Fuel injectors (and other junkyard finds)

[Aonghus]

(Did some searching and reading but didn't find the answer I'm looking for.)

 

My local wrecking yard has two hardbody Pathfinders in reasonable condition. Both are automatic, ours is a manual, so there's some limitation on certain swappable parts.

 

Questions:

Are the fuel injectors the same for all 90-95 vg30e engines?

Are they the same for both manual or automatic?

Should I get them to have on hand?

What price might I expect to pay? (Haven't asked the yard yet)

 

One of the rigs already has the upper intake plenum removed so those injectors are easy to get. They are pink, which I think is regular OEM stock injectors?

 

I read something about a paint color code on the injector that should all match? 

 

Some other things I'm thinking of snagging to have on hand as spare parts since these rigs are getting harder to find:

 - Wiper switch/lever (but is it possible to swap with one that has intermittent wipers when ours does not?)

 - Headlight/blinker switch/lever (same question, can I use one from a rig that has cruise control when ours does not?)

 - The various valves and solenoids from the upper intake plenum - they're easy to get off that rig right now ... Assuming they're the same for both manual and automatic...

 - Other things like the windshield wiper motor or windshield washer pump or heater blower... etc... distributor...

 

What parts would you have on hand that are getting hard to find?

 

[adamzan]

All the vg30e pathfinder injectors are the same, some have blue or black dots, you can interchange them but the whole set should match. I have mixed them and didn't notice a difference but it's not best practice. No difference for manual/auto.

 

If you bring a meter and they're around 14ohms they'd be worth grabbing as spares.

 

As for the stuff under the plenum like the idle air valve, supposedly they're different from auto to manual, but I actually put a used one from my 1994 parts truck (auto) onto my 1995 SE (manual transmission). Runs perfectly fine.

 

Since your truck is a 1992 it will have the square dash, so 94-95 round dash wiper/headlight stalks may not work. Washer pumps are readily available, I wouldn't bother grabbing that stuff, same with blower motors.

 

I would grab any trim that is in good shape like door arm rests, dash vents/surround, etc. That stuff is getting very hard to find used and not destroyed. Also the window sash mouldings are hard to get now as well, the "scraper" seal at the bottom of the window is what I mean.

Edited March 11 by adamzan

[Slartibartfast]

I haven't heard much good about aftermarket distributors, so if they'll sell it separate from the engine, that would be a good thing to have on the shelf. If the fuel tank doesn't smell like something died in it, consider the fuel pump/level sender assembly as well. There's an access plate in the floor above it, so you don't have to drop the tank.

 

Round-dash headlight and wiper stalks will not work on a square-dash column without extensive screwing around. (I looked into this for mine, because I've got two sets of round dash switches in my stash, and decided it would require more butchery than I wanted to get into.) A square-dash cruise control headlight stalk should fit a square-dash non-cruise truck just fine. It'll just have a second plug that doesn't go to anything. It's possible to add intermittent wipers if yours doesn't have them. IIRC the amp is the brown box on top of the wiper motor. There's probably a writeup for the swap on Infamous Nissan that'll tell you what all you need.

 

Are you missing any clips? Fasteners? I grab any hardware I take off, plus whatever is left around loose. The metal clips for the plugs in the engine bay are easy to lose, might as well grab a few of those with the injectors. Might be worth grabbing some spare relays, too. I paid $2 each (about ten years ago!) for a pair of factory blue relays, which have been running my headlights since.

 

Tail lights are surprisingly expensive for these. One of mine has a small crack in it, so I'd be on the lookout for those.

 

And yeah, if you find a front door arm rest that isn't cracked like a dry lake bed, grab that SOB.

 

Make sure you know how the yard operates (and charges!) before you start pulling things apart. Some yards may not want you to break up what they consider an assembly. (Might not want to sell a door handle, if they think they can sell the whole door.) One yard I went to wanted to charge me for a whole steering column, when all I needed was the headlight switch. Hopefully yours is less uptight.

[Aonghus]

Thanks guys, that's super helpful. 

The window mouldings is something we need for sure. 

 

I'll test the injectors before pulling and see I'm able to get the whole injector harness some way or another. 

I'll double check what year those Pathfinders are for some of that other stuff. Good call on the relays too, there's a bunch of those out there. And I'll ask about taillight assemblies, front corner assemblies too while I'm at it.

 

The vacuum hoses were in great shape when I was out there last so we have a stash of those now, also grabbed the rubber bumpers for the hood and back hatch, didn't charge for any of that. I think I'll get one of the rubber intake boots if it's in good shape.

 

The yard here seems to be pretty reasonable overall. Some things seem more expensive than I think they should be but that's true for about everything these days. 

[adamzan]

Check ebay I was able to buy some new front window mouldings from nissan in thailand. I bought 3, and cut 1 in half for the rear door windows.

[peejay]

- fan shroud

- Anti Skid Actuator for the ABS

- clutch damper

Edited March 11 by peejay

[Aonghus]

5 minutes ago, peejay said:

- fan shroud

- Anti Skid Actuator for the ABS

- clutch damper

Is the clutch damper the little doodad on the firewall with it's own bleeder? 

I don't *think this rig has ABS, it's an all manual XE with very little in the way of bells or whistles...

[peejay]

6 hours ago, Aonghus said:

Is the clutch damper the little doodad on the firewall with it's own bleeder?

Yep, that's it. They are known to cause problems, but someone somewhere in the interwebs (i'll share the link when i find it), dismantled one and improved upon the design with some readily-available parts. Discontinued from Nissan.

 

I'm not sure when ABS was added, but if it has that doo-dad, grab it, again, discontinued!

[Slartibartfast]

I'm honestly not sure when ABS started in these, and whether it was a trim thing or a federal thing. The part numbers for the ABS valve block go back to '90, but it's not in the '90 manual. If yours has it, the valve block is under the truck, on the inside of the passenger's side frame rail, sorta under the passenger's seat area IIRC. Should be an aluminum casting with a bleeder, an electrical plug, and two brake lines going into it. The control computer for mine was under the driver's seat, but IIRC '92 (and earlier?) had it under the stereo. The sensor reads from the pinion flange on the rear axle.

 

If yours doesn't have it, you're not missing much. All it does is release the rear brakes if it sees them lock up. There's no pulse action, no pump, no improved stopping distance. It's just trying to stop the rear end from stepping out and potentially rolling the truck. I guess if road conditions are bad enough to allow the rear brakes to lock, and the driver doesn't know to pump the pedal to regain control, then it's safer to nerf the rears, keep it straight, and take the hit in the crumple zone.

[peejay]

[A proper] FSM-worthy explanation as always, slart, thank you!

Edited March 12 by peejay

[adamzan]

18 hours ago, Slartibartfast said:

I'm honestly not sure when ABS started in these, and whether it was a trim thing or a federal thing. The part numbers for the ABS valve block go back to '90, but it's not in the '90 manual. If yours has it, the valve block is under the truck, on the inside of the passenger's side frame rail, sorta under the passenger's seat area IIRC. Should be an aluminum casting with a bleeder, an electrical plug, and two brake lines going into it. The control computer for mine was under the driver's seat, but IIRC '92 (and earlier?) had it under the stereo. The sensor reads from the pinion flange on the rear axle.

 

If yours doesn't have it, you're not missing much. All it does is release the rear brakes if it sees them lock up. There's no pulse action, no pump, no improved stopping distance. It's just trying to stop the rear end from stepping out and potentially rolling the truck. I guess if road conditions are bad enough to allow the rear brakes to lock, and the driver doesn't know to pump the pedal to regain control, then it's safer to nerf the rears, keep it straight, and take the hit in the crumple zone.

 

The sensor on the rear end is nearly impossible to find, mine got messed up on the trail and now I live with the ABS light on all the time. I found the sensor new once and it was like 700 bucks... No thanks. Still hoping to find a used one.

[Slartibartfast]

The same sensor died in mine, started faulting out whenever it got wet. When I saw the price of a new one, I decided I didn't need ABS.

 

Looks like the price has about doubled since then, holy crap.

[Aonghus]

Sweet! Thanks! I'll crawl around under there and see if I can find those parts. I don't remember seeing this things when we were putting a new clutch in but I wasn't looking for then either.