westslope

That is impressive for the greater Toronto area. Or has Ontario stopped throwing a river of salt on the road every winter?

I'm sorry I don't have much to add to this discussion though I am enjoying it. I try to hit really steep hills on the the Coquihalla highway or the Crowsnest by hitting the bottom of the hill at 120 km/h. But if I may feed an off-topic suggestion.... Banx, if you live in the Lower Mainland or plan on visiting Greater Vancouver on occasion, please get an after-market ignition immobilizer for your 91 pathie. Car thieves love early pathfinder models. ICBC has documented this over the years. We lost ours just outside the downtown store of Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) a few years ago. Vancouver police don't give a crap, in fact, the tow company provided the information for the police report.

Sea-foam will not clean the air-intake throttle body. A dedicated product is probably best.

LOL! I'm almost 6' 5"..... For years I could never understand why North America autos were so cramped and uncomfortable compared to Japanese models given that the Japanese themselves are shorter than North Americans. But then lots of folks had trouble understanding all the sex, drugs, rock 'n roll and downtime on North American auto assembly lines..... The shocks are new Pro-Comp ES9000. Before that I had replaced the stock shocks with Pro Comp ES3000 shocks--even stiffer than the ES9000. The ride is firm but the vehicle will still sway or lurch. Hence my question about replacing the stock springs with new, stiffer springs of the same size, same lift.

Been wondering if I should upgrade to an Xterra from the current 1993 WD21. A buddy visited the other day with his. Never took it off road but made two observations running errands in town: - the WD21 pathfinder appears to have a better view through the windows. - the Xterra appears to have a firmer ride which I assumed was due to the leaf springs. It seemed to lurch around less than our pathfinder. Perhaps I should simply switch out the stock springs on the pathfinder in order to reduce lurching and sway? Any thoughts on that?

I took the '93 pathfinder to 'my mechanic' to have the brakes checked and the brake fluid flushed and replaced. Brakes are fine. The shop changed the oil and oil filter--something I had not requested. In the process, the mechanic emptied the Mobil 1 extended performance 5W30 oil and replaced it with Castrol Dino oil. I should either find a new mechanic or start doing some of these things myself.......

7 litres per 100 km? Wow! I used to get that kind of mileage with the old 1987 1.6 litre engine Nissan Sentra. You either have the best operating pathfinder in the bunch or you are making a measurement error. There should be no need to drive in reserve to disengage the auto hubs. I prefer to change while stationary. Hubs should disengage within seconds of moving.

Yesterday, I removed and tried to reseat the left-rear red running/brake light. I knew one of the rear running/brake lights was not working because the ABS brake light would stay lit. Now I'm wondering if I should fix the rear license plate lights...... Question is, do I want to be seen and known that much?

Which Pro Comps? I'm running Pro Comp ES 9000 nitrogen shocks. They are slightly smoother than the ES 3000 shocks they replaced.

Update: Had the windshield replaced at Whatcom Windshields on the north end of Bellingham, WA. Small independent shop with track record, web-site and the cheapest price. Worked out great. We yacked away and I was leaving 40 minutes later with instructions to remove the tape on the top section a few hours later (and before crossing the border back into Canada). Ended up with a pale blue/green tint. Looks great. Don't notice it most of the time. No scratches! Also had a close look at the inside of the front window pillars. No rust to be seen. Zero. And then I went to 3 stores looking for 36 X 36 pants. No satisfaction. 44 X 30? No problem. Huh?

Yes, that is a westslope cutthroat trout native to SE BC, SW Alberta, Montana and Idaho. WA state has lots of interesting fishing opportunities especially for steelhead though some of the best are in the SW corner or on the Olympic Peninsula.

1994SEV6, Thanks for posting prices and sharing your experience getting your front wheel bearings repacked, new CV axle, replacing the leaking caliper. I can remember folks telling me when I was in my 20s that one should get a minimum of 3 estimates for major auto repairs. We're probably due for some front end work so your post was timely. I have enjoyed good service from small shops. But not consistently. In this case, I was worried that the short times--one hour as opposed to 3 hours--being offered were 'low bids' or that the shop would skimp on gluing and waterproofing the new windshield but I gather none of you see this as a major risk.

T: The cost of living for many things and services is generally higher in Canada than the USA for a whole bunch of reasons. But within Canada, British Columbia has long been one of the most expensive places. Markets are relatively small, distances are huge. Note that NAFTA is a freer trade deal with the USA and Mexico, not a "free" trade deal. Borders still exist, national and local sales taxes still exist. Time is still worthwhile. Would guess that within the USA, places like NW Washington State are more expensive than California, for example.

For those of you from Mars.... icbc = Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. Auto insurance was nationalized a few years ago in B.C. Yes, civil servants run the show and it shows. The rates are expensive, and the service can suck really badly. When our pathie was stolen a few years ago, ICBC made us pay for their personnel issues. Nefarious, a deductible means that the insurance company covers the cost after the deductible amount is removed. So in this case, suppose I had comprehensive coverage with a $200 deductible and went with the lowest bid on the Canadian side of the border. ICBC would reimburse us for approximately 1/3 of the cost.

Not odd at all. Comprehensive insurance is not free. If you do some calculations, you may find that maintaining positive cash balances and planning to pay for this kind of repair with your own cash is by far the cheapest. We simply self insure. Naturally, this doesn't work so well for folks who maintain large balances on their credit cards. Speaking of 'odd', I find it odd that Americans, both privately and collectively, are behaving like the Greeks these days..... Why save when you can borrow?

The windshield on the '94 pathie has developed a several inch crack from a fishing trip after Christmas. It needs to be replaced. I checked out 4 shops in Canada and 3 in the USA. The price range was impressive from $200 + tax (8.7%) in Washington State to $500 + tax (12%) in Canada. Time to remove and replace varied from 3 or 4 hours to just one hour. Canadian shops quoted 3+ hours. US shops quoted 1 to 2 hours. So what is up? Do Canadians do better work or are American windshield removers and installers all that more efficient? I like the idea of shopping in the US because it is so close. --------------------------------------------- I went to 3 places in White Rock, BC which sits just above the US border. Place #1: C$500+ tax (12%) Place #2: C$411 (tax included) Place #3: $298 + tax Places #1 and #2 said it would take 3 hours. Place #3 wants to keep the vehicle for 4 hours. All windshield shops offer a courtesy car (with advance warning). #1, #2 and #3 shops are all on the same street and within a couple of minutes walking distance of each other. I telephoned Place $4 in Surrey: C$500 + tax USA shops Then I telephoned a few places in Blaine, WA and Bellingham, WA which are just south of us. US place #1 (Blaine, WA): $210 => $227.85 plus tax (1 1/2 hours to install) US place #2 (Lynden, WA) $249 + tax (2 hours) US place #3 (Bellingham, WA) $200 installed + tax = $217.60.(one hour to install). =============================== Questions: What are the odds of an independent doing a bad job of installing a windshield? If a shop only takes one hour or 1 1/2 hours to remove and install, does that indicate fast, poorer quality work?

Cool. I am getting tired of duct-taping the driver's floor mat which is an aging mat originally designed for the light Nissan truck. Even that mat has been discontinued.... I trust these are fibre mats. Sure hope they fit my '93 pathfinder. ...... So I'm reading through this thread and thinking that the Xterra is not capable of the same off-road performance of the WD21 pathfinders. Is that impression correct?

Precise1: I sent the shop owner an e-mail explaining how I had resolved the problem. He responded by offering to pay for half. I haven't replied to his offer yet. I should probably accept. Frankly, what I want him to do is put the vehicle up on the hoist and look at what the Midas shop did.

Good analysis! UPDATE: It appears that the problem has been fixed though I have yet to test the the vehicle on the highway in 5th gear. I can no longer reproduce the annoying vibration and resulting noise when decelerating in 3rd gear. A Midas Muffler shop in South Surrey, British Columbia diagnosed the problem as insufficient play in the exhaust system. The shop charged me $200 to remove an exhaust hanger and replace it with a custom-welded part that was closer to the stock specification. The assistant manager reported that he had seen this often. Mechanics that simply didn't know or lacked experience. Question: Do I inform my mechanic of the goods news? And if so, how? Otherwise, thankfully, I don't have to..... " dance around a bonfire naked wearing a goat's head while chanting "Nissan... Nissan". "

Tungsten: I believe we examined the clearance around pipe near the transmission cross member mounts when it was up on the hoist Saturday morning. It looked fine. However, from my untrained layperson's eyes I wasn't so sure about the tiny clearance between the muffler and some metal near the gas tank. A buddy suggested that deteriorating engine mounts could cause the vibration or that the universal joints are wearing out. I thought universal joints usually exhibited symptoms that were correlated with specific speed ranges.

Thanks B. Tungsten: The mechanic changed out a hanger for one with more rubber Saturday morning. Did not reduce the 'resonance'. I'm not in a position to work on this myself, no hoist being the first obstacle. So I guess I should make the rounds of other muffler shops and perhaps the local Nissan dealer.

At the end of July I had my mechanic switch out almost the entire exhaust system from the manifolds back. The catalytic converter and 02 sensor were relatively recent and not replaced. Everything worked fine except the new system produced a very annoying vibration during deceleration in 3rd and 5th going down hills that I could not only hear but feel with my feet. The vibration also caused the rear door plastic paneling to hum. The first potential culprit was identified as pipe that was too close to the gas tank. That was fixed. It improved the situation but did not solve it. Some other silly cosmetic attempts were made to fix the noise, e.g., replace the muffler, something I NEVER asked for. The new muffler worked just fine. I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that it was the way the new muffler/exhaust system was attached to the '93 pathie that caused the annoying vibrations. Thoughts? Anybody else experience this problem? Any suggestions on how to reduce chassis vibration during abrupt decelerations? I can probably fix the annoying hum in the rear plastic panel with plastic putty or similar.

I had the dealer lift the driver door not so long ago. It was sagging slightly. After that, the dome light would flicker on during a hard right turn. The switch in the lower door frame was working perfectly. I solved the problem by adding a small clear rubber bumper with glue backing to the inside corner of the driver door that makes contact with the dome light switch. It is normally used to protect furniture.

Different levels and types of exposure to sunlight and heat would age rubber at different rates. So far so good here, but have contemplated switching out the rear window gaskets. Maybe restoration with 3M silicon paste would be cheaper and easier?

I have bookshelf Polk Audio speakers for the home theatre system. I have not encountered any 5"X7" or 6 1/2" component speakers by Polk audio near home. Alpine, MTX, etc. yes. crutchfield.ca has these 6 1/2" Polk audio speakers for $219. Apparently they fit.