ryjaytay38

Hey guys, I've posted a few times about my stereo shorting out , but I think I might have a bigger problem. The other day I was trying to find the stereo short. After pulling the deck out and finding nothing, I was pushing the wiring harness back and forth that goes to the drivers door. Just wiggling it to see if I could find a break or find a spot where the stereo would come on. Now my blower motor is coming off and on, stereo is doing the same and I'm wondering if my wiring harness is old and brittle and maybe when I was wiggling it, more wires broke? When the blower motor comes on, it isn't consistent. You can hear that it isn't a good connection. I don't know a hell of a lot about electrical stuff. I did just replace an entire wiring harness on my 99 Isuzu Trooper that pretty much runs the whole engine, however, the Pathfinder seems to be a little more "in depth" with wiring. In other words, it looks like there are a lot more wiring harnesses and a lot more confusion and complications. I'm thinking the blower and stereo are on the same wiring path since they're right next to each other. Do I dare start replacing harnesses? Any suggestions would be more than welcomed!

Hey guys, My 2001 Pathfinder seems like it's got a short in the stereo. It comes on and off randomly for about 5-10 seconds and shuts off. I had to replace the drivers door(long story) and when I put the new door on and exchanged all the hardware, the stereo came on with no issues for a week. Yesterday it shut down again and back to random on and off. Today I've pulled the door panel off and when I popped it off stereo came on, 5 seconds and off. I've been under the steering wheel wiggling wires and in the door trying to re-create the issue and getting nowhere. I'll take my hands off completely and the damn thing turns on!! Are there any ideas of where to look or test? I was thinking about pulling the head unit because the light on the display flickers but never completely blacks out. I always have the radio numbers. There's a ground down on the side of the drivers door but thats tight. Any ideas would be welcomed! Thanks in advance

A Mitsubishi?! Really? Oh man, that's embarrassing. I went on a site this morning called Hollanderparts.com. They have every car at wrecking yards all over the country and Canada. Got the booster(not with the part number) and master cylinder shipped to me from Iowa for $90. They seemed to be on their game so I'm looking forward to driving semi-safe again.

Thanks Strato_54, that was pretty much my thinking on it. I also, am no expert, but to me that makes sense. I'll see if I get any DON"T DO THAT....comments and go from there!

Hey Guys, I had the brake booster take a dive on my 01 Pathfinder. I have looked everywhere! All the local auto parts stores, online, salvage yards. Parts Authority, which usually has parts, said they have two Centric boosters on order but it's a factory back order. Everywhere online says "won't fit your vehicle" or "out of stock". The few that had them online were well over $200 with core charge getting closer to 3. I call a salvage yard and they tell me two Pathfinders came in, one yesterday, one today. I drive down there with little to no brakes VERY carefully and the only parts stripped off of both are the damn boosters! Am I missing something or is there a huge run on early 2000's brake boosters for this one particular year and model? When I'm looking for a booster, can I go with a different model number if the specs are right on? For instance, my model number is 53-6404. There was also a 53-6405 with similar specs. Can I use that, especially when it's cost is about half, or do I need to stick to the one meant for the Pathfinder? Also, does anyone know of any other sites that may have some good deals with good quality? I've checked Amazon, JCWhitney, Autoparts Warehouse, Carid, Carparts.com, RockAuto, and US Autoparts. Any suggestions would really be appreciated. I'm stuck with one vehicle until I finish the motor on my Isuzu Trooper. I really hate having to drive with a hand on the e brake and keeping 100 ft between myself and the car in front of me. Thanks in advance!!!

Ok, so another alternator died on my way to work. I put the new one in yesterday and the radio came on for the first time in a long time. This time it stayed on for about 15 minutes. Shut off again. I thought it was maybe something with the battery terminals. Cleaned the hell out of them but nothing again. I'm guessing it's somewhere in the wiring harness that I was pushing around to put the alternator in, but I'm just guessing. Btw, you haven't lived until you've put an alternator in an 01 Pathfinder. Most ridiculous design I've ever seen on a vehicle. It wouldn't have anything to do with the alternator would it? I'm so lost on this thing as my electrical knowledge is very limited so any insight at all would be great. Thanks!

Hey guys, so im driving to work at 4 this morning. All the lights on the dash come on so im thinking alternator because that's what happened last time. However last time it kept running on battery, this time it started chugging, lights got really dim and it died. I just put in this alternator a year ago and battery is less than 6 months old. Why would it die that quickly? No issues starting, no issues period. Any ideas would be welcomed! Thanks!

Hey guys, This is pretty random, but I hope someone can give me some advice. Recently, my bose stereo died-well it didn't die but I'm getting no sound out of the speakers. I've looked online and there are a few different things people are saying. 1) There's a loose wire and when it grounds, the amp goes into protect mode and shuts down. Every now and then, it turns on for no reason-no sharp turn, no hitting some bumps-just whenever it wants, then shuts down again after about 10 seconds. 2)another option- The head unit is shot. 3) Fuses(checked them all) but it wouldn't turn back on if that were the case. I'm leaning toward #1 but I have no clue where to start. Now on top of that, last night, I stopped at a light and all my dash lights came on just like when my alternator died a year ago from a little too much power steering fluid dripping on it. That is fixed now. By the time I got to the house, dash lights were off and all was good. Left for work this morning and no lights and ran totally normal. Same tonight-normal. Had alternator, battery, and starter tested at Autozone and all were perfect. Does anyone know where I could start? Do you think they have anything to do with one another? I'm ok mechanically, but when it comes to electrical stuff, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Any ideas of where to look, start, anything would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hey guys, Just a quick question. I got the p1110 code for the intake valve timing control solenoid. I replaced it. All good right? Wrong. I noticed I've got another oil leak. I'm looking around , checking the valve cover gaskets that I replaced and lower oil pan and not seeing anything. I look closer and realize the oil is pooling just off to the side of the ivtcs. Pooling there and then dripping down. You get that metal gasket with it and I'm wondering if there's any way to give that a better seal? Obviously you don't want to put any rtv in there but there has to be a better way to get that to seal. Or is it possibly because I got it from ebay for $30 instead of shelling out $100? Any suggestions would be awesome!! Thanks in advance!!

Thanks QuasarDecimari! I appreciate the input

Hey guys, I was trying to avoid dropping the upper oil pan so I bought a new lower oil pan hoping that was the oil leak and not the upper. I got the felpro gasket and bolted the new one on tightened to 80 in/lbs. It's still leaking!!! Is it possible that the surface is warped? When I pulled off the old one, it was on there completely with RTV, no gasket at all. Maybe whoever put on the previous one knew something I didn't. I cleaned it really well-scraped it and used break kleen, but I can look at the side and see it seeping. Very slightly, but it is seeping. What should I do? Total RTV or get another gasket and try again? I would appreciate any input!! Thanks! PS. Just looked in Haynes Manual and it says use RTV. It says nothing about a gasket other than if the flange is distorted, use a wood block and hammer to flatten and restore the gasket surface. I'd still like any personal advice if you've gone through it.

Wow! I'm amazed at my lack of common sense sometimes! A little bearing grease and in it went. ?

I'd give anything to have threads on this stupid thing but unfortunately, we who have the 01, get no threads. It's a push in. I've looked at possibly parts store screw up, but I have my valve cover off and there are no threads there. It's an aluminum head so maybe I should tap some threads in there and use either the 00 or the 02.? I thought maybe it's a crappy pcv valve but I've gotten 3 different ones from 3 different parts stores and none will go!!

Does anyone have any helpful hints or tricks to get the pcv valve pushed into the valve cover? Im replacing valve cover gaskets and trying to get this valve back in without threads and finding it close to impossible. Any help would be appreciated!

Hey guys, I'm in the middle of doing this little task and finding a lot more problems than anticipated. So many hoses need to be replaced. I tried to pull the hose off of the pcv valve and it shattered. Got the new valve and hose but can't get the valve back in. Any tips to shoving this thing in? I want heat the valve cover but I don't know if that would be ill advised. I'm now on a time crunch and HAVE to get this damn thing finished. HELP!!!!!

Thanks Onespiritbrain! I appreciate that very much!

Can anyone tell me if the valve covers on an 01 Pathy are serviceable? I was going to put new spark plug tube seals and grommets while doing the gaskets, but went to order the parts and the reviews some people were giving said they would not fit. Looked at buying new valve covers all together and the price for the 01 is much much higher than any other year-like by at least $100. Can anyone shed some light on this? I noticed Fel-Pro does not send grommets or seals with the valve cover gaskets however they did on my Isuzu Trooper and they do on many other vehicles but not for the 01 Pathfinder.

So......Blue Devil is the ticket huh? I'm definitely checking into it. I downloaded the Haynes Manual and I'm afraid that I may find something just like you did, if not worse. One other "minor" issue that I hadn't thought about but it looks like I might go head to head with, I think the upper oil pan may be a partial culprit to this leaking business. To me, the upper oil pan looks like more of a pain in the ass than the HG(and I'm more than likely way wrong.) Game plan has now changed gentlemen. The 'ol blue devil is going to save me the headache and heartache of HG. Valve cover gaskets, manifold, throttle body, grommets and seals for the plug tubes and I'm really debating the oil pan. I thought it was the lower pan but did not account for the upper. I guess I don't have much of a choice unless someone has a little blue devil trick up their sleeve for the oil pan?!? One last thing, what do you guys think about the gasket kits? I thought if I get Fel-Pro that has a boatload of gaskets for parts that I'm not even familiar with, for about $100, I think I'm way ahead of the game. This whole thing has me nervous. With 235k miles on it, it's running stronger than it ever has since I bought it. I hate to screw up a good thing. It will be fun anyway. I think I can do it!!

Slartibartfast, this baby has been leaking oil externally for many moons. Im going to need about 5 gal of degreaser to be able to do anything with it. Oil leak has ruined two alternators and power steering pump. Gotta at least get valve cover gaskets done. Good tip to see about antifreeze. If i don't need to mess with the head gaskets, i'd be a happy man. Im kind of excited about replacing the valve cover gaskets. Working on that truck is the one place where i seem to have some peace in my life?. I sometimes have to sabotage the thing just to get ot of the house. I'll download the manual and let you know how things go. Im sure I'll have more questions in the next few weeks, but thanks much for the tips!

Hey guys, I have a week off coming up in February and thought I'd replace my valve cover gaskets and fix this damn oil leak. When I checked the oil the other day, it was a half qt low. I went to put oil in and what do you know, milky looking something on my oil fill cap. I asked a friend what that is and he said you've got antifreeze leaking into your oil, time to replace the head gaskets. So now in February, I'll be doing both valve cover and head gaskets. I looked on youtube at a guy doing just valve cover gaskets and it did not appear that he was having a hell of a lot of fun. I've fixed and replaced A TON of things on this truck. With help from all of you, they've all been successful and are maintaining. This is going to be by far the deepest I've dug into this beast and if anyone can tell me any shortcuts or tips, I'd really appreciate it. I'm nervous about it already. Are there things that I need to be looking out for? I read somewhere that digging in this deep will require a timing chain replacement? That didn't sound right but please let me know!! That, from what I've heard, is territory I don't think I should tread into. Is there a thread with step by step instruction on the best way? Anything, and I mean ANYTHING, you guys can tell me to help me on this fun little excursion would be great!! I'm going to order fel-pro gaskets and if there's anything I need with them, talk to me! I changed valve cover gaskets in my 99 Trooper and the vc gaskets took no RTV. I'm guessing these are the same? I think it's the head gaskets that I'm nervous about. I'll start posting on here I'm sure after day 1 begging for help.Thanks in advance!!

Hey guys, I put in a new duralast gold battery in my 01 pathfinder two weeks ago. A few nights ago, all lights on the dash came on(same thing that happened last time the alternator went). I kept going and it went back to normal. Stopped at autozone and they said the battery is overcharging. Swapped out the battery and then last night it did it again. A friend said its probably the voltage regulator. #1) where is the voltage regulator? #2) Would it be better to just replace the alternator? Any advice would be really helpful! Thanks!!

When I initially started this little venture, I replaced everything except the adjuster. I replaced the drums, shoes, and springs. You made a good point that I didn't think of. I didn't think that it may be a small piece of something inside. I blew it off with my compressor and cleaned off the flat spots where the shoes ride and greased them. I wasn't thorough so that might have come back to bite me. I didn't think about the e-brake like that. I guess it sounded kind of harsh, but heck, I'll try anything. It felt a little smoother tonight when I drove. I don't know if it can get smoother with time? The Wagner shoes feel a million times better than the Acdelcos though. After work tomorrow, I'll pull off the drums and see what I can get out of there with a wire brush and go from there. I'll definitely let you know

I pulled out the Acdelco shoes and put Wagner in. The drivers side Acdelco's looked liked they were burned. I took the drums and cleaned them with brakekleen. Put the Wagners in and was careful to adjust them the same. There is still a vibration but nothing like it was. I've read some crazy @!*% like driving 100 yards with ebrake on? Is that really an option? I read a few different posts about sanding the drums? I don't know what else to do! I'm not taking it to a shop. Drum brakes can't be THAT difficult....or can they?

Hey guys, I haven't been on here for a little while, but as usual, when something is a little off, I need to ask your advice. I put new rear brake drums, shoes and springs on my 01 Pathfinder. I read that to break them in, you need to go about 45-55 and brake relatively hard down to about 15, back up to speed and repeat 8-10 times in a row. Then drive for 10 minutes about 25-35 without using brakes to cool them. I did this and now I have a wicked vibration when I apply the brakes. So, what did I do wrong? Is it fixable? Should I get new shoes and start over? Go ahead and get your laughs in but any suggestions, are welcomed!!! Thanks Guys!

Oh @!*%, maybe im not as bad as I thought! I definitely wasn't going to pay for photo bucket. Thanks for the tip on the site to go to and have a good one!