GhostPath

Most likely bad/worn tie rods/tie rod ends, etc., for the vague steering. You probably should look at overhauling your entire steering linkage with that many miles. Bumps on the road could be control arm bushings, ball joints, wheel bearings, or a host of other issues including a simple alignment problem. Have the vehicle's alignment checked and report back.

Did your rust problem appear before or after your corrosion warranty ran out? If after, then there's nothing they can or should do about it. The general sentiment here seems to be against you. If you feel so strongly about it, feel free to pay a lawyer and press your case. And in the meantime, if Toyotas please you so well, please sell your Nissans and buy Toyotas instead - that way the rest of us don't have to hear your complaining.

If it was low carbon steel, it wouldn't rust quite so bad. Lots of trucks use 1/4" steel for their frames back in this era, too.

Other way around. *High* quality steel, but thin. Nissans (and other Japanese vehicles) tend to be made out of much better (read: higher carbon) steel than Detroit used/uses, so for a required strength, they can use less steel. They don't always, but they can. That said, high-carbon steel will rust out much faster than cheaper low-carbon steel (just ask a good knifemaker), so more rustproofing needs to be applied and more care needs to be taken than with low-carbon vehicles (or knives).

You forgot powerful Hella lights, clear shields for same, a winch, and front and rear hitches. I'd keep the sway bars and put some disconnects on.

Hahaha... I traded those tires and wheels to someone for the 16" wheels and tires that are on my truck now. It's got "street slicks" on it now, so the code enforcement guys stay happy.

Um, it's not just 94/95. You need to read the boards more - it's *all* the WD21s. I have a 90 parts truck that's got frame rot. Here's the pic to prove it. If you live anywhere it snows and they use salt on the road, it disintegrates - just like every other Japanese car from the era. Of course, some of them *won't* disintegrate. Why? Because some dealerships actually *did* do those "undercoating" and "rustproofing" sprays that are so often ripoffs. Others live in dry climates and are less exposed to moisture. This one was from South Carolina; it was a very, very base XE and there's no signs that the thing had *any* treatments at the dealership or that it was ever well cared for. My 90 SE started off life in humid Jackson, MS, kicked around there for a decade, then came to North Texas. While it doesn't have all the options, it DOES clearly have traces of an aftermarket undercoating or rustproofing spray on the undercarriage. Yeah, I already took the correction on the Hardbody. The Toyotas, though... no. The Tacoma came in out 95 and was really an early release 96 model. There *are* non-Tacoma 95's out there, my schoolmate bought one new my senior year in high school. If you had one of those, it rusted. Toyota won't do anything about that. Nor will they do anything about the rust on the T100 trucks. You are aware that the Tacoma has been a huge nightmare for Toyota and that they're only doing this to keep people from fleeing to Nissan, right? http://www.ziebart.com/ As an owner of British cars, I have little sympathy for you - especially because you should have caught the frame rot before it became too bad - as it is rather obvious. Brit cars like to rust in not-so-obvious places which tends to then kill the car in an irrepairable fashion. All I'm seeing here is the typical whine - "Something went wrong and it can't be my fault, who can I sue?!" If you do start a class action lawsuit, *I* won't be participating.

You may have airlocked the master cylinder primary circuit. Try bleeding the master cylinder.

I type corrected. The 98-up *Frontiers* don't have it, though, or I've never heard of it. The 95-down Nissan truck is just like the 95-down Toyota truck. It rusts. Deal with it.

Yes... So, pray tell how Toyota is handling the rust issues on the 75-95 trucks and 4Runners. Those things rust out so fast it's not even funny. My 82 was rusted out around the top cab corners by the time it was 10.. in rust-free Southern California!!!! Hint - they're actually doing WORSE than Nissan. The Tacoma is being bought back because aside from the rust problems, they've had suspension problems, drivetrain problems, electrical problems.... Toyota is in serious danger of losing their customer base with that truck. And the rust issue would be the straw that broke the camel's back for many customers. FYI, they're only doing it for the 96-up trucks, which are the Tacomas. If you had a 95 Toyota, you'd still be screwed. Compare like to like, please. The 96-up Pathfinders don't have this problem. The Hardbodies don't seem to have this problem. This is a weirdness of the old WD21 that they've corrected since.

A long overdue reply - yes, Hella 450 will fit just fine. You will have to do some splicing of wires.

A little alcohol on the rubber is fine as it cleans the dirt and crud off. However, it also dries out the rubber and accelerates its decay. You should follow up with some treatment that includes a plasticizer replenisher. I use a combination of Black Magic's Pro-Shine Protectant followed up with some of the same company's silicone-based Tire Wet for finishing.

There are now treatments and such that you can use to rejuvenate and prevent plastics and rubber from decaying. Armor All is not one of them. Also, have you checked the dealer on this sort of thing? For dealer parts, Nissan is surprisingly reasonable about pricing - even without discounts. Often the new parts have "fixes" for problems.

That usually doesn't work out so well, given the typical age of a Pathfinder. You're likely to rupture the line.

And then there's the *reason* why all the Nissans, even the cheapest, from this era had fuel idiot lights in addition to their gauges - the pump is dependent on fuel for cooling, more so than most pumps. Running it dry can actually damage it. It's in the manuals on some models (but not on my 90's).

My Pathfinder (mostly stock) will fit, but there's a few places there where my truck can get *down* a hill, but it can't get back up.

Bleach makes a lot more smoke and it makes it easier to spin up the tires. Of course, you have to replace the tires after using bleach... but you were going to have to do that anyway. Oh, and don't think I drive like granny. I'm apparently the only person here who drives their Pathy hard enough *on the street* to break both my front sway bar mounts.

Because he's got a stick and not an auto? If you want to do it (and be a moron), pour some bleach on the tires and ground and watch the fun. Burnouts in a Pathy are hard on parts.

Yeah, I could do that, but it's such a hack... I prefer more elegant solutions.

I was looking at my WD21 today and I noticed that 1) the hinges seem to have gaskets underneath them, and 2) those gaskets are cracked because I'm seeing water getting into the interior from there. I looked at FAST but I couldn't find any gaskets listed for those places. Anyone ever replace these or have a part number for these?

You're not the only one from Dallas.

www.courtesyparts.com?

Not the first time. See this article on another forum for a related story: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1904237/posts

"Tune it right" Hm, okay. Let's see. Out of the box, the Chevy Smallblock 350 makes about 280hp, max without aftermarket parts. The LS makes, oh.... 350-500, depending on which LS motor you get. You can get an LS cheap out of a wrecked GM car or truck of recent vintage. SBCs are starting to become hard to find in junkyards, save for those few that cater to older vehicles. Assuming equal dollars spent on both, for the price of a reliable, properly tuned 500hp carbed SBC, you can have a 900hp LS1. And you never have to rejet when the weather changes.

I'm assuming that you're new to Japanese vehicles or to the phenomenon of internet forums about Japanese vehicles. Otherwise, you couldn't possibly have missed what JDM stands for. JDM is short for "Japanese Domestic Market." From Wikipedia: JDM parts are highly prized among US and European owners of certain Japanese car models. Not so much the Pathfinder, as the JDM part differences are pretty minor and have no advantage in normal use. On the other hand, the Civic guys go nuts over JDM parts because the JDM Civic is usually a *lot* better than the US one. Likewise with the US S13/S14 240SX guys. Now, as to what is commonly called a "used JDM engine" - due to draconian vehicle inspection laws in Japan, as well as Japanese laws intended to keep their auto industry running at full capacity all the time, it is often cheaper for a Japanese car owner to replace his engine (or the entire car) rather than keep it once it is more than a few years old. This results in vast numbers of low-mileage engines being swapped out from perfectly fine cars, or engines being removed from discarded cars with low miles. Typically these engines have around 35-65,000 miles on them and have usually been fairly well cared for. Since there is such an enormous supply of these, you can get a replacement engine that has been brought into the US by an importer for cheap - and sometimes you can even pick up a power boost that way. (Don't count on that, though.) You can get them with or without warranties, and installation is available at many shops that offer these. Anyway, it's a cheap alternative to a local rebuild or an unknown junkyard engine. There are JDM engine importers in every major US city (yes, even Detroit). You need to find a good one, because a bad one will fob off awful garbage on you. You can also find hundreds of them online. Just do a search for "JDM engines" and you'll find more vendors than you ever wanted. Good luck!