BowTied

Thanks for the compliments guys. Despite having an LE, no cabin filter in my rig.

Oh, ok, sorry if I implied you were...it's just a quite a bend in that tool. What were you doing when that happened?

nice score!

If you want good value look at Hankooks - I undertand theyhave invested in some development as of late and are better than their price point. Similarly, I bought General Gmax AS-03 for my car this fall but have not got them on the car yet. Initial reviews seem great in that this is about as much as a preformance tire as you might want but not in the price point. I expect the price of this tire to go up. Built in tire tread monitor is neat too. http://www.roadandtrack.com/special-report/tire-review-general-tire-g-max-as-03/gallery http://www.drivingthenation.com/?p=3165

Nice bend. Only a 6" cheater bar? I presume you were standing on it and or jumping on it? Lug nuts?

I don't have any first hand with the VGs but I am inclined to agree with the above post. One thing I will add - are you sure the engine is getting up to temperature in a reasonable time? If the temp stays low (or the computer thinks it is low) it will stay in open loop mode. This means the O2 sensors are bypassed and a rich fuel map is used (normally just for warm up). (It further prevents the torque convertor from locking up on the highway if it is an A/T but since no issue since you have a M/T). This will ruin fuel economy. The usual culprit of this is a stuck open tstat. It would seem unlikely that this would happen across two engines as I can't imagine how crazy it would be to put in a new engine with a used tstat. However, I could see the temp sender/sensor thingy being reused and/or a break in the wire to the sensor being present across two engines. Something to think about. What was reused on the old engine to the new one? Good chance of those is the trouble.

Changed the oil, put the winter tires on and serviced the front calipers on the pathfinder. While doing this I noticed the pocket at the rear of the fender/cowl area on both sides were full of leaves. I often vacuum these out but it parks under a tree and this area gets a lot of crap. Upon vacuuming it out I noticed it was full of mud! Here is what I did to deal with that. This is not rocket science of course but I thought this might help someone who hasn't done it before. A length of stiff coat hanger or similar long flat blade screw driver trouble light* shop vac with crevice tool Garden hose/nozzle * Please play safe and use a battery powered light or flashlight or at the very least if you must you a 120V trouble light keep it in a GFIC outlet/keep the cord out of the water. After getting all the leaves out I found the crevice tool was too big to fit all the way down into the fender pocket area. (My tool was too big ) This is where there screw driver came into to dig the crud up and flick it toward the shop vac. After that was done I used the garden hose with the nozzle set to "jet" to flush it out. The water wasn't draining very well so I got the coat hanger in there. Note the scratches. I flushed it again. Better but still slow. So I got underneath to find the root of the problem. The red arrow is toward the front of the truck for reference. The issue at hand is the blue arrow. That plastic thingy I think acts like a shield/drain gutter allowing water from the cowl to drain out of the fender bottom and avoid road crap from getting in there. This is where the leaves and mud hang out and muck things up. Coat hanger this area and should get the rest of the crap out. Reflush from above. When I started I could fill and flood the pocket easily. With the clean out done the pocket drains fast enough I cannot fill it at all. That's how you know yer done. If you can see a water level or that the pocket is filling you are not done. I then sprayed the pocket with some fluid film until I can properly undercoat. Hope that this helps someone.

Last two posts are right. The OP didn't say if he has the All-mode 4WD or the manual shift. The All-mode 4WD has a wet clutch system in the T-case along with full time front axle engagement. I can shift it on the fly effortlessly with this system, no noises at all. I have done so at more than 50MPH but that was shifting from 4hi to 2wd. As noted, shift when NOT on the throttle - ease off a bit to take the load of the components. Shifting when on the throttle is akin to shifting the trans while on the throttle - when it meshes it will yank hard on things. Also avoid shifting the tcase unless moving in a straight line somewhat coasting. I bet (not recommended) you could shift the All-mode 4WD at 60MPH that way.

At this point I am unclear on Tungsten's position on cup holders. Those Saab ones are cool. Is there a spot on the dash you can mount one of those bad boys? I like the QX4 version beside the shifter (but I am not a fan of woodgrain)

Happy Birthday all! BURN! lol I am about as old, feel a lot older, but act way immature - for balance.

Staggering.

Let me add to the brush the snow off tip - not only good for your car, but your wallet as some jurisdiction the police will charge you for failing to clear the snow from your roof/hood, and/or license plates. Besides, don't be the jerk driving the mobile snow storm with snow blowing off in chunks onto my windshield!!! Here is a few little general things I will add: -If you have a trailer hitch, remove or grease your drawbar so it doesn't rust in place in your hitch. -Fill your trailer connector with dielectric grease so it doesn't corrode to heck. Same for other external connectors (block heater plug, O/R lights, winch etc. -Check your spare for air (and that you have a decent jack and tire iron). -Some vehicles automatically run the A/C compressor when in defrost mode to clear the windows. If you don't have a separate A/C button or economy button on the dash turn the HVAC to vent when you can to save fuel. -Always check to see if your wipers are frozen before turning the vehicle on. If the wipers were left on before hand (by your wife for example ) you catch and take the stress off the blades and motor. -lube the door hinges and tire carrier and hood latch -silicone spray on the power antenna

This place has some good products, I was recommended there by my car club brothers. http://www.frostfighter.com/ I used the kit to resolder a connector tab back on to the grid, worked well enough.

Any luck with insurance? My company was fine with it, but I can't afford the truck I'd want to import! Good luck, looking forward to more pics.

great post

Interesting...

Dieselboy: Did you import the terry yourself? Who did you use for auction/inspection etc? The little reading I have done on the topic seems that the difficulty of importation depends greatly on the province, I hear BC is tough and Ontario is easy for the requirements such as DRLs for Ontario, but BC might require DOT approved lights and lenses! Also, if you have not yet found http://forum.ivoac.ca/ I think you will find it a great resource.

I agree with Adam.

I can understand your frustration. Most engineering folks are not actually to blame. Most would rather design something that is practical. Management often direct them to make it cheaper or whatever and force them to compromise designs. There are dumb engineering type like there are in any walk of life, but chances are the company they work for places constraints on the design that preclude a practical or user serviceable end product - usually for the sake of cost or time.

If you do it yourself, it would be under $100, but then you have to have time etc. I presume you saw my how-to on this. $400 seems decent to me, I'd expect $500 locally. Plugs are the main thing to do, PCV is the other. Maybe get the valve cover cleaned within an inch of it's life. Other might be to lube the accelerator and cruise control cables but that could be done anytime. If the dealership doesn't seem savy about this (my local one looked at me like I had two heads as if it could never happen) then tell them what loc-tite to use and that they should let the loc-tite cure before re-starting the engine (24hrs? whatever the bottle says).

Smaller than stock tires could cause higher highway RPMs by a little bit. But what you say sounds about right if you have the deeper 4.63 axle ration gears (better off road). I think these gears were more common on the SE models, but not certain of that. If dealer says "not sure" that always means "no" in my experience, lol. There is rarely a warning sign, just poof and major engine problems.

Is the engine turn over slow at first and then at the last second starts? It could be a starter. It could be a dying battery. WIth the truck off, the battery should be around 12 and half volts. Running 13-14.

Well, I was due to have a good idea lol