hawairish

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

I can't believe this post is 7 years old. In that time, can't say I've gotten my hands on a Harrop unit, but I can say that since owning my Pathfinder, I've installed a lot of traction devices! 2x Lokka R200A units TJM Pro Locker (my favorite) old style ARB R200A unit (easy) new style ARB R200A unit (not easy) 2x new style ARB H233B units numerous LSD configurations TRE eLocker If you're considering an eLocker, check out the TRE thread.

Side gear: The outer teeth are what engage the locking ring. The inner teeth engage the spider gears. If your application uses a thrust block (R50s don't), it gets inserted inside: Alright, so fast forward...getting it into the 3rd member housing is no different than any other LSD/locker install. Only notable for this that the RH bearing cap just needs a little filing or grinding to take off any high points for the bracket that holds the electromagnet stationary. The bracket is compact enough that grinding might not be necessary, but it's easy to do. (My TJM bracket is larger and definitely required grinding the bearing cap.) You can see how it has a slot for the peg on the electromagnet to keep it from spinning. The cable is a little too close to the bracket in my opinion, but once it's routed through the bulkhead, it's not in contact with it. Didn't get any close-up pics of the bulkhead fitting, but it's nothing special. Drill a 10.5mm hole, tap to M12x1.25. The cable comes without the harness installed for routing, and the bulkhead has an or-ring and fluid-tight compression jacket. Once routed, you just slip the pins into the connector. Pin order doesn't matter. All done!

Installed a TRE eLocker over the weekend for a buddy's Frontier. Installed no differently than an air locker, and unit seems decently built. Let's get started... TRE has 3 locker styles available; 2 air, 1 electric. This unit is the 31-spline TE136 eLocker (33-spline is TE135). As such, no air lines or accessories are needed for operation. Major selling point is that these lockers run close to $700-$750 USD, which is a steal. Even the air lockers (there's a ARB-clone TR136/TR135 and a "crab" locker TC136/TC135) are in the same price range, and they even include an air compressor I believe (another ARB-clone). They even have front R200A air (TR202) and eLocker (TE202) options. Considering ARBs are now near $1200, TJMs are basically NLA, Harrop doesn't want to sell lockers, Blokkas are practically unobtainable due to a bull$hit war, and no one seems to trust Lokka any more...well, this is a pretty clear-cut winner for the price and availability. I'm not a spokesperson for these guys, but this is a great entry point for lockers. The kit includes full wiring loom, switches, locker unit, bearings, thrust block, stationary bracket, bulkhead fitting, and other accessories. The pic below is incomplete because my buddy just dropped off the locker essentials for me to install into a 3rd member, but kept the wiring to pre-install that into the truck. Initial impressions were good. The interior packaging could have used some improvement, as some pieces of thin MDF chipped off and put crud all over the unit. The bag was a little shredded, but not terrible. The unit itself looked pretty good overall. There was a scratch and some flap-disc cleanup in one particular area. Operating function is pretty simple. There's an electromagnet on the end that remains stationary to the 3rd member housing while the differential is spinning. When the magnet is off, two "ramping" collars mate together, like so: When the electromagnet is energized, the ramping collar closest the magnet sticks to it, while the other collar (fixed to the differential housing) ramps away from it: When it lower collar ramps away, it pushes 4 pins outward, which engage a gear onto one of the side gears (shown later), which locks it to the differential housing and creates the locking action. Two notable things here that differentiate this eLocker from an air locker are: Even though the electromagnet is energized, the collar that sticks to it will eventually still rotate, but it remains locked. The magnet itself does not lock anything to it, but does create enough addition friction to hold the collar to some degree. This does also mean that there's additional friction when the carrier is rotating, unlike an air locker which does not introduce any new friction. The ramping design means that it will lock in forward or reverse, but that it will unlock if transitioning between. That is, the locker will lock-unlock-lock if the truck rolls a little, whereas an air locker remains locked 100%. Now, in my Harrop post it was discussed this operation could be problematic if gassing it from a rollback, but seeing this design I'm much less concerned. I believe it was the "pin type" lockers that would be more problematic than this "collar type" locker. Carrying on... The overall machining quality seems fine. Cover off, some oil and packing material crud inside. Return spring: In the unlocked position, this ring gear is recessed into the housing, allowing the side gear to spin freely like an open diff: When engaged, the ring gear is pushed outward to lock the side gear to the housing: Here's a pin head engaged out a little: The pins just slip into place, visible from the outside of the carrier:

A new 180F thermostat will for sure fix it. The new 170F unit that was installed is confirmed working exactly as it should, as well as the temp sensor and rear thermostat. The ECU just thinks it’s too cold still. I have a new unit in box. It’ll happen eventually.

Just to be sure, you're throwing both codes separately? Reason for asking is because the Factory Service Manual describes them together; P0138 for RH side and P01538 for LH side. Switzerland is LHD drive? If you are getting both codes, the FSM does indicate that there's a common 15A fuse, #25 (fuse box under steering column, 2nd column, 6th row). From the fuse box, it's a red/yellow wire that leads to a brown 24-pin harness behind the center dash, where it becomes a red/white wire at pin #3 of the o2 sensor harnesses in the engine bay. Those harnesses will be dark blue 4-pin; RH side at near cylinder 5 and LH side closest to cylinder 1 (closer to the oil cap). You should be able to probe those for 12V I'd think. Service manuals available here: https://www.nicoclub.com/nissan-service-manuals Drill down to your truck and year, then check out the Engine Control System chapter. A layout of all harness locations can be found towards the end of the Electrical System chapter.

Guessing so. I know wasn't me in the 9 yrs I've owned it. Part arrived today, I'll get around to installing it eventually.

The pinion is not disturbed, but because the carrier gets pulled with ring attached, the backlash needs to be set again. Ideally you’ll check backlash first in a few spots before undoing anything so you can try to hit those numbers again (or otherwise hit within the spec range).

So get this: I just took a closer look at my previous thermostat, which I had no reason to check previously because FSM says it's supposed to be a 170F unit, but it's a 180F unit. I guess my solution is to use a 180F unit. As far as I can tell, all the wiring is solid. I specifically inspected the loom for any damages the other weekend because all 3 of the codes conveniently relate to all three of the harnesses in the same wiring pigtail. I presume the wiring is fine because I was closely and constantly monitoring live data on my scanner and everything always seemed reasonable at all times. Now I need wrap my head around this. I'm guessing the previous owner installed an aftermarket 180F unit; looks like one on RA. The OE 170F unit fits 00-04 R50 and 03-08 350Z. FSM specs closure at 160F, which could explain why my temp seemed to regulate in the low/mid 160s in steady driving conditions. The 05-08 Frontier/X/R51 uses the 180F unit on its VQ40, but the housings is identical to VQ35 unit. I'd be using the R51 unit, essentially. Just trying to figure out why my ECU may ultimately need the 180F unit if it's supposedly "programmed" for a 170F unit. When researching the P0128 code online, I did see occasional mentions about some auto manufacturers needing to flash ECUs after thermostat changes, but that seemed like a bunch of fluff. But maybe that's the case here and my ECU now expects a 180F unit? I do see a few Nissan TSBs specifically about P0128, but nothing that pertains to my truck. Oddly, I see the VQ40 doesn't have a water control valve. I noticed the JDM R50 VQ35 doesn't have it either. Makes me wonder if there's any benefit to capping the intake manifold passage to the WCV. Such a crap design, too...spills coolant all over the top of the manifold around the knock sensor that's also buried in there. WTF Nissan.

@adamzan Aftermarket unit. It did test fine with water in a pot on the stove measured with thermometer and I ran a few tests to confirm open/close. Seemed gradual enough each time. But I think main thing here is that it stayed closed and sealed (confirmed) below 170F. The code suggests a stuck-open thermostat would cause the problem. I can see covering the radiator as necessary where you're at, but winters here are usually 50-70F/10-20C. Shouldn't be that detrimental here. Drove the truck for hours straight through freeway mountains over the past few weeks and still threw the code. I wonder if poor coolant circulation could cause this. FSM makes absolutely no mention of the water pump for this code, and I absolutely don't want to mess with that unless I'm 100% certain it's a problem. Maybe I'll temporarily replace a hose or two with some vinyl tubing and see how it flows.

Yeah, it's a silly code. The reason I don't believe there's an air pocket around the temp sensor is because the sensor and water control valve are on a crossover pipe that runs between the heads and has an output that wraps around the passenger side of the engine to the upper radiator hose, which exits higher than the crossover pipe. In the pic below, the sensor is by the dragon logo, and the WCV housing to its left. The Y-pipe by cylinder 3 runs to the heater core. The heater core return line is the black pipe running along the firewall. The little vertical tube with a rubber cap on it is the vent tube That is the high point of the system. As such, with enough drives (I spent a good chunk of Monday driving around to perform the drive patterns to get the truck emissions ready), I'd expect any air to roll out of the crossover tube pretty easily. The only place I'd expect trapped air at this point would be at the WCV on the intake plenum side if the coolant did not reach 203F to dump it into the crossover pipe and circulate it. Air on that side is inconsequential, though. Full system flow: Breather tube is on the "from heater" line. "To|From intake manifold collector" runs through the throttle body opening. I do have a radiator funnel and was using it exactly as you mentioned. Ran the truck a few times and let it sit. Eventually when I determined the vent tube was clogged and drilled it out (the tube and pipe is steel, so I'm guessing the persistent coolant level over the years just corroded where sat), I still had the funnel attached and about half full. I could tell coolant was circulating somewhat because crud I couldn't vacuum out eventually surfaced in the funnel. The thermostat is actually a triangular thermostat housing assembly that can only be installed one way; the thermostat part of it isn't replaceable, but yes, the valve was upward. Mine has a water inlet port for the oil cooler on ATs. The WCV is a normal thermostat shape, and it's installed flat; it's installed in a manner that allows coolant to flow across the thermostat body without being obstructed by the supporting vanes (as described in the FSM, no less). Everything said, I have also not seen any leaks whatsoever. All gaskets replaced, tightened to FSM spec. I was throwing these 3 codes: P0128 - this mess P0171 - Bank 1 fuel injection system too lean P1148 - Bank 1 closed loop control (faulty passenger upper O2 sensor) Part of my overhaul in August included new spark plugs, reconditioning the fuel injectors (cleaned, new o-rings, new pintles, new filters), and replacing all 4 O2 sensors. Long story short is I've been having all sorts of fuel/O2 issues since the overhaul, which is blowing my mind since I set out to prevent all these issues and chase some other code that popped up once a year that I can't recall. I just tore the engine down again (four times in as many months?!) maybe 2 weeks ago to troubleshoot all 3 codes. My thought process, given all the codes, is that if the passenger bank was in fact running lean, then maybe half the engine wasn't getting hot enough. The spiral seemed a faulty O2 sensor causing lean condition causing insufficient engine heating. P0171 suggests a lot of things, including a leak in the exhaust; that seemed the most plausible while other suggestions seemed implausible. There's a massive backstory bull$h1t fiasco regarding trying to replace the catalytic converters during the overhaul and even up to last week, but let's just say I finally replaced the gaskets on the cats. I'll note the passenger cats and exhaust manifold were very sooted over...a far cry from a too-lean condition, but possibly sooted from when I was initially dealing with a rich condition months prior. I also pulled all the plugs, injectors, and coil packs again, cleaned everything again, and moved them all around to different positions. The code has not resurfaced. P1148 was pretty specific to the upper passenger O2 sensor. I monitored the voltages on all the sensors with my scanner over the course of several drives and observed that the nominal voltage for it was not fluctuating as it should per FSM. All other sensors were fine. I'm still bitter about having the most difficult sensor to replace be the one that failed. The other 3 are easy. Replacing this one sucks tremendously and basically requires pulling the cats. New sensor is functioning as expected. Code has not resurfaced. One additional notable: I installed an aftermarket transmission cooler during the overall and initially ran it in series with the OE cooler built into the bottom of the radiator. I eventually bypassed the aftermarket cooler and reverted to using only the OE cooler when dealing with some other performance issues that surfaced. I still threw the P0128 code in the stock configuration. Just the other week I hooked the aftermarket cooler back up and bypassed the OE cooler. All said (and sorry for a long post), only P0128 persists now, fortunately. I was scrambling to get it emissions ready because my tags expire at the end of the month. The P0128 code resurfaced as Pending code on the drive to the emissions station, which fortunately doesn't prevent passing. As far as I can tell, the system is finally in top shape (my test drives on Monday were yielding 14-15 MPG, which is worlds better than it has been and pretty solid for my configuration), so this code feels like a lot of tail chasing. I may just block part of the radiator and call it a day. What I'd really like to know is if I can just tweak the coolant ratio to reduce efficiency so the temp will be hotter.

Hey fellas, this one has me stumped and I've been fighting it for several weeks. Been throwing P0128 codes, which indicates that the engine temp is not reaching normal operating temps. This is on my 04 R50 3.5L and I believe it's been doing it since August when I did a bit of an engine overhaul. Here's what I can tell you: Installed new thermostat and water control valve. Also installed new gaskets, upper/lower hoses, and replaced coolant. I run 50/50 per FSM. I refilled with a gallon of concentrate, a gallon of distilled, then topped it off/overflow with pre-mixed 50/50. I've idled and revved the engine per FSM, put it on ramps, and otherwise attempted to get any air out several times. Repeated hot/cold engine cycles and top-offs. The rear breather tube was clogged, so I drilled the crud out and got it to a point where coolant eventually spurted out. (For those not familiar, there is a vent tube above the engine at the center of the firewall.) That is the high point in the system. FSM says coolant should come out that, but seems impossible considering it's a few inches higher than the radiator neck. The FSM and internet suggest the #1 culprit is a thermostat stuck open. Again, brand new, but I pulled it for testing. Was closed when cool; the neck held water. It opened at 170F as spec'd in hot water. Closed again in cool water. Thermostat is working perfectly. I also tested the water control valve because I had everything apart. Was closed, then opened at 203F as spec'd, closed at anything cooler. Water control valve is working perfectly. Pulled the temperature sensor. Per FSM, measured resistance at several temps from 68F-194F and it remained in spec at all points. Temperature sensor is working perfectly. With engine off, noticed a tiny screech noise when turning the fan clutch by hand, and there was a little wobble when it was warmed up. Installed new fan clutch, new fan blade, and new radiator cap two weekends ago thinking maybe the clutch had too much load at lower RPM. New clutch didn't feel much different, but it's clear it's performing differently (better) than the old clutch was. ECU seems fine. It reports changes in coolant temp and they seem accurate enough. I was also monitoring other sensors; ECU responded as expected. Cycled heating and cooling modes in the cabin; blows hot/cold respectively. My scanner shows that the truck only hits about 132-140F when idling for about 10-15 mins. On steady drives, observed operating temp is around 158-166F. I presume operating temp needs to be above 170F; internet says 195-220F is normal. Temp gauge reads slightly below 50%, and always has for as long as I've owned the truck. Ambient temps around me are about 50-70F this time of year, but it was "underheating" during the fall, and it's been underheating on recent long (6-8hr) freeway hauls, too. Heater seems to work just fine. Since I've been fighting to resolve two other engine codes, I've needed the truck to hit 158F at idle and I've only been able to do so by obstructing the radiator about 40-60%. I could only get it to hit 180-190F at nearly 100% radiator obstruction and revving over 2K for a several minutes. Now, while I'm super pleased that I have an extremely optimal cooling system, the engine code is frustrating me. Anybody got ideas on how to increase coolant temps beyond blocking the radiator? Does it seem likely I've still got air trapped somewhere? I haven't tried tipping the truck sideways, but I might.

That's the problem, unfortunately...if you re-gear, you have to hope that the current spacers are too short so that you can add a shim to it. Otherwise can only shave it down and then maybe shim up if needed, or replace with shims. Best option has been to get the whole diff (R200, or H233B 3rd member) since it'll already be set up for the gears in it. For the H233B swap on my Frontier, I needed to move the R&P set to another housing with ABS on the snout and lucked out the existing spacers kept in within spec. I don't think I'll be as lucky if I ever get around to putting the 5.13s into the R50. Nissan did actually change the thread size of the pinion, but it went to the size we run now. The older 3rds that had 9 bolt holes to mount and 10mm bolts on the carrier had pinions with smaller shafts and nut threads. Learned that the hard way on the Frontier swap when trying to get 3.9s from an 87 D21 to work in a 93 axle. But, later W/D21 and everything up to 04 are the same size. Same pinion nut and bearings between WD21 and R50, too. Silly Nissan. That's an odd score line, but I wouldn't sweat it if the seal clears it. How did the old seal look, and was it leaking?

Got a pic?