vanuatoo

My sticker says 30 psi on all tires.

2003 SE, 60,700 miles.

4runner is better suited for offroad than pathfinder. 4runner is body on frame and has double wishbone front suspension. pathfinder is unibody and has struts in front. Expert offroaders know what I'm talking about 4runner has one weak point. Its nose is little bit down in stock form and first thing owners do is at least 2 inch lift in front and 1 inch in rear and the car is ready to go everywhere. If we compare 4x4 systems, all 4runners (4th gen, >2003) have traction control, stability control, DAC (Downhill assist control), Hill start assist control, also they have multimode 4 wheel drive system that allows you to engage 4lo without locking center differential, almost forgot they have torsen center differential. In real life, stock pathfinder has great off-road capabilities but it was not meant to be off-roader by design. I love my 2003 SE. I've had few cases when I engaged 4hi but when I did it worked great. Also 4lo and 1st gear greatly helped me several times to crawl down a muddy hill securely.

My car came with these tires. It's OEM option I guess. on www.tirerack.com these tires are rated below average and I've read many bad reviews about them? I've driven 13k miles on them and they were good in light snow,rain and dry conditions. What's your experience?

I could not find fully synthetic 5w-30. OEM 5w-30 mineral and synthetic blend 5w-30-s are available here. If there was Mobil 1 fully synthetic 5w-30 I would buy it immediately but it's not. BTW I read on some forum that Mobil1 0w-40 is really good for VQ35DE

Hello guys I don't live in US and in my area I could not find fully synthetic 5w-30 oil. I've found this oil instead http://www.aral-lubricants.com/lubricants/com/automotive_lubricants/our_products/supertronic_0w-40.html That is fully synthetic and conforms to API SM. Do you think it's ok for my VQ35DE? My mileage is 57k miles.

I have a moonroof and it's probably leaking. I'm gonna look at it today and see if any drain hole is clogged.

It was raining for 2 days. Today when I was going downhill and did a hard right turn, one drop of water caught my eye. I looked up and there were two or three drops of water accumulated in the right map light. What do you recommend to isolate the issue?

Manual says DOT 3, is it safe to use DOT 4?

I'm going to flush brake fluid with classic method. pumping brake pedal and dealing with air bleeder valve. Do you know how much fluid will I need for that, max? is 1 quart enough for the whole job?

Looks nice. Same design as mine

I'm going to buy this grease gun and use it with 14.5oz cartridges http://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Industrial-1134-Pistol-Grease/dp/B0002NYDZ8/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top I've also found Mobile Grease XHP 222 grease that is NLGI No. 2 certified and is lithium complex based. I don't know if my car was lubed with the previous owner and it was not lubed in my hand since October 2008. Is it safe to do 4-5 shots or more? I don't want to have some problems because of "overdosing". I know that it's safe with U-joints. Also is there any notion from nissan of how much grease you should use every lubrication?

I'm going to just remove drain plug, drain the fluid and add the same amount through the dipstick hole. Can anyone tell me what is the approximate amount that will be drained? I know that most of the fluid will stay in torque converter. I know that 8.5 liters is needed for flush. Without removing torque converter will it be more than 4 quarts?

Hello I'm going to buy a socket set and try to do some things myself. I'm 99% sure that I need Metric sockets, just wanted to make sure.

It's bad that fluid is dirty. There are 2 methods for changing tranny fluid. 1. drain and refill From factory manual 1. Warm up A/T fluid. 2. Stop engine. 3. Drain A/T fluid from drain plug and refill with new A/T fluid. Always refill same volume with drained fluid. Fluid grade: Nissan Matic “D” (Continental U.S. and Alaska) or Canada NISSAN Automatic Transmission Fluid. You can also use Dexron III but I would definitely go with Genuine Nissan Matic D. 4. Run engine at idle speed for five minutes. 5. Check fluid level and condition. Refer to MA-23, “Checking A/T Fluid”. If fluid is still dirty, repeat steps 2 through 5. 2. Flush This method requires a special machine that circulates new fluid through the transmission lines and ultimately pushes old fluid out of the transmission. This video demonstrates how it works. I've read somewhere that if the transmission is damaged (I don't know if your case qualifies) flush may finish off the transmission and this method is not recommended. If your fluid is pretty dirty it means that the drain and refill method will require several steps to clean it, because this method only replaces third of the fluid at a time. I would do the drain and refill and if I notice that tranny works better, repeat the steps to replace as much fluid as I can.

On my 2003 SE 4wd there is a one nipple on the front drive shaft. On 2wd models the nipple is located on the rear drive shaft. I guess there is one drive shaft on 2wd models. Here is the picture from the FSM

I've found many greases on Amsoil site and all the greases that are NLGI 2 are also synthetic. Mobil1 seems to have only one universal multi-purpose synthetic grease.

I've looked at the manuals and I have only one nipple to grease and it's on the front drive shaft. Amsoil and Mobil 1 both have synthetic greases. Is it safe to use? I mean is this the same case as with engine oils where you can safely buy synthetic because it's better than conventional?

I'm going to lubricate drive shaft and decided to buy a cartridge type grease gun. I've found many choices on amazon.com. Can you recommend one? I just need simple, cheap one. Also what grease do you use? Nissan recommends NLGI No. 2 (Lithium soap base) for drive shaft.

every 3 months if I'm too conservative and follow Nissan's premium maintenance schedule. I plan to switch two dual change mode in a year. First change before summer on the 1st of June and the second change before winter on the 1st of December.

Now I understand. So it's not the case with VQ35DE I guess. I bought the car a year ago and imported to my country. It had 44k miles on it. I've immediately changed the oil and poured 5w-30 long-life fully synthetic oil. That was on 2009-Oct-10. When I checked the oil level later after several months (I know I should not and will not do that again) it was on L mark. I calculated and I drove 4000 miles in about 6 month or so. Later I called some dealer in US and the guy told me that excessive oil burn is more than one quart per 1500 miles. So I guess my engine does not burn oil, because my daily trip is 5 miles at the morning and 5 miles at the evening home-work-home. In another thread I've written that on highway the car does not burn oil, at least I could not notice it after 300 miles trip. So I bought 1 quart of the same oil and was adding till I reached 6000 miles and I changed the oil after 10 months from the last change. I don't know what oil the previous owner was using but I plan to use fully synthetic till my income allows me to do so. The only thing that frustrates me is that nissan's premium schedule requires you to change oil and filter every 3 months or 3750 miles, whichever comes first. In my case it means that I should change oil every 3 months and it's kinda expensive for me because fully synthetic in here is expensive. The change costs me about 100 USD. Lately I've found a shop that's importing "genuine" oils from Japan. http://jaytec-lubricants.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_7_15 They have conventional 5w-30. It's cheaper than fully synthetic and it will cost me about 70 USD to change the oil. But as you guys suggest and I believe you I should not downgrade and use fully synthetic forever because my engine is not burning oil yet and because I use fully synthetic it should not in the foreseeable future.

I've heard that fully synthetic oil damages gasket seals and car burns oil on some vehicles with high mileage. Is this the case with VQ35DE engine? Can I safely use fully synthetic oil throughout the whole life of the car?

I use this part 999M1-XN004. Was about 70$ at the dealer. Very handy and useful thing.

Is it recommended to completely flush/bleed/change brake fluid in the car during its lifetime? I have not seen this requirement in the maintenance schedule but I know that brake fluid tends to get moisture over time and it loses its braking capabilities.

Hello My car is going slowly to 60k mark and I'm going to to Automatic Transmission maintenance. I don't live in US. I've read that Dexron III/Mercon fluid can be used. http://www.aral-lubricants.com/lubricants/com/automotive_lubricants/our_products/atf_55.html Is this fluid OK? Also should I change filter or not? It's 2003 SE part-time 4x4. nissan4parts.com says that if I change only fluid I will need pan gasket and drain plug gasket only. What is the expected amount I'd have to add? The capacity is 8.5 liters with converter but I guess only 2/3 of that will be drained.