1994SEV6

Thanks. The other threads, and your response, reinforced a lot of what I knew, but I had other questions too. I thought the thing about the t-case taking either fluid was weird. If the t-case can take EITHER gear oil, or ATF, then that kind of makes them the same, right? If A=B and B=C, then A=C? Just by logic, that would make it true that you could put gear oil in your auto trans or ATF in your M/T. It's logical to think that, but I know it's dead wrong.

In the process of doing my transmission, I've noticed a whole bunch of things that need to be fixed or replaced. This made me realize that I don't want to be one of those neglectful owners that run their cars into the ground. I decided it would probably be a good idea to change all the fluids. Who knows if the previous owner did it, or when. I'm kinda scared of the fluid in my diffs coming out like tar. I was wondering where the drain plugs are. I see the weeping hole on my rear diff, but I don't think I ever noticed a plug at the bottom for drainage. The same goes with my front diff, but I never looked at that too carefully. I've read that filling the diffs with gear oil takes forever. Actually, I've done it once on my dad's truck. Talk about bottlenecking... Some people say it takes hours. I'm not sure if that is an exaggeration or not since I could believe it. I was wondering if there was some way to prop the bottle up? What about the power steering pump? I think I read somewhere that I have to use a siphon for that? And some guy around here recommended using synthetic ATF for the P/S? How do I do a brake fluid change? I bet that would involve bleeding the lines. As far as coolant goes, I just use that spigot type thing at the bottom of the radiator? Just hooking up a tube and letting it drain seems like it would do the trick. Oh yeah, what about the M/t and transfer case? I just bought a M/T from this guy, and it has fluid it in. I bet the fluid is new because that's the type of guy he was, but I think I got some water in there. How do I drain the M/T? Also, what's all this about a filler hole? I don't have one. Is there supposed to be a dipstick tube like on the ATF? Also, what brands of fluids should I use? I want to stay away from over-priced gas station BS. I've heard the brand Redline thrown around a lot, but I think it's rather expensive. Where can I dispose of the fluids? I know oil, ATF, gear oil, and P/S fluid are all oils, so they can go into that container that Advance Auto has. What about coolant and other things? I can't wait for the responses. Thanks guys

ouuu thanks. pretty helpful.

so...how do I open the hood? If I reach up, I just get tab that you lift to open the hood after it's already popped. I tried to lift this tab when I had my grille off, it doesn't do anything by itself. Is there like a hidden hook somewhere?

Those videos are very impressive. For some heavy ass SUVs (I guess that's what SUV means, right? haha) those things can go. As far as the whole reliability comparison, I'm sure both engines have a few flaws. I know the VG series pretty well and for the most part, they are rock solid. They are very low maintenance though. I think this is mostly because of their low compression. If you want a higher performance engine, then stuff is gonna break more often. With the VQs, I don't think they have been around long enough to make a blanket statement like that. The VQ engines are bigger, have higher compression, and are much more complicated as a whole. With all sorts of requirements (emissions, fuel efficiency, not using certain materials) it is probably a bit hard to "make 'em like they used to". And who knows, the government might be paying off Nissan to make lower quality products? The government does it with corn farmers. Maybe this type of thing happened in the early 80s when the VGs were coming out? the Z24, or Z series, was amazing. Did people instantly love the VG? Probably not, but look at us now.

Yeah. I'm pretty sure it came loose at the latch. Well, somewhere along the way. I unscrewed the bracket that the hood release was on and the cable had some slack. I pulled it out about 6 inches..so something definitely came unhook. Ugh. I guess I just need to invent some tool to go through the grille and up and pull down.

So my Hood release doesn't work anymore. For the past few days I've had to pull of two or three times for it to work. Now it doesn't work at all. I'm pretty sure it just popped out of a fitting or came loose somehow. I don't think it rusted. At least I hope not. So how do I pop my Hood without this? I'm clueless. I took off my drivers side blinker thing to try to reach up there, bit that was useless.

AHHHH!!! I know exactly what you mean. When I was doing my ATF changes, the fluid level was kicking my ass. I couldnt get a good reading on it. The ATF would be thin above the HOT line, but it would be thicker on the dipstick at the COLD line. I was so damn confused. When I did my fluid change, I know for a fact that 4 quarts came out. I put the old fluid in old ATF bottles. But then the dipstick said that 3.5 quarts was too full. like wtf?? And it said it was too full with those 3.5 quarts for a week. Then all of the sudden it drops down to the ADD line. I didn't think using a dipstick would be that hard

Wow. You seem to like the K&N site a lot. As far as the filter sock and the blowdryer or drycharger or whatever, you have to understand how air filters are marketed. Generally, the more air flow they let in, the less it is filtered. Putting one of those socks on pretty much takes away the greater air flow, without the reward of better filtering. Just because it is resistance doesn't mean it is a filter. Everyone above is pretty much correct. A snorkel is about the best cold air intake. By the way, cold air intakes dont cool air, they just get it from a cooler spot. But what does cool air is a turbo. I don't think you need all of those fancy gadgets just to get cooler air. I think you have it covered. I love it when people put some shiny tubing and a big air filter RIGHT where their stock airbox used to be and then call that a cold air intake. By the way, what do you have a turbo and a snorkel in?

tension rod? I'm not sure what one of those is. I tried googling it and I got mixed results. It seems that every part of my front suspension would be adequately called a tension rod I think it might be that thing that runs to the front part of the steering knuckle? It looks kind of like a socket wrench and goes down into the..whatever that's called. I always that was a tie rod? Google pictures and throwing the term "sleeve" around definitely makes me think tie rod. Am I wrong? Thanks everybody! I got my grille in eventually LOL. Boy, that took a few times. I think it's even more off-center than before I started. I'll definitely be getting some bushings sooner rather than later. Mine are horrible. Imagine if you had a donut. Then you took your palm and smashed it down on one side. That side would flatten, and it would split the donut. That's how some of my bushings are. Looks like this might run me a good bit of money.

Rust :'(

ha yeah. Sometimes I'm long winded. Sorry about that. Those 4.3s are really good. I love my dad's 2000 Sonoma. It can haul. American cars are confusing to me sometimes. Sometimes they last forever. For example, a person I know, he owns a Shell gas station. this guy has a 2000 Chevy S10, with the 4.3l. He has 624k miles on the ORIGINAL engine. Just about everything else has been replaced, but I think that is a pretty strong statement. I don't want to make this an essay again, but if you take care of anything, it will last forever. Toyotas are definitely the first thing people think of when you say the word "reliability" or "durable". Sure, they're pretty good. Nissan kinda flies under the radar though. I'm not sure why. My brother has a 1996 Tacoma with 275k miles and counting. Original clutch. My 1994 Nissan Hardbody with 130k miles will double whatever his Taco has when it dies.

Don't worry about a measly 240k. Ever since I got into Nissans, I've been really interested in how long they really last. It's actually ridiculous how long they can go. It's not uncommon of them to last up to and above 500k miles. Like Trogdor said, just do the maintenance. Change the oil and timing belt. That's all you REALLY have to do. You might want to go a little further, if you're that type of person. Changing spark plugs and wires would help, along with the air filter and other general stuff like that. Doing seals every now and again wouldn't hurt. These things really do last forever. Oil, oil, oil. That's all there is to it. For some reason, people really underestimate oil. "Oh, I can change the oil tomorrow. It won't matter. Oh I'll do it next week. Oh, I'm finally doing it. Let me use this cheapo-crap oil." <--That's how you break your stuff. Oh yeah, coolant too. That's pretty important. It's a 50/50 split. Coolant and oil are equally important. It's easy to let coolant slip under the radar because it's usually checked much less often. If you need more convincing, let me tell you some stories. I know it's not the VG30i, but my dad had a 1983 Nissan 720 with the z24. That truck had 260k when the odometer broke. He estimates he put another 40k miles on it before it was totaled in 1999. 300k miles and not a single problem to complain of. These kinds of stories span across all of Nissan's vehicles and engines. If you go on 4x4parts.com and look in the forums, there is a thread asking how many miles people have put on their trucks. The numbers never stop. 100k, 200k, 300k, 400k, 500k, 600k easy. Let me put it like this...everything else will be gone long before the engine.

I noticed you specifically used the word "engine". So, what if you turn your engine off, but the key is still on "acc"? Does it still reset? I think that test is a half-joke since it wouldn't really prove much. As the Town said above, just get your battery checked. Oh, and your alternator.

DUHHH. stupid me. trying to make it complicated.

thanks for the wisdom about the manifolds. I'll be sure to check. They DO look rough. How should I check for flatness? just eyeball it? Or use a leveler and somehow balance the manifolds so the top is level? <--don't really know how to describe that. I don't trust my sense of flatness ..if that makes sense lol

" 1995 would be the first year to comply with the new, US, "DOT" enacted "high mount brake light" law requiring all trucks from all manufactures to mount a brake light in the center of the rear at the top of the cab. " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Hardbody_Truck I searched "third brake light" on wiki, and it says what you stated. I read the quote above in the Nissan Hardbody article on wiki. The Nissan hardbody article is probably the misinformed one since it is a subtopic detail you're right though. It seems Nissan started to do the 3rd brake light in 1994. I'm still just a little paranoid of things since the seller was pretty sketchy

Every day I've been slowly working on my truck. I started last Saturday and today's Sunday. I finally got to the exhaust manifolds. Oh yeah, I guess it's important to mention that this is all in relation to my transmission swap. As far as the exhaust goes, I've had a broken stud for about 6 months now, so I'm going to fix that since I have to remove my exhaust to pull the transmission. I get out of school at about 2:15, and I walk to my "grandmother's house" (she's kinda dead, and the house is kinda abandoned, but it has a spacious driveway )Since it gets dark at 5 or so, I only get about 4 hours to work on it if I use drop lights and stuff. Mostly I've been taking stuff out to get to other things to take out, but then I realize that everything I just did is stupid and unnecessary. <--That wastes A LOT of time. Boy, you don't even know how many bolts aren't gonna be found. So anyway, today or from 2-6pm was the exhaust. I finally got that stuff off. It's been kicking my ass for the whole week with the bolts and everything being rusted like I've never seen. The manifold flanges were the most trouble actually. I broke two the studs (one on each manifold) AND I bent a ratchet. The handle just bent. I was like WTF. Here's some pictures. I've been curious about those numbers since I first saw them months ago. I suppose I found the leak? That's it right? It seems so obvious, but I'm not expert. The bottom left is the bolt that was causing the leak? comparing the manifold to the gasket. Also, note the bolts. 5 bolts and 1 stud nut. Bolts indicate someone previously messing around in here, right? Also, those bolts are not in the correct places where they were, only approximate. So, if someone replaced the studs with bolts, but then the bottom left bolt still leaked, they didn't tighten it enough..? The bottom left is obvious, because it's so dark with soot, but how about the right one between the two bolt holes? That one seems questionable. A very small leak due to a sub-quality gasket? A close up on the bolts. Two of them have the spacer. Two of them have some washers as spacers. One is just the bolt, and the other is the stud nut. Kinda ghetto, eh? None of the bolts are broken. They all taper off as they should Driver's side manifold fasteners (left), passenger side (right). The left 3 are driver's side nuts and spacers. The 4th is a stud from the driver's side. There is a 5th, it was a stud nut, but I lost it. It was only on finger tight. The right 6 are from the passenger's side. So...that's 11, right? Anyone want to venture a guess where the 12th was? The was no 12th. Just a naked stud on the driver's side. What's going on here? The passenger's side looks like it was done with new hardware, but that's where it leaked. With the except of the two studs left, nothing is broken. Why did it leak? The driver's side had 5 studs and a bolt, but none of the studs looked to be broken. Maybe they are broken deeper in the head? I think that's all I have as far as exhaust. Now, I'm starting to question the year of my vehicle more and more. Now, the VIN and title say it's a 1994 Nissan King Cab. It has the 3.0, meaning it could only be as late as 1995. It also has the rounded dash, meaning it could only be 1994 or 1995. BUT, it has the 3rd brake light. I read that the 3rd brake light because mandatory in 1996, but Nissan started doing it in 1995. Among a few other things I can't remember, my seat belts say they were manufactured in 1995. I think there have been a few other stickers here and there indicating 1995. My door jamb sticker says 06/1994

AHHHHHH!!! Me too!!! My truck has been smelling like gas forever. Whenever I fill it up, it reeks! I thought it was because I was dripping some on my fender flares or something. It's probably an o-ring or gasket. But I guess you're asking which one.

of course it's possible. All you have to do is make the cable longer. It's just a mechanism that physically pulls a cable that puts pressure on the brakes. I have a HB with the parking brake that you are trying to get. It's cool, I like it. My friend said it's like the parking brake in an airplane LOL. It's better than the pump-action one on GM cars. It's cool, but it's nothing special really. For me, having the e-brake in the middle would be cool, but I guess it gets in the way sometimes. I have (had lol) the floor shifter auto, but I know there are also column shifters. If my parking brake was the one under the dash, maybe some HBs have the one in the middle? On my center console there is a cover-up plate for putting the brake in the middle. It can definitely be done. You just have to add some cable and figure out the exact length considering stretch and other factors.

ahh thanks. Yeah, those clips you were talking about are long gone. That always bugged me. It sat a teeny tiny bit to the left, so there was a small gap between the grille and the right blinker, that's why I took it out. I probably should have just left it LOL. Anyway, thanks. I'll be sure to do that tomorrow

I took off my grille the other day for..I don't even know why. It was a little odd getting it out. I had to pull the top out, then like pull up on the bottom or something? Well, I can't get it back in. My grille is perfect (I think). Good chrome paint (not that I like chrome) and not cracked or chipped at all. I tried putting it back in, but I can't seem to get it. I don't want to break it trying to get it in since they are hard to come by in good condition. Are there any tricks? Like put the top in, then click the bottom in? Do the left side and then the right side? something like that? Also..I've had both my front wheels off while doing my transmission these past few days. I've been looking and a lot of my bushings are absolutely demolished. As best as it goes, they are cracking. Most of them are absolutely smashed and are bursting out. I even have metal on metal in some places. I'll get some pictures in here later. I just wanted to know where I should get bushings from (rockauto or is there a better place?), what kind? Polyurethane or something else? How hard/how long would this kind of thing take?

so much useful information in one post! That fact about the transmission generating 75% of its wear in the first 5k miles..that's insane. I had no idea. And I'm sure 99% of the population doesn't either. EEK! Going 100k miles (like most people do) with the stock fluid is bad for yet ANOTHER reason. Oh @!*%. I should start taking care of my power steering pump. Those are no fun to replace. On a Chitty S10 at least.

JEEZ! I'll take your word for it, but where does it come from?! Little pieces of transmission that build up? It's not like an engine where it has gunk..is it? Why would a transmission be that dirty? That's amazing and disgusting at the same time.

Wow thanks everyone. You all had pretty good advice and it seemed to be very consistent. Just another two things to add to my to-do list. Oh yeah. It is both doors. It's not the door open switch.