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Well, we drove up yesterday afternoon and I gave the truck a thorough flogging. I checked for rust in the frame and it seemed pretty clean. If there is any rust it is very slight. I looked in the frame rail holes and saw what looked like maybe a hint of rust in a couple of spots (less than a dime size) and I tapped up and down the frame with a hammer. The pitch changed just a slight bit in a couple of spots but I never heard a "thud." There was some dirt in the frame rails so I don't know if that caused the faint change in the pitch of the "ping". The rest of the truck was so clean I just couldn't pass it up. There are a couple of small things. One of the door close/open sensors is shorting out or loose or something because the door ajar light comes on and off. Also the speedometer I found out on the way home is 5-6mph slow on the freeway after my wife kept calling me to slow down! haha The tires are factory size so not sure why it would be off. Any thoughts?

 

I had to drive it home about 60 miles, and I will say its a pretty noisy ride! But not a big deal. It still drove fine and was stable. The seats leave something to be desired though!

 

One thing I did find out. The guy didn't only replace the t-belt 3 years ago (20k miles ago) but looking through the reciepts they pretty much did a top end rebuild on the motor. Replaced all his exhaust studs, new head gaskets, checked the heads and pressure checked the block, new injectors, and replaced all the exhaust gaskets including the "Y" gasket. So this thing should be good to go for a while.

 

I'll post some pictures after I clean it up from driving through all the melted snow up in Tahoe!

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check the hatch, that could be the door sensor that is causing the light to flicker, it was the culprit on my truck! Are you sure it has the stock size tires? running 31x10.50's on a truck that came with 235/75s with make it read like that. and 33's will make a truck that came with 31's do the same thing. The transfer case may have been replaced for some reason and they didn't change over the speedometer gear.

 

tires make a big difference in road noise. my truck is pretty loud with bfg MT KM2's, kinda loud with bfg AT KOs, and it was dead silent running a dunlop highway terrain.

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One of the door close/open sensors is shorting out or loose or something because the door ajar light comes on and off.

 

My new 93 Pathy the back drivers side door switch (the button that turns the lights on and off when closing/opening the door) was broke.

You likely have the same problem. Of course, I have many more door problems, among many other mechanical things also. Mine was a super clean vehicle also, but still still broke.

 

You'll want to take out the bulb underneath the drivers feet and also turn off your overhead lights until you can run to pick and pull or whatever and fix your problem.

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I have all my interior lights set not to turn on when doors/hatch open regardless. Who wants to risk a drain or have the interior illuminated when a door opens? I can turn a light on if I want to...

 

Well, we drove up yesterday afternoon and I gave the truck a thorough flogging. I checked for rust in the frame and it seemed pretty clean. If there is any rust it is very slight. I looked in the frame rail holes and saw what looked like maybe a hint of rust in a couple of spots (less than a dime size) and I tapped up and down the frame with a hammer. The pitch changed just a slight bit in a couple of spots but I never heard a "thud." There was some dirt in the frame rails so I don't know if that caused the faint change in the pitch of the "ping". The rest of the truck was so clean I just couldn't pass it up. There are a couple of small things. One of the door close/open sensors is shorting out or loose or something because the door ajar light comes on and off. Also the speedometer I found out on the way home is 5-6mph slow on the freeway after my wife kept calling me to slow down! haha The tires are factory size so not sure why it would be off. Any thoughts?

 

I had to drive it home about 60 miles, and I will say its a pretty noisy ride! But not a big deal. It still drove fine and was stable. The seats leave something to be desired though!

 

One thing I did find out. The guy didn't only replace the t-belt 3 years ago (20k miles ago) but looking through the reciepts they pretty much did a top end rebuild on the motor. Replaced all his exhaust studs, new head gaskets, checked the heads and pressure checked the block, new injectors, and replaced all the exhaust gaskets including the "Y" gasket. So this thing should be good to go for a while.

 

I'll post some pictures after I clean it up from driving through all the melted snow up in Tahoe!

Cool, congrats!! Picts or it didn't happen though...

 

Door ajar is probably the rear hatch, as was mentioned. There were two factory sizes, 235/75/15 and 31x15" so what is on the car. The best place to start is a thread here that covers what tranny/gears/rpm you have at freeway speeds. That will narrow things down alot and inform. Try our questionable search function and if you can't find it, let me know.

Sound proofing is poor, but what noise do you hear? Road/tire? Engine/exhaust? Constant whining noise from the passenger seat? :whistle:

 

Sounds like the timing belt broke or jumped and he had the heads pulled and checked, replaced all of the other stuff while he was there. This is all good news and hopefully the water pump and thermostat was changed, but we can get to that later.

 

The snow is melting in Tahoe? It's not even sticking?? (worried about drought) It's 72 degrees here and now... :unsure:

 

B

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Yeah so let me clarify... It has the stock 235/75/15's on it. They are almost new Michelin X Radial LT's which when I had them on my previous truck they weren't the quietest tire either. Mainly it was just wind roar and some road noise from the tires and the engine is pretty "growly" when its doing a constant 3k on the tach. That was probably half of the noise. When I was looking through the reciepts in detail, he took it to the Nissan dealer for the clutch replacement fairly recently (which cost him $1300 bucks!) and they put a comment that the front wheel bearings starting to have some play in them. So I might be hearing some grumbling on the bearings too which I can replace those here soon. I'll have to lift the truck and check those front bearings for myself.

 

I don't think the timing belt broke. It says on the reciept that the customer was complaining of exhaust noise and they had to pull the head because they noticed one of the heads was cracked from a previous exhaust stud replacement (which he had done a couple years prior) and so they just pulled everything and probably recommended that they do the t-belt as they were taking it all apart. They did do the water pump and thermostat also. He spent $2900 on that rebuild! But they replaced all the studs for the exhaust so hopefully I won't have to deal with those again.

 

I'll check the rear hatch on that light. I already have the interior light switched off so it doesn't drain the battery.

 

He doesn't have a reciept for changing the rear diff or the manual tranny fluid. But he doesn't have all his oil change receipts. He said he couldn't find most of the older receipts prior to 08 and thinks that they got packed up somewhere. He had the front axle on the right side replaced a year or so ago, so I'm assuming they would have replaced the fluid in the front diff, but I think I need to do a fluid swap on the tranny, transfer case and the rear diff just to be safe. Do you think it would normal for the dealer to replace the tranny or transfer case fluid when they do a new clutch? they didn't list it specifically on the invoice so they probably didn't.

 

Do you guys use a chilton or haynes manual or something else when you work on these? or just trial and error and then post it on the forum for everyone else? :tongue:

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Ahh, ok, that makes sense also. Damn, he put a lot of $ into that Pathy!!

 

Check the bearings, a lot of times you can just repack and re-torque them if they haven't been damaged.

I doubt they changed the fluid unless they opened the case for some reason, also unlikely. When I get a vehicle that I plan to keep, I usually change all the fluids. It's not hard or expensive and it resets the clock for PM...

I have Haynes and Chilton in the garage with the FSM on the computer. I use them all at some point, but you can't go wrong with the FSM... :shrug:

 

B

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He had the front axle on the right side replaced a year or so ago, so I'm assuming they would have replaced the fluid in the front diff

 

There would be no reason for them to open up the Diff to change the CV axle. take a look at the FA part of the manual. the first few pages shows the picture of the CV shafts on the Front Diff. You can see how they bolt up without the diff having to be opened up. As Precise said, better the spend the small amount to change the fluids to keep things proper.

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I have all my interior lights set not to turn on when doors/hatch open regardless. Who wants to risk a drain or have the interior illuminated when a door opens? I can turn a light on if I want to...

 

B

 

This, for sure! Having an SE the foot lighting still comes on, but I don't have a problem with that!

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Cool thanks for the tips!

 

So I think I'll do all the fluids in the upcoming few weeks. I did notice this morning when it was pretty cold out that the shifter was a little reluctant to go into gears so I'm betting that tranny fluid needs to be changed bad.

 

What fluids do you guys all recommend for the diffs, transfer case and manual transmission? are they all pretty easy to drain or does a fluid extractor help?

 

Also I wanted to ask, what is the proper way to "wash out" the frame rails? do you just stick a hose in the end of it by the bumper?

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There would be no reason for them to open up the Diff to change the CV axle. take a look at the FA part of the manual. the first few pages shows the picture of the CV shafts on the Front Diff. You can see how they bolt up without the diff having to be opened up. As Precise said, better the spend the small amount to change the fluids to keep things proper.

 

Yeah, I wasn't sure as I've never done front axles on a 4x4 before so I wasn't sure if it was like a front wheel drive car where you end up draining a good chunk of the tranny fluid when you swap them out.

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Cool thanks for the tips!

 

So I think I'll do all the fluids in the upcoming few weeks. I did notice this morning when it was pretty cold out that the shifter was a little reluctant to go into gears so I'm betting that tranny fluid needs to be changed bad.

 

What fluids do you guys all recommend for the diffs, transfer case and manual transmission? are they all pretty easy to drain or does a fluid extractor help?

 

Also I wanted to ask, what is the proper way to "wash out" the frame rails? do you just stick a hose in the end of it by the bumper?

Take this the right way, please, but check your manuals or the pinned thread on fluids for the information. Two things I will point out is that the tranny must have GL-4 only (or applicable synthetic such as Redline MT-90) and must be 'overfilled' with 5.1 liters, easiest through the shifter hole.

 

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=28134

 

B

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It's a little tough to get in around the bumper; it's easy with the bumper removed, but that's a PITA. The best way to do it is probably to jack the truck up, pull the wheel off, and hose it out through the cleanout holes. A needle-spray attachment should help. Spray around from different angles until the water stops coming out brown, and make sure water's coming out through all the drain holes along the bottom.

 

I usually try to shoot a little water in there when I'm at the self-serve car wash, but it's tough with the wheel in the way.

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Hey so I haven't had a chance to clean the thing up from the weather this past week and yesterday but here are some teaser pics. Some of these are the pics the seller sent me and then I just took one on my cell from out in the parking lot at work. Hoping to get it cleaned up this weekend and take some good pics.

 

I started smelling gas when I start it up first thing and cold the other day. Did a :search: and found out that those fuel hoses can back out so I gotta check the clamps on all the fuel hoses. I can't believe how much info is on this forum! Other than the fuel smell its been great and I'm loving the manual tranny. Haven't burned through a tank yet but we'll see what the first tank holds mileage wise.

 

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Good God I'd be afriad to take that off road. Its too clean!

 

Yeah, I'll take it off-road some but I think i'm just going to leave it pretty much stock because its so clean. Maybe down the road I'll start to have some fun with it if I ever pick up an inexpensive daily driver, but for now its meant to be reliable, get the fam over the hill and get me to and from work in the snow car because my wifes mini-van doesn't cut it.

 

But don't worry its going to get some dirt on it heading up into the hills for shooting, hiking, chrismas tree hunting, etc. Its nevada after all!

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Hey, how does that thing handle the elevation?? I took my old 95xe 5 speed up to Tahoe and it about choked going over the passes. Maybe the ECU never adjusted, but I was surprised by the power loss...

 

B

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Hey, how does that thing handle the elevation?? I took my old 95xe 5 speed up to Tahoe and it about choked going over the passes. Maybe the ECU never adjusted, but I was surprised by the power loss...

 

B

 

Well lets just say its no sports car and I won't ever challenge my wife to a race in her swagger wagon as it would completely blow the doors off sarge. Even in Reno we are between 4600 and 5000 feet depending on where you are at and so speed is definitely not the truck's strong suit.

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You might want to consider investing in an aftermarket air intake and at least a cat back exhaust system. Not too expensive and will probably be the best bang for buck you can do...

 

B

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