got it in neutral. I've read you can also use it to drive out of precarious situations off-road where you don't want to slip the clutch and risk rolling backwards. The switch for the adjustable shocks powers a little motor/solenoid at the top of the shock, which opens or closes a bypass for the piston inside. There's a motor/solenoid in the can on top of the shock that opens and closes a valve to allow oil to bypass the piston. You should hear a little click from the can when you switch settings. Very simple system. It might've even done something when the truck was new. I couldn't tell the difference from the driver's seat in my '95, but the truck was a little harder to rock from the outside when the shocks were in sport mode (valves closed). If the PO replaced the suspension, that likely included the shocks, and they likely used regular non-adjustable shocks rather than trying to track down the originals. That's what I did on mine.

If one hole was weak enough to strip, and they're in the same area on the same truck, I would not be surprised if the others were similarly compromised. And, yeah, lubed threads can cause overtorquing (if the spec assumes they're dry). You may be giving weakened threads more torque than they wanted when they were new.

If the noise went away for a while, that makes me think you were on the right track. Could be the zip tie isn't around the end that was rattling, or the engine moves under load in a way that slackens the zip tie, if it's on the engine mount. IIRC the service manual has a procedure for resetting the computer (some Konami code entered by turning the key on and off and pushing pedals). Took us a couple of tries to get it right on my dad's R50, but it did work in the end, though of course it did not fix the issue we were chasing. Unhooking the battery for a while should work too. If it was pinging that hard, I would expect it to pull timing until it wasn't, or go into some kind of limp mode. I haven't done belts on a VQ. If they're like the belts on mine, they're a little fiddly to get to, but otherwise not too bad. If you're happy with the tension now, you could mark or measure the adjusters and just shoot for the same point when you put it back together, assuming you're re-using the belts. Not a bad idea to check the accessory drive, but again, if it's only making noise when it's in gear, I would not expect it to be an accessory or timing component.

News to me too! They look similar to the adjusters in the WD21 adjustable shocks. I had no idea they carried that design into the R50.

Might be the relay, though I can't say I've heard of one flashing like that. Easy enough to swap and see if that clears it up. Is it flashing slow, fast, irregularly? What year was the harness donor? I'll look at the diagram and see if something jumps out at me as a possible cause. Does sound like you've lost an injector. I have not heard much good about the eBay ones. I can't think of a way they'd mess with the battery light, though.

camping stove

If the bolt head was on the bottom, it would tend to catch on things. And the threads would still have to extend into the pan, so there would still be some trapped oil, unless the threaded part was below the pan, which would make it stick down more into harm's way. But yeah, if you jack up one side, you can get a little more out.

grade school

grudge match

I reused my old snap rings. The picture upload here isn't really functional--best to host pictures elsewhere and link them in.

If the hubs are locked, they should be functionally identical to the drive flanges the truck came with, or to any other brand of hub. I have heard of the auto-transfer-equipped trucks complaining when the hubs aren't locked--near as I can work out, this is because some of the auto transfer trucks read front wheel speed from a sensor at the front output of the transfer, rather than the ABS wheel speed sensors, so they get understandably confused when the front driveshaft isn't spinning--but this is the first I've heard of one complaining when the hubs are locked. The first thing I would do is confirm that the hubs are actually locked in. The Mile Marker hubs on mine (which I assume are the same 435s you're running) move the collar using springs, which allows you to turn the dial whether the innards can move or not (they'll pop in or out when the splines line up or when they're not under load). If the innards are bound up, maybe one of your hubs was stuck in the unlocked position--though this would only make sense if you locked the hub before going on the drive where it acted up, rather than leaving it locked from a previous day when it did not act up. I would take the hubs apart, check that the collar that locks the CV to the hub moves freely, and look for evidence of dirt, corrosion, or water (ice) that could've bound up the mechanism. The hub should not be packed with grease, but a little grease on the surfaces that slide may do it good. I added a little grease to mine when I installed them. Other than that, I would have a stare at the TF section of the '98 service manual, specifically the diagnostics. You may be able to get a code out of it the next time it acts up. I haven't looked through the troubleshooting for the ATX14A in a while, but I would not be surprised a wiring issue or sensor crapping out would give the same flashing, especially during winter. I had a failing ABS sensor on mine act up only in winter, presumably when it got wet.

If one bar of the motor's commutator is worn through, or one of the armature windings is bad, the motor will have a dead spot, and if it stops on the dead spot, it won't start again until something else moves it. I would guess that driving at highway speed forced enough air through the fan to move the motor past its dead spot. This would not explain it blowing for a couple seconds and then stopping, though--that could be a control issue. Still, I would check the cheapest/easiest thing first. If the voltage test doesn't point to the motor, you'll find troubleshooting info, parts locations, and wiring diagrams in the HA section of the service manual. It's got separate diagrams for manual, auto without navigation, and auto with navigation, so make sure you're looking at the right one. Also, looks like the auto systems use a transistor instead of a resistor pack, so, that's different. Allows it to change speed gradually, I guess. Probably less likely to start a fire if the duct gets packed with leaves.

It sounds to me like you've got a bad blower motor or blower motor resistor. I would unplug the blower motor and check for voltage at the plug (when the blower's supposed to be running). If you have power at that connector, but the blower doesn't spin when you plug it in, order a blower motor.

First thing I'd do is check that the fluid level is correct. Auto trans fluid levels can be tricky to get right. I doubt this is the problem unless yours has a leak somewhere, but, yeah, worth checking the easiest thing first. Given how fun transmissions aren't to remove, I would be tempted to drop the pan and check the solenoids that you suspect are bad first, on the off chance you find something obviously wrong. If you find a smoking gun, order some parts and see if you get lucky. That said, $85 for a used/lower mileage trans sounds pretty good compared to $350 for solenoids that may or may not buy you some time on a box with 270k on it. And then, yeah, you could have your old one gone through, or dig into it yourself at your convenience, so you're not rebuilding your first transmission in a panic with the truck on jackstands. Either way, the AT section of the service manual should come in handy, if you haven't downloaded that yet. When I flushed mine, I added an external cooler and a Magnefine external filter in hopes of keeping it going longer. The cooler especially is a good idea if you're towing frequently. Agreed.

harbor seal

Grinding into park sounds like your transfer case slipped into neutral. Shift it back and forth a couple times and make sure it's fully engaged in high range. The buzzing is probably unrelated. I had that on mine when the battery was low (I'd been working on the truck for a while with doors open, blower going, that kind of stuff). I think it's the solenoid that controls line pressure. No idea why it gets noisy when the battery is low, but it quieted back down once I charged the battery, so I didn't chase it down.

Maybe? The '15 Versa uses 80430-9KK0A, which sure does look the same as the R50 door catch. For some reason, the R50 has a whole bunch of different part numbers (80430-0W000, 80430-0W005, 80430-0W006, 80430-0W007, 80430-0W008, 80430-0W009, 80430-1W300, 80430-1W310, 80430-1W311, 80430-5W900), but it looks like they're all just different revisions of the same part. The first half of the part number is the same as the Versa one, and they sure do look about the same, so maybe the Versa catch is just the latest revision of the same part. If you can get the Versa one cheaper, or already have one on hand (that your girlfriend won't miss), it might be worth a shot. Measure the length of the rod before you swap in the Versa one in case they made it longer, and open the door slowly the first time until you're sure it won't hit the fender.

Try this one. I think it's the same file, which I downloaded ages ago, couldn't remember where I found it, and uploaded to Dropbox to send it to somebody.

All that's left is fuel mix or compression. Your short-term trims are way different side to side, that may have something to do with it--could be a vacuum leak, injector issue, something like that. Check your vacuum lines, including the one to the fuel pressure regulator at the back (also make sure there's no fuel in that line). Could still be the injector. I'd do a compression test before chasing the injector unless the spark plug shows a clear difference in fuel mixture on #5. Was there any obvious difference in spark plug color when you replaced them? Any fuel smell in the oil?