bigmatt

OK, I noticed the rust problem on my 01 Pathfinder when I replaced my Struts back in April. Spent 3 months getting ready for my wedding and once the honeymoon was over I dug out the Recall notice and took the vehicle into the local dealership. I figured I'd add my experiences for future reference. First, the Damage. When I replaced my struts (April) I noticed a rust crack on the fender. I could stick a screwdriver through some areas of the crack but it was not seperating. If Nissan had not issued the recall, I was just going to cut out the section with serious rust (2" x 8") and weld in a steel patch. 4 months after I originally found the crack (last week) it had opened up to a hole 1 1/2" wide x 8" long. It wasn't rusted, it actually started peeling back the strut tower mount. Pic below So I called the dealership and they took a look. When they put it on the lift and took pressure off the strut tower the gap closed back up. The first 2 spot welds had broken and the strut tower was peeling open like a sardine can. Dealership said it was repairable but not driveable. They overnighted in the parts and I should have it back Monday or Tuesday. I was curious what the fix so I dug up the full recall notice and the detailed fix. If anyone's interested you can read here http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/docservlet/Artemis/Public/Recalls/2011/V/RCRIT-11V244-1111.pdf The one thing that I noticed is that the inspected areas (Area 1 and Area 2) are not really the bad rust areas or even the failure areas. They are the areas the repair bracket bolts to. As long as the steel in that area is solid the bracket will reinforce any weak areas and prevent further failure. Bigmatt

My understanding was the jeep springs were for a subframe drop (4.5" of lift). I did consider replacing the spring with OME's, but I would still have needed new shocks. If I was going to keep the vehicle long term I would probably have gone OME's all the way around, but home ownership has made me wish for a truck for a couple of years now. Probably going to pick one up in a year or two and trade in the pathy. Next weekend I will replace the struts call it good for suspension upgrades. Bigmatt

Ok, finally got the pictures loaded up. Yes, my existing springs are wore out and so were my shocks. With this mod I was able to replace the shocks and fix the sagging rear end for $80 First is the shocks installed. Not very impressive, they just bolted into the stock location. I only took pictures of the Passenger side. The shocks will also fit around the AC lines on the drivers side Next is the stock ride height Air shocks at 50 psi. Ride height increased by 2" And here is where I routed the air lines to. I picked up the compressor for $25 at Kmart. It has an automatic shutoff at a set pressure so I should be able to set the pressure and leave it plugged in in the rear storage area. If it works the way I want it to, it'll air up the shocks to 30 psi every time I turn on the ignition. Bigmatt

Nope, This is on a 2001 R50 5 speed. As far as I've read this hasn't been done before so I figured I'd do a quick overview. Bigmatt

So the wife went out of town this weekend and I finally got some time to take this project on. The shocks are Gabriel Hi Jackers off a 2005 Silverado 2wd. Extended and compressed lengths are very close to stock. This project starts with making the shocks fit. The top mount needs a bushing machined to fit the stock 12mm bolt. The bottom mount needs to be reamed open to 5/8". If you need to ask how to do this then this project probably isn't for you. Bolt on the new shocks, route the air lines to a convenient area and enjoy your new ride height. I mounted the air valve in the rear cubby on the passenger side of the vehicle. It's convenient to get to and out of sight. I measured the stock ride height at 19" to the trailer hitch with no load. After I sat on the bumper (~225lbs of dead weight) this dropped to 17 1/2". With 50 PSI in the shocks the unloaded ride height increased to 21". With me on the bumper this dropped to 19 1/2". This should let me load up with 3 friends and a weekends worth of camping gear and not have to drive on the bumpstops. Photobucket is not coperating tonight so no pictures yet. I'll try again in the morning. I think I covered the majority of the details, if anyone has specific questions let me know and I'll do my best to answer. Bigmatt

How good are your struts? I've got a passenger side that's about shot and it does the same thing. The sound you're hearing is the wheel bouncing off the pavement. This also causes the wobble. Bigmatt

Trouble shooting was a 1 step process. Have your codes read, autozone does this for free. Mine gave me a Misfire code and a Primary ignition code. This told me either plugs or coils. As far a difficulty, the #6 coil pack is the easiest to get to which is why I put my Suspect coil from 2 years ago in that location. Getting to 1-5 is more difficult because you have to remove the engine cover and several other items to get to them. It's an afternoon job at the most. Just make sure you have a good socket set and plenty of extensions. Bigmatt

I swapped out the misfiring coil pack today. Misfire is gone for now. I installed the Standard Motor Products Part # UF331 through Rock Auto. Take a look at the picture of the two coil packs They are identical, except that the Nissan logo on the boot has been scraped off and so has the Part # on the LH side. I'm thinking Standard Auto buts Nissan units but in order to import them they have to remove any association with Nissan. So if anyone is looking to save some money on replacing these I would look at the Standard Motor Products brand through Rock Auto. Bigmatt

That looks about the same as mine. I think mine's a U-haul brand but the mounts are the same. I've never had any trouble with it. It'll handle being grossly overloaded (20 mile trip riding hard on the bump stops) and it's just low enough to keep you from dragging you bumper on the ground when offroading. Plus it becomes a really convenient place to put your ORV stickers. Bigmatt

I've got Kuhmo Road Ventures in 255/70-16 and have never had a problem with the rear rubbing. That's with worn out stock springs and flexed to the max. However the fronts do rub when backing out of a friends driveway at full lock. It happens almost every time. Almost no flexing at all and I have never had it rub going through any other terrain. Bigmatt

On mine I have a noticeable lack of power (running on 5 cylinders instead of 6) and just above idle the engine vibrates quite bad. Enough that the shifter (I have a 5 speed) moves side to side about 1 1/2 inches when I give it some gas. I throw 2 codes when this happens. 1320 which is a General ignition fault, and 1306 which is misfire on cylinder 6 (1301 would be cylinder 1, 1302 would be cylinder 2, etc). My guess you issue may just be engine tuning. I can't say I've ever tried to hold the engine at 1500 in neutral, but it may be just the way the ECM is programmed from the factory. Bigmatt

I'll order the irridiums from Rock Auto and if my current plugs are OK I'll just hang on to them as spares. Any suggestions on the Coil Pack? They're all within $3.00, but I know there was an update along the lines (marked with a black sticker) and I'd like to make sure I get the updated ones. Bigmatt

Well my Misfire is back. It has been missing on and off for about a month now but it always went away after going a mile or two down the road. I had Autozone run the codes and I came up with a misfire on cylinder 6. For reference the coil pack on 2 was misfiring when this happened before (read above) and I had swapped 2 and 6 when I changed my plugs. So it looks like the coil pack on 6 is the trouble one so I'm only going to replace that one for now (don't have the cash for all 6). My question is what brand coil pack would everyone recommend. Rock Auto has 3 brands listed. Standard Auto Products, Airtex and AC Delco. Anyone have any recommendations? I 'm also going to replace the plugs again while I'm in there. Are NGK Irridiums still the plug of choice? Bigmatt

I actually averaged 16.3mpg over a 400 mile trip with ~500 lbs of gear and towing a 3000lbs trailer. that is running alternating tanks of 89 and 93 octane and with the cruise set at 70. This is also with a 5 speed and 4.3 gears

Just out of curiosity, since when did Rancho offer a 3" lift for the r50's (the 97 has it listed as a modification) Bigmatt

You need to look past the sound the make and look into the engine dynamics. A Ported 13B can make a reliable 200 hp and is a very small package weighing in at ~250 lbs. Adding a turbo set-up can easily add 100 hp on pump gas. The biggest drawback to this design is the high emissions output due to the combustion chamber design. Also, the sound you are hearing is most likely not the port timing and more a function of the exhaust. Bigmatt

Exactly, no resevoir necessary. You could probably get away with only a cylinder on one side of the swaybar, and leave the opposite side solid. There is a benefit of using two cylinders though. If you were to connect the upper port of the left side to the upper port of the right side, when you get off camber and your left wheel us pushed up, the hydraulic fluid from the left cylinder would be pushed over to the right side which would push that wheel down. This would effectively put more equal pressure on the ground than just the stock suspension could accomplish. More equal pressure = better traction, especially if you don't have a locker. Bigmatt

I actually looked into this for a project back in college. The easiest way would be to use hydraulic cylinders to replace the end and connect the cylinders to each other by a solenoid valve. When the valve is closed the fluid is locked into each cylinder which makes them a solid link. when you want to disconnect the swaybar you open the valve which lets fluid from one cylinder travel to the opposite side of the other cylinder. A cylinder like this would be almost perfect: http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=...tname=hydraulic The only downside is that if the valve is closed while you are not on level ground the rear swaybar would be off center. It would be very interesting if the valve closed while you were in a high-flex situation. Bigmatt

I just went through the same thing with my 01. One of he front swaybar links was bad and clunking. By the time I replaced it the whole front end sounded like it was coming apart whenever I hit a bump with either front wheel. A replacement set from rockauto.com fixed it. Bigmatt

Check that the pad material is still attached to the backer plate. This same think happened to a guy at school during an autocross. The pad material de-laminated from the backer plate and fell out of the caliper. From there on it was backer-plate (steel) on rotor until the backer plate fell out as well. We found both laying on the course. Bigmatt

I second this, I would say replace your plugs first. It took me about 3 hours to do and it gives you a good chance to inspect the coil packs. If they are the original plugs, chances are they are worn out of spec. Just make sure to use anti-sieze on everything and also put a good amount of dielectric grease in the blug boot before you re-install it. Just out of curiosity, did the dealer replace any of the plugs when they replaced coil pack 1? I wonder if the dealers aren't replacing an expensive coil pack instead of cheap plugs just because that's what some computer is telling them to do. Bigmatt

I can fit my tow strap, d-rings, Tow hitch, trailer connector, jumper cables, and a crap load of tie downs and bungee's. I actually found it quite useful for the stuff you don't need everyday but will definitely need at some point. Bigmatt

Same thing up in Michigan. I drove the Saturn today and it was fun skating to work. Only saving grace was that the center of the road was ice, but there was gravel/slush on the shoulder. I watched a jeep coming at me bounce from one shoulder to the other. Bigmatt

UPDATE: This last weekend I took the Pathy for 300 mile road trip up north and she performed flawlessly. SES light went out halfway though the trip which I believe happens automatically with a certain number of on/off cycles. It started without a stumble Sunday morning after a -3 degree night with the engine compartment full of snow (FYI, don't park with your grill into the wind during a blowing snowstorm). It also started on first crank instead of rotating once or twice before catching. I even got to take it on some pretty nice two-tracks on the way out an never skipped a beat. Conclusions: Before changing coil packs, check you spark plugs. They seemed to have fixed my issue's. For the record, my engine had 83k on the clock and had the original plugs. The engine starts easier and the SES code has gone away. No real difference was seen in fuel mileage or power. One additional note, Coil pack 2 is directly below the oil filler neck. Mine had oil sludge all around it from where the PO spilled oil while filling. Use a funnel, and it may save you coils. Bigmatt

The problem is that the strut on the R50's is used to locate the wheel. This means there are significant side-loading forces on the strut while driving and the strut has bushings/bearings built into it to support these loads. What you need to find is a Strut Insert that has similar travel to the stock strut and build an adjustable lower for it. The other option would be this route: http://npora.ipbhost.com//index.php?showto...71&hl=PRADO AMR (the company in the link above) makes a quality product and the Saturn forum I'm on just had a group coilover buy. They were originally quoted $1100 for 4 adjustable struts and 6 weeks timing. It ended up costing ~1400 and took over a year to complete. A lot of this extra time was due to issue's with the original design which were caught when the trial pair were track tested. I think an adjustable height setup would be awesome, but there is a lot of research that would need to go into making them. Maybe someone with Calmini contacts can ask them for some of thier old designs? Bigmatt