EricCR

The only way to get those special cluster bulbs would be via part numbers and a Nissan dealer, but don't bother, I switched all of them around and it's basically the same thing. They are not special at all. And yeah, I feel you. I just filled up and the needle went a couple mm above where I would've wanted to see it. It has since gone down but I need to adjust it a bit after filling up again. For now I'm gonna wait until it's below the 1/4 mark to see how it behaves.

Glad you fixed it. Not sure if you did it before finding my post or after, but in any case I hope it was useful. Yeah, if the problem is the fuel sending unit then you'll run into issues with the o-ring, rusty bolts, spilling gas in the carpets (no matter if you released fuel pressure, there will be at least a slight mess). If the problem is the cluster, you'll run into needle calibration issues and there's a big risk you mess up the electronics. It's indeed a win/loss. The service manual recommends replacing the fuel sending unit o-ring every time you unbolt it. IMO that's a bit overkill but after ~20 years it may be a good idea to get a new one anyway. Mine did begin leaking just so slightly and only when the tank was full. I vacuumed, cleaned and reseated the o-ring and no more leaks, but I ordered a couple off eBay, genuine Nissan (https://www.ebay.com/itm/274508079289). $22 seemed alright to me. There is a Doorman set with the 6 bolts that hold the pump/FSU in place too. As for the cluster bulbs, I tried pulling one out too, it wouldn't budge so I left it alone. Don't know if you noticed but there are 2 different type of bulbs: black and brown holders. The black ones are smoked (I'm guessing to make them dimmer) and light up the gauges. The others are clear and go behind the turn signals and other indicators.

Side note: While I had the cluster disassembled I thought of adding some metal rings to the gauges. I did it to my BMW E39 a long while ago and ended up looking great so why not do the same with the R50? Here's an example (this is a Maxima): I took measurements and contacted a guy on eBay and since it's the first time he will fabricate rings for an R50, he's going to send me the first set to test. If they work then he will create a listing for them. Just in case anyone is interested. I will definitely create a new post with pictures once I install them and a link to the eBay listing. These will only work on 2001+ R50s (VQ35), not <2000 and not QX4s. Those have different clusters.

It's fixed. It's not so complicated but there's one big pain in the ass: You have to remove all 4 gauge needles which means you'll need to calibrate them later. Step 1: Remove the instrument cluster. This is the easy part. Follow this video: Disassemble the cluster. There are no screws, just plastic tabs everywhere. Start by taking the clear plastic cover out first, then the black plastic frame. It's all pretty straightforward. You'll end up with this: Now you need to take the needles off. I strongly recommend the 2 spoon method. Google how to do it. Don't worry about marking their position or anything, no matter how careful you are, you will have to calibrate them so don't waste time, just take them out. Once the needles are out, you can pry off the cluster graphics and put that aside. Turn the cluster around (facing the back side - be careful not to place the exposed front on a hard surface!) and bend the 2 white tabs holding the circuit board in place. Pull it straight out, towards you. Be careful with the odometer's LCD as it's connected with long, thin leads which could bend or break. In mine it stayed in place but if I had to do it again I'd remove the LCD first. With the circuit board exposed, you'll need to follow pins 17 and 23 and find any resistor along the way. These 4 were suspicious (labeled 161 and 181). No matter how closely I looked, I couldn't see cracked solder but I added some more while also reheating the existing solder. I also inspected all other resistors and retouched a couple more, knowing how ****** they are in Nissans and how hard they are to find. Once you finish with your soldering/inspection, it's just a matter of reassembling everything back together and testing. As for calibrating the needles, it's better to do it with the cluster plugged in and the key in ignition (waaay easier if engine is cold). Turn on the ignition and lightly push in the speedo, tach and temp needles making sure they are touching their resting posts. Turn off and on the ignition a few times to make sure they don't move from there (when they receive power, they will come alive and try to jump to their zero position). Don't install the fuel needle just yet. Here comes the headache: To calibrate the fuel needle you'll need an ohmmeter to calculate the fuel in the tank (unless your tank is full or completely empty, if so just place the needle accordingly). Disconnect the large plug (4 contacts) from the fuel sending unit and read resistance from terminals 2 and 3 (diagonal to each other). A full tank is ~5 Ohms, empty is ~83. Considering the resistance changes linear (more on this later), every 1/4 mark would be in ~19.5 Ohm increments. Example, if you have 3/4 tank, resistance should read about 24.5 Ohms (5 + 19.5) Alas, according to the service manual, 1/2 tank should be ~33 Ohms, which means the reading is in fact not linear (otherwise 1/2 would be (5 + 19.5 + 19.5 = 44 Ohms). I assume this is to account for the tank shape (narrower at the top). Taking that into account, it's better to consider the calculations separately, one for full to 1/2 and another for 1/2 to empty. If so, 3/4 tank would be 19 Ohms (5 + 14), 1/2 tank 33 Ohms (5 + 14 + 14) and from then on 1/4 tank 58 Ohms (33 + 25) and finally empty 83 Ohms (33 + 25 + 25). This is a good time to test if you actually fixed the issue. Either disconnect the fuel sending unit plug and feed it 80+ Ohms (pins 2 and 3) or unscrew the whole fuel sending unit with the wires still connected and pull it out slightly, just enough to allow the float to drop to its lowest level. The latter is easier but super risky given that you have your fuel tank exposed and the car in ignition. Do this at your own risk. If the issue is still not fixed, then rinse and repeat, check, reheat, resolder resistors. If that still has no effect, then your problem is elsewhere. Hope all this helps someone at some point. Surprised nobody had attempted to fix it if it's that common.

Aight, so I took the sending unit out, tested it and of course it's reading perfectly fine. Life just couldn't be so simple. According to the service manual, an empty tank should read around 80-83 Ohms: And this is what I got (took the picture as the multimeter was alternating between .2 and .3, hence the weird decimal). All other values going from empty to full read exactly as expected: So now I know the culprit is somewhere else. Before taking the cluster apart I found this video, which describes very similar issues with other Nissans and since I've had to fix plenty of broken solder around resistors in the Pathy as well as other Nissans in the family, I'm pretty sure this is the fix. It looks like our R50s don't have a separate module to process fuel level signals and it's all handled by the cluster's mainboard (aka "combination meter"). I'd have preferred a separate module so as to not to tinker around the cluster, but oh well. I'll keep you posted.

So it seems like it's common for them to act up. I'll attempt to troubleshoot/fix mine and report back. I'm planning to take it out of the tank this afternoon and check resistance.

Has anyone had this problem with their R50s? I already got stranded after running out of fuel. Luckily I had a gas station just a few yards away. When I turn off the engine the gauge needle drops all the way to the bottom so at least I know the gauge is fine. It must be the fuel sending unit but the one for facelift R50s has apparently been long out of production (25060-2W610). The only one that can be found is 25060-1W610. Are they interchangeable? The older one appears to have one extra sensor. Also, does anyone have the link to the service manual or the resistance values for the sending unit? I want to test it first before finding a new one.

I'm kind of tired of not seeing anything at night and I was planning on retrofitting some Morimoto projectors. While considering it, I was looking at Toyota's 70 Series LC anniversary edition and the relatively minor tweaks they did to the front end (blacking out headlights, grille, old school logo): I think it looks great without going overboard. I put my rusty Photoshop skills to good use and came up with this: The idea would be blacking out the headlight surrounds while retrofitting the projectors and getting a Patrol Y60 grille emblem (I think I oversized it above, should be smaller). There are some similar headlights already on eBay but they are both: A. Crap and B. They paint the turn signal reflector which is dumb. Yay? Nay? Not sure if I like it myself. Looks different alright but not sure if it fits the car.

Good tip! Mine was basically all loose so it made more sense to just get rid of it. But yeah, if the old one is firmly attached to its clips, that's an easier approach.

Mostly an FYI in case someone faces this at some point. This is why properly attaching those clips that come with the sensors is important. Shaft caught the wire and tore it. The sensor is honestly in a pretty bad spot since there's just a narrow area between the shaft and the exhaust for the wire to go through (this is the driver's side): Had a check engine light only coming up during long drives (1+ hours). with these codes: P0159: O2 sensor circuit slow response bank 2 sensor 2 P1167: Heated O2 sensor 2 Bought a new NTK (NGK) sensor and it's all good now. The 4th clip that goes last (top-to-bottom) is a real pain to get to, especially if like in my car, the old clip was stuck in place and didn't want to come off. I had to destroy it to remove it.

I have a mess here at home with contractors running around so the garage is for now sort of a storage room and my Pathy is sitting outside. I have yet to replace the regulator but I'll surely document the process and I'll post pictures of the now gone brushes. Most likely next week I'll tackle this.

Cars & Bids is trying to compete with BAT and the target market and therefore selling prices end up being similar, which is to say, take them with a grain of salt.

I test drove a 2000 4Runner when I was looking for my Pathy and that was my exact impression. Slow, harsh ride, not as well optioned, worse interior plastics.

It's in great shape but not amazing. Mine was in better shape with 150k+ miles on it (albeit it's an SE, not an LE). The state of that roof's paint is concerning. It looks to be down to bare metal in some parts:

Interesting. I think I heard about those but wasn't lucky finding any pics installed. I suppose that just gives me back the inch that I lost at the back and do a better job at not sagging. They aren't stupidly expensive either so that's great. Thank you!

Similar question to the above: When unloaded, my stock 2003 Pathy sits very close to the expected height from ground to wheel arch. It's right on the mark up front and less than an inch shorter at the back, however, even with just one person on the back seat or light cargo, it sags a lot so it's clear that the rear springs are tired. I read most of this thread and saw the photos people uploaded and the shortest LR springs will apparently add between 3" or 4" to the rear, but since the front is fine and I don't plan to lift it, that will leave me with too much rake. I don't love the idea of cutting springs so has anyone tried something else? I just want perhaps 2" more at the back and slightly stiffer springs to minimize sagging.

Yeah, the cloth seats struck me as weird. The few LE's I saw before buying my SE had their leather seats completely destroyed so perhaps the PO replaced them. Getting upset at RCR for their "reviews" is like watching Top Gear expecting serious automotive journalism. It's a comedy YouTube channel. Whether it's funny or interesting to some of us and not others, well, that's a matter of having different tastes. He gives abstract reviews and deals more with the surreal aspect of driving a car. There are plenty of other YT channels and established car shows that talk about hp, 0-60 and off road capabilities. His recent Olds Hurst video was great IMO.

So, my driver's side window has been getting progressively slower and slower to the point where it sometimes triggered the safety anti-pinch and rolled down. At first it only happened with the window going up so I thought the issue was with the window runners or regulator alignment. I tried a lot of things, from adjusting said regulator and lubricating the runners with teflon to actually removing the glass and moving the mechanism without the extra mass. Lo and behold, rolling the regulator down was also slow and only seemed fast because the weight of the glass was helping the weak motor. Yesterday I took the regulator off the car to inspect everything and I disassembled the motor. It turns out that one of the brushes inside is gone. There was absolutely no carbon left, just the copper spring. The rest of the motor was completely covered in graphite which surely didn't help. I already ordered a new motor and regulator. Even though the old regulator seems fine, I'm sure it's going to fail as soon as it has to handle the torque of a brand new motor. If you are having similar issues with slow windows, don't waste your time, especially if your Pathy has a ton of miles. The brushes looked non-standard so I doubt the motors are worth refurbishing. I ordered the part from Amazon. It's a TYC and has good reviews. Let's hope it lasts, although I must give it to Nissan, this was one of the easiest regulators to remove.

lol. I know exactly what you're talking about. We still get the proper, diabetes-inducing coke down here (as well as the Pepsi). I'm fine with Mr Regular roasting the Pathy because it's not his kind of car (in fact he rarely likes any car). He didn't really take pricing into account nor a lot of other things that make the R50 come out on top. I don't think he has driven a stock 3rd gen 4Runner (I did, and the Pathy I ended up buying was superior). He tends to like quirky and purpose-built rides (hence why it kept comparing it to a heavily modded 1st gen 4Runner). The R50 is good at everything but not exceptional, so for the uninitiated it's a boring car. He is completely right in that Nissan never made up their minds about what the Pathfinder was supposed to be. Toyota did it better: Keep the 4Runner as the sturdy off-road capable one and the Highlander as the mall-friendly family SUV. I mean, he reviewed a Mercury Mariner about a year ago and said that it was the most boring car ever.

Regular Car Reviews is an acquired taste. Their humor does click with me but I can see how it's not everybody's cup of tea (for comparison, I hate Doug DeMuro but most people like him). They are not really car reviewers and you shouldn't watch their videos expecting that. The biggest draw IMO is how they accurately relate a car to the people who buy/drive them and how they can describe a driving experience by using weird analogies. I laughed at their starting 4Runner Coke vs Pathfinder Pepsi comparison, so on point. TL;DR: If you don't know Mr Regular by now, you probably won't understand or like his videos.

Ouch..

The "auto amp" is simply the main AC module, right? If so then I'm chasing a similar issue with my 2003 (no Nav). I randomly get warm air even with the temp all the way down, recirc on and manual mode. I had the whole system tested for leaks and pressure and it's all fine. What seems to be happening is that the AC module tells the blend door to open for a second or two. I took apart most of the center and lower dash while playing with different temps and settings and all doors appear to be moving fine and fully, well, besides that random "glitch". My plan is to get a used module off eBay to see if the issue goes away but now it sounds like these modules are not very reliable as they age. Nissan's 90's-00's circuit boards are known for their crappy soldering so perhaps this is just as simple as finding the right resistor and reheat/resolder it? The clock in mine certainly came back to life after doing so, same as my GF's former Sentra's windshield wiper module.

Any DIY on taking the retractor apart and cleaning it/lubing it?

lol, yeah. Disconnecting the blend door wire "for the season" is my back up plan. Where I live "the season" is basically the whole year, so there's that. It's hard to confirm from a distance but the actuators look like any other actuator I've seen in the past, they have plastic clips and do come apart (here is one for sale). As for how easy it is to unscrew it from where it's hanging, hard to say. The actuator is in plain sight behind and under the stereo but reaching for the screws may require other stuff to come out. When I set the AC to full hot an full cold while looking straight down at the actuator and it looks like it's moving all the way. You may be right in that the position it is reporting is wrong so I'm not ruling it out completely. As for the blend doors not fully closing, I think in order for me to see them I would need to remove the whole lower dash. Since 95% of the time I do get sufficiently cold air, I suppose they do close so I'm not going to tear the whole thing down. My next plan is to test the AC while unplugging things. Unplugging both temp sensors is easy enough, same as with the blend door actuator. The sun load sensor and the fresh air/recirc actuator are out of reach but I don't need to test those. This is going to be my troubleshooting guide (from cheap to expensive-ish): Disconnect cabin air temp sensor. Test AC. If there's still hot air coming out randomly, move on. Otherwise, replace that sensor. Disconnect intake air temp sensor. Test AC. If there's still hot air coming out randomly, move on. Otherwise, replace that sensor (this one seems impossible to find). Disconnect blend door actuator. Test AC. If the problem disappears it means either the actuator or HVAC panel are bad. Buy used HVAC panel and test again (~$60). If there's still hot air with a different HVAC panel (and everything else connected), replace the blend door actuator (~$80). I feel like #3 is the jackpot but we'll see.