uncle.penny

Very late update, but I fixed the pump a little more properly. The power wire going to the pump itself was shorting against the sending unit cap since the grommet had worn out. Just took the grommet out, put a small section of fuel line through, fed the wire through the fuel line to isolate it, used gas-resistant epoxy to seal it all up, soldered the power wire on the outside of the cap and it's been running fine for the past 3 or so weeks!

So I poked around with my multimeter today. I checked the resistance at the sending unit harness connector for the two wires that go to the fuel pump itself and I was only getting 1-2 ohms, am I crazy or does that seem low? I thought electric motors are naturally supposed to have some resistance in them, which leads me to believe it might be shorting out across the sending unit cap cutting the pump out of the circuit entirely. Would that cause the fuse to keep blowing?

Yeah, bit of a ways away but it's the thought that counts! haha Really? I called a couple dealers in town and they couldn't find a part number for me, you don't happen to have a number do you? I may end up taking you up on that! What day are you heading there?

Fuel pump fuse keeps blowing almost immediately after starting, I already "fixed" a couple of the corroded wires (the ones going into the 4 white caps at the top of the unit) by crimping on new tabs and using tiny machine screws to hold them onto the contacts, but I think I may have either buggered it or the circuit has gone bad inside the actual sending unit top pan that bolts into the tank. I've searched online all morning for a complete unit, and the part numbers I've come up with are either discontinued, don't look like the one in my 95, or are 320US+shipping. A wrecker in town has an 89 V6 in the yard which I`m considering robbing from, even though it`s probably worse than the one in mine. I know they're different part numbers after 92, but I've read that it would still work. Barring that, does anyone have a good source that would have the complete unit which includes the harness tail coming off the top? Or any fix that would work? As much as it pains me to say this thing has been giving me various amounts of grief for the past month or so. at this point I'm just considering fixing it to sell and buy a beater Echo or something like that.

Which pulley is it that's dead centre between the cylinder banks at the top? Without even taking the belts off I just felt around and that pulley had quite a lot of play in it.

I'm 99% sure it's not the fan. I used to have an '88 300ZX with the VG30E in it with a seized fan clutch so I know exactly what that sounds like haha. Made a 2 seater sports car sound like a semi truck any time you'd take off from a stop. Haven't had the chance to check accessories yet, probably going to leave it until Sunday to try and narrow it down. I have a sneaking suspicion it's the water pump even though I'm hoping it isn't.

Ahhhh I thought I was missing something. I was just using the regular image url, thanks!

Going to pull the acc. belts tonight and see if there's anything funky going on with any of the spinning components, thanks for the suggestion!

Hi all! 2 problem posts in 1 week, I'm on a roll! So I have a quite loud whining that rises with the engine speed as the title states, it's basically as loud as the engine itself. If I didn't know any better I'd think someone stuck on a supercharger running 15psi haha. I've noticed no driveability issues with it, but it's annoying and if it's something that could potentially become serious I'd rather take care of it now. The pitch doesn't change when I dry-steer so I don't think it's the PS pump, so in my head I've narrowed it down to either the water pump or alternator (while crossing my fingers that it's not the pump). Anyone dealt with a whiny Path before? Is there a good trick for diagnosing it aside from using a stethoscope/long screwdriver?

Tried ImgBB and imgur then gave up haha.

Turned out to be the pump as I thought it might be. The wires at the top were so badly corroded that one broke off. The one that broke off was actually held down with epoxy so it looks like a previous owner had "fixed" it before. I ended up just cleaning the contacts, cutting off the corroded female connector on the wire side and soldering it back on. So I basically "fixed" it the same way the PO "fixed" it. Drove it around and took it offroad for some bumps to make sure it would hold and she's still ticking. Put a glob of silicone over it to help seal it a bit and give it some vibration dampening. Not a pretty or proper fix, but it worked and was free so there we go. Probably going to just replace the pump next time this happens but this is fine for the mean time. (Not sure how to upload pics, tried two different image hosts and got the "not allowed" message)

Great suggestion, I'll definitely check that. The VGs have interference heads right? I would have thought it would make much more noise if the belt went but I'll definitely check.

Yeah I'm going to check the fuel system and fuses tonight, not sure on the belt. I bought it at 230k, at 260k now. I do have a timing belt kit and water pump waiting to go in, just haven't had the time.

Hi all! Bit of an issue with my Path. Was driving it along one day, then just sputtered and died in the space of about 15 seconds. Tried starting it, would crank very strong but would not fire at all. I'm in the process of replacing the spark plugs (don't think that's actually the issue, but I already had plugs on hand so figured I'd rule it out). I'm thinking it must be something fuel related as it seems like the cylinders aren't getting fuel at all since it's not even sputtering when I crank it. Anyone else run into anything similar? I did a hack job welding my exhaust back together after doing the clutch on it so it has a pretty sizable leak just before the O2 sensor (was planning on bringing it to an exhaust shop to have it properly welded so it seals as well as replace the O2 sensor). That shouldn't cause it to not fire though, right? If anything it would just run rough and have crap fuel economy I would assume. Probably going to check the fuel pump tonight and see if that's it but if anyone has any other suggestions I'd love to hear it!

Yuuup. Thought I could get away with it this time, but nope. This is gonna be a lesson I only have to learn once haha.

So I cheaped out on parts for a clutch job and went with a "Brute Power" clutch kit and flywheel. The entire reason I did the clutch in the first place is because the original throwout bearing was squealing. So I did the job by the book, everything torqued to proper specs and in proper order, made sure everything was clean, greased what needed greasing, didn't grease what didn't. And a WEEK after putting it all back together and getting it running, that fothermucking release bearing is squeaking again. Now I'm not saying it's completely impossible that I made a mistake somewhere, but I have a few years experience in the trade (a couple as a tech and a couple as a parts tech) and I followed the FSM down to the letter so to me this seems like a case of cheap crappy Chinese parts being cheap and crappy. I'm just going to have to live with it because there's no way I'm doing a clutch on this old rusty biotch on my garage floor again any time soon. Don't cheap out on important parts kids!!

Honestly, I started the job like a month ago, and I don't really remember why I had to drop it but I had a good reason haha. There were a bunch of things I was doing all at once to the old girl (not just a clutch) so the diff was in the way of something lol. Also kind of an update; I did end up just putting the bolts back in the right way and just torqued them down good and tight like Kove said. Truck is all wrapped up since last Sunday and has been on the road and running like a top since tuesday. Thanks for the input everyone!

Update: Unbolted the trans mount and jacked the engine and trans as one to gain about an extra cm or two of clearance between the oil pan and front crossmember. Came so so close to getting it to fit proper, but it still ends up wedging itself between those two things. Even tried grinding out the little notch they give you on the back left side of the front crossmember to give the diff cover a bit more wiggle room and still nothing. Going to just have to suck it up and cut those bolts out on the front. Probably what I should have done to begin with anyway so I can put the front crossmember on the diff and raise it all up straight in as a unit without having to fskc with angling it or any of that nonsense. Oh well, live and learn! Getting the front member bolts out after a quick stop at crappy tire for some zip discs tomorrow. Then it should all finally come together haha.

Considered doing that, were you able to torque them properly? I can't get the box end of a wrench on the top one, let alone a socket. Or did you torque it on the bolt head side?

Actually now that I've thought about it, I may have had a jack under the oil pan when I was prepping to take out the trans, and I may have left it in there when I pulled the diff. It's possible that the extra quarter inch that provided could be the ticket. Will give it a shot tonight and post results for any future home mechanics that run into this issue.

I could try that but I don't think the pinion support member is the issue, when the diff binds up on install the crossmember is still nowhere near contacting anything. I left the member on in the first place since one of the mounting bolts is rounded/seized. I would be able to free it relatively easily now that it's out of the car but I don't think that would make a big difference. It's pretty much just the diff case itself that's causing the issue which is bewildering to me. It came out so damn easy! There's even a little bit of rub on the oil pan where you can see exactly where one of the fins/structural supports between the diff and axle tube are contacting. So if it's at a shallow angle, it catches that fin, and if it's at a steeper angle the diff cover catches the front crossmember. I would understand if taking it out was hard but it felt like I had a ton of space upon removal so I'm not sure what the issue is. I do have the front end off the ground on jack stands with the front torsion bars out, that wouldn't make things line up poorly, would it?

Hi all! So I just finished doing the clutch on my 1995 4WD VG30E path, transmission is in and torqued with no issues. However putting the front diff back in is turning out to be more of a bastard than the entire tranny and t case. The diff came out relatively easy with the pinion support crossmember still bolted in. For removal I just had to twist the pinion end downwards to between 30-45 degrees to clear the oil pan and then it came out with no problem. However now that I'm going to put it back in, it catches on the oil pan no matter what angle I put it at or how much I move it over left or right (I've tried every angle between 0-90 degrees and still nothing!!). I've been working on it for the past 3 days. Tried hand bombing it, putting it on the tranny jack, putting it at an *angle* on the tranny jack, hand bombing it with a friend supporting the axle tube side and still NOTHING!. I'm at my wits end with this thing, does anyone have any tricks or tips to get this thing out? I can't take the very front crossmember out because the mounting bolts head butts up against the a -arm and there's no way I'm taking apart my front suspension for this POS. It just blows my mind that THIS of all things is the thing to stump me in this build. Very frustrating! Anyone with similar experiences feel free to chime in. Thanks