dhardison

Yes it's sad but I'm guilty too. My local pull-a-part added a new 91 path to it's database a few weeks ago and of course I was all over it. It was a southern rust free XE with a blue interior but I still managed to grab a couple of trim parts I needed and dyed them gray. My total bill $2.57. I spent more in gas driving over there. An interesting note was that someone had neatly cut out the entire drivers floor section with a plasma cutter. I didn't think this was a rust prone area on WD-21s.

I've watched your post for the last few weeks and I just wanted to put my 2 pennies in for all your work documenting the process. I used to get stuck writing some training manuals with pictures and screen captures and I know what kind of work goes into something like that. So all I can say is kudos to you Dr. Bill. I'm so thankfull the previous owner of my Path had the belts done and provided me with the receipts so I've got about 50,000 miles before I have to start worrying about it. Good thing too because I'm not a good enough mechanic to do it myself. I got tired and confused watching you do it! No, when the times come I won't need a wrench, I'll need a shot of Crown and a Visa with $800 worth of room on the credit limit

I just replaced my 93 stock radio with a Kenwood and four 5x7 Alpine speakers mounted in the stock locations using the factory grilles. I by-passed the old stock amps and disconnected the old stock tweeters. I got better sound than I expected plus modern stuff like built in aux and usb connections plus the ability to add sat and bluetooth modules later.

I'm in for $50 cause I just sold some stuff on ebay and have a paypal balance right now. It's the least I can do for a noble cause and all the great Pathy help I've gotten from you guys. I never knew I could become so attached to an old "classic" truck.

Chill GrimGreg, I didn't want people to start taking this whole thing out of context without seeing the complete article. It's the historical significance, design, performance thing as a whole. The Murrano probably did do more to launch Nissan crossover sales and kick but againist it's other manufacturer competition than any other 4 wheel drive crossover during that time frame. It's one of the reasons Nissan's not bankrupt today. A little French maybe but not bankrupt. I repeat this was not a one-on-one comparison list against Nissan vehicles.

If it was up to me I would scan the whole article as a pdf but I think the copyright enforcers would be all over me. About the best I can do is attach a picture of the cover and a link to their website. The article is actually called Ranked! The 51 Best (And Worst) Nissan, Datsun, and Infiniti Vehicles Ever Sold in the US. The vehicles were ranked on design, performance, and historical significance The Lists were: Top 10 Sports Cars Top 5 Trucks Top 10 Sedans/Coupes Top 5 SUVS/Crossovers 1. 03-07 Murrano 2. 00-04 Xterra 3. 86.5-95 Pathfinder 4. 62-69 Patrol 5. 03-08 Infiniti FX Best and the Worst of the Rest Here is a quote from the Pathfinder caption "In an era before an avalanche of SUV's struck, North American consumers knew they were getting a solid deal with the Pathfinder. So you see it's not a "the 90 Pathfinder is better than another year Pathfinder" kind of list. It's more of a vehicles that changed the scope of Nissan for the better list. Nissan Infiniti Datsun Sport

You may be aware that I recently posted some stuff about my new 370z in this forum. But this post is really about the back-story to my car crazy life. So I’ll start by saying it’s great to have a new car but there really is no magic there. Just buy an 03 Z, keep it for almost 6 years and trade it on a new one. I’ve said for years if you have to have a new car as a daily driver it might as well be a Nissan. The thing is I’m more proud of my WD21 Pathfinder than a showroom full of new Z’s. All that time I spent searching for a good 90’s pathfinder. Even buying one and finding one better so I bought it too and selling the one I liked the least. Hard to put it into words but the Pathy means as much to me as some guy’s 69 Camaro or something like that. I got my issue of Nissan Sport mag in the mail today and they had an article called “top Nissan/Datsuns of all time" and finding out that the WD21 Pathy’s made the top 5 list of best Nissan SUV/Crossovers ever. It means more to me to know my trucks on that list than all the accolades and hyperbole the auto mags are going to spew out about the new Z for the rest of the year.

It's been between 7 and 17 degrees all week and us southern TN boys ain't used to that kind of cold. I feel like I'm living in Alaska. It's too cold to check out that squeak in the front end of the Path, check my post in WD21. So cold I'm starting to see why guys put cardboard in front of the radiator on their WD21's. And I always thought my truck warmed up pretty normal. I'm a camera ho though so the pics are coming plus updated Pathy pics too.

Forgot to mention that it still drives the same and tracks straight on a smooth road. I guess I was taking a shot that there was one thing that was a weak spot. My guess after reading your reply is a control arm bushing. We've been in single digit weather this week and it's just too cold for me to get out there and look closer at the problem. Even too cold in my unheated garage. I can bungle through some minor stuff like tuneups etc. but I'm gonna have to leave the suspension stuff to the pros.

My truck started making that dreaded kinda squeaking crunching sound in the right front suspension going over speed bumps or anything else that promotes a lot of suspension travel. Not sure if they are related but last weekend I did a little mudding in some farm fields. Maybe not from the off-road act itself but from the pressure washing I had to do afterwards to get all the caked on mud off everything. Anybody want to take a guess at what is the most probable cause? Ball joint, bushing, tie-rod end? I don't want to take it to the suspension shop right now because I don't have the cash to get it fixed. I traded Z's this week and I'm so broke for the rest of the month I couldn't rub two bad checks together and get a good one. Soon as I recover financially I'll get whatever it is fixed because this Path deserves to have everything working right.

The original Z will always be my fav too. Still I have to keep a new car around for a daily driver so it might as well be a Z. BTW thanks for the steering wheel. Every time I jump in my truck and grab that perfect wheel I say "thanks GrimGreg" for taking the time to pack it up and sending it to me.

Well I'm just checkin in to say that the Pathy's running great and I had a lot of fun playing in the mud last weekend. The real news though is I traded my 03 350z for an 09 370z today. Drove it straight home and put it up in the garage waiting for better weather. This is my 8th Nissan/Datsun and I say kudos to Nissan for another home run. And of course thanks to NPORA for all the great help and advice with my Path.

I'm still waiting on my sticker from Sept or Oct 08. Thought I might dispute the transaction in Paypal for a refund but hey, it ain't worth my time.

You know I'm a newbie to Pathfinders and this site but I've owned tons of Nissans with both engines and here are my thoughts. I really always wanted a WD21 Path so that's what I bought when the time came and didn't really think about the VQ VG part. I almost got buyers remorse over the VG though because I quickly realized it was a chore to keep up with normal fast paced traffic. Over the last month though I've massaged my truck with new NGK plugs, a high flow cat, K&N filter, fresh synthetic fluids front to back and the results have been outstanding. I can keep up with all the fast moving traffic and effortlessly run 80 on the slab when I have to. Plus I'm getting a consistent 18 mpg in mixed driving with selective use of the AC compressor. Now I don't pretend to know what VQ Pathfinders get but 3 VQ Maximas I've owned and my Z rarely ever get, or got, over 20 mpg in mixed driving and the norm is closer to 19. The VQ just seems like a thirsty engine. My friend with an 05 Vette gets better mileage than my Z. In all fairness though I've always run those cars with the climate control set to auto year round and let the compressor cycle all the time. Still my vote goes for the VQ just for not having to worry about the timing belt and it seems to be the power champ too. But the VG seems to be less thirsty. For the record none of my VQs ever used more than a shot glass of oil between changes but I must be lucky because this forum and my favorite Z forum have countless horror stories about VQs with oil consumption issues.

e-bay, $108 and free shipping.

I got around to changing out the cat converter on the 93 yesterday and all I can say is WOW. That stock cat must have been clogged up some because just the high flow part couldn't account for the extra gain in real world power and drivability that I got. Plus I can sleep a little easier knowing my exhaust studs have a little less back pressure. Just another thanks to everybody in the forum for all the great advice

I made my first post in Compuserv for DOS around 1991 and i was in an IBM OS2 user group on a bulletin board called the Nashville Exchange around that time too. But my first really active community was in an old newsgroup called alt.newsrgoups.nissan.maxima or something like that starting around 1995. I remember getting kicked out of a Compuserv group for posting something with the subject line "Beat the New Meat" that had a dirty double meaning when in fact the post was about the Meat Puppets new album that had just been released. God I'm feeling old.

Found the Magnaflow cat 22760 on ebay today with a buy it now of $108 and free shipping. Of course I bought it. I think this is cheap insurance. Thanks for your help.

They are right, had to have my Z done. It's a safety feature so if a kid had their head out the window or something like that and somebody hit the auto up button it will go back down if it encounters any interferance on the way up. When it hits the top it lost it's memory and gets a false reading that its something blocking the path on the way up.

This post really hit home with me. I rememer back in the day I had a new 92 300zx N/A. One morning when it was about 8 months old with 10,000 miles I came out to start the car and it wouldn't fire. I smelled raw gas so I held the accelerator to the floor and it tried to start but would only sputter and die. Not wanting to run the battery down I gave up, went back inside and called the dealer to send a rollback. The wrecker came about an hour later and the driver tried to start it. Guess what it fired perfectly, blew a little black smoke and ran fine. I canceled the wrecker and drove the car to the dealer but they couldn't find anything wrong, no codes, nothing. About six months later same senario and by the time the wrecker got there it started and ran fine. Trip to the dealer and of course they couldn't find anything. About six months later same thing again but this time I just went back inside, waited an hour and tried again. Of course it started and ran fine but this time I skipped the trip to the dealer. That Z did this about every 6 months for the whole 3 years I owned it. The only thing I learned was how to call wherever I was supposed to be and tell them I would be about an hour late lol. The only tie in between the 6 month thing was It always happened once during the weather transition from summer to fall and then once again from winter to spring. In spite of that I wish I had never gotten rid of it and I'll own another one some day.

The Cat: I'm going to take the forums advice and replace the cat converter on the 93 VG with a high flow unit. My question is this: what unit is a direct bolt on replacement? And also this Pathy was delivered new in California from Concord Nissan. Does it have a different converter from the 49 state edition? Does it even make any difference since it's pre obd II? The tranny: The trans on the 93 was rebuilt about 2000 miles ago by a national chain and has a 12 month 12,000 mile warranty. She paid $1800 ouch! My question is should I change the fluid to Nissan type C? I'm pretty sure they used whatever bulk shop fluid they had on hand during the rebuild. The trans seems to be shifting okay but I plan on keeping this one for a long time.

My 95 XE does not have the outside spare tire carrier. The spare is laying on the rear load floor. Can someone tell me what parts I need to get the spare properly attached to the side bracket? It looks like I'll need some kind of long bolt that goes through the wheel center along with a big washer and a wing nut. I don't even know were to begin to find something like that. My other Path has the spare mounted outside so I can't use it for reference.

So far I haven't been able to drive either one more than a day or two because they are both in and out of different repair shops getting petty issues fixed, brakes, tires, a bent wheel, etc., but I have learned this: I've pretty much GOT to redline them in first and second to get out of my gated apartment complex onto the main road. It's a short ramp from the gate to a major four lane highway with busy traffic running 65 miles per hour. They both shift at exactly 6000 rpm just as the needle touches the redline. I firmly believe this is good for the engine if you don't over do it, and it's good for my soul. For reference the Z can acomplish the exit out the gates at about half throttle with shifts at 3500 rpm. Of course I could have bought a Jimmy and an Explorer with cast iron pushrod lumps for engines and been like the rest of the herd where I live lol. I can't wait to take one of them off road for the first time, or for the first snowfall.

Yes! Message me.

I'm trying to order a leather dye kit to atempt to restore re-dye the leather wrapped steering wheel on my 93 path. The trim tag shows interior code k. It appears to be some shade of dark gray. I can't get that specific code or listing but here is a link to what is available for Nissan and Infiniti. Which one should I choose? My gut says order Gray 7217 97-05 Sentra, Pathfinder but it looks a little dark. All opinions would be appreciated. I really just wish I could find a gray 93 standard wheel and change it out but I can't find a parted out Path with that color interior. Help! Leather Dye Color Chart