bartine

We didn't understand about how bad the frame rust can get on these till after we bought it. We did look at it, and the back bumper was rusted out, but it looked like mostly surface rust underneath on the frame. After buying it, we looked at some of the pictures of frame rust on the 95's - Wow - scary stuff. But luckily, there was only one place where the damage really looked bad at all - on the rear passenger side of the frame. It was clean over the wheel wells. There is one hole, the size of a quarter on that back frame rail. After we treat it and re-coat the frame, should we go ahead and get this spot welded over, or should It be OK?

Hi to the board. Our son turned 16, and he really wanted a 4x4 to drive back and forth to school. I live up in the Maryland / DC area, and and most of the older SUV's we found were rusted out hulks. So - after much searching, we recently picked up a 1995 Pathfinder. It only has 100,000 miles on it and hasn't been four wheeling. The truck was cheap at $1,200, and although the suspension was bad and it was leaking from the water pump, it drove very nicely. The interior was perfect - it was a one owner vehicle and the guy literally put seat covers on it when he drove it off the lot. The guy we got it from literally drove 5 miles back and forth to work for years, and did some basic maintenance to keep it up. But - it does need some work. The first thing we did was replace the ESS as the speedometer stopped working. That was a quick fix, and now all looks good there. We cleaned everything off, an are ready to go. My wife is a gem and likes to help out - we will be working on it moving forwards in three different areas: The water pump is shot and is leaking through the weep hole and the timing belt was never replaced - so will do a timing belt and water pump replacement. Although it doesn't look like it is leaking any oil, I also ordered camshaft and crankshaft seals and may do those while we are in there. We got all OEM parts for the engine. I found the write-up by Doctor Bill on the timing belt and seals - that is some great work. The suspension is shot - all the rubber is perished, and there is some rust - ordered new parts from RockAuto and will be replacing everything and putting in new struts. The tensioner rod on the driver's side was actually broken. So - we got the higher end Mevotech parts, which should be fine, and ordered a set of OEM tensioner rods to replace both sides. Finally - there was some frame rust, but there is only one bad spot - in the passenger rear section. We are going to treat it and re-paint the frame. We got some Eastwood Fast Etch Rust Dissolver, some Internal Frame Coating w/Spray Nozzle, and a bottle of AeroKroil to help with those rusted bolts. If you haven't used it, that AeroKroil stuff rocks! So - we are hoping to be up and rolling with a fully functional, low(ish) miles Pathfinder in the next few weeks. If this had been a Toyota 4Runner, it would have cost 3 to 4 times as much - so we are really pleased!