Kingman

It steams all the time. Theoretically if you had a blown headgasket it should steam more when it's warmed up since coolant is flowing throughout the system.

Sometimes, depends on how much coolant is getting into the cylinders. Leaking and blown are different things... You can drive around for a long time with a leaking gasket that's only letting small amount of coolant into the cylinders, not really affecting anything. Once it completely blows and dumps mass amounts of coolant in is when things really go down hill, and fast... My step dad's Tahoe has a leaking head gasket that's been leaking for well over a year now, coolant in the oil and visa versa. It steams a hell of a lot, but gets just as good of gas mileage, runs just as smooth as before, and has the same amount of power. Without looking at the oil or coolant level you'd never know.

If there's a leak, the exhaust gasses will be pushed from the combustion chamber into the coolant. The pressure inside the combustion chamber is much higher than the pressure in the coolant system. When I had the leak, there was no evidence. The heat from the engine would burn the coolant off before it could leak all the way down, basically when the thermostat opened and the coolant started flowing. The bypass hose is right above the thermostat, behind the timing belt cover. Usually there's a little crack where the wire clamps hold the hose on to the metal inlets. Once I tore it down, I could see a small residue trail from the hose down past the water pump.

My suggestion to you to find out 100% if it's a head gasket, is to take it in to a trusted shop and have them perform a head gasket test through the cooling system. What they will do is take a vial of some chemical that is normally blue, but will turn instantly yellow if any exhaust gasses are present in the system, and place it in the radiator inlet and run the engine. You can buy the same stuff from NAPA for cheap, and do it yourself. I had a coolant leak from th upper bypass hose, it didn't leak a drop of fluid on to the ground until the leak got very bad. It was a pain in the ass to diagnose and fix, but well worth it. I had the same symptoms you had. Steam from the exhaust in the morning or after sitting for a while is completely normal, it's just water condensation being heated up and steamed off in the exhaust pipe.

I found it! There must be a crack or something in the coil wire, if I wiggle it just right it will run strong. So I took some electrical tape and taped it at a certain angle to the cap. Ghetto...

Mine make a clicking noise when they engage under throttle as as usual. I've engaged them HARD quite a few times on my old Pathfinder as well as this one and they've held up. I've done a 4K drop on accident and they didn't blow up. Not saying they're indestructible, just saying they seem to be able to handle a little abuse.

The sticker under the hood says to set the engine idle speed at 800RPM.

Well, actually, don't take what I said to heart...I know it's 800RPM for MY truck which is a TBI engine, I don't know about the MPFI's RPM specifications for setting the timing. I got a little too far ahead of myself...

I believe you need to view/adjust your timing at EXACTLY 800RPM or you'll never set the timing properly, and the engine needs to be 100% warmed up.

12 degrees for the TBI 15 degrees for the MPFI You can advance your TBI to 15 degrees and gain some fuel mileage.

If you're set on buying a new vehicle, an Audi is NOT a wise choice. VWs/Audis are serious problem childs, and repairs are expensive and very difficult to do yourself - if you doubt your abilities to work on a Pathfinder, then I'd say you're hopeless with a rolling computer box.

Almost any drum can last close to the life of a truck so long as it's always properly adjusted.

Does it have to stick out 8" past the fender?

These VQ engines run off of coil packs and ignition modules right? If so I'd look into one of those starting to go away...

Mass Air Flow sensor, Throttle Position Sensor, Idle Air Control Valve, or vacuum lines are what I'd suggest looking in to.

Yes, advancing your timing too far will raise your idle a little as well as causing the engine to run a little hot, but it shouldn't be "overheating" nor idling at 2,000RPM. I suspect 2 different problems, you can manually turn your idle down via a screw facing the sky on the throttle body linkeage. As for overheating, I'd look into making sure your fan clutch is engaging properly, no air pockets in the cooling system (hoses), a radiator cap that holds sufficient pressure, a water pump that's functioning properly, and that you have the thermostat in the correct way and not reversed.

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=23542&st=120 It's towards the end of the thread I think...

I used torch down roofing material. It's a thick tarmat that you heat up and it becomes very sticky. I gutted my interior and stuck it to the inside of all the sheetmetal including doors and roof, but not the floor. It made a hell of a difference. I got 5 rolls of it for free ($25 a roll) and only used 3 for the truck; I still need to do the floor.

I've noticed that whenever the starting issue happens, it it'll cut out at some point. http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=25513&st=0&p=469007&fromsearch=1&&do=findComment&comment=469007 JJ, to try and solve the starting issue I went through and cleaned up all the contacts on the MAF sensor and made sure they were solid. Adam, rain or shine, doesn't make a difference. It's been clear skies for the pat week almost and it's still doing it.

Sounds like a problem with the connections at the battery. Sometimes mine would do that when I have a poor battery connection, like putting a power wire to the radio in between the battery clamp and the post.

There's an access panel for those in the floor I believe. Motor swaps aren't difficult at all, it's mostly common sense. Write down or remember the order and placement of things as you unhook them, and reverse the order as stated before. You'll be fine.

I checked a plug, cap, and rotor before I headed off to school this morning because it was light out, and they look perfect. I didn't do anything more than slip the cap off and look at the rotor and cap contacts and I didn't have time to pull all the plugs. We have Sophomore tours today and tomorrow in shop so I can't look into it there... It didn't do it at all last night, or this morning.

Alright, here's another problem, this one's even fancier! It started the other day at random when picking my friend up from driver's ed. I'll be driving along and suddenly I have ZERO power, RPMs stay up though so it's like the engine is running but not running, as if it's not getting spark. When it cuts out I can have my foot to the floor and nothing happens, no exhaust noise or anything and then BAM power is back full throttle. It seems to do it right after I shift at lower RPMs, around 2000-2500. It idles perfectly fine and I can freely rev it to redline in neutral, only when it's under load does it cut out. I checked, double checked, and triple checked the plug wires, connections, and the coil. The ECU shows code 55, go freakin' figure. I uploaded a video, and I apologize for the language but I was pissed. Anyone had this problem before or have any idea where to start? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUpwo0eti4I

Hell yeah! That's where I can put mine!