EricCR

Sigh... I guess you are right, and I just checked and the blades are only $40 @ rockauto. The annoying thing is that I only noticed only after I put everything back together so that means another mess in the garage and more wasted coolant. The more I look at that photo, the more it's clear that big crack goes all the way through.

Hi folks, I was replacing my radiator and took the chance to clean everything I could while the old radiator was out. The fan was black with soot and once I cleaned it I saw about 3 small cracks, the biggest one (pictured) is probably half an inch. Given that these cars use a fan clutch which exerts a lot more force on the blades than electric fans, should I replace it or is this a non-issue?

Reviving zombie thread and to correct someone who's probably not even around anymore for future reference: The speedo wire is only partially related to the compass (or may not be at all), there is conflicting information in the service manual about the compass needing the speedo input. It seems the need for tapping the speedo is the temp display, as shown in this post here and the Electrical Diagrams section of the service manual: I'm planning on retrofitting this overhead console to my 2003 Pathy. It seems to be a straightforward swap as long as you have another temp sensor at hand, but it's a bit annoying to wire everything up (ACC wire, dimmer, speedo, temp sensor all the way to the front of the radiator).

You are right that 2 halogen bulbs is ~10A which is a lot. Didn't think of it that way. I'll just use the ones I bought. Relays is one of those things will never be in risk of becoming NLA. In the unlikely scenario they keep failing then perhaps that'd indicate an issue somewhere else.

Yeah, but it's a mess. Other sites say it's 25230-79981. I suppose all work and only have different capacity coils, but I'm a sucker for keeping things OEM. The fog lights one that I'm using for now is the 79945 and it's working fine but the AC compressor being so demanding I'm concerned about the relay getting too hot and failing eventually. Here's the best description of each one that I could find and it's still missing the newer ones: http://www.1stgen.org/viewtopic.php?t=4487 I guess I'll go for the fattest blue one I can get, lol.

I'm chasing down an issue with the AC compressor not working intermittently. I can't hear the relay clicking when that happens. It's either the relay or the auto amp (the climate control panel), so I'm starting with the easiest things first. I found that the relay labeled "air con" was replaced by the PO and I have what seems to be a generic black relay with no markings. I moved it to fog light duties and I can see it acting up. 1 out of ~10 times the fog lights don't turn on or do but with a massive delay. Apparently the original relay should be blue, but there are a myriad of blue Nissan relays. Can someone pry open the relay box and take a picture of (or write down) the part number on the "air con" one (should be on the side of the relay)? I'll be forever grateful. It should be something like "25230-799XX". I guess it's better if you also have a VQ Pathy. I already got a couple of 25230-79981 but I'm not 100% sure those are the right ones (they are blue too, but fatter than the light relays which are 25230-79945). I assume any similar relay should work, but undersized coils may cause some issues down the line so I'm expecting the AC compressor one to be beefy.

One dormant volcano and one R50 putting a new MAF to the test

It's rather easy to replace but the one in the car is working fine I think. I'll leave it be for now.

Well, that fixed it. For my build date the Hitachi MAF0094 is the correct (and OEM) part. I had to do the air flow reset procedure to get it to idle better (lower) and it's as good as new. I also bought an Hitachi CPS just in case the MAF was not the culprit. Would you still replace it just to have the brand new part or would you save it? I'm undecided.

Nissans from this vintage have really crappy solder, which cracks under vibration and temperature cycles. Years ago, when we had a late 90's Sentra at home, I had to fix the intermittent wipers, fuel gauge and interior illumination. All was caused by loose/cracked solder points. Older Nissan MAF designs are another example. With my Pathy I already had to fix the clock that's above the AC vents and the fuel gauge, both things again due to bad solder. I wouldn't be surprised if the speedo also fails in the same manner. I made a post detailing how to fix the fuel gauge and a brief Google search returned some results of other Nissans with partially working speedos (don't limit yourself to Pathfinder's info). I would look at the cluster's circuit board for signs of cracks. In cluster's circuit boards it's easy to follow the traces from whatever you want to fix to the components involved Focus on the ends of the resistors which I've seen is what most commonly fails. They will look like these (the ones that start with an "R"):

Thanks, man! It didn't take long for the problem to finally identify itself. Last night I got the check engine light and the car went into limp mode. It was a long, stressful drive but once I got home I scanned the stored codes it was the MAF (P0103). So I'm ordering a new one. I'm getting the Hitachi MAF0094. It's still confusing as I see some small differences in the way the sensor is built. I'm getting a 5 pin MAF since that's what I have now and matches my production date. I hope they work identically. I am aware of the need to migrate the thermistor to the new part in case it doesn't come with it and the ECU reset procedure, but I believe the MAF0094 is a 1:1 replacement so fingers crossed I won't need any of that. While I'm at it, I'll also get the CPS and new air and fuel filters. I won't touch the throttle body as per your warning. For future reference, the 5 pin MAF is used between these production dates: From 07.2002 to 05.2003, so it's basically the least used among R50s. Before 07.2002 you need the 4 pin MAF. After 05.2003 the MAF is the one in the screenshot above with the sensor screws in diagonal. It's the same MAF that most newer Nissan's use, it's cheap and easier to find. You can retrofit it by swapping some wires around but you also need to reprogram the ECU, so nah. While I wait for it to arrive, I took apart the sensor and exposed the circuit board to look for signs of damage, burnt resistors, broken solder, water damage, etc. I saw nothing out of the ordinary so I did a board "reflow". I used a heat gun to slightly melt the existing solder in hopes it would fix any broken points. Normally you'd use tinfoil to protect any areas you don't want to overheat but since this was already bad I said what the hell and heated the whole thing. I always use a little piece of new solder and place it nearby so when it starts melting I know when to stop. I resealed it and put it back and the car is amazingly working fine. I cleared the code and it's not stalling. I need that band aid fix to hold at least until Monday and then it can implode if it wants. It's getting its Takata airbag replaced (finally!). I don't want to drive all the way to the dealer in limp mode.

Ok, I narrowed the problem down. It only stalls when the engine is hot and only when coasting or idling (no throttle input). Under throttle the car behaves perfectly. If anyone has any ideas I'd really appreciate it. I don't want to simply throw parts and money at the problem. I'm getting no codes so I'm at a loss. I cleaned the MAF and added RedLine fuel cleaner, but the problem is getting worse. EDIT: Can someone with a 2003 throttle-by-wire Pathy confirm if the MAF is 22680-CA000? I believe mine has the wrong MAF, clearly told apart by one having the torx screws holding the sensor in place in a straight line and the other having them in diagonal. My car's build date is 07.2002 so I'm confused about being one or the other. Anyone knows the change year/month for these MAFs? EDIT 2: It seems the cutoff date for the newer MAF is 5/03. So mine uses the older one (bottom pic). EDIT 3: To continue with my monologue, I had a conversation with my mechanic and he concurs that the crank sensor should be the first thing to replace, followed by the MAF. I'll get both things since I don't want to wait for shipping and the 2Y001 MAF is still relatively cheap. I'll also replace the fuel filter while I'm at it and it's recommended after using a fuel cleaner additive anyway. I'll post an update once I replace all that stuff. CA000: 2Y001:

Did you have any codes/check engine lit? I am testing the MAF, wiggling all the wiring under the hood in hopes the car stalls, but everything seems ok at a glance. It feels to me like fuel starvation, but when my fuel needle was bad I actually ran out of fuel and the way it stalls is not the same. Also, pumps usually either work or don't. I've seen several threads of people replacing the fuel filter and that didn't fix it either. I will still change it for peace of mind, but something electronic seems more likely.

This hasn't been a good year for my 2003 R50. I had to buy a brand new AC compressor, then a new starter motor and now the car is stalling with seemingly no rhyme and reason to it. It may do it with a cold engine, or hot, at idle or under acceleration. Sometimes it starts right up, sometimes it takes 2 or 3 cranks after dying. Sometimes it also idles extremely low but doesn't stall. I've read a ton of threads of similar issues, but they are for the most part for the VG33 or about the IACV that I believe my car doesn't have (it's throttle by wire). My scanner shows 0 codes, the check engine light has not turned on and when the car is working fine it pulls strong. Any ideas of where to start? I can leave it idling for 30 minutes in driveway and it may or may not stall, so it's time consuming to be right next to the car when it stalls and it may not do it again for a long while. It has become more and more frequent, though. Thanks!

I've been trying to accomplish full independent fog light operation (with stalk switch fully functional, with parking lights and regardless of high beam state) through simply rewiring the existing relays (I don't want to fiddle with steering mounted stalks, switches or interior wiring). There are differences between facelift model years in those electrical workshop manuals (check 2001 vs 2003 for example), so I'd recommend grabbing your multimeter, testing the relays and not fully trusting what you read. Here's a Nissan lighting relay for reference: The only thing you should focus on are terminals 1 and 2. Those have to be power/ground for the circuit to close and send power to the lights. It doesn't matter if terminal 1 is power or ground as long as the other terminal is the opposite. Terminal 3 will always be powered (regardless of key position) and terminal 5 sends the power out once the circuit is complete so you don't have to worry about those. Now, you may think overriding the missing ground or power by bridging it from another relay (say, the parking lights one) is the right way to go, but I guess Nissan thought of this and made it a bit more complicated. In my 2003 (with automatic lights), fog light relay terminals 1 and 2 behave in this manner: Once you turn on the low beams (light switch in position 2) power is provided to terminal 1. Once you turn on the fog light switch, ground is provided to terminal 2. That turns the fog lights on. Now, once you turn your high beams on: Ground on terminal 2 is interrupted and the fog lights turn off (power is still provided to terminal 1). If you hardwire a ground to terminal 2, you will lose the ability to use the fog light switch and the fogs will turn on (and remain on) as soon as you turn on the low beams. What you can do is remove the ability of the high beam switch to interrupt the ground and that's what I think Blindaviator did by removing the steering wheel cover, but I am trying to avoid touching those wires, so we need to keep thinking. So, let's tackle the easiest thing first: Getting the fog lights to turn on without the need for the low beams to be on (and retain fog light switch functionality). You simply hardwire constant power to terminal 1. That'll make them work even without the parking lights which may or may not be desirable. If you want them to be tied to the parking lights, it gets a bit more complicated. The parking light relay works the opposite way of the fog light relay. You would want to bridge fog light terminal 1 and whatever terminal from the parking lights is getting power, but the parking light relay instead gets ground (not power) when you flick the switch, so that's a no go. What about terminal 5 on the parking light relay which sends out power to the parking lights once the circuit closes? Wire that to terminal 1 on the fog light relay? Bingo! Now you have fog lights that turn on/off at will as soon as you turn on the parking lights. They will still not work with the high beams, though. For that I haven't found any solution yet that doesn't involve the steps given by Blindaviator, but combining those two things would net you fully independent fog lights. If you don't mind not being able to use the fog light switch, you can simply bridge fog light relay terminal 2 <-> parking light relay terminal 1. The fogs will turn on with the parking lights and will remain on constantly. Note: you'll of course need to remove whatever wire is on the receiving end to avoid a feedback loop, potentially blowing up fuses and other things. EDIT: Here's the "pics or didn't happen" part: Testing with a piece of wire (looks awful but of course I did it properly once I confirmed my theory): Like nothing ever happened: Parking + fogs:

I just did a ton of research and it's pretty clear that Maval makes the best racks. I just had mine rebuilt since the cost of importing a rack made no sense vs rebuilding it but everyone and everything I read pointed at Maval. Depending on whether or not your '98 has fender flares, you'll need one of these: https://mavalgear.com/products/rack-and-pinion-assembly-maval-9281m https://mavalgear.com/products/rack-and-pinion-assembly-maval-9282m Maval buys used/worn OEM racks, completely disassembles them and rebuilds them with new everything (to me that's good since it's not a no-name rack built from scratch). Some people claim they are built even better than OEM. The only problem is that they seem to be really hard to source.

I just got my starter repaired and the shop recommended getting the underbody belly pan cover/splash guard since it was obvious the starter was too exposed to water, dirt, etc. My 2003 R50 came with absolutely no plastics underneath so I have no idea what to buy and how to fasten everything. I found this but is it the only panel down there? https://www.amazon.com/BOERLKY-Engine-INFINITI-Pathfinder-Fitment/dp/B0C6SW3VFH If anyone has a facelift R50 with those covers intact and can take a picture for me, I'd be forever thankful!

Alright, so for anyone seeing this years later and wondering what the hell it was, I took my starter motor out (it's like pulling a marshmallow out of a piggy bank slot and then pushing it back in, no fun) and had it inspected by a shop and it turns out at some point it was repaired, poorly so. Whoever messed with it used incorrect brushes and caused additional damage so the shop had to built one good starter out of two bad ones (luckily they had another one). OEM starter is a Mitsubishi for anyone curious. The motor spins way faster now and instantly when turning the key. I still have to test it a bit more but I'm very confident that was it.

Not sure about the VG, but the VQ is very much the same as the one in the 350z that has been ridiculed forever for the awful raspy sound it makes. Not sure if it's just me, but there's something unpleasant about the noise V6 engines make unless it's something weird like VW's VR6 or something with ITBs. Specifically for the VG, search for videos of Maximas with aftermarket exhausts, like this (it sounds terrible IMHO): What I always tell people is: muffler delete or exhaust mods = guaranteed annoying drone. If you want to hear the engine a bit more just get a CAI. At best you'll get a couple more hp, at worst you'll lose some due to hot air, but under full throttle you'll get a nice throaty intake noise and silence when cruising. Before spending a cent, drive around the block with the air filter removed and see if that's good enough for you.

Well, it only took a few days for the car to start acting up again. I guess next stop is the starter solenoid. So the guy from the older post I found was probably right in that the ignition switch was not it. This time when it finally cranked I heard the starter grinding for a fraction of a second as the engine fired up, which is something the car hadn't done in the past, so I suppose as the problem gets worse it also becomes more evident where it's coming from.

Yup, I believe for all affected R50s it's always only the passenger side inflator. As the population and area of the whole country doesn't even get close to rival that of the smallest state in the US, most car brands are usually served by one dealer with branches in other provinces. Interestingly enough, Nissan at some point had two different dealers but one merged and went on to sell something else so we're back to just one and I'm screwed. Locally they are insisting all checks on the VIN come up as being safe. The Nissan US rep told me to sit tight and they would take care of talking to whatever dealer is rejecting the replacement, which leads me to think they checked the VIN. If there is an internal database at Nissan with more accurate data than what the NHTSA or Nissan's public website output, then I'd love to have at least an screenshot of that, alas, I don't have anything. I'll give Nissan US another week or so and the next step after that is going to the dealer personally to get some evidence of where they claim my VIN is showing up as safe.

I checked that a few days ago. My VIN shows no recalls so I tried about 20 different 2002-2004 US R50 VINs I found randomly on the Internet. Absolutely none of them showed pending recalls, which I find suspicious since several of those VINs were for R50s in junkyards which I'm sure had no airbag replacement done. I don't think that tool is working anymore. I'm sure all these manufacturer websites were properly maintained for a few years after 2015, but we're nearing 10 years since the recalls now. Interesting, so that does confirm it's not 100% of R50s in that year range. I'll wait until I hear back from the Nissan US rep and I'll go by what he says.

The same rules don't apply to third world countries I'm afraid. Even worse if a given car was not sold by that dealer. My Pathy was imported from the US back in 2011, so that's 4 years before the first news about Takata explosions came to light, circa 2015. This means that this R50 I own was already outside of the US by the time the recalls happened and the owner who imported it never cared to have the airbag replaced. I asked on Reddit what's the usual dealer stance on these cases and it seems some dealerships in the US also push back if you own, say, a Canadian-spec car or something you imported from Japan. Of course you're not expected to ship it to its country of origin just to have the airbag serviced, that'd be incredibly stupid for any manufacturer to do. My train of thought is: if my passenger's get seriously injured or dies, what's going to show up in the news is that a Nissan was involved and people don't care what Nissan or what year it was. It damages the brand. Remember the Explorer/Firestone debacle? It wasn't easy for both companies to get over that back in the 90's. Even if the real culprit is Takata, they are well dead and buried now. So I don't think anyone is going to contact me as: 1. The car was not sold locally and 2. The dealer seems to be trying to avoid free labor on a car they didn't sell. I see Nissan US taking some responsibility and trying to make things right, but honestly I'd have expected the local dealer to do this without any external pressure. So when I'm the one who initiated the conversation and they claim "my car is safe" of course I don't believe them. This is the part that casts doubt and perhaps the dealer is right. Nissan's own recall bulletin doesn't say "ALL 2002-2004" but instead states "certain specific ones":

Hi folks, Recently BMW issued a "stop driving" for any car that hasn't had its Takata airbag replaced, which made me think I have never checked my R50 since I got it 2.5 years ago. Turns out, mine falls under the range of having a faulty passenger inflator. If true, I'm sure it has never been replaced. I contacted my local Nissan dealer and they claim that my specific car is unaffected (supposedly after checking the VIN), however if I go to the NHTSA recalls website it states it needs an airbag replacement: https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls (VIN: JN8DR09Y03W803820). I don't fully trust the dealer and I suspect they just want to avoid the work but I can't deny they may have more accurate tools/software to check a specific VIN. So my question is: For those of you with Pathy's in the 2002-2004 range: Has anyone been told with proof that your cars were safe and didn't need an inflator replacement? I live in what's probably the worst place for these faulty inflators to exist (hot, humid) and the one sitting on the passenger side is usually my wife, so I'm incredibly concerned. I reached out to Nissan USA since my car was originally sold there and they seem to be siding with me.

Yeah, so far so good but I need to drive it more to really consider this issue fixed. I took some photos of the whole process, mostly because I thought I would need them later to put everything back together, but it was so easy it wasn't needed. Still, maybe this will help someone in the future, especially if you don't know where the screws and clips are so you don't break any hard-to-find dash panel: First thing you need to do is take off the kick panel. It's held in place with one screw and a couple of clips. The clip shown here is very, very strong. You can see the other one in the next photo. You may have to remove the plastic door sill first. It's clipped on and just pulls up. The reason for removing that kick panel is that there's a screw holding the bottom dash cover just behind it, here (also, the other clip for the kick panel): There is another screw for the bottom dash cover on the other side, under the cabin temp sensor. Once you remove both, the panel slides towards the back of the car (don't pull down). Be careful as there will be plugs for the dimmer switch, temp sensor and electric mirrors still connected. You need to unclip all those: Once the lower dash cover is out, you will be able to remove the steering wheel cover. First thing you need to take out is this plastic ring highlighted in red. It's held in by friction and just pulls out, no clips and no screws. Just use something sharp: Finally, you need to remove the 5 screws at the bottom of the steering column cover. Once those are removed, be careful as the two halves of the cover are still clipped on. You can press on the sides of the upper plastic part to help release the clips. It's also easier if you loosen the steering wheel adjustment lever, gives you more room: With the cover away, you will have access to the ignition switch. Two small phillips screws hold it in place. Unclip the connector, remove the screws and put the new switch in the same position. Before putting everything back together, reconnect the new switch and test it.