gamellott

Great advice. Thanks!! Do you get the preformed hoses or just bulk 5/16" hose? Looking at Rock Auto, I see a few preformed ones, but I suspect I could make most of the bend radius' without kinking, or put in a good service loop.

Ya, it took a lot of work to get the distributor out of the hole. It did not pop out at all. The 2 bolts holding the base plate in place were loosened and it eventually popped out. It appeared as though the o-ring was seized in there. Considering the hoses were in place for the last 28 years, that's what made those incredibly difficult to remove as well. The No.1 cylinder was the one leaking coolant into the cylinder. The heads do not appear to be warped more than a couple thousandths. The lip seals on the head gasket for 1, 2, and 6 were all cracked. Again.... 28 years... No way of knowing when/why they developed cracks, but that was likely where the water intrusion came from on No. 1. Does anyone have any insight on if I should get these milled? I'm not in a huge hurry to get it all together. I'm gonna be painting the top end so it looks better than a rats nest of grey and black and oxidized crap and smudges of permatex. No emissions tested in WA anymore, so the EGR is gonna go ?

As some may have read, I'm having an issue with the coolant on my 92 Pathfinder VG30E and I'm working on getting the heads off to see what the deal is. Symptoms are a bad misfire when cold and coolant vomit when the engine is running when taking off the radiator cap (This has never happened before) This is the first time I'm tearing into it. It's not what I would call a reliable driver anymore so I can't make it any worse (Or so I think I can't), so I figured WTH. What I didn't realize is how much of an immense pain in the butt this is. First things first, when I pulled the spark plugs, I found No. 1 cylinder showed signs of where the problems were coming from. The rest of the spark plugs were nice and clean. They were relatively new, so clean they should be. 1. It took me some time, but I finally got my intake plenum off. I didn't quite realize that there was coolant lines going to a couple of places in the back of the plumbing attached to the plenum. Has anyone completely bypassed those for ease of re-installation, or is that a MUST to reattach? If so, did you completely bypass the hard tubing and run lines under the intake? What would be suitable replacement hoses? I can't imagine it would be as simple as a cheap vacuum hose or fuel line. 2. Although I believe my EGR is fine, has anyone successfully blocked this off without having running issues? 3. My distributor base is free and spinning, yet I cannot pull it out. Is there a trick to pull it that I may not be aware of? I'm sure it's a 20yo hard as rock rubber O-ring that's holding it in place, but if someone has a trick up their sleeve, I would appreciate some insight. I gave up for the day after I figured out that I can't get the harmonic balancer off because I don't have the correct bolts to attach my puller to, in order to pull it. And I cant remember what I did the last time I did it 5 years ago when I simply changed the timing belt.... off to whatever parts store now.... More to follow. I look forward to everyone's insight on the topic ? I had a quick look at the bottom of the water pump and I didn't notice any signs of leaking... but I didn't get in there with a light either, so it could be that I'm simply not seeing it yet. Thanks, Geoff

Slartibartfast, I concur!!! I thought I would start tearing into it over the weekend, but I found other things to do. Similar to the entire summer. Some good news though, the battery did seem to take a charge, so I'll be firing it up and limping it into the driveway for the teardown. ?

Again, it's been a hot minute since I have been on here. I have been procrastinating ? The Pathy has been parked since March this year. Aside from a dead battery, I'm thinking I have a multitude of problems with this and I'm about to do a shotgun blast to get it all fixed. I've noticed a few things happening and I think it's all coming together. This is my Winter driver/ Snow Buggy, so better now than never, even if I'm a little late to the dance.... A. The water pump is slowly leaking. Should have replaced it when I replaced the timing belt and tensioner pulley 5 years ago. likely source of coolant loss and possible reason why the coolant doesn't go back into the overflow tank....This has me wondering.... Was the "no heat" a symptom? B. There is evidence that some coolant is making it into one of the cylinders. It's not bad, and it clears up after it's warmed up, but it's over pressurizing the coolant and causing it to vomit when I take the radiator cap of when it's hot. This has never happened to me in the past. Again, likely source of coolant loss, more than likely an effect of low coolant C. Assuming I resurrect this beast and the heads aren't warped or cracked, I'll take theMECHANIC0329's advice and simply bypass the servo. It's early in the winter anyway ? Well... Maybe I should just get the servo if it persists.... I'm not really trying to derail my own topic, I just feel that all of these issues could be related to the issue of having intermittent heat. Either way, the Engine has some significant issues that have to be dealt with before I can safely use it as my Snow Buggy.

No, no pic. I was too busy cleaning it up and reassembling it to wash my hands to handle electronics ?. I used a stainless steel wire wheel in order to clean off all of the rust. The piston appeared discolored and had some buildup on it, but I was able to clean it up and make it smooth again with steel wool. Still looks discolored, but it is smooth. I didn't have any brake cleaner to flush it out this time, so I used isopropyl alcohol in a spray bottle instead, and compressed air. Worked pretty good. No issues in reassembly or inspection of the rubber. Again, I've only experienced seizures like this on the rear.

Rust is building up under the inner seal and between the inner and outer seal. Over time that rust seizes the caliper, F's the rotors up and destroys the pad. What, if anything, can you do to prevent this rust. It has been 2 years since I rebuilt the rear calipers and I just had to tear them apart again for this exact reason. As I was taught years ago, I reassemble the brakes with brake fluid as a lubricant. Should i be using something else and pack the boot with some kind of grease? This is not the first time I have run into this. I have experienced this on multiple vehicles with rear disk brakes, but for me, never the front. What's the deal??

Possibly the coolant temperature sensor telling the computer that it's already up to temp when it's actually cold. That would be my first thought.

Cross your jumper cables and you will definitely smoke that wire ??

I would almost rather convert over to drum. As of the moment, the parking brake only works on one wheel and not very effectively, because the cable is seized on the drivers side. I have looked for a replacement at the parts stores and have not found one that will work (the mounting assemblies are different) Probably cataloged wrong, but clearly not for my ride. I have a suspicion that if I found one at a junkyard, I would find ones in the same condition as what I already have, which is not good. ?

It took me a hot minute in order to find it. In the 30 years in dealing with cars, and having worked in an auto parts store (20+ years ago) this was the first time I had to try to look for this, and it wasn't an easy find, because I was looking in the HVAC section when I needed to be looking in the electrical.... I'm pleasantly surprised that they're not that expensive. Thank your for your insight!!?

Sooo.... After looking at the illustrations that Nissan provides, I don't know exactly which part it is that I'm looking for, but it doesn't look like there are any parts available for this anyway. I'm under the impression that if the mixing door motor is failing, I might simply have to convert it over to manual, or figure some other way to skin a cat... Start stalking the local boneyards... Because WE NEED a heater in WA....

I had replaced the radiator, it was the original and leaking all around the seams and the cap was brand new, so I looked elsewhere... I found that the hose within the tank was just barely hanging on to the tube, so I threw some lockwire around it in order to seal the hose in place. Since it's not my daily driver now that its warmed up a bit, I haven't been keeping an eye on it. If it continues with intermittent heat, I'll have a look into those motors. Are the gears available for replacement somewhere? Napa and Rockauto shows squat for parts available, or I'm looking under the wrong rock.

That's some really good information, hard to figure it out though. Wish it was more "year" specific though. You guys wouldn't happen to have the resources to actual electronic/schematic drawings with specifications on resistors, capacitors and other random components, would you?? I have a few things that I might want to rebuild.... since some of my stuff has become... glitchy... The resistors, in my experience, tend to be the high failure components and tend to go out of tollerance and are usually the culprit. But like anything else, the drawings for those are hard to come by.

Thanks guys, You're always a great source for information and I appreciate it!! Not entirely off topic, but I was having an issue with my coolant not going back into the radiator when it cools down and I believe I have it fixed. The heat would go away when the radiator was low, so I thought it could have been that. Orrr... Maybe it's the actuator for the door just being intermittent. I work with electronics and know that old electronics become flaky as many of the electronics on the Pathy are becoming that way. Too many problems and not enough time to play and fix...

Sadly, it's been a hot minute since I've been here. I notice some things have changed ? On my 92' WD21, the heat stopped working. Everything else works fine. It's the electronically controlled version and I can't seem to find a thread that covers the topic very well. I'm sure this problem has been addressed before, but I can't find it... ? I'm assuming there is some kind of valve that controlls the water flow; where is that and is it very difficult to get to? The last time I had to replace a heater control valve was in an 81' 210, 25 years ago... This is not the same animal ?

What kind of paint did you use for this project. I've been contemplating doing something like this for some time, but haven't pulled that trigger yet.

I've got the same problem with my rear window. Do you have any part numbers that you can recommend for fitment??

I wouldn't mind seeing the schematic for the timer itself. If I'm thinking of a component level repair, I'll need it so I can figure out how the circuit works and assist in what to replace if necessary. I would guess that there's a 2 page tech manual on how it works somewhere.... But, as you mention, check to make sure that the switch is good as well.

I had a friend tell me that he put WD22 seats into one of his D21. As I understand it, they bolted right in.... Time for me to start looking....

I'm with ya, I don't think the motor is bad. I managed to do a little more research after I posted this and I managed to figure out where the timer was (The Tan Box you mention, that's no longer available from Nissan). I managed to take the timer apart today; No burned resistors or blown capacitors. There is a solid state transistor on it that might be failing. I'm pretty sure that's the culprit, but it's not like I can swap it out with a known good one from the dealer. I'll have to take apart the steering column in order to see if the variable speed control has a bad rheostat, and that's about to fall apart and I'm not so excited to tear into that just yet.... Off to figure out other electrical issues...

If they're anything like the MT, I don't believe that the transfer case will bolt up to the transmission. The output shaft on the transmission is likely different... But I'm not 100% However.... If you're going to make yours from a 4WD into a 2WD, No biggie. I would keep the drive shaft from the donor in case they're different.

I've had no issues going with a Gates Timing belt. Having sold Auto Parts in the past, that's what I would recommend. You get what you pay for in that department. When I did that, I goobered up my crankshaft sprocket when I was replacing the seal; I didn't care for the aftermarket pulleys available, so I went to Nissan for that. Some aftermarket parts aren't worth the powder to blow them up, but some are just as good and cheaper than OEM. If you go aftermarket, frequently, what's in the box isn't exactly what is shown in a picture and you're better off going to the store to see what you're getting before you pay for it.

Well... As the subject states, the wipers are random when intermittent. When I initially put it in that position, it does nothing for a few seconds and it may or may not start working, where it used to start right up. It works fine in the other 2 positions. I would think I had "Auto" wipers like in my wife's new beast, but NO!! Has anyone had any experience troubleshooting this in the past or is it just a matter of swapping out the motor? I have done a little bit of looking around and I see where there is some kind of Wiper Amplifier somewhere in the back. Is that something that affects this or is it another random part on the chassis that no one messes with?

Yea, I'm with Citron. Fix it before you wind up on the side of the road with warped heads. Something else, the thermostat housing is close to the water pump. You could have developed a leak around there that could appear to be from the water pump. Just worth a good stare to see if you can see where it's coming from.