hawairish

Case not closed. Now truck is running warmer on occasion. Took it for a drive the other day, a few minutes on the freeway, then a 10-mile highway stretch. 60F outside, cruising at 65mph, 2200 RPM. The needle climbed to about 80%, usually stays around 50%. Turning the heater on dropped it as expected. So I can't win at 170F or 180F. This is some BS.

We put things on pause in 2022 due to a slew of items in lives, but we've been sitting on parts for a few kits. We've talked about getting things rolling this year to clear out inventory.

Right answer for what? On a side note, I think I saw you join the NiCO forums and chime in on the strut tower rust. Do you have significant corrosion there?

No sweat, @Everett. We've all gotten frustrated at a repair or two. It's to be expected on older trucks. So, it actually sounds like you just need a re-work. Initially I thought you greased the bolts and tightened to spec, but I think what you're saying is that you only snugged them and the grease was to allow the bushings to rotate in their mounts. If so, the correction here would be to: Put the truck on the ground Loosen the bolts a little (also do for the panhard bar, just in case) Get the suspension to settle to ride height (a few bounces on the bumpers and door sills ought to do) Tighten all bolts to spec Rear upper link: 103-116 ft-lbs Rear lower link: 85-98 ft-lbs for the forward hardware, 103-116 ft-lbs rearward hardware Panhard bar: 103-116 ft-lbs Front lower control arm: 69-96 ft-lbs for the forward bolt, 87-108 ft-lbs for the bolts that hold the bracket securing the tail bushing. If you haven't already, get all the FSM chapters from https://www.nicoclub.com/nissan-service-manuals. You'll find all the instructions there, parts diagrams, troubleshooting steps, torque specs, notes (straight from the book: "Final tightening for rubber parts requires to be carried out under unladen condition with tires on ground."), etc. Get all the PDFs and save them to your computer.

Factory Service Manual...the actual Nissan service manual. https://www.nicoclub.com/nissan-service-manuals. You can save all the chapter PDFs locally (and should). The chapter you want is Front & Rear Suspension. You'll find a Front Suspension > Components page within that's the parts diagrams and torque specs.

So were they tightened when the suspension was still drooped? Greasing the bolts doesn't matter here because a bonded bushing sleeve does not rotate about the bolt. If the bolts are already loose, greasing may be a cause. What are you torquing them to?

When you tightened the trailing arm and control arm bolts, was the truck on ground (i.e., not on jacks, jack stands)? Rubber bushings need to be tightened at ride height, otherwise they'll shear prematurely because you'll have effectively preloaded the bushings (they'll already be twisted at ride height). Poly bushings can be tightened in lifted positions, provided the metal sleeves are not bonded to the poly bushings.

Haha, actually, I reaped that benefit the other night. It was noticeably hotter than it had been.

Finally installed the 180F unit in the truck last week. No codes, reaches operating temp a lot better. Case closed.

Do you know what temp your current thermostat operates at? Spec is 170F, but I can tell you that a 170F unit on my 04 has been throwing a CEL for coolant temp being too low. I had a 180F unit in there previously, did some maintenance items and put a 170F unit it, and it kept throwing codes. I just put a 180F unit back in the other day and no codes. That all said, I wouldn't recommended anything lower than 170F per Nissan spec. However...given that the R50 thermostat also fits a 370Z per RockAuto, and there's a 140F R50 unit that fits a 350Z, and all the housing gaskets crossref to all those models (and many more), I'd say you have options. The 180F unit I used is also spec'd for VQ40 vehicles.

Not sure I follow where the crack happened...on the exhaust manifold before the cat near the upper sensor, or after the upper cat before the lower sensor? We love pics of broken things here. Generally speaking, I don't think an O2 sensor throws an immediate code, but I would think there's probably a Pending code if you were to scan it that will eventually move to a Stored code after a number of trips. As far as removing cats...I mean, there are VG33 headers available that accomplish that...though not sure if any were specifically for Pathfinders, but they'll fit the block. And not all R50s had lower cats; only CA-emissions trucks had lower cats, Federal had resonators. Lower resonators and straight pipes are available from RockAuto.

Sorry @yeedonkey and @Everett, I took a picture of the bags then totally forgot to post up. Airlift 1000 (kit p/n 60742) Missing is a tee if you wanted to just use a single Schrader valve, but otherwise there's 5' and 6' feet of 1/4 line with through-hole mountable Schraders and just needing small hose clamps/clips to secure the hose to the bags, and cable ties depending on how/where you route them. $50 shipped from AZ; PM if interested.

The sensors are fundamentally the same, but the key difference is the harness color and wire length. You can get away with buying 2x of upper and lower, provided you know which upper and which lower has the longer wiring. I swapped these not too long ago and can say that you probably want to stick with buying what's labeled by position to avoid having extra wire slack around where all the exhaust manifolds. But, if I recall correctly, the driver's side sensors are longer due to the harnesses being near cylinder 2, whereas the passenger side harnesses are near cylinder 5.

I have a set of used airbags, if interested. I'll have to check that I have everything needed for install, though.

Sure, or buy one of these: https://www.harborfreight.com/1000-lb-capacity-engine-support-bar-96524.html