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I've never had any problem besides it skipping in the morning. Anyone else have this? What does the error message mean? I found no mention in the owners manual of error messages.
tidester, host
Re: condensation: Many mornings this winter I had a problem with that I belive, it took sometimes up to 15 minutes before it would stop skipping all over the place. I belive there must have been some condensation formed over the laser although I did notice some on a cd when I ejected it, but others (on the maxima.org forum where this is a big problem) noted it still skipped even with cds that they had in their house over night.
On one other issue, I never knew, but it seems that my Pathfinder is really affected by crosswinds badly. On the highway yesterday I would say there were winds of 7-15 MPH (I got that from the local news station's "weathernet" of local high schools and colleges via the internet of a station where I was on the highway).
At around 60-70 MPH I felt as though I was being lifted up almost and had to make constant corrections to just stay in the lane. I did not notice other cars/trucks/suv's around me having this problem although traffic was light.
One last question, I recieved a letter from my dealership yesterday about the 7500 mile service. According to Nissan's service schedule on their website it is just a oil/filter change and inspections of a bunch of things, nothing else. And we know how some dealers don't even follow nissan's own guide. I don't have a price on it, but I suspect its over $100. Seeing as I just had a oil/filter change it would not make sense.
I was planning on taking it in for a "service" at the dealership every 15,000 miles. (Besides regular oil/filter changes).
Although I'm not sure if the PF chasis has lubrication ports (I know the X doesn't), they will lube up door hinges, latches and things like that.
One more thing, if down the road you have a problem and haven't had all the services done it will be much harder to get it covered under warranty. I speak from experience on this one, I had a tranny problem that was covered but it came out of the shop worse than when it went in and the dealership tried to blame it on a clogged fuel system because I missed one of my services. The tranny never got fixed and I sold the damn thing and bought a PF.
If it is hardwired does the PF audio system have the leads that allow the radio to be muted when a call is incoming automatically?
Thanks in advance for any information.
JEG
I've taken my pathfinder to a dealer a few times and they claim that it is a perfectly normal noise after talking it over with Nissan tech support. They said that it's a clutch in the transfer case engaging/disengaging.
Now it seems strange to me that the problem would start showing up all of a sudden after a year and a half of usage. I had left my transfer case set to 2wd all summer and switched to Auto to prepare for the slippery rainy season. The problem started a few days after I made the switch to Auto.
Has anybody else experienced this problem? Anybody know anything I can do to get more help from Nissan about this?
I have a nokia hands free kit. The phone kit has the capability to have the radio muted when there is an incoming call. BUT, my 2001 nissan pathfinder radio does not have mute button, therefore the shop was not able to connect that option to my radio. I don't know about 2002,2003 radio's Did they change them at all? If the radio has a mute option on it, then you will be able to install the hands free kit. They are wonderful.
I did some more testing of the VDC system. This time I took a sharp 90 degrees turn on a icy and bumpy gravel road in 4WD (not AWD).
So the truck kinda skid a bit in the turn, the VDC/ABS grinding sound kicked in etc but as I tried to accelerate my way out of the skid I pressed the gas pedal and nothing happened. The engine was bringing the revs down by itself..... The gas pedal was somehow disconnected for a second or two.
I remember being told by the dealer that under certain circumstances the VDC system would take engine control over the driver to kinda smooth out "panic" situations (it probably thought that I lost control of the vehicle....).
It felt weird and ackward. At firt I was not so sure I liked that but thinking of it again I realized that in the end the sharp turn ended up being very smooth under the cirucmstances. I would have liked to accelerate my way out but VDC made sure I would not loose control further more....
Being a good driver I could have handled the situation myself but maybe not my wife. So I conclude that it could have helped her a lot if she would have taken the curve to fast by mistake.
So far I consider this system very impressive !!!
Now I have to stop this VDC testing because I think I am starting to push this test too far..... Might as well stop while I'm ahead and test something less risky.... Next test: how much stuff can the glove compartment hold ;-)
When you get the rotors on the front end hot, the metal warps and gives you an uneven braking surface resulting in a distinct shudder.The hotter they get, the worse the warping and the shuddering will be. Many times, once they warp they are warped forever.
Most likely they are warped when driving around town, but you don't brake as hard or often and are not heating them up to the same degree, so it's less noticeable. It happened on our old Cherokee all the time, and I have to be extremely careful not to heat them up coming out of the mountains here in Denver.
To not have rotors warp requires judicious use of brakes, and significant downshifting. (that's why we have the 5-spd) The only fix I know of once they are warped is to have them turned. (putting them on a metal lathe and removing the warped sections til they are straight again). Sometimes you can convince the dealer to do this if your Pathy is still under warrantee.
good luck, you might also do a search for "shudder" or "vibration" and see what you get. That's what I've commonly seen it called
Glad that no one was hurt. Infiniti is offering fantastic deals on the QX4 now. $5,000 under MSRP with 0.9% financing for 36 months. They even add in the sales tax to the loan amount. Don't know if this is of interest to you, but certainly for some it might be helpful.
We in the RX-7 community have not had much luck turning the rotors after they are warped. They are too thin to start with on the RX-7. I don't know what luck you will have with the Pathfinder.
The correct fix is to replace the brakes with properly sized ones, but this is not very practical for most people. It can cost upwards of $2500, and requires some knowledge of brake bias setting (as well as a bias adjustment device in the system).
To do this the dealer has to use the Nissan equipment. It can not be done any other way (according to the "Electronic Service Manual").
For those that had this done, can you please let us know if the high temperature reading was resolved?
Thanks!
1. Does the 3.5L V6 actually require 91 octane fuel?
2. If you select the VDC option, where is the tire pressure monitor? Is it on the compass display?
3. Is it true that you cannot operate the vehicle above 50 mph while it's in the AUTO mode on the 4x4 knob?
4. Is the fuel economy really 15 miles per gallon?
Thanks!
Here are some answers to your questions;
1)Nissan suggests 91 but only suggests.... you can use 87 but some people here mention that the truck will not perform as great and that it might make the MPG worst offsetting any savings.
2)No, there is a small indicator in the dash (grouped with the other indicators such as parking break, etc) that will light up only if the pressure of one tire is below 25 psi.
3)No. Some people here complain about a noise when you do so but I have done 75mph in Auto with no problem whatsoever in my 03 LE. It is not very fuel efficient to do so.....
4)More like 10..... Joke aside the Pathfinder is very bad on fuel mainly in the cold winter days. If MPG is in your top 3 priorities for your new car\truck choose something else.....
I took delivery of my 03 LE in late october. I am very statisfied so far, no problems except a very minor problem with radio reception. The truck seems well built and dependable. VDC is great mainly in winter. The only drawback with this truck is fuel consumption (dreadful) but I'm looking forward to see if that improves during the warm summer time (when I do most of my driving).
Good luck
I bought a 2002 QX4 last year. Here is my input on your questions:
1 - Yes, you need to use 91 octane to keep the engine from knocking and to insure performance. $150 extra/year is not much to ask when your spending $30K on a vehicle.
2 - The 2002 doesn't have tire pressure monitors so I will let someone else answer that.
3 - I understood the 50 mph limitation was only for 4WD low. I could be mistaken on that. I rarely use the 4WD.
4 - I got 14 mpg fuel economy before I switched to synthetic oil. Now I get 15.5.
I'm replacing my 99 Accord since the lease is up this week. so, I'm highly interested in the PF, given its looks, performance, quality, etc.
however, now I'm dissapointed with the VDC's tire pressure monitor guage. I thought it was like the Jeep Limited which has it up next to the compass and shows all four tires' psi at once.
too bad about the fuel economy. it's a double wammy since 91 octane seems to be what everyone is recommending. I'm spoiled by the 3.0L V6 in the honda, with it's 22mpg typical economy.
anyway, I must choose soon. I think I'm down to either the 2003 Accord EX-V6 or the 2003 PF LE. (yes, I know, apples & oranges...)
I'd rather go flying today, the weather is very cold and crisp - probably 50 mile visibilities.
The ~$2000 difference for the QX4 is well worth the difference in my opinion.
The PF gets worse fuel economy than the Highlander, but the Toyota looks more soccer-mom. so does the Pilot. The GrandCherokee limited is nice, but every other SUV on the road is Jeep. and it's V8 has even worse MPG, thus PF still wins.
I wonder why it has rear drum brakes even though it's an over $30k car? And why is there a fixed-mount radio antenna when there's also an antenna built into the front windshield? do most people drive without the exterior antenna attached? I've noticed all the PF pictures online and in the brochure show the truck without it.
The Rav4 Toyota would be a good choise if fuel economy is a big concern. It's a hoot to drive too.
My research shows that the Pathfinder is the best buy in the 4Runner/Acura/Pathfinder class. Or at least it was.
I think the exterior of the QX4 is great, especially those HID headlights. The door handles are color coordinated with the body, and the wheels are very aggressive looking.
But I think it's a little more than I want to spend, especially since I feel like I'm stretching a little for the PF. I appreciate your enthusiasm for the QX4. Great truck indeed!
Thanks for the info from Pathstar above regarding the brakes and radio antenna.
I can't wait to drive a PF home tomorrow. I'll write back if I get a good deal...
Has anyone in Canada been able to get their temp gauge fixed? Any info would be appreciated.
thanks!
AW
print out a TSB bullentin and bring it to them.
I'm also looking for a good system for fork-mounted bike carriers for the '03 LE rack system. I went to the shop today and the guy told me that the Yakima multi-system rack requires replacing the factory rack and they also have an adapter which will mount individual bike carriers to the original PF rack. He also told me that Thule doesn't have a carrier for this rack. I'm looking only for the fork-mount, not an upright, unless someone has a reason why I should consider one.
Finally, I posted a while back regarding body tilt to the driver side. Well, seems that they confirmed this and it needs a new spring. The PF already has 6 days in the shop in less than a month for preexisting problems and now will spend another day or two, still within the first month. I still love driving and looking at the thing, but I'm starting to think lemon law...
Also, I have a 99.5 Pathfinder (new style, old engine). Wouldn't mine be affected by the bottoming out issue also, since I don't think they've made any changes to the suspension in the last couple years. What exactly did they repair when they followed the TSB for the bottoming out?
Thanks again!!!!
Also my brakes seem awfully squishy, I really have to stand on it to slow down quickly, it feels like there is a lot of gas build up between the pads and rotors. I also checked the brake fluid level and it's right on. Maybe there's air in the brake line. I'll have it looked at when it goes in for service in a couple of weeks.
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/tsb/
to find the applicable service bulletins. But the dealer will need to cross reference those against Nissan's data base using your VIN.
The "bottoming out" fix involves installing new bump stops in the rear springs.
AW
Thanks in advance for the help. The wife (who is the main driver of the PF) cant believe that I would spend this much effort on getting tires but she'll benefit I believe.