kneedeep

I feel your pain brother!!! I am in Edmonton (aka siberia) also. My pathy basically plays the role of the winter beast, and It gets terrible fuel economy when it is this cold + major exhaust. I wouldn't worry to much about the smoke from the exhaust as I am sure it is just the norm when the temp drops. With the temps this low i get 275-350 kms/tank, this is with warm up idling and 4x4 about 20-50% of the time. In nicer weather and no need for 4x4 the truck gets around 450 at best if I am driving nice, more realistically 425/tank. For reference my wd21 is a 95 v6, auto, 4x4, 215k, 235/75/15 nokian Vativa a/t's Check your fluids, if it looks like they are still there and are not mysteriously disappearing then all is fine. Also I have had the wd21 for a little while and used to have an r50, on super cold mornings with a small-medium commute I found the truck stayed a touch cooler (according to the gauge and heat from vents) than it would get on a more mild day. If you have "mayo" (white scrap) under your oil fill cap it is an indicator of water in your oil, and oil in coolant is easy to notice if you look around. A nice touch for winter would be placing a sheet of cardboard in between the AC condenser and the radiator, this will act as a poor mans winter front and aid in the engine warming and keeping warm while driving, works for me. good luck with your pathy.

my pathy is pulling winter beater duty and when i first pick it up the shocks were toast. So the first thing i did was get a set of gr2's and installed them, and now "trusty rusty" rides like a dream. I dont have alot to compare to since my last pathy was a r50 with 300,000 km's so it needed everything. I think the ride quality would be better if they were a little "stiffer" specifically in the front since the front is a little softer than ideal, but the rears work perfect. I was basically looking for the cheapest set of shocks and a good friend who has a VW repair shop got me these ones at cost so i cant complain, if your pathy is more like your "baby" than just a basic a-b ride in the winter etc you may be better off spending a little more, but for basic replacements for a stock pathy they are alright!!!

get a piece of cardboard and an exacto knife, then cut the cardboard so you can slip it in between the a/c condenser and the radiator. this will act like a winter front but for way less $$, on my wd21 i cover about 2/3 of my rad and leave the portion open where the flow is interrupted by the aftermarket tranny cooler i installed. Works like a charm, and i did the same on my r50 that i had a few years back.

something might be wrong with your truck, it has been -25 to -35 Celsius where i am and my 95 pathy has been starting like a champ/pumping out great heat and getting around in the snow and on the ice for 3 weeks with no issues. I did put some cardboard b/w the condenser and rad and i plug in the block heater at night, plus I am rolling on Nokian vatiiva tires- but theses things should go without saying when the temp drops and the snow flies. it has been stupid cold here now for 10 days straight!!

I know the common fixes of using pins/toothpick/compressed air etc to clean out the nozzles for the washer fluid, and none of them seemed to work for my WD21. I tried various used nissan ones from the pick-a-part and they were no better- so i looked for an aftermarket alternative, since i didnt want any ricey led nozzle sprayers i was stumped. i simply could not find a good alternative.....until i found a neon forum where the guys were swearing by the nozzles from ford escorts/focus' to solve their similar problem. so if you want a super cheap fix they are great, fit nearly perfect (i pressed them in , but if you were an absolute perfectionist some filing the plastic and your there) and best of all they have a nice fan mist rather than directed stream. the ones i snagged were on a 1998 ish escort. its a pet peeve of mine and have never had such an issue with any other vehicle that wasnt fixed with an adjustment or usual de-clogging method, so i thought i would throw it out there for fellow nissan enthusiasts since the season of dirty roads is coming quick. - kneedeep (in snow soon i hope!!!)

The deckplate is a cool idea since you can seal it back up. Shortly after i picked up my WD21 i was going through it checking everything and when i pulled my air filter i discovered the PO had done the good old "swiss cheeze" mod. I dont have a before and after reference for power or sound but i am sure it opened up the intake a bit. Another bonus is the K&N that came with my 350z slapped right in, same exact part #. I am not too worried about getting water in there since this pathy is mainly driven when any h2o is frozen.

my old r50 i used Mobil 1 and used it in every vehicle i have owned until i bought a 350z and did some research of peoples experiences with M1, this lead me to switch the Z to the castrol syntec made in Germany. My loyalty to M1 is faded. now in my current winter steed i just put in castrol gtx in when i first bought it a couple of months ago, partially because i wanted to drive the thing for a little while to see if it was going to make it through the winter and if it died i didnt want to waste the expensive oil on something that will just rot in a yard. So far the wd21 is kicking ass and i plan on getting the oil filter relo kit and using a synthetic on the next change in a couple of weeks. if you are a dino oil fan i have just found out that Napa oil is valvoline just relabeled and the oil filters are just relabeled WIX ones so you could save a few bucks by going with the blue and yellow. --> if i remember the link to this i will add it. i am interested to know others choices too

sweet combo, i have a pathy and a 350z too!! but the pathy is a 95, and the Z is a 05, both red.

revenge