bartine

Finally put everything back together after our weekend in Georgia. Drove it to the gas station. Other than needing to adjust the belts, it was perfect. Thanks to everyone who dropped me a note or advice - it was really appreciated! Now, we need to buy some tires - still need to get that alignment done. Ben

My thanks go out to Doc and all the others that contributed to this forum! Just got through working through a ton of stuff on y 95 and this was great help...

Found a nice, rust free Pathfinder being parted out in Elgin, South Carolina. Bought the rear bumper and the running boards. Lots of great parts left for those who might live in the South. Michael, the guy who owns the truck is very nice to deal with. It has a bad tranny, all else is good. http://columbia.craigslist.org/pts/5001103672.html

Front of the engine is torn down. Decided to look at the seals - one cam seal was visibly leaking, the others looked OK. I've never changed an engine seal before - and Doc's horror story on the engine seals makes this never racking. Removing the cam gears / pulleys was easy - I used a strap wrench we had bought to help with oil filters. It held the cam gear nicely - then the nut came right off. Well - it was a pain, but it did come off anyway. Tomorrow - replacing the cam and crankshaft seals. Are there other places on the front of these engines where it can leak oil? Although this thing only has 100k miles, every single piece of rubber so far has been perished - I'd rather go ahead and replace it now...

No offense taken at all - we were planning on getting one once everything was done. We took the tie rods off and compared them to the originals. Turns out I made a tactical error. We had very carefully counted the threads on each side of the tie rod to make sure we installed it the same way. That was a great concept if we were replacing them with OEM replacements. We weren't, so this time we measured them and they were way too short. Adjusted, and working much better now. Now we are tearing down the front of the engine to replace the water pump. I went ahead and ordered a new sending unit and got a new fuel pump. Although there isn't anything wrong with the current pump, might as well replace that too. Also got new breaks on order all the way around.

I changed out everything but the sway bar. That could be exactly what it is. I need tires anyway - could get it done at the same time at Sears... I tested things by pulling the tires and looking for play with a pry bar and it all looked good. One step at a time I guess!

Ahhhhh.... Deep breath.... Finished the suspension, put in the rear shocks. Re-installed the gas tank, and decided to go for a quick test drive. It now drives 10 times worse than it did when we started. It was all over the road, and loud whines coming from the wheels. This could be the rotors, but it could be the hubs too. Then - when we pull in the driveway, one of the leads to the fuel pump on top of the gas tank gave way - it was really badly rusted to begin with, and just putting the hoses on and pulling them off must have been too much. So - it is spraying gas everywhere. I am fairly sure that there is no way to get the fuel pump off the top of the tank - those bolts were really badly rusted. So - we would have to get a new gas tank and a new fuel pump. Also - the tires are shot - I guess there is a chance it is the tires causing it to drive so badly. I really wish I had a set of decent tires I could put on it just to see if it drove better. I'm at a loss here. It just doesn't seem worth it. At this stage, I've only got $2,200 in the vehicle. So much work, and it is just a drop in the bucket.

Nice - thanks. We are heading down to Atlanta in two weeks for my son's graduation. Looks like there are multiple bumpers available on the way down from Maryland!

Question: The rear bumper is totaled - was rusted out. Where is a decent place to get a replacement bumper, and what exactly do I need to buy? Don't care about pretty, just want something to bolt on to protect the rear of the vehicle. At this stage, I don't want to pay a ton of money. Any thoughts? Anybody have a decent rear bumper they don't need?

Update - front suspension and shocks are done - replaced pretty much everything up front. Looked at the back and decided to just replace the struts back there. I was going to replace the rear stabilizer arms, but where the upper part bolts in it is rusted badly - tried to get a wrench on it and it just won't hold. I'd have to cut away the cup that is around it so I could get to the bolt and cut it off. So - Next - bolt the fuel tank back in place. Then - we have to replace the bad water pump and will do the timing belt while we are at it. There was so much rust on this vehicle. Honestly - the way the undercoating was designed was criminal. There were overlapping gaps like joins in the undercoating - and they all trapped water. I've scraped all those back now.

Got it. Bored out the hole a bit to make it bigger, then attached an L68111 bearing where the old cup had been attached. Once everything was tightened down, it fit perfectly. For anyone else who does this job, it was rough initially to get both of the bolts that attach to the lower control arm lined up at the same time. Turns out, it works fine if you jack up the lower control arm to get one bolt in, then lower it all the way to get the other bolt in place. When we went to the other side, the tensioner arm looked OK, but we decided to replace it anyway. Glad we did - the arm snapped off while we were taking the back bolt off! To anyone who has an older Pathfinder - if you haven't replaced your tensioner arms, I'd go and do it. Just like doing your timing belt - required maintenance! Suspension will be done this weekend, with the rear control arms next to be replaced. Then the gas tank goes back in (after de-rusting everything). It is looking solid underneath now, but geez- that was a whole lot of work!

Now - the tensioner rod area. I had not read the post above - when the guy came by we just welded a plate over the hole. Sounds like we messed up. Do I need to drill this hole out a bit more? It isn't snug around the bearing sleeve, but it isn't loose either...

Passenger seat area:

So - got some welding done. The frame and passenger seat floor look really good now. Before: After:

OK - while we are waiting on the guy to come do some welding next Saturday, we started in on the suspension. First - the tension rod on the drivers side was broken in half - sheared off where it was bolted onto the frame. It took me forever to figure out what this part was - I looked at every single part on Rockauto and couldn't find it - then finally stumbled onto Lint's post from 2011 - http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/31169-compression-tension-strut-rod-oh-crap/ Thank goodness - it links to parts and everything! If you look at the hole, there is a cup like washer that is totally disintegrated that goes in front of the hole in the frame the rod and bushings go into. So - after some surgical removal - the back part of it actually was still attached to the frame - it just broke off when we attached a wrench to it! The question - I've read of people repairing the hole and welding a new cup in place. Do I have to buy a new cup for the inner area of the frame hole - the one that got destroyed? Or - can we just place a new cup there and snug it up to hold everything in place? Part of the cup was still in place in this pic - but it literally just fell off when we took the remains of the tensioner rod off. You can see the cup that is still there on the back pic here - then the next picture shows the front of the hole -

Also - he is going to fix the lovely and predicted hole in the floor pan under the rear sear / over the axle.

Sprayed all the bolts with penetrating oil, let them soak over night. I got a breaker bar at Harbor Frieght, and started to wear myself out. Eventually, I got all four of the bolts on that hold the gas tank cover in place. I used my jack to hold it in place before I took the bolts all the way off. Then removed all the hoses. Most of the clamps were rusted away and had to be broken off. Once I got the main hose off for the gas tank, I was able to get a plastic line into the tank and siphoned off all the gas. That was a pain! Once all the hoses were off and the gas was drained, I went ahead and put a large nut into the 4 screws I had already taken off and then put them back in with some more penetrating oil to hold the gas tank in place while I took of the last 2 bolts. Those last 2 bolts were by far the worst. One broke, but the other one came off. Then, I used my jack with a large piece of wood on top of it and some old shirts for padding, used my jack to hold the tank in place while I took off the four bolts. Then lowered it down very slowly. Of course, I had forgotten to take off one hose - it is for the fuel filter - is off on the passenger side but not underneath the access hole. Took that off, and it dropped right down - no problem. Other than that top plate, the tank is in good shape. Taking it off was more tedious than anything. Every single bolt was rusted in place, and I had to use the breaker bar till the last few turns of the wrench. I called the guy, and I believe he is going to come over next Saturday to weld up the frame.

Took off the access plate - good grief -is everything on this truck rusted? There weren't any issues with the fuel pump or gas gauge. I'm hoping I can just de-rust the top of the fuel pump and sensor, paint it, coat everything with a ton of silicon and keep going. Thoughts?

I've got to say that the the Eastwood Fast Etch rust remover did the job. I sprayed down the frame and parts 5 or 6 times over and hour and let it sit overnight. The result isn't perfect, it it looks pretty darn good! Before: And - After:

I have to drop the tank - the $160 is just for welding...

Took the bumper off Sprayed the frame down with Eastwood Fast Etch Kept it sprayed down for an hour, it cut some of surface rust - but it has a ways to go. Thanks so much for keeping me positive on this guys! I just hadn't had to deal with rust like this before, kinda had me panicked! The Fast Etch knocked it back a bit - not perfect but better than it was... Found a guy who freelances that is willing to weld it up for $160. But - he wants to have the gas tank removed for safety purposes. Is that really necessary? Don't want to blow anything up of course...

There is a ton of rust on the floor there. Does this need to be welded / repaired as well, or is it OK? I'm in a non-rural area around DC in Montgomery County Maryland which is one of the most rigidly bureaucratic and controlling / worst places in the world. I'm quite sure they would put me through sheer hades because of this rust. I'm going to have to try to find an independent to do this, or take up welding myself.

The metal is ok for what is left - I pounded on it pretty hard to see what would happen, and nothing else would come loose. So - is this still salvageable? I'm not a welder, so I'll have to find someone to fix this if it can be fixed... Ben

Hit it with a hammer - excellent advice. So - there was good news, and bad news. I started at the front of the frame with a hammer and a steel press rod, and tapped around - hard. The good news is drivers side is rock solid all the way to the back, and from the back passenger section forward the passenger frame is solid. The bad news - there was rot all around that one small hole. You were dead square Pav. So - much more damage than I thought!

That really is the worst part - the rest looks much better.