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Has anyone else had this problem and how did you have it rectified?
In lieu of shelling out $275 for the shop manual, has anyone else heard of or dealt with this problem with the 3.5l engine. If so, how difficult was it to access the fuel injection system.
Scott
I'll need tires soon and am leaning toward Toyo open country A/T...without trying to open a dreaded tire thread perhaps someone could give me advice at awdonald@shaw.ca.
Thanks,
Do a search for your make, model, year and then select the tire brands you are interested in. They will come back with results for different brands that fit your Path. They also have reivews from buyers as well as news and other info.
I would think the hardware is the same as on the QX4, so I'd only need to try and match the color shade.
One other bugaboo, why didn't they extend the simulated wood trim for the passenger side air vent grill. I know it blends in well with the dash, but it would've added more highlight to the overall interior look and feel.
1/ Air conditioning system doesn't seem to be as cold as my old "freon system" in my last vehicle. Is this because of the new environmental coolant now being used ?
2/ Need to install a class 111 hitch to pull my boat. The dealers price is the same for a Nissan tubular hitch as is the another shop who installs Hidden tubular hitches. Which would be my best bet ?
3/ It appears that my pathfinder does not have an automatic transmission cooler already installed. Do I need an after market kit to tow a 3000 lb boat a half a dozen times in the summer?
4/ My boat ( 3 years old) is on a custom factory built trailer (by the boat manufacturer) and due it's weight under 3000 lbs (boat and trailer) does not have factory installed brakes. This was not a problem when towed by my 1990 f150 but do I need to change this setup when using my new pathfinder ?
5/ Do you recommend having some kind of rust proofing applied over what the vehicle comes with ? I'm pretty meticulous with washing etc.. Many thanks !
I'm considering selling my '00 Solara and getting a Pathfinder. I'm sure there are plenty of just-off-lease Pathfinders out there that are pretty good deals, but I'm curious about the 3.5L engine in the '01s and '02s. Is it a big difference over the older 3.3L engine? Is the engine alone worth buying the PF new or nearly new?
I'm leaning towards an SE 5-speed, although I haven't taken any test drives yet. Is there a way I can tell from the VIN if the transmission is an automatic or manual?
Have there been any major problems with Pathfinders built since the '98 or '99 model years? I tried scanning this discussion, but going through nearly 5000 posts takes some time.
Thanks in advance,
Dave
I will answer only question 1. I installed, myself, a Hidden Hitch Class III hitch. When I purchased it, it was somewhat less money than the Nissan version, where I was told that Hidden Hitch actually manufactured the hitches for Nissan. I am unsure if that rumour was true, but the source was a Nissan dealer.
I bought mine in Kelowna, at a canopy shop at the north end of the city (Canopy West, I believe). I paid about $200 for it.
You may read some posts about others have trouble with the hitch hitting part of the exhaust system - not so with the Hidden Hitch I installed.
I have a 1200 pound travel trailer, and have not added any additional transmission cooler.
Hope this helps.
I have an 01 LE. I had a Class III Hidden Hitch installed to tow my boat which weighs about 3200lbs on the trailer, which has surge brakes. I haven't added an external trans cooler. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to add one, but the Pathfinder is rated for 5,000lbs as is and I have read that an external cooler is not necessary. I currently have 15k miles on my Pathfinder and have logged at least 3,000 towing miles and haven't had a problem.
As far as brakes are concerned they are never a bad idea, but you'll probably be OK. The brakes on the pathfinder seem to be pretty strong.
PS - Drove a friends Jeep Grand Cherokee for about 100 miles this weekend. I (silently) felt sad for him and wished the whole time I was in my rig.
crete--The door handles were one of my pet peeves also. I got the bronzed gray so it would match a little better as did the roof racks and step bars. I don't think you can use QX4 handles. The colors are different for Nissan and Infiniti.
drbigz-- I would take it in as a soon as possible. I'm certain there is at least a 4-5 yrs corrosion warranty on the car.
normp1--My wife’s 93 Camry uses the old freon and it gets so cold that I have to turn the heat up a little to make it tolerable. So yep, there is a big difference in the freon now being used. Living in So. CA. , I'm biased but I'm not a big believer in after market rust-proofing. Cars today are being built much more corrosion proof than before. The hitch from Nissan is pretty nice. It has a step so it's easier to clean/load the top of car and it sticks out a little so if anyone rear-ends me, it may take the brunt of the damage.
evaddave-- I've driven an auto. 02 PF(mine) and an auto.99 QX4 (3.3L) and I think there is a big difference. The 5 sp might equalize that. PRO 3.5L: same gas mileage, obviously more power and smooooth with a nice roarty exhaust.PRO 3.3L no premium gas. I've read all the reviews from carreview.com, carpoint.com and this forum on the PF and haven't noticed any pattern of problems. The PF has gotten great reliability reviews from Consumer Reports and J.D. Powers.
canibus-- The car manual and the sticker by the gas cap RECOMMENDS premium gas. I'm as cheap as they come and I haven't notice a difference in power or gas mileage (I'm sure this cannot be true?) using regular but I've been using premium. Why you ask? It really doesn't cost that much more and I plan on keeping the car for a long time and I've heard on Click and Clack that on cars that REQUIRE premium running it on regular could damage the catalytic converter by making it run hotter. It's fun every once in a while to stir up and awaken the whole herd of 240 ponies.
Happy Pathfinding!!!
Steve
If you look in the cargo area you should find 3 bolted-down anchors.
You may be taking a significant risk towing that much weight without trailer brakes. According to the owner's manual for my '01 PF, towing more than 1000 POUNDS requires trailer brakes. I tow a boat and trailer weighing about 4200 lbs., and one time I had a problem with the trailer brakes...I was barely able to stop the PF and trailer on a moderate hill...it was scary!
I don't have any trans cooler other than what came from the factory, and I regularly tow my boat on some very steep hills as well as well as up to Lake George, NY (about 200 miles) twice. There have been no problems, but manually shift to a lower gear to keep the trans from heating up! You may find that you will want to install an Airlift kit to keep the rear suspension from sagging...see numerous postings here over the last month or so on the topic.
Happy Pathfinding!!!
Steve
However, I find that if you have rear-facing child seats, it is easier to "LATCH" onto the base of the front seats, rather than anchoring them to the anchors in the cargo area.
I have twin infants and they use the Britax Roundabout car seats. The car seats have an extra belt that can wrap around a base column of the front seats and I anchor the car seats there. Pretty snug fit too.
I just called Nissan Corp. to get further clarification and I will be happy to share any info they send my way. It sure beats using the PF seatbelts and now I found out that I should use a clip that holds the lap and shoulder belt together because unlike my Accord the seatbelt does not lock in postion after it has been fully retracted.
Happy Pathfinding!!!
Steve
I asked the same question on this board about the LSD fluid about 2 months ago. I got two answers that said to use Mobil 1 Gear Oil. So that's what I used.
A warning about changing the rear diff. fluid: The fill plug is REAL hard to get out. I had a couple warnings about that from my earlier post also and they were't kidding. It is tight. I strongly suggest you make sure you can get the fill plug out before you pull the drain plug or you will be in trouble. You will need some kind of leverage to get it off. I don't know why that plug is so tight, I changed the front and rear diff, the transfer case and the transmission and none of the other plugs was any problem.
You might want to consider changing the transfer case fluid while you're down there. I was kind of surprised how dirty it looked at 30K on mine. It uses ATF fluid also.
Yes, that's right -- the seat tethers. I use those. And I don't think we're on the same page as I still use seatbelts (I followed the instructions in the car seat manual). Although, it seems your description is right on the money:
LATCH System (Lower Anchors and Tether for CHildren)
Anchor points are located in the lower outboard seating positions where the seatback and seat cushion meet. They allow the placement of LATCH System child restraint seats in the rear seat. LATCH System seats allow easy and secure attachment without the need for seat belts or locking clips.
I thought the lower anchors mounted on the floor are where the tethers connect to and that was what comprised the LATCH system. I guess I'm wrong. But, I don't know if I would feel safe about not using any seatbelts at all. I guess I have yet to see an actual LATCH car seat install. If any documentation that Nissan sends you has pretty good illustrations, I'd be interested. Thanks, Steve.
As for the LSD, the Mobil 1bottle says it prevents chatter in Limited Slips so I am assuming that there is no need to add any friction modifiers. I haven't had any noises from it since the change.
Steve
Thanks
Terry
Spinal Tap references aside, I have the '01 PF which has no visual reference to volume...kind of annoying, but I can live with it. I guess you'll need an '02 owner to confirm whether 31 is really the max.
Happy Pathfinding!!!
Steve
Also anybody purchase Weathertech floor mats ? How do they fit and look ? Thanks!