Scottzilla

Nice, glad you got your fans to fit. I was trying that for a while, but I just ended up removing the fan shroud and mounting my fans behind the radiator.

Just wanted to post an interesting tidbit I discovered today. I've got an '89 Pathy with no "Check Engine" light. The gauge cluster has an extra spot for a light right above the "Brake" light. In the name of science I went ahead and installed a bulb in this vacant spot. The light has been turning on with all the other lights when I first turned the key on, but turned off after I started the engine. Today the light came on and stayed on. I went under the seat and read out the ECU codes and noticed that the mystery light on the dash came on every time the red LED on the ECU did. It seems the ECU's red LED and the check engine light are one and the same, and that the only difference between having a check engine light and not having one is installing a light bulb. Maybe a little handiwork with a Sharpie too... Now I just need to hook up a green light and a switch and I can quit digging around under the passenger's seat every time I want to read ECU codes!

It's amazing how much you can learn by crawling around in your rig with a meter for a couple of hours. I got my problem solved. See first post for details.

And the tradition continues. Literally the first test drive after I sorted out my transmission problem my fuel and temp gauges stroked out. <sigh>

Does the manual show how to pull codes from the TCU if you don't have an overdrive button? (I've only got a power button on the shifter) Thanks! Never mind. You can just use the Auto/Power button instead. Just make sure your TPS is hooked up right first!

You have a newer Pathy than I do so it would be different than mine, but the TPS on yours is where the air intake tube goes into the rest of the engine (kind of on the driver's side). Find where the throttle cable hooks on, then look on the opposite side of the intake from that. You should see a black box looking thing with a connector on one end and a pigtail with another connector coming out of it. Both are 3-pin. I'd go to the junkyard, grab both the TPS and the attached wires and splice them in as far back as you can. (forgive the crummy description, but I'm doing it from memory from one I saw in a junkyard a couple of months ago)

That's probably it. The only action it's seen in a while is driving across my lawn when my roommate parks behind me in the driveway.

I just wanted to update this topic in case anyone else has the problem. In my case it turned out to be the wiring going to the TPS, not the sensor itself. Sometimes I could wiggle the wires while the engine was running and cause the issue to kick in. I got some new connectors and as much of the wire as I could from the junkyard and swapped it in and the problem hasn't returned.

I think the switch is sticking or something. I've wiggled the wires and nothing changes. It seems to come on a bit sometimes when I first start it up. Sometimes it goes off by itself and sometimes I have to switch in and out of 4-HI a couple of times. Oh, well. I've seen where the switch is and it's not worth messing with. First it didn't come on at all and now it comes on too much. I think it's messing with me.

I don't know for sure on the Pathfinders, but often the tach is set up for a specific number of cylinders. Unless somebody else here knows for sure I'd stick with one from a 6 cyl.

Does anyone know how to pull codes from the TCU without having an OD button? (I have a power button only).

'90 is pretty much the same as '89 except there's an extra wire/connector that you have to hook to ground so that your PRNDL21 lights work when the headlights are on. That's the extent of my gauge swapping. The temp seems to read the same between those two years. Oh yeah, one is orange and one is white.

How does one test a tranny in a Pathy that doesn't have an OD switch?

Good to know. Thanks! Just tried it. I managed to make it worse, but not better (it was already adjusted all the way one way). I'm starting to wonder if my new wiring harness is no good either. I tried a whole different TPS (again)

Now the light is on dim when it's supposed to be off (still lights up bright in 4WD). I think my Pathy has a rule that everything can't work right at the same time.

Mine works like that now (it doesn't wait for the hubs to disengage). I wonder why it's normally connected to the neutral switch on the tranny.

My green 4WD light hasn't worked since I got my Pathy. After some troubleshooting and modification I finally got it to go. It looks like in the '89s anyway the light is set up so that it will only light in neutral (auto tranny). Is that right? The manual makes it sound like it should be on any time you're in 4WD but that can't happen the way things are wired up.

Problem solved! Updates/answers are in blue. Long story short, I had a problem with the wiring going to my throttle position sensor. I spliced in some new connectors and wires from the yard. Now I'm noticing two things about the AT: 1- It seems to be a bit sluggish shifting. Going up it waits until higher RPM than it used to. (Power switch/light are off). I actually started noticing this before my latest bout of rewiring. 2- Auto-power doesn't seem to work any more. When I stomp on the gas the Power light used to come on but now it doesn't. I'm not sure exactly when it quit working. Does the tranny use the TPS to know how much gas you're giving it and determine where to shift? Yes! Does it use it to know when you've stomped on it and activate Auto Power? (or is there another switch somewhere) Yes. It uses the CTP part of it (the connector that is molded into the TPS itself). In the tranny troubleshooting document the two halves of the switch are called the "full throttle switch" and the "idle switch". I don't know for sure that it doesn't use the kickdown switch too but if the idle and full throttle switches aren't hooked up right Auto Power won't work. Why are there two connectors on the TPS? The one on the pigtail connect to an internal potentiometer and you can read the value with a meter. I can't tell what the other one on the body of the TPS is for. The pigtail one provides a linear value based on how much you've depressed the accelerator pedal and is referred to as the "throttle sensor" on the tranny troubleshooting doc. The one that is part of the TPS is for the "full throttle switch" and "idle switch" (see above). Basically I'm wondering if my new TPS or one of the connectors are bad or if my tranny is starting to have problems. It's got plenty of red fluid and was rebuilt not that many miles ago. It turns out that the two outside wires for the CTP had been reversed so the tranny thought I was flooring it when I was idling and vice-versa. She's shifting like she used to now. Does anyone know how to pull codes from the TCU without having an OD button? (I have a power button only). I do (now)! You use the power button. When the instructions call for the OD button to be off put the button in "Power" mode (out) and when it calls for OD on put it in "Auto" mode (in). On rigs that have the power button and no OD button the power button is connected to the pin on the TCU connector where the magic document says that the OD button is supposed to go and there is nothing connected to where the power button is supposed to go. Why didn't I think to try the power button in the first place you ask? Well I did, but since the CTP wires had been reversed it was sensing that I was doing the pedal part wrong. To test the theory I went through the whole procedure but reversed the pedal pushes and releases and it finally started blinking out error codes. (#3 TPS- even though I'd pretty much figured that out by then). Note for me: don't do wiring when I'm really sleepy. Note for Nissan: quit using the same color wire for different signals that go to the same sensor.

Heh, I always use my Leatherman.

Excellent. That will make my life easier. Thanks!

I need new connectors for my TPS (the wiring harness side, not the sensor side) and all the local yards only have 1990 or newer Pathys. I was wondering if I would be able to get the connectors I need from one of them. Thanks!

I don't know of an easy way to get the exhaust bolts off. You just need the right combination of sockets, extensions, wrenches and pain. I think on one side I ended up disconnecting the pipe lower down and leaving the manifold on until I had the engine partway out. As far as the trans to engine bolts, I think it may be easier just to pull the whole thing out at once (that's what I ended up doing). It's so true. Somewhere some engineer is giggling his arse off!

Sounds like your oil pump died.

You can sometimes get good deals on eBay

Did you check the fuses already? Hopefully the lights don't work because a fuse blew and not because some trace inside the cluster melted or something.