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Behind The Rust: The Pathfinder Story So my girlfriend and I have decided to undergo the foolish idea of fixing up this 1990 Nissan Pathfinder SE 4WD:  This particular vehicle, boasting a manual transmission VG30E engine, was bought by a kindly gentleman from Ohio. Every scheduled service on time, every receipt and invoice filed. He coddled it. He loved it. 85k miles when he sold it in 2010. Now this next gentleman had other plans. In three years, he put 23k miles on it. Oh, and what arduous miles they were. When one muds, usually they are cleaned....at some point. Well, this particular unfortunate vehicle was never washed once from what we can tell. So little had it ever seen cleaning, that the exhaust's heat radiating through the undercarriage had turned the mud to a ceramic. The benefit of this, we found, was that it acted as a protectant from rust!  "The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are." —John F. Kennedy  The Horror. The Horror.  Now besides the beautiful 5-link suspension, I'm sure you noticed that pipe in the front... That's where the exhaust ends. At least it's sticking out of a catalytic convertor?  The optional rear disc brakes were an excellent choice by the original buyer. Note the excellent craftsmanship. I probably would have left the baffling off myself just to admire it!  The inspired engineering can be found here in the front stabilizer bar. The aesthetic choice of black on brown truly separated this vehicle from its competitors at the time. It's almost perfect but we think we might make a couple of changes to get it up to speed. This thought passed through my mind when the front driver's side caliper seized up in the middle of traffic. "I should probably fix that." And so begins our journey... Required Reading for Next Class: Psalm 22:1-2 (KJV) Fenderbender fucked around with this message at Mar 10, 2013 around 00:31 |
| # ? Mar 10, 2013 00:28 |
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| # ? May 24, 2013 05:28 |
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Call me Alowishus Devadander Abercrombie (a special mud segment between stories of rust) To get a sense of how much mud there is on this thing, here's the (un)surprise I found in the one remaining stock foglight...  Somehow all of this managed its way between the backing plate and the light assembly...  This was screwed together quite tightly and no cracks or holes were in it, yet somehow  
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| # ? Mar 10, 2013 01:40 |
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I like where this is going already, there appears to be a hole in your bumper aswel. You mentioned it has most likely never been washed, what about the paint itself? Is the caliper seizing related to corrosion? If so more surprises await you!
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| # ? Mar 10, 2013 10:39 |
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I would seriously consider investing in a sandblaster if I were you. You'll save the cost in no time.
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| # ? Mar 10, 2013 10:51 |
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Cakefool posted:I would seriously consider investing in a sandblaster if I were you. You'll save the cost in no time. We have two angle grinders (one is a 9" hilti  ) and about 100 cans of high-temp primer and VHT rust converter (among other things). We've worked through parts of the underbody and I'm going to be putting together some pictures today to show that off. Here's a sneak peek:   TURNS INTO...    
Fenderbender fucked around with this message at Mar 10, 2013 around 16:24 |
| # ? Mar 10, 2013 16:21 |
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Tore back the splash guard between the wheel well and the engine bay to take a look at the power steering gear to see which particular model it was. I'm pretty phased about rust at this point seeing as this is what I see when I go to get at the power steering gear (that's the spindle to it there in the foreground): But when I tear it back to have a good look...  I seem to have found a rare ceramic mud statue! 
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| # ? Mar 11, 2013 03:46 |
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It's been a busy few days with weather getting in the way but I'll be posting up pictures of repacking the wheel bearings, replacing the rotors, calipers, and brake pads on the passenger's side. THERE ARE SO MANY COLOURS IN THE CAR GREASE RAINBOW And since I'm new to this whole car project thing, this was pretty much my inner dialogue while working on the inner auto-locking hub assembly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygEuglq_Yck#t=70s I'll be posting more pictures and some macro shots of the hub assembly a bit later but for now...  No wonder the brakes were seizing up even though the brake fluid was fine and the brake pads were relatively unworn.   OUT OUT DAMNED SPOT  but then eventually it all was worth it...   only 3 more to go
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 02:02 |
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I have a neighbor who uses the 2wd version of these. He beats the absolute poo poo of these drat things and I never see him wrenching on them. I'm talking pedal to the floor everywhere he goes. And yet he's only been through two of them in the last 15 years.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 02:43 |
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That's some fairly serious brake hardware, what dimensions are we talking? Also, dual piston caliper, nice.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 11:09 |
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bolind posted:That's some fairly serious brake hardware, what dimensions are we talking? Also, dual piston caliper, nice. Brake Rotors Just regular plain surfaced rotors from the Centrik C-Tek line for now, though as the project goes along, we'll probably replace them with some slotted rotors. Front: Diameter: 276.7mm Thickness: 26mm Rear: Diameter: 285.5mm Thickness: 18mm  The rear brakes on the SE model have optional disc brakes as opposed to the stock drums found on the XE. The rear disc brakes have single piston calipers, though they have drum style e-brake hardware which accounts for the protruding drum on the rear discs. Brake Pads Have had good results from EBC in the past. Felt like I got punched in the gut every time we took a hard brake with those on my friend's pathy. So we went with... Front: EBC Ultimax Rear: EBC Greenstuff  Additionally need to pick up some new calipers and e-brake hardware soon for a full overhaul. I...think we can salvage the current rear calipers but I'm not so sure. Haven't taken a good look at the situation completely yet, but here's a little peek at the rear passenger side caliper. 
Fenderbender fucked around with this message at Mar 16, 2013 around 16:12 |
| # ? Mar 16, 2013 16:05 |
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That stupid loving brush guard in the front is the bane of my existence. The OEM style brush guards have a flaw where they suck and will bend the frame in any frontend collision. Also, one of the bolts holding it on has a nut that won't come off. The bolt sits loose between the plate on the brush guard and the front fender. Heat, cold, hammers, wrench, breaker bar, etc. hasn't worked so far. Any other thoughts? We're talking like an M12 bolt here. 
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 18:11 |
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Oh yeah, wanna see when you need to replace your air filter?  Replaced that with a Spectre HPR 4309.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 18:17 |
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Fenderbender posted:That stupid loving brush guard in the front is the bane of my existence. The OEM style brush guards have a flaw where they suck and will bend the frame in any frontend collision. Also, one of the bolts holding it on has a nut that won't come off. The bolt sits loose between the plate on the brush guard and the front fender. Heat, cold, hammers, wrench, breaker bar, etc. hasn't worked so far. Any other thoughts? We're talking like an M12 bolt here. PB blaster for a day.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 18:25 |
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meltie posted:PB blaster for a day. I've used pretty much a whole can of PB Blaster. 
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 18:54 |
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Fenderbender posted:I've used pretty much a whole can of PB Blaster. Prayer.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 18:55 |
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VanNuys posted:Prayer. Who gives better odds? Satan or God? I'm willing to believe in either.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 18:59 |
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Disc cutter.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 19:04 |
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InitialDave posted:Disc cutter. I don't have any blades that are small enough to fit in there without going in and taking out the radiator and working at it through the engine bay (which may end up being the solution). And the way it is set up, the fender that is providing the tiny amount of space to reach the bolt is being held in place by it.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 19:29 |
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Gonna go get some dremel cutting blades. About 4 or 5 should do it, I suppose.
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| # ? Mar 16, 2013 19:49 |
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 ECU reports no (emissions) malfunctions!
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 01:07 |
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Stepdad needs to borrow the garage jack for a couple days so I'm gonna swap out fluids and checkin some torque! I figure now's a good a time as ever to make the correction found in this TSB: http://media.is.superla.me/pathy/fuckingtrannytsb.pdf  Basically, the tranny needs to be overfilled by 1.5L to properly lubricate the FS5R30A models found in 87-95 M/T 4WD Pathfinders. Only problem there is that the fill plug needs to be relocated quite a bit higher to accomodate the extra fluid and I'm not about to order and reassemble the tranny case. So, I'll be taking out the seats to remove the carpeting so I can get to the gear shift and work my way down to the shifter hole and fill it from there. I figure whatever is in there hasn't ever been changed so I'll drop all the fluid in there and replace it all to the correct amount with some Redline MT-90 M/T oil.  Shouldn't be too hard... 
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 02:26 |
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 02:32 |
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IIRC, Nissan synchros aren't Redline's biggest fan. They do, however, love GL-4 (and ONLY GL-4) gear oil. None of that "compatible with both GL-4 and GL-5", and definitely no "GL-5", or well, anything that hints at GL-5. Unless you already have the MT-90 and no hope of a refund, I'd strongly recommend picking up Nissan MTF - or tracking down some GL-4 gear oil (which is surprisingly difficult). Anything compatible with GL-5 generally makes yellow metals (such as your brass synchros) a bit pissy, and, supposedly, Redline works a little too good at lubrication for the synchros to do their job. That said, if you already have the MT-90, it's probably the best fluid you can get outside of a proper non-synthetic GL-4. It's been a month since I   and goddammit I really want to fix that.e: This is for a 1994, but most of it, aside from the electronics, will probably be useful. some texas redneck fucked around with this message at Mar 17, 2013 around 03:46 |
| # ? Mar 17, 2013 03:43 |
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MT-90 is GL-4 only though, that's why I specifically ordered it.  I'm aware of the GL-5 additives causing issues with the soft synchros.Edit: Also, the 1990 D21 FSM (which is what I use) is under the Hardbody directory on nicoclub as the Pathfinder and Hardbody are both covered by the same FSM: http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Hardbody/d21_truck_1990.pdf Thanks a lot though. Reference to others combatting this particular issue: http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/fo...ansmission-tsb/ Fenderbender fucked around with this message at Mar 17, 2013 around 04:17 |
| # ? Mar 17, 2013 04:05 |
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Oh, before I replace the motor oil, API SN should cover the former SG designation that's called for, right? (re: energy conserving, etc.) I was just going to drop in some Pennzoil 5w-30.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 04:21 |
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API designations supersede themselves, if that makes sense. So yes, SN is newer/greater than SG. Any modern detergent oil you find on the shelf will likely exceed SG. Which covers about 98% of the oils you'll run into unless you're specifically looking for non-detergent oil.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 04:25 |
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In that case, what would you recommend for this: And I've been using Valvoline Multi-Purpose Grease (NLGI No. 2 Lithium-based) for GM/European/Japanese instead of Nissan genuine grease so far. It says it should be ok and work well for wheel bearings. I used it for that and am hoping I didn't goof on that. I plan on picking some genuine grease up from the dealership soon.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 05:00 |
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For the transmission, why not just jack up one side when you fill it, to allow it to overfill?
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 11:27 |
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InitialDave posted:For the transmission, why not just jack up one side when you fill it, to allow it to overfill? I know exactly jack poo poo about this car, and Jack is out of town, but if you are aiming to overfill is it possible to remove the shift housing to do it? Another alternative is to pressure feed the transmission. I did this with the VW and discovered by accident that forcing oil into the trans with compressed air more or less stops it from flowing out until I stop. At that point I quickly shoved the fill plug in. Unless your oil seals have a major problem with overfilling I've heard it can be good fro transmission longevity. Heard. No empirical proof. Also the moly additive is meant to be great.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 12:05 |
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InitialDave posted:For the transmission, why not just jack up one side when you fill it, to allow it to overfill? I could do that too, but A) stepdad has the jack for a couple days, like I said and B) I've read about people having not-so-complete success with this method since it requires several feet of jacking, with most only able to get about half the needed addition in, and one ending in actually flipping his vehicle (although he did it on an incline so he was an idiot)
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 13:48 |
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General_Failure posted:I know exactly jack poo poo about this car, and Jack is out of town, but if you are aiming to overfill is it possible to remove the shift housing to do it? Another alternative is to pressure feed the transmission. I did this with the VW and discovered by accident that forcing oil into the trans with compressed air more or less stops it from flowing out until I stop. At that point I quickly shoved the fill plug in. That's actually what I'm doing. I'm aiming to take the shifter boot and shifter assembly out and pour the new fluid down through the control/shift housing.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 13:51 |
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Fenderbender posted:That's actually what I'm doing. I'm aiming to take the shifter boot and shifter assembly out and pour the new fluid down through the control/shift housing. Well if you can do that, go for it. Again I know nothing about your particular transmission but it is an accepted method.
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| # ? Mar 17, 2013 20:29 |
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General_Failure posted:Well if you can do that, go for it. Again I know nothing about your particular transmission but it is an accepted method. Good news is that the carpeting, trim, seats, and center console all come up quite easily I've found. But there are some hidden spots that are keeping the carpeting stuck down enough that I can't reach the plate. Started to rain so I put it all back together to try it again soon. Am thinking just for now I'll drain the old fluid and replace it the regular way and then top it off soon via the method described before. Girlfriend spent some time grinding down the front left wheel well and related suspension parts. Unfortunately, the rain showed up and we couldn't throw down primer and now it's getting rusty as I type this. OH WELL. Also, after doing closer research, I need to completely redo the job I did on the R.H. front wheel bearing. The baffle plate somehow managed to get bent up in a weird fashion so that it is in danger of resting on the oil seal under laden conditions. That and since the tie-rod ends, lower & upper ball joints managed to get nicked open in the process of grinding off the rust before, I've gotta take it all back off anyway. I figure I'll take the time this go round to replace the outer grease seal and completely clean/regrease the entire hub assembly and knuckle spindle.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2013 16:07 |
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Also, just did an oil and filter change and wow I can actually tell a difference almost immediately. And despite the tarry, blacker-than-black oil that came out, there did not seem to be any sludge on the valves/cams when I finally got the oil filler cap off and took a little peek inside. Also, no milkshake hooray! The only new major issue is I'm leaking a bit of coolant from a hose or valve behind the engine block. May be EGR valve, it's hard to see back there. Fortunately it only leaks when running the car and it's a slow dribble, no spraying or gushing. Hopefully should be a simple fix.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2013 16:12 |
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| # ? May 24, 2013 05:28 |
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STARE INTO THE ABYSS   Yes, I put it in a proper container after these were taken.
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| # ? Mar 30, 2013 20:33 |
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