EricCR

Thanks, hawairish. I saw the schematics but couldn't make much of them so thanks for translating that into something I can understand. I'll see if there's something going up the A-pillar. If there's no wires I'll just use the spot/reading lights for power. According to the service manual they are connected to the same "power saving" circuit as the rest of the interior lights so I should have no problems with parasitic power draws.

Hi folks, I got my hands on a pair of sun visors with vanity lights and homelink (my SE only had an unlit passenger side mirror). I was hoping Nissan kept the wiring harness but no such luck. The service manual is a bit cryptic on where the original harness was coming from. My assumption is that in LE's the roof console acts as a junction box and there's short wires going to each sun visor from there. Or do those wires originate all the way from under the dash? Would everything work if I just tap into the roof console reading lights?

Thanks for the tips. The more I think of it the more I recall previous instances of that humming when turning which then I attributed to tire noise or road imperfections, but it's clearly something else. The rear drums do stick a bit, especially when cold, so that's my prime suspect. I recently took the front brakes apart to do some cleaning and maintenance so I'm fairly sure those are fine. I did notice that the pads are missing the squeal shims, never installed by the PO. I've read about the steering stops but people who report that describe a different noise, more of a metal-on-metal grinding instead of my low-pitched "hum-hum-hum". My fear is something that's not properly lubricated in the 4WD system or a center diff lock that's not fully disengaging (if that makes any sense at all). That would explain both the occasional noise and the hopping. I'll triple check fluids yet again but I worry this is one of those things that will have to get worse to really be able to tell exactly what's going on.

Thanks guys! Last night I noticed something else (perhaps since now I'm paranoid about full lock turns): Turned left again and instead of hopping, I got a noise that I can best describe as a low-pitched grinding noise, like a wheel bearing, but intermittent (linked to wheel speed). I jacked the car up this morning and it doesn't seem the bearings are bad, but then again, I can't put the lateral stress of a full lock turn when rotating the wheels by hand. The noise went away after warming up and driving a few min (I tried a couple more times). I also engaged 4L on a straight stretch to make sure everything got lubricated. Could this be related to said hopping? The noise didn't correlate with any weird behavior, it wasn't felt through the steering wheel or chassis.

Hey folks, Another one: My GF has been using the Pathy and she told me the car was shuddering or bouncing when turning in her office's underground parking which requires fully turning left and has a smooth, slippery concrete floor. I was able to reproduce the issue today and it feels as when the center diff is locked, but the car is in 2WD mode (my R50 has the regular part-time shifter). Weirdly, it doesn't happen all the time and it's easier to reproduce the faster you are going ("faster" being relative here, say, 10mph instead of 5mph). It's a smooth, wavy motion, nothing harsh. The moment you let go off the steering wheel's full lock, just a bit, the hopping is gone. In normal driving the car feels perfectly fine. I've read plenty of similar threads in other 4x4 forums and people say it's either a serious thing or completely normal, so I'm stumped. This is the closest I was able to find in a 4Runner forum: https://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/234115-slow-sharp-turn-slip.html Is it normal?

If only I had read your post a week ago. I already ordered a set of stock height springs from Rockauto (Lesjofors) as well as new Sachs struts since I reckon the old shocks probably didn't like being fully squished so frequently. I'm waiting for that to arrive to see how the car sits afterwards. I really wanted something at most 1" higher, but I was afraid of ending up with an exaggerated raked stance since most people report that the advertised lift is less vs what you end up with. If it still sags after this I'll go for those sumo springs and call it a day. At least I would know the springs and shocks are brand new and it's simply that R50s were always meant to drag their tails.

Watched quite a few videos on those Sumo Springs. Most people who complain install them wrong. There needs to be about a 1" separation with an unloaded car, otherwise it's "I don't need my kidneys" rough. I saw a lot of folks wrongly adding spacers so they made contact. All in all, much more simple than installing airbags and basically makes your stock constant rate springs behave like progressives. I'll get fresh new springs first, try loading the car and if it still drops too much I'll shell out for the Sumos. Thanks, again!

Great, thanks. Seems like these paired with a new set of springs would be ideal.

As most stock R50s, mine sags a lot in the rear. With 2 people on the back and some cargo it basically bottoms out. Simply stepping on the rear bumper drops the whole rear end. I was going to get the ARB EMU 2922 following a recommendation, but even though they advertise 3/4" raise, all reviews I've seen mention at least 2" unladen which is too much as I don't plan to do anything to the front. My plan is to keep it as close to stock height as possible but reduce the sag. I retrofitted headlight projectors and given their sharp cutoff and having no beam angle adjustment, I'm blinding everybody when carrying weight. If I adjust the lights for a loaded car then I see nothing when I'm driving alone. Any suggestions on springs that are similar to stock but a bit stronger? Any thoughts on these: https://www.mevotech.com/part//SMS81115 ?

Sure. I'm almost done. There were some minor complications so I'll create a new thread. Although I love the honeycomb grille, I also like the looks of the newer one. I just removed it because you need to do that to access the screws holding the headlights in place.

Sure, pal! I'm waiting for my D2S bulbs. I am tempted to take them off my other car but I'm sure Mr monkey-hands will damage them. Wiring is all done and this has been by far the easiest retrofit I've done. No wire stripping, no drilling or dremeling and the shrouds are like tailor made for the reflector bowl. The only problem has been finding where to mount the ballasts, but mostly because I want them hidden. I don't like the blacked out headlight look so I'll try to avoid painting the reflector bowl unless I see stray reflections that could cause glare. Once I get the bulbs and make sure the cutoff is straight, I will post some pics.

Couldn't stand my stock headlights any longer. In the middle of retrofitting Morimoto D2S 5.0 HID projectors:

It depends on the year. AFAIK this is only valid for throttle-by-wire Pathfinders. Here is the procedure: https://www.nissanhelp.com/diy/pathfinder/projects/nissan_pathfinder_idle_air_volume_learning.php Notice that before doing the air flow reset, you must do a couple other procedures beforehand. You feel like someone's trying to pull a prank on you, but that's really the way it's done.

Ok then, perhaps it isn't that bad then. Thank you, guys. I'll order a new fan before things become NLA. I also bought the original plastic skid plate only to realize that out of the 9 screws that hold it in place, 6 rusted out and broke who knows how many years ago. It's been a real fight to drill new holes to get that damn thing attached. Oh, I also ran my VIN through carfax and it turns out my Pathy had at least 4 owners in the US, so I'm the 6th overall. It had a cluster replaced by the last US owner, which magically removed 20k miles off its history, lol (instead of 140k it apparently has 160k, which is still on the low-ish side). I'm actually surprised this thing is in such a good shape given how often it changed hands.

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.