back2basics

aaahhh yeaaaa....I didnt push down on it. oops. Well I'll be running down (the truck is 2 hrs away) there again over Christmas break. I'm going to take it to a mechanic so he can put it on a life to check the frame and for rust. I ran a carfax and supposidly there was some degree of frame damage. I dont know how serious it is though because I guarentee the current owner would know of it and would have had it fixed if it affected the truck at all. Plus when I drove it, nothing felt different??? Any certain area I should look at on the frame? I'll make sure to ask about the timing belt. The most detail I've gone into mechanics is changing a headgasket on an 88 Supra so I'd definitely be willing to try the timing belt on a Pathfinder. Is it unusually difficult on these trucks or anything?

Hey, I'm not yet apart of the Pathfinder game, but should be soon. First off, I think this is the correct place to post this, but if its not let me know. Anyways, I'm looking at getting my first Pathfinder. Its a 95, 153k miles, auto. I actually dont know which model, but I think its an XE. I just got back from looking at it. Just wanted to come on here and post the results and see what everybody thinks. It hadnt been started in a month or two and it fired up strong. The idle slowly dropped as it warmed up. No ticking or strange sounds. It was a little "jerky" when putting it into reverse to back out of the garage. The idle was smooth and it accelerated without any hesitation. There seemed to be a good amount of body roll, but I'm sure that is going to happen with older suspension. Its snowing here right now in SE Wisconsin so we took it into a parking lot to test of the 4 wheel drive. It was real hard getting it into gear. We could actually only switch from 4X4 high and 2 wheel high. We could not even get it into "N" or 4X4 low. It was just too hard to pull the stick down into those gears. 4X4 high seemed to be working fine though. The steering seemed solid without any vibrations. The engine was a "dusty dirty", but was dry with no oil or liquids anywhere. It was also nice and dry underneath. She had just replaced the muffler and some piping (she said it was warrantied?). She also said that there was a coolant leak from a coolant plug seal? Sound correct. This was fixed though and its no longer leaking. Cosmetically it was pretty good. The paint was clear of any major defects. There was some surface rust on the front and back bumpers. It was in a small fender bender.....the rear driver side quarter panel is bumped in accompanied with a little spotted rust. The driver side door hinges seemed to be loose as when you shut the door it bumped the floor board. The foglights were either taped on or had cracked lenses. Overall its seems like a good mechanically sound vehicle. That is my main conern, reliablitiy. She said she wont go lower than $2600. Sound like a deal? Any other questions that I should ask her or questions that you have for me? Anything I should be concerned about (that 4X4 issue)?? Thanks!