pwachon

Thanks to everyone who responded - my bad misunderstanding which crossmember was being discussed. Problem solved! In case you're curious, I live in the Bay Area and go skiing in Tahoe whenever I can (and make it happen when there's a storm!). 4WD and winter tires on all 4 wheels is mandatory if you want to make it past chain control in the Sierras. But under normal circumstances (80% of the time) there is zero need for winter tires. I love my Blizzaks but they melt just by looking at them - in the past, I've worn through them in two seasons (November to mid-April). So the plan is to spend 15 minutes swapping out my regular wheels for the Blizzaks when needed, and otherwise drive up with my regular tires. I expect to recoup the cost of the steelies the very first year... Thanks for the advice, Pierre.

Thanks trainbrain, I had thought of that but was looking for a more definitive answer - I feel like the crossmember is so far behind the engine that I'd be effectively lifting more than half the weight of the car... but a 4x4 might just to the trick... Cheers, Pierre.

Folks, Is there a safe jack point under the front of the '98 'R50 where I can use a floor jack to raise both front wheels off the ground at the same time? For the rear I assume I can just place the jack under the differential (wood block/ foam to avoid denting), but what about the front? I'm looking for the quickest method to change out all 4 wheels from summer to winter wheels/tires - I'm in a situation where I might need to do this multiple times a season. If there's a better way (i.e. raising the whole left side and right side instead of front and back), I'd love to hear it. Thanks, Pierre.

Thanks Pat, that's what I thought (unplug TPS, adjust timing, replug, done). I haven't gone at length into the actual problem I'm trying to fix, thought I'd start another discussion topic on this, but the symptoms are very consistent and can be replicated very easily: 1. When the car is cold, it starts up, idles, and runs just fine. 2. When the car is warm and I stop the engine, if I start it again right away it will also idle (and run) fine. 3 When the car is warm and I stop the engine to run an errand, say get groceries (15 minutes), when I start the car again it will run rough ONLY FOR ABOUT 90 SECONDS. That's when the Check Engine Light blinks (and then stays on). After 90 seconds (maybe 120, but never more than 2 minutes), all returns to normal - every single time. Note that it is not only rough at idle but also while I'm driving. For example, tonight I stopped to get some groceries so the car was still warm when I got out of the grocery store... I started the engine, it was running a bit rough, I got out of the parking lot, and 2 blocks away I had to stop at a traffic light. While I'm waiting for the light to turn green (this is about 2 minutes after I left the grocery store), the engine goes from rough to smooth idle, just like that. This happens every single time I warm-start the engine. Given these symptoms, I don't think this problem can be caused by something like a bad cable, spark plug, bad distributor, etc. because if any of these were faulty then the problem would be consistent - hot or cold, at all RPMs, and most importantly, it certainly wouldn't consistently disappear after 90 seconds every single time. To me it feels like a temp gauge or sensor (O2 maybe?) is acting up at a certain temperature and sending the wrong information to the ECU, causing it to adjust the ignition according to this bad sensor - then when the engine temperature reaches a point where the sensor doesn't misbehave, all returns to normal. I know 17 degrees is within spec, but for now I'm just trying to make the rough running a little smoother (less advance at low revs). As for throwing parts at the problem, sorry to say that is against my "policy" - I really dislike changing a part just to see that the problem is still there... Thanks for the advice Pat, Pierre.

Happy Labor Day weekend (for the US-based experts out there...). My '98 Pathfinder is throwing DTC codes P0302 (misfire on #2 cylinder) and P0325 (knock sensor) - short story is rough idle on hot start that only lasts about 2 minutes - I'm starting a different thread just to address that - but in the meantime I want to adjust the ignition timing (I know from a recent smog check that it's at the 17 degree upper limit, so I'm going to bring it back down to 15 in hopes of lessening the misfire issue). In the Haynes manual it says that the ECU has to be put in Diagnostic Test Mode II before performing an ignition timing (they claim this is to prevent the ECU from messing with the timing procedure). However, in the Nissan manual this is not mentioned - Mode II is described as allowing various parameters to be read from the ECU, such as heated oxygen sensor signals. In fact, the normal diagnostic procedure on page EC-85 has ignition timing as step #3, with no mention of ECU Diagnostic Test Mode II... To me, it looks like Haynes got it wrong and all I have to do is disconnect the TPS and adjust the timing - does that sound right to you folks? Thanks!

Just following up for future readers... It seems that wiggling the pipe out of the way may work for some folks, but for others (including myself), this was absolutely impossible. At some point I had the pipe with both hands and was pulling quite hard to get it out of the way, and the cover wasn't even close to coming off. I ended up removing 3 out of 4 compressor bolts (and only loosened the bottom left bolt). This allowed me to tilt the compressor forward far enough to finally pull out the cover. But even with the compressor loose, to give an idea of how tight it was, I had to disconnect an electrical connector located right above the compressor so that it would tilt forward far enough, and I even had to pull up on the manifold air intake hose (the one that goes to the air filter box), so that the A/C pipe would move far enough out of the way for me to remove the cover.

Thanks 5523, The post you refer to essentially states that if you pull gently on the pipe, you should be able to gently wiggle the cover out... that has not been my experience. As I mentioned in my original post, I tried pulling on the pipe in all conceivable directions, and quite hard at times (and yes, fearing that I might break it...). At this point the only thing I can think of is to unbolt the compressor from the engine (since the pipe is attached to the compressor)...

Folks, Title says all - '98 R50, the upper timing belt cover cannot be removed because there is a silver (aluminum) air conditioning pipe that runs right across the front of the cover... I did my research ahead of time, and nowhere did I see anyone running into this problem.. Note: I tried prying the pipe out of the way, quite bluntly at times... will I have to have the dealer do this job because the A/C system will have to be opened? Please reply if you have any insight... Cheers, Pierre.