Please!? Help My Noob Ass out, various 90 Pathfinder Questions (bought one for 100$)

[NaturaTek]

Hello again,

 

Yes, this is my second post. Ok.. dammit, I'm gonna be honest. Yes, I finally got my license after 30+ years! (man, don't even ask), Yes I purchased a 90 pathfinder for 100bucks (from a friend). And YES, I have no idea wtf anything to do with vehicles.

 

But YES, I am addicted to the feel of pathfinder truck!

 

My cousin is the mechanic, but he's one of those old toyota street car racing heads... not interested in the 4x4 or truck field. Anything I've bought he installed.

 

Ok, so I bought the pathfinder from a friend who works a lot and has had the pathfinder sitting at a work lot for 2 years. The thing was dirty mofo with some probs.

The body is in good condish, has 2 dents that are not that noticeable. The ride was a bit shaky, everyone told me I was dumb for buying it. I'm 6ft, I need something spacious to sit my tall ass in. The pathfinder whispered to me buy me, I'll let you make love to me. So it was mine.

 

So far..I replaced all 4 shocks with monroe sensatracs. I wanted ranchos but local auto places had none in stock. The bumps where horrible. Cousin changed them out. Dang, it had the original 1990 shocks with nissan logo, they were ALL locked shut, dead. Ride improved. The 'Compression rods' where rotted. Cousin found them at local nissan dealer, both for 152$ with bushings (I'm talking like I know what I'm talking about I cleaned the damn thing. Literally I went to a self service car wash and spent 3 hours on the thing and poured a gallon of Tide over it and started scrubbing with the brush thing. I mustve pulled out 4 garbage bags of @!*% laying in there, clothes, newspapers, etc. I used 'bleach white' and cleaned the leather seats, damn, those things came to life! I scrubbed interior with bleach white and kept wiping and squeezing rag. Looks way way better. I replaced the ceiling light and trunk light, awesome, I can see. The driver side and passenger side regulators where no good. My cousin had them closed shut until I get the parts. Later on, I bought one from ebay, he changed it. The second one I went to car-part.com and found a local junkyard with one for 40bucks. I remembered what he did and changed it out on my own. Then the pathy let me make love to her in the gas tank hole...lol, damn you are a perv.

 

Oil was changed to mobil 1. Changed the gas filter, oil filter. Since I'm a new driver, I am welcomed into the world of GASOLINE bills. If felt like I put in 30bucks of gas every 3 days..People told me thats the way it is and for my v6, it's a gas monger. So I attempted to 'outsource' and went to a JiffyLube and tried one of those 'fuel injector cleaners' thing, after someone said they hook up a machine and shoots down a cleaning solution that cleans and helps mileage. Well, I watched the guy, all he did was had some can of 'gumout' with a little red tube hose attached to in and did something underneath the car hood. He rushed since they was closing. Dont even know if that was really done correctly. Yeps, I got ripped 59bucks, in a 10minute Jiffy.

 

After being a silent reader of this forum, I decided to change the stock tires. I went to 31tires/10.50, looks more rugged and damn more me. I bought a computer custom cut tint kit from ebay. I done the rear windows and they look great, havent done the rest yet though.

 

I bought the front rotors with metallic brake pads and cousin installed them. He drilled some holes/grooves on it in his shop, suppose to have breaking power, but I noticed no difference. They looked exactly like these drilled 'performance' rotors I almost bought.

 

I have the water pump and timing belt new from AutoZone. He'll change that this week. Also my muffler is original stock and is blown. When pathy on the lift he showed me. Damn thing looks like someone stuck a straw in it and blew into it, and it expanded on one side. I found a new flowmaster 40 from a user in craigslist for 30bucks. Cousin is going to cutout the old one and weld the new one or something like that. He asked if I want to spend the money to get the whole new muffler pipes. I'm debating that temporarily.

 

Path looks way better than before and ppl took there words back about me buying a bad deal. My next major things are to replace all tie rods and all ball joints, they make a popping sound when i'm going up a elevated driveway and turning. And to get a new manifold or header. Cousin said it looks worn and that is causing less fuel economy. and that funky accelerating sound.

 

Some questions:

 

If I was to switch to 16rims with 31 tires, will it require a lift or not?

 

Or if I put 33tires on stock rims, will it be ok as is? or need a lift?

 

What happens if I go 11.50 instead of 10.50 on normal stock rims? (currently i have 10.5 no probs)

 

The stopping power doesnt seem too strong. My girls little car I drive and that thing breaks to strong. The pathy it seems you have time your breaking distance. Anything can be done to increase stop power or is this norm?

 

How easy is this budget 2 inch lift adjusting the stock torsion bars to do? Should I have someone check if it's worn out or something?

 

What are somethings I should change or check immediately on this pathfinder?

 

Should I even use over drive on this pathy? I used it on the highway..but I notice when i get foot off gas, it feels like someone pulls back the pathy every 9 seconds or so while deaccelerating. What is the CORRECT way to initiate over drive? Do I shut off car and turn on in OD mode? Or is it ok when I'm driving 50, to simply hit the OD switch?

I had the OD on at 25mph and I notice it takes a while to accelerate into highway. I'm assuming that when the ORANGE light goes on in dash, OD is on, when light is off, OD is off? Kinda weird, as the the light is on, it lights up OD OFF.

 

What are other 'notorious' issues with this year pathy? I read about the manifold issue.

 

Rear wiper dont work..hell not sure if i'm turning it on right. Whats the right way?

The switch to open the rear window or back? Doesnt do anything when pressed. Doing something wrong?

 

 

I bought a kenwood at bestbuy and put it in myself. It didnt have the original wire harness, just a bunch of cables coiled up. I tested the cables with multimeter see which ones where outputting power then used one AA battery and tapped cables , once I heard that little static, I quickly found which cables are front right/front left/rear right/ etc. However I cant find a 12v continuation? Suppose to be one? Radio works, but It wont remember any of my settings when I turn car off. I would manually have to set my eq/bass/treble settings everytime I turn on. I'm assuming the 12v continuation is a cable that outputs 12v when the car is off. By the way, the stock pioneers sound nice.

 

Transmission. Yes everyone is telling me how it's going to die and thats a common problem in cars. Cousin told me its not a good idea to change transmission fluid. Would you guys do it to this car? I've read that if you change your oils/fluid on a regular basis its a good thing. But if tran fluid hasnt been change in years it might not be a good thing. I have no clue what to do in this.

 

On my gear shift (Automatic), the shift lock button on the know doesnt work. The original owner told me a towtruck guy towed it once and it never worked after that. After inspecting it, cousin said it looks like someone force the @!*% out the shifter and cracked the inside. I need that whole new part, the shifter mechanism. Is there anything to recommend or simply go with original replacement. if they make it for that? Would like to change it, since its a danger. The shifter can move up and down into gears withou the need to press the shiftlock button. I already screwed up. I was going 20mph when I reached over and hit the shifter, it went straight up into R. WOW..the damn car screeched to a stop. It took a minute to turn back on. I wonder how much damage I did.

 

I'm going to take a picture of this pathy and post it. Maybe I can get recommendations.

 

Is there anyone in NJ, that can physically take a look at it and tell me if it's worth the time and effort to go major upgrades on it? I'll drive to you. I'm a computer tech and will fix your pc probs if any free of charge for a good consultation.

 

Thanks for reading this long ass post.

 

Natura

[tbone]

Meth is bad !!!!!

[Chriskaw440]

the 1990 year was an excellent model for the pathfinders. Mine is a 1990 5-spd.....and with some work over the years it is like new again....and reliable beyond belief! only the typical mechanical issues had happened with parts just plain "wearing out".

 

If tuned properly and soforth they are actually pretty decent on gas....I get about 400 miles to a tank (now that I have replaced all the bad sensors on the engine)

 

Mine still has the original engine and tranny.

 

Dont know much about wheel and tire sizing so I cant offer much help there.

 

If it was me I probably would have bought that pathy too for a 100 bucks as a project vehicle!

 

-Chris

[Simon]

Wow...lots to read... okay..

 

Rim size means nothing. If you find rims with the correct backspacing, you can run 31's on 16" rims no problem. 33's will require a 3" body lift, and 3" suspension lift. You'll never fit them on a stock height rig.

 

Transmission : Install an aftermarket cooler AT LEAST....and bypass the stock one (in the rad) It's the cause of most of the tranny issues the WD21's suffer. On the fluid...it's your call. But lets be honest, even if you have to put a tranny into it (used, they can be found fairly cheap) you'll still have cheap transportation.

 

Kenwood deck. You have the 12v constant, and 12v switched wires backwards. Switch them around and you'll be good to go. If you can't find the 12v constant wire, run it straight from the battery with an inline fuse.

 

Good luck with it, and welcome!

Edited November 9, 2007 by Simon

[Earth1]

That popping noise is probably coming from the two bolts that attach the lower control arms to the frame. pop your head under the front bumper and try tightening those.

 

Manifold- a pain and probably not the most important thing you can do if you have a list of issues.

 

brakes- did you bleed all the old fluid out? If not, there may be some air in the system. Go to the rear passenger side and bleed till fluid is clear & no bubbles.

 

gas mileage- clean air filter? tires inflated properly? There's a sticky posted in the garage I think about cleaning the Mass Air Flow sensor- do that, run some BG44 fuel injector cleaner, mix with a tank of gas.

 

torsion bar lift and swapping some longer coils in the back is a pretty simple job. That will help make room for your wider tires.

 

The most important thing to look for before dumping your heart and soul and duckets into it is frame rust. Check the frame thoroughly for rust.

 

For a $100, I'd say you have a good start as long as the frame is in good condition. You don't even want to know what I've spent since the day I bought mine. Good luck and welcome!

Edited November 9, 2007 by Earth1

[88pathoffroad]

Hello again,

 

Yes, this is my second post. Ok.. dammit, I'm gonna be honest. Yes, I finally got my license after 30+ years! (man, don't even ask), Yes I purchased a 90 pathfinder for 100bucks (from a friend). And YES, I have no idea wtf anything to do with vehicles.

 

Nice! Good for you!

 

But YES, I am addicted to the feel of pathfinder truck!

 

My cousin is the mechanic, but he's one of those old toyota street car racing heads... not interested in the 4x4 or truck field. Anything I've bought he installed.

 

Ok, so I bought the pathfinder from a friend who works a lot and has had the pathfinder sitting at a work lot for 2 years. The thing was dirty mofo with some probs.

The body is in good condish, has 2 dents that are not that noticeable. The ride was a bit shaky, everyone told me I was dumb for buying it. I'm 6ft, I need something spacious to sit my tall ass in. The pathfinder whispered to me buy me, I'll let you make love to me. So it was mine.

 

*snort* Use lots of lube.

 

So far..I replaced all 4 shocks with monroe sensatracs. I wanted ranchos but local auto places had none in stock. The bumps where horrible. Cousin changed them out. Dang, it had the original 1990 shocks with nissan logo, they were ALL locked shut, dead. Ride improved. The 'Compression rods' where rotted. Cousin found them at local nissan dealer, both for 152$ with bushings (I'm talking like I know what I'm talking about I cleaned the damn thing. Literally I went to a self service car wash and spent 3 hours on the thing and poured a gallon of Tide over it and started scrubbing with the brush thing. I mustve pulled out 4 garbage bags of @!*% laying in there, clothes, newspapers, etc. I used 'bleach white' and cleaned the leather seats, damn, those things came to life! I scrubbed interior with bleach white and kept wiping and squeezing rag. Looks way way better. I replaced the ceiling light and trunk light, awesome, I can see. The driver side and passenger side regulators where no good. My cousin had them closed shut until I get the parts. Later on, I bought one from ebay, he changed it. The second one I went to car-part.com and found a local junkyard with one for 40bucks. I remembered what he did and changed it out on my own. Then the pathy let me make love to her in the gas tank hole...lol, damn you are a perv.

 

That's a lot of cleaning! Good deal. Sounds like you're well on your way to becoming a Pathy modifying driver! As before, lots of lube.

 

Oil was changed to mobil 1. Changed the gas filter, oil filter. Since I'm a new driver, I am welcomed into the world of GASOLINE bills. If felt like I put in 30bucks of gas every 3 days..People told me thats the way it is and for my v6, it's a gas monger. So I attempted to 'outsource' and went to a JiffyLube and tried one of those 'fuel injector cleaners' thing, after someone said they hook up a machine and shoots down a cleaning solution that cleans and helps mileage. Well, I watched the guy, all he did was had some can of 'gumout' with a little red tube hose attached to in and did something underneath the car hood. He rushed since they was closing. Dont even know if that was really done correctly. Yeps, I got ripped 59bucks, in a 10minute Jiffy.

 

The drip-feed cleaning they do is for the intake only AFAIK. I used to work at a Jiffy Lube. It helps but doesn't touch the injectors. I would also recommend taking an old toothbrush and some throttlebody cleaner and scrubbing the throttlebody out, they tend to gum up big-time with nasty sticky black stuff. Clean your MAF sensor carefully as well (there is a thread on how to do that in the Garage How-To section) for a double-whammy of cleaning goodness.

 

After being a silent reader of this forum, I decided to change the stock tires. I went to 31tires/10.50, looks more rugged and damn more me. I bought a computer custom cut tint kit from ebay. I done the rear windows and they look great, havent done the rest yet though.

 

I bought the front rotors with metallic brake pads and cousin installed them. He drilled some holes/grooves on it in his shop, suppose to have breaking power, but I noticed no difference. They looked exactly like these drilled 'performance' rotors I almost bought.

 

I have the water pump and timing belt new from AutoZone. He'll change that this week. Also my muffler is original stock and is blown. When pathy on the lift he showed me. Damn thing looks like someone stuck a straw in it and blew into it, and it expanded on one side. I found a new flowmaster 40 from a user in craigslist for 30bucks. Cousin is going to cutout the old one and weld the new one or something like that. He asked if I want to spend the money to get the whole new muffler pipes. I'm debating that temporarily.

 

If he's offering to do the job for cheap, I'd take him up on the exhaust pipe replacement. Go one size bigger than stock from the catalytic converter back to the muffler and tailpipe for a little boost in power and sound. The Flowmaster muffler will be kind of loud, be prepared.

 

Path looks way better than before and ppl took there words back about me buying a bad deal. My next major things are to replace all tie rods and all ball joints, they make a popping sound when i'm going up a elevated driveway and turning. And to get a new manifold or header. Cousin said it looks worn and that is causing less fuel economy. and that funky accelerating sound.

 

Have your cousin go over the steering setup with you first. With the engine off and the truck on the ground, have someone turn the steering wheel back and forth slowly so you can both watch the steering parts move. If anything has play in it, it will be evident and you'll know what to replace a little better than simply throwing parts at it and hoping it gets fixed. For the balljoints, I'm sure your cuz knows how to check those, you have to move the wheel up and down to see if the BJ's move.

Some questions:

 

If I was to switch to 16rims with 31 tires, will it require a lift or not?

 

Nope, you could put 18" wheels with 31" tires on, the only difference is the hole in the center of the tire, the overall height of the tire doesn't change.

 

Or if I put 33tires on stock rims, will it be ok as is? or need a lift?

 

You need at least a 3" body lift to fit 33's. There's simply not enough room under there. With a 3" suspension lift and a 3" body lift they fit fine but you'll still need to trim a little bit of fenderwell out of the way.

 

What happens if I go 11.50 instead of 10.50 on normal stock rims? (currently i have 10.5 no probs)

 

Oh, they'll probably still fit OK. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

The stopping power doesnt seem too strong. My girls little car I drive and that thing breaks to strong. The pathy it seems you have time your breaking distance. Anything can be done to increase stop power or is this norm?

 

Mine are the same, terrible. You can try to adjust the rear brakes so they grab better(if you have drum brakes in the rear) but aside from that I dunno what to say. Some people have done a swap of the master cylinder...to a Chevy fullsize truck MC. THat definitely helps. More line pressure and all you need to do is drill the mounting holes on the Chevy MC a little larger/offset so it bolts on, then swap brake lines onto it with a flaring kit and some new fittings.

 

How easy is this budget 2 inch lift adjusting the stock torsion bars to do? Should I have someone check if it's worn out or something?

 

Pretty easy, and you can find out yourself. Crank the t-bar adjusters up and see what kind of lift you get. If you can crank them all the way tight and still get very little lift, you'll need to pull the anchors off the t-bars and move them over two or three splines to re-index them and allow for more lift. T-bars tend to sag over time. Here's a link on how you adjust those bad boys. http://www.geocities.com/pathfinderoffroad/techtbarlift.html

 

What are somethings I should change or check immediately on this pathfinder?

 

Check for rust, you already have the timing belt thing under control. I can't think of too many more things.

 

Should I even use over drive on this pathy? I used it on the highway..but I notice when i get foot off gas, it feels like someone pulls back the pathy every 9 seconds or so while deaccelerating. What is the CORRECT way to initiate over drive? Do I shut off car and turn on in OD mode? Or is it ok when I'm driving 50, to simply hit the OD switch?

I had the OD on at 25mph and I notice it takes a while to accelerate into highway. I'm assuming that when the ORANGE light goes on in dash, OD is on, when light is off, OD is off? Kinda weird, as the the light is on, it lights up OD OFF.

 

OD should normally be ON. Turn it off when climbing hills on the freeway or when you need a little more passing power. You can turn it on or off whenever you want.

 

What are other 'notorious' issues with this year pathy? I read about the manifold issue.

 

Exhaust manifold studs breaking, the manifolds themselves usually are not the problem. The proper fix for any broken studs is to remove them and use 300ZX turbo exhaust studs to replace them with.

 

Rear wiper dont work..hell not sure if i'm turning it on right. Whats the right way?

The switch to open the rear window or back? Doesnt do anything when pressed. Doing something wrong?

 

The switches are likely broken or need fixing. They do that sometimes. The wiper motor could be shot as well, you never can tell. I actually have quite a few switches in a big grocery bag in my garage, if you want I can check for a wiper and hatch switch for you.

 

I bought a kenwood at bestbuy and put it in myself. It didnt have the original wire harness, just a bunch of cables coiled up. I tested the cables with multimeter see which ones where outputting power then used one AA battery and tapped cables , once I heard that little static, I quickly found which cables are front right/front left/rear right/ etc. However I cant find a 12v continuation? Suppose to be one? Radio works, but It wont remember any of my settings when I turn car off. I would manually have to set my eq/bass/treble settings everytime I turn on. I'm assuming the 12v continuation is a cable that outputs 12v when the car is off. By the way, the stock pioneers sound nice.

 

Transmission. Yes everyone is telling me how it's going to die and thats a common problem in cars. Cousin told me its not a good idea to change transmission fluid. Would you guys do it to this car? I've read that if you change your oils/fluid on a regular basis its a good thing. But if tran fluid hasnt been change in years it might not be a good thing. I have no clue what to do in this.

 

For the stereo, it sounds like you have the 12V continuous and the 12V switched wires backwards. On the trans, I'd change the fluid and install a new cooler to boot. The stock cooler is EVIL. EVIL EVIL EVIL. Don't attempt to make sweet sweet love to it, you'll likely lose pieces.

 

On my gear shift (Automatic), the shift lock button on the know doesnt work. The original owner told me a towtruck guy towed it once and it never worked after that. After inspecting it, cousin said it looks like someone force the @!*% out the shifter and cracked the inside. I need that whole new part, the shifter mechanism. Is there anything to recommend or simply go with original replacement. if they make it for that? Would like to change it, since its a danger. The shifter can move up and down into gears withou the need to press the shiftlock button. I already screwed up. I was going 20mph when I reached over and hit the shifter, it went straight up into R. WOW..the damn car screeched to a stop. It took a minute to turn back on. I wonder how much damage I did.

 

Changing out the shifter will be fun, hopefully the only thing broken in it is the shifter knob. One screw and it comes off, though! No idea on the Reverse accident, hopefully again it didn't do much.

 

I'm going to take a picture of this pathy and post it. Maybe I can get recommendations.

 

Is there anyone in NJ, that can physically take a look at it and tell me if it's worth the time and effort to go major upgrades on it? I'll drive to you. I'm a computer tech and will fix your pc probs if any free of charge for a good consultation.

 

Thanks for reading this long ass post.

 

Natura

[Xmas]

Man 100 bux'z for a running Pathy Cool!

 

Any rust on the frame or used the rear passenger seat on the driver side?

 

My engine is out right now, all I can say is this:

 

I have oil and antifreeze leaks.

The remedy is replace the real main seal, oil pan gasket (half moon style gasket and silicone sealant), waterpump t-belts all belts.

 

Since I have the motor out, I am replacing all gaskets from the lower block and up!

 

As for the manifold thing/ I did confirm that the bolts were busted on the passenger side, but then going over to the driver side the manifold was broken. Yep; broken in-half. After engine was pulled out, the motor mounts broke. So those will need to be repalced also.

 

So what I am saying here is this:

 

Since you really don't know the history of this truck and you seem to know what your talking about, I would recommend not worrying about a lift and get the engine over looked. For the money you put into it, I would say if you can pull motor out and do a whole everything like I am doing all parts will be less then 1000.00.

 

Since you got popping, I bet you have ball joints that are bad. Not bad to replace all the ball joints in the suspension area, but keep in mind you will need an alignment afterwards.

 

On my truck, all my issues are from previous owners not caring for it or getting it serviced! Yep, nothing was changed in the 12 years of ownership @ after 168K miles.

To me, this shows a wonderful truck and worth the BUCKS to get it all fixed.

 

Showing off w/ lift will not do you good if you find out some else is broken when it's stuck on the side of the road. What I am saying is for 100.00 you can make a wonderful investment if you just get everything done.

 

So I'd worry about a lift later. If you like to just get some-what of a lift, then crank for front TB's and some Jeep Grand cherokee springs. You should get a 2" lift out of that.

 

If you want to save money for gas. I say replace the air filter, install some new spark plugs / wires and clean the carbon out of the Throttle body / butterfly area. Mine looked sick inside the butterfly, but still the truck never missed, back fired or hesitated. But I can say it will run like new when its all back together.

 

Cheers and welcome!

[NaturaTek]

Thanks guys! I really appreciate all the input! I'll keep you on my xmas list

[Harvey]

On the braking issue.... surely the problem with the brakes on any 4x4 [let alone with a Pathy] is more to do with the front and not the rear - even if they are drums. As you're braking all the weight is being transferred forward and at best it'd only be even braking if you're fully loaded in the rear. Thus to improve braking, aside from brake fluid... [i'm asking a question here all, not makeing a statement]... wouldn't it be advisable to consider alternative brake pads, maybe larger discs using the same calipers. On my race car, as the majority of the weight is over the front, larger discs and a change in Pads made a HUGE difference to braking effectiveness hence my question when it comes to applying it to a Pathy of any other 4x4.

[Simon]

Harvey,

 

While your logic is sound, the other thing to consider is that our trucks have proportioning valves to "level out" the braking forces applied to front and rear tires.

 

Believe me, a stuck caliper or leaky wheel cylinder can really affect your braking no matter which wheel it's located at. The only way to get things fixed is to inspect all the brakes at each wheel, bleed the entire system, (back to front) and ensure all moving parts in the braking system are properly lubricated and sliding/moving freely.

[denisb]

As a side note for your rear wiper....the hatch won't open when the wiper is on, so if your rear wiper is "stuck" on, it might be your rear hatch issue.

[Simon]

The hatch will open, but the glass won't.