charles

Ha. Just looked at wiring diagrams for DRL versus non-DRL... no way in Sam hell am I going to make one into the other.

Indeed, I've seen that thing come up more than once. But it is removable, with a bit of work, I believe?

@ahardb0dy: Great, thanks for the reply. Good to know that either left or right can be affected by the switch. I grabbed an older switch off a circa 1990, but also one off a 2nd generation... I got the harnesses too, hoping I can switch all the wires and keep the 'newer' look of my '94 intact. And... foglight switch! Another quick question, for anyone I suppose... when your headlights malfunction, do your highbeam indicators stay on, regardless of being on high or low beam? When the shoddy bulb holder was malfunctioning, this would not happen, but on my other malfunction on the left, when it copped out the blue high beam light came on until it fixed itself, then it turned off. Anyone else have this?

Hey everyone, Hoping I could get a few people's two cents before I start to diagnose the headlight issues I have. I replaced both the bulb sockets, as the old ones were melted. One of them is faulty, and so the light craps out, but tapping on the light or frigging with the wires sorts it out... The other however, just does what it wants, and hitting it doesn't help... So left side, both high and low beams will crap out, the highbeam indicator light then turns on in the dash and stays on regardless of whether the switch is on high or low. It craps out for maybe 5 minute intervals. Any gut thoughts? I'm hoping that because it's just one side, there are fewer places along the system where the problem could be? I've read the switches are common points of failure... Mine has been out and cleaned, looks alright I guess... are the left and right wires separate in the switch though? I can't remember now! Thanks, Charles.

I tried the lid, it does indeed work very well. A standard yogurt container lid is JUST big enough. I put tie-wire through it, then laid a long bar of metal across the opening which I tied the wire too... this held it in place. Also, turns out I'm the asshole... the O-rings seem to be built to expand when used or when they contact gas? Anyway, mine went in the right size and came out too big, just like the first one was when I pulled it out. So ya, you definitely cannot reuse them, heads up on that. Except I did reuse mine, I just cut about a centimeter out of it so that it became the right size again. So far so good.

I did a little recon on this... WD-40'd every bolt I could see, popped the sender out to take a peek... The MORON who I bought this from put the wrong sized O-Ring in! It was so damn big, a good 1/2 to 1 inch of the rubber was fully out of its seat, literally holding the flange off its mating surface. I might as well have had a big salad bowl for a gas tank, bloody gasoline sloshing all over the place. I can see this guy's fingerprints all over the vehicle... everywhere he has touched it something is broken, his 'handy' work is unbelievable. Soooo many cuss words are being withheld here... Grrrrr... On the bright side... I have a good idea why my gas mileage on the first part of the tank is so terrible. And I don't have to look into the vapour filter system for why my rig stinks like gas.

Hmm... alright, thanks for the heads up. I'll get something else on there for sure!

@Westslope - thanks for the write-up! My gauge is pretty wonky AND gas pisses out of the o-ring when the tank is full, so I have two good reasons to follow your lead on this! @GrimGreg - how reasonable a job is it to drop the tank? I have two steel ramps but that's about it... that's a great jimmy-rig idea for cleaning the gasket area, but I think I'd rather drop the tank if possible... if I don't drop the tank I'll definitely end up using a vacuum cleaner regardless of the disclaimers...

@adamzan - I now agree too... I can feel it flex under my foot as I'm driving. But I liberally applied several coats of rubberized asphalt (that rocker guard stuff) to the underside, making sure to get it up into the gap, and did the truck bed liner on top (it got dark so I didn't photograph the finished product). Once it's warm and dry I'll be sure to go at it again to make sure it's righteously thick!

Just putting it together now... but a DIY emergency welding kit: -2 lengths of 2 gauge battery wire, with battery terminals at both ends -welding goggles -welding gloves -7014 or 6013 welding rods -jumper cables (already in the vehicle) -old bike tubing (to wrap the jumper cable that holds the welding rod) Watch a few youtube videos, practice a bit at home, and then throw this kit together. If you're totally hooped, and you have a second or third vehicle, put the batteries in series and DC weld away!

She was all sorts of cross-eyed, so I aligned the headlights. Cheers to seeing in the dark!

Hey! Just wanted to share what I've got going so far! I bought a 94XE maybe a month ago. I thought it had 150,000km on it... It was sorta wet and gross so I figured I'd gut it and then put it back together, but I found a bunch of rust, and a sticker saying the odometer had been replaced and reset to zero at 166,000km... so I kissed the idea of finally owning a (relatively) low mileage vehicle goodbye, and got to work! Here's the thing gutted... ...exposing the rust holes under the rear seats that I'm guessing far too many of you have seen before! And there was a gooder under the driver's right foot, for good measure! So I ground down the rust and started cutting... It was disconcerting to see so much ground... Also, I lost a bolt for each of the back seats, so... no more back seats! I just used a rust primer around the edges... Then pop-riveted sheet metal into place... It's getting a little dark here... but I also applied several coats of rubberized asphalt (comes in a spray can) to the metal patches from underneath the vehicle, and after painting the whole patch on the inside, I sealed the edges with spray-on truck-bed liner. So overall, obviously not as good as welding, but I put a lot of rivets in, hahaha, and the edges are hopefully all sealed to prevent water and dirt from getting into there too much. Has anyone here ever fallen victim to the 'white van speaker scam' ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_van_speaker_scam I did, because apparently I'm gullible. But the good thing about spending $300 on a set of worthless speakers is that you can not give a crap about them... The subwoofer didn't fit nicely in the back so I just smashed it with a hammer, cut it up with a skill saw, and then threw it back together in the right size/shape! Boom! Now it fits and it sounds just as mediocre as it did before! Is that expanding foam coming out the top? Sure as heck is! Also, you can see the patches peeking out from under the rubber mat... the grey is primer and the black is the spray-on truck-bed liner. That's all for now!

A little slow, but here's my rig, next to my jimmy'd outdoor shop!

Quick follow-up for anyone else who might stumble across this... I WD40'd the hell out of this ring, anticipating trying to take it off. The noise is now completely gone. Apparently the tiniest bit of rust on the exciter ring can cause quite a bit of noise, which I think is the ticking noise I was hearing. So a similar noise can mean worse things, worn gears, etc., in the diff, but it could just be a bit of rust on a 'whatever' part, so give this a go first!

Hello everyone; I just super sketchily 'fixed' my speedometer... after all sorts of chundering around, it turned out to be a bad wire somewhere between a harness in the engine bay and the super multiple junction (SMJ). The following is an unnecessarily detailed and illustrated play by play... bear with me as I use this as an excuse to practice posting with photos, etc. At the end of the day, it does work, but if I've done something daft that I haven't realized, please point it out! So... my cluster is a soup sandwich. Tac is intermittently spastic, speedo/odo totally dead, gas gauge iffy at best, and some lights sometimes not working. Tac and lights respond to smashing the dash, but the speedo is totally dead, all the time. I jacked up the back, threw it in 1st, and got a .5V AC reading off the vehicle speed sensor (VSS). I got the same reading at this harness in the engine bay, next to horn/light relays (picture taken later, after cutting wires, red and white from VSS): I could not, however, find the same reading at the SMJ (I eventually figured out how to read wiring diagrams, and figured, optimistically, that the wires went to K14 and M13). So, I connected tiny female disconnects to one end of speaker wire, put those to the pins in the harness from the VSS, and jammed the other ends into K14 and M13 in the SMJ. Lo and behold, putting the vehicle in 1st saw the speedo going to 10km/h, and the odo started to turn! So I spliced the speaker wire into the engine bay harness, cut the wires going to K14 and M13 and spliced into those too! This is maybe the sketchy part... I'm using speaker wire (so smaller gauge than the wire typically used) and it's running across the engine bay along the brake lines, under the rain tray, and then into the cabin through the port meant for the door's speaker wires (note the reef knots to tie the new 'speedo' wire to the speaker wire, which I then ripped back into the cabin...). I figure because the signal is low voltage/current, it's alright to use the thinner wire? Or maybe at high speeds the signal gets higher voltage? Is it alright to have current running next to brake lines? Anything else super stupid I've done and not realized? Finally, I'd like to put together a consolidated 'how-to' for diagnosing cluster issues. There's A LOT of info on how/what to do, but it would be nice to have it in one place, and have things in order to look at, from easiest and cheapest to diagnose through to hardest and most expensive. I counted out quarters at a wrecker to get a cluster (after tightening its screws, etc.) only to have it not make any difference. It'd be great if others could be saved the same fate! Feedback on this? Maybe I'll post a draft to this thread, people can chime in, then I can revise and then post? Anything particular I should know about the 'how to' section? Cheers, Charles.

Acknowledged. Thanks for the tips/advice. @kdj I live in Victoria, BC, but I'm moving to Whitehorse soon.

It certainly could be two issues... something making the noise, which made me look there, and then saw this visually repulsive cracked/smashed piece. I'm tempted to rip it off to see if the noise goes away, because if the noise does dissapear, then I'm done trying to diagnose it! Downside is, no ABS... but it probably already doesn't work?

This is regarding a 2002 Extera... but could it be relevant? http://www.clubxterra.org/forums/showthread.php?t=38953 Might I have a differential from another vehicle/year/model?

Hello; Hoping for some insight on this one... I have a '94 XE with at least 310,000km. Just purchased, trying to sort out the few concerns I have. I was hearing a ticking noise coming from the rear, sounded quite mild, almost like a twig in bicycle spokes. Never happened under acceleration, occurred just when coasting when the vehicle was slowing down under compression, or sometimes as the clutch engaged (but cut out again when the clutch fully engaged). My friend and I jacked up the rear axle and replicated the noise. It sounded like it came from just forward of the rear final drive (that's what the rear differential is called, right? The big round boxy thingy in the back that the rear wheels connect to?). A quick peek forward of the rear diff and voila! See attached pic for the cracked whatever the hell it is. Harder to see is that the 'holes' for the bolts have the outside missing, so the 'holes' are like crescent moons. Basically it looks like its barely holding on. The diff moved up and down depending on whether or not it was receiving power or not, not sure how much movement is normal? But this made sense with when the noise was happening... under power the diff is pushed one direction, when coasting the wheels push it another, plus flex offered by the crack, causing a part of the sensor to rub onto a spinning part? https://www.dropbox.com/s/1z73jimwcf3uyjg/Cracked%20ring.jpg (An aside, what's the best way to add photos to posts? probably not this ^) Took a while, but I eventually found a diagram of a diff that had this part. I believe it is the ABS sensor unit? Anyway, driving to school today the sound was all of a sudden way louder, and is now pretty much constant. I hit a few bumps coming out of the driveway... maybe that made it worse? The crack looks wider now anyway... So I'm wondering if I can replace just this part without having to mess with the diff? I think I must have either the C-200 rear final drive or the H233B (4 pinion type) according to this: http://www.autozone.com/autozone/repairguides/Nissan-Pick-ups-and-Pathfinder-1989-1995/REAR-DRIVE-AXLE/Final-Drive/_/P-0900c1528018d4ea Guessing I can't just smash it out, it's probably holding tension/space/etc. I'm hoping that because it is front of the oil seal, replacing will be simple? But it looks like I have to remove the drive pinion nut to get the companion flange off, so in order to get this abs thing off... does that necessitate a overhaul of the trans? Can I still drive the thing? What would happen if this ring totally came apart? I thought about cleaning it up, throwing a jack under it to squeeze it together, then trying to weld it together, but A) I'd be using car batteries and jumper cables as a DC welder and apparently aluminum is a doozy to weld with proper equipment and C) who knows what that might do to nearby parts? LORCO can't order it, so I guess I'm off to a wrecking yard? Anyone have rear diff parts lying around? Ideas on fabrication? High-density plastic as a temp?

Also, what's the best way to add photos to posts? I'm having a hard time with that one...

Great, thanks for the clarification!

Hello everyone; Just a couple questions about posting/questioning etiquette. I've got a project on the go, wanted to share some pics... simple stuff for now, interior gutted, stereo hilariousness, rear seats removed... eventually some more mechanical to-do's and then I'm going to camperize the rear (and hopefully make wooden door panels, etc.) Is this 'general forum' the place to just sorta throw fun stuff to look at? Then for asking questions/needing help/desperately needing help, a post to the general 'garage forum' with pics/info/question? This may seem quite novice but I've never really used online forums before and wish to not clutter things up, as well as maximize your support! Many thanks, Charles.

Wow, thank you all for the warm welcome! I certainly will post questions in more relevant forum, I was just throwing down a brief overview of what I'm up to! I feel a whole bunch better already. I'm happy to double-shift and not worry about the trans, and I'm well on my way to figuring out the noise coming from the rear. Certainly not a lot of room to live in, but I have a few ideas up my sleeve, and I'll throw down some pics once that gets started. The rear seats are outta there, so that helps!

Hey everyone, I got excited about getting a Pathfinder and jumped right into one. 1994, XE, standard, 4WD. It's going to be my moving vehicle and home for a couple months as I move to Whitehorse, YK. It's got all sorts of little issues, and I'm looking forward to getting it up to tip top shape, hopefully with your help! I thought at first there were only cosmetic issues, as it had only 150,000km. Buuuuut, I found a sticker on the door saying it had the odometer replaced at 160,000... So I'm a little more concerned now about the little noises here and there. I sorted out the rusty floor (cut out sections and replaced with sheet metal). The main issues I still have to sort out are: -Cluster (odometer/speedometer, gas gauge, tac, all in various confusing states of not working). -Grinds going into fourth (4th gear synchro?) -ticking/flapping sounds coming from I think rear diff (intermittent, but not on acceleration, not with clutch disengaged... maybe a worn gear in there somewhere?). And then of course a million odds and ends. I look forward to getting to know some fellow pathfinder owners, and hopefully can contribute my experiences and troubleshoot, as well as getting some help with mine along the way! Cheers, Charles.