The Truck:
1990 Nissan Pathfinder 3.0L SE V6, fully STOCK as far as I know
The Question:
Maintenance... I needs ta know things
Alright, here's the thing:
I bought the truck from my Grandfather. He's taken pretty good care of it... few patches of rust I need to patch, but otherwise the body is great. The frame looks good climbing under the truck, and my muffler and possibly oil pan or gas tank (not sure which) needs to be replaced... it's rusting thru pretty badly. I need a new undercoat.
I am only 19 years old... I know a bit about the truck but not nearly as much as I'd like. I want some advice on what to do for it... I know my valve cover gasket is leaking a little bit of oil - that is something I want to replace as soon as funds allow.
Oh, before I continue, my Mechanic is a family friend and has been in the business for years... I wish I could do the work myself, but I have nowhere to do it, nor the tools to do it with.
I want, to be frank, to be able to hand the truck down to my kids and, if they take care of it, for them to be able to hand it down to their kids.
What information do I need to gather so i can put together a good maint schedule?
I know I'm LONG overdue for a tranny flush... I'm afraid to do it to be honest because of how overdue it is. I'm thinking just drain and re-fill without the acid bath?
I get my oil and filter changed every 3-4 thousand miles depending on weather and driving conditions.
The truck has a little over 143,000 miles on it.
I have had to replace my Tie rods due to them being completely broken (I drove into the shop with em broken... how that works I don't know but I WATCHED him lift the truck and saw his surprise... he showed me the problem... they were broken clean off)
I have replaced the shocks recently.
PCV valve and Fuel filter have been replaced within the last thousand miles.
I run an injector cleaner through every third or fourth gas up.
According to my mechanic, the engine is running nice and tight.
My 4WD transfer case is a little mucked up - it will no longer FULLY disengage on the fly - it partially disengages and then the gears grind a bit. I have to stop and reverse a few feet for it to fully disengage.
I am considering the following:
Engine rebuild kit
Iridium Spark Plugs w/ new wires
Tube replacement for all the tubes on the engine
Tranny drain and refil
Transfer Case Replacement
Anything else I should consider?
Also, does the 1990 model have any kind of locking differential? I've heard people say that, if you press the breaks, the rear diff will lock or partially lock... is this true?
Thank you all, I appreciate ANY help I can get. I really want to do a full restoration on this truck and hope I can get the information I need to do so.
Oh, also, my pathfinder has a strange quirk - it seems to 'stutter' between 1500-2000 rpm when accelerating. My mechanic thinks it may be crossfiring. Is this a serious problem to have looked at ASAP?
That and my torshin bar is kind of loose (due to age the brackets don't hold as tight as they should). Is this serious too?
The truck has never seen real off road activity... just a few romps thru my back yard and the treatcherous roads in Fort Washington Philly. She drives and handles more like a bloody sports car though... on the snaking roads around where I am, I can outrun most sportcars (chased down a 'vette once) because I seem to be more comfortable taking turns at high speed *shrug*.
I'm hoping that, once I get my own house, I can put her in the garage, get some tools, and do a complete breakdown, clean, and rebuild... but that's a few years off. How can I keep her running till then?
Edit to fix the confusion of some people that read a little TOO DEEPLY into things
