Mr_Reverse

Not with the old OBD 1 units. Most of the dealerships have a hard time with anything built before 2000. Just wondering, have you tried running the emissions on your 92 to see if it is really not going into closed loop? Perhaps the 92 California ECM has to be in a different mode to indicate closed loop operation? Just tossing ideas out there. I don't know with that one, mine is a 93 federal with a 3.3 transplant, so a little different. Haven't bothered looking at the indicator LEDs in years. Still passing the emissions tests too (Davis and Weber counties here in Utah).

You can do what I did with my 93 Pathfinder and the 85 300ZX I used to have. I found a local exhaust shop that was not a chain shop. Talked with the guy there and told him what I was after. With the Pathfinder, went with a 2.25" pipe from the Y back with new cat and turbo muffler. They custom bent the pipe and added heavy duty hangers with the tailpipe exiting straight out the back next to the side bracket of the trailer hitch. Still have no idea how my daughter managed to break it, but she does seem to have my abilities to break stuff. The Z got custom bent 2.5" cat back pipe with a magnaflow. Both exhaust systems cost less than stock parts, met my needs and sounded great, low rumble but didn't drone on the highway and was still able to talk at normal volumes with passengers. Also kept my torque curve wide and flat where I like it.

Sigh, mine used to be pretty.

Don't recall the specs for yours, but the WD21 with the manual trans was rated for 3500 lbs. The auto trans was rated for 5000 lbs. I believe the 3.3 R50 had the same specs. If you are careful and plan for the added weight, it will tow within it's limits just fine. The weak points with the manual trans is the clutch and 5th gear. I have heard that people that have towed near the limit and used 5th, that the gear tends to break. I have relatives that had D21 pickups with the 2.4 4cyl that towed 3k trailers ok, they just used the lower gears and drove slower.

Just by looking at your fuel trim readings, you either have low fuel pressure or an intake leak. Hard for me to tell with the video. You said it gets happier when you rev up, but a poor idle. Those are symptoms of an intake air leak. One other thing I have seen that causes issues like yours is having the O2 sensors plugged in wrong. All 4 are near each other and if you get the left and right mixed up, the ECU gets very angry because it can't figure out how to control the injectors. Try swapping the plugs and see if that helps.

Try rotating your tires. Your symptoms sound more like a tire issue to me being speed specific. Could be a bad belt in one of the front tires if balance isn't a problem.

Second on checking fuel pressure. Ensure that not only do you have full pressure while engine is running, but that the pressure holds for a while after it is turned off. Should lose less than 5 psi in 10 min. Also turn the key on without starting and watch the pressure gauge. It should spike up about 5-10 psi higher than the pressure when it is idling. If the pressure is low and or bleeds off try clamping the return hose and repeat the tests. If pressure is good, you likely have a failing regulator. If there is no change, a failing pump is likely.

Nice thing about Dextron ATF is that it is all backwards compatible. The Dextron VI is fine for your trans. With my large Hayden trans cooler and bypassed cooler in the radiator, I have found that my trans tends to run a bit too cold. With weather in the 90's, and 33x12.50 MT's, my trans temp gauge tends to stay about 165-170°f most of the time it isn't really a problem, but does cause the converter clutch to hunt on the freeway.

If the marks you are talking about are the ones on the belt itself, that is normal and nothing to worry about. Has something to do with the number of teeth on the belt and it's routing.

Boring stuff on mine. Replaced radiator and thermostat. Hosed out the engine so all fresh coolant. Radiator was pretty hammered and thermostat not looking terribly good. If I can get another 10 years out of these ones, I will be satisfied. Also replaced the rear swaybar links since the left one broke a couple weeks ago making regular driving spooky and freeway downright terrifying. Odd the front bar didn't make much difference in how it drove, but the rear makes a huge difference. Upcoming project rattling around in the back of my mind is building some adjustable compression rods for the front lower control arms. Have some crazy ideas I am working on that just might solve some front end issues and make setting caster a bit easier. Who knows, I might eventually get my poor old Pathfinder a bit more drivable.

Yep, the auto climate uses the blower amp instead of the traditional resistor. It is mounted next to the blower motor and has a a larger heat sink because it does run hot. With your symptoms, that is where I would suspect the problem to be.

What I see in the pictures is the vent for the transmission and transfer case. I found many years ago that the trans, tcase, and front axle all had extended vent hoses that were teed together with the hard line attached to the right side firewall ending in a loop a little below the cowling. As was said above, transmission most likely got hot and was probably overfilled. Those conditions will force some fluid out of the vent. I would check the fluid levels in the trans and tcase. If the fluid has more than 15k miles on it, I would change it as well. It costs more, but a full synthetic fluid will do a much better job of protecting the trans and is much less expensive than a rebuild or replacement. It would be a good time to replace the lube in the axles and tcase as well.

I am partial to Moab, but it is relatively local to me. Early March the weather is generally Cold and wet there though. Snow is very likely. It isn't until about mid May that it warms up and dries out. A week or two before Easter is a great time for Moab in that it hasn't gotten hot yet, the weather is mild and the insanity of the Easter Jeep Safari hasn't kicked in. The prices are still a bit lower then also due to the pre season.

The IAC should kick up the idle a bit when the A/C compressor is switched on, but for the rest, the ECU will try to keep the engine at it's programmed idle speed. I can't recall if the idle speed can be changed through the ECU on the VQ35 that has the throttle cable, but you can adjust the idle speed screw if you want a higher idle. I know you can adjust the base idle speed with Consult or a good scan tool on the ones with the drive by wire throttle. Have bumped the idle speed for a few of them per customer request because they felt the low idle was too rough.

Only way to get full info from your 97 is to run Consult 2 software and be hooked up to the Consult port. Not that there is much there compared to what you get with stuff from the last 15 years. The electronic engine controls were still rather primitive. With the OBDII, you can get basic info like O2 sensor millivolts, MAF data and ECT data. Oil pressure, oil temp, and things like that just doesn't exist, there is no sensors for those and the ECU doesn't know to look for it. The 3.3 is basically a punched out 3.0 and was from a simple time. It wasn't until the VQ35 that the ECU started to control more than the basics and needed more information.

Yes, increased load on the electrical system puts more load on the engine. In the real world, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. I converted to e-fans in my Pathfinder for several reasons, reduction in engine load was not one of them. One thing to note, the mechanical fan never achieved 100% lockup. The fan actually would slip more when the engine was under heavy load. You would have noticed a serious power loss and a lot of noise if the fan ever locked. Had that happen in my first car, my 1977 200SX when we were doing about 80 mph. Bearings failed in the fan clutch and it felt like we slammed into a foot deep puddle and a god awful howl came out of the engine bay. Drove it like that for about a year because at the time I could not afford to replace the operational water pump. I finally got tired of the noise and drag of that fan(my best friend lived a quarter mile away and could hear that thing if he was outside when I started the engine, and the local police told me they could hear it a half mile away when I was doing 40 mph) and converted to electric. All my cars since managed to lose the mechanical fan and go electric. I like the better temp control and extra room the electrics give me.

Nissan was a little weird with the data ports in the last 4 years of the 20th century. North America federal law required OBDII for the 96 and later model year light trucks and autos. OBDII was a standardized connector port and diagnostic code format. For the last half of the decade, manufacturers were required to have the basics for data and engine codes accessable through the standardized connector. Because it was an expensive and difficult change, manufacturers were given time to adapt and change to the new standard. Many, Nissan included, adapted by running the OBDII as an add-on. The results is that from 96 to 99, you can get the basics through the OBDII port, but if you want full data, you have to go through the Consult port. It was about 2000 when Nissan dropped the Consult port and finished the changeover. That said, even though there is a lot that is accessible through OBDII, there is even more that is still manufacturer specific that requires the proper software to access. OBDII is still and will most likely always be a minimum standard. There is simply too much money invested to make everything meet a standard. Oddly, Ford was an early adopter, with many of the 95's having OBDII, just not federally certified. All that said, all 1996 and newer Nissans that were for North American markets have the standard OBDII port under the left dash near the Consult port. Just don't expect much from them for data.

Usually the coolant leak is what damages the IAC valve. But anything that causes the IAC to require more current than normal to operate will burn out the driver transistors for the IAC inside the ECU. One reason that occasionally cleaning the throttle body and intake is a good idea. The 3.3 uses a different iac system that is more primitive and doesn't have the same issues of damaging the ECU that the VQ35 had in the early years.

If the drums are worn enough to have a lip large enough to to prevent removal like you have, it is a good idea to measure them to ensure they are not worn beyond the limit. Regardless, resurfacing or replacing the drums is strongly recommended so the brakes will work their best. I have bent small cheap screwdrivers in the past by heating them where I need the bend with a small torch so they will bend instead of breaking. As for backing the star wheel, when I am unable to push the lock away, I just force the wheel and it is usually ok. I also replace the hardware (springs, hold down pins at the very least) to make them work properly. In the future, if you can't get the adjuster to back off enough to get the drum off, you can cut the heads off the hold down pins to enable the shoes to move enough to get the drum off.

It is the idle air control valve. Most likely yours has failed in one or more of it's coils. Problem is that when it goes bad, it often damages the drivers in the ECU.

Could be that the clutch let go, or the release bearing could be stuck. Does the pedal still feel normal, or does it feel like there is nothing there? If it still has normal or close to normal feel, then it is likely the clutch has died.

Lol, I know what you mean. Unfortunately, I am that lucky guy in the auto shop that gets the fun of doing those wonderful jobs. Most of them don't pay enough for the work involved.

Stock CL gives up long before you will bend an idler arm spindle. That is all the brace helps with. The steering linkage in our trucks is ok as long as everything is kept stock. When you change the angles with even a 2" lift and/or swap to wheels with less backspace than stock, the CL wears out quickly. In my opinion, you will quickly save money by upgrading the CL rather than replacing with a stock type. Not only the cost of the CL itself, but reduced tire wear and improved fuel economy adds up. I have seen a 3 mpg improvement just from aligning alone with mine. Granted that is a bit more extreme than you would see with yours since I run 33x12.50 MT's and a bit more lift, but it does have an effect even on stock vehicles that is eye opening for people who track their fuel economy. That said, the upgraded CL does involve extra work to install and still doesn't fix everything, and does cost more, so you are really the only one who can honestly make that decision.

A failing alternator will have a hard time keeping a battery charged. On the flip side, a bad battery can kill an alternator. You might want to also check the battery cables and terminals for damage and corrosion (one of the reasons I spend the extra money to get AGM batteries for my vehicles) and also check the large fuses for the charging system. They used to be fusible links used for that but by the time your truck was built, they changed to large high amperage fuses.

You have 5 6mm Allen bolts, a couple of regular hex head bolts on the left side for the brace bracket, EGR pipe, wiring to unplug and grounds to undo. Also have 2 coolant hoses at the back and 2 more at the throttle body. Some vac lines are attached as well.