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89' Nissan Pathfinder

4K views 12 replies 3 participants last post by  mmitchell57 
#1 ·
I'm new here. I've read for a while but I've not had a real reason to post till now. I've come across a 89' nissan pathfinder. It was sitting in a backyard of a friends house and through some coincidence, I've come to own it. All I had to do was come pick it up and bring it home.

Here it is coming home.


It has been sitting for quit a while so there's no telling what condition everything is in. I only saw it in the dark before I towed it, but I figured what's the worst I could do? Sell it for parts and make some money off it.

Either way, The next morning I went out to look at it.

And that is what I saw. It was covered in tree sap and mold. Looking at the tires, they looked new and were not dry rotted. The engine looked clean. All fluid were intact. The oil still looked like the day it came out of the bottle. The radiator fluid was still topped off and green. The only real problem mechanically I could located was that the battery was lifeless and the alternator belt wasn't tensioned. I pulled the battery out of my old toyota pickup, got a new belt that fit the alternator, readjusted all the belts in the engine, and after 3 turns of the engine it fired up. :D So i decided to clean it up.


Here's what it looks like now. The insided looks good too.


The engine runs strong, but I think i hear an exhaust leak. I'm under the impression the stock V6 engine has hydraulic lifters, so it should be that. It's a ticking noise that I haven't located yet. Also, the dash light and lights for the AC controls do not illuminate. The running lights also do not turn on. Turn signals, headlights, 4x4, and everything else works great.

The goal is to get it running good, clean it up, and drive it daily with the options and capabilities to go off roading on easy to medium difficulty. I don't expect to do any crawling with it. The reason I am posting up is to keep track of how things are progressing over time and to hopefully find info on things I can't figure out through Chilton or hanes. Either way, fun time are ahead.
 
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#2 ·
The only problem I can find right now is the dash lights don't work to include the lighting behind the ventilation controls and the running lights do not work.

In relation to the running lights, the brake and headlight, turn signals, dome lights and reverse lights work as expected. I've looked at a couple of the light and all the filaments are in place. It's only the running lights that don't want to turn on. When I turn on the headlamp switch to the first notch, nothing. When I click it to the second position the head lights come on. I've looked for a fuse directly related to running light and haven't found one.

In relation to the dash lights, I've rotate the intensity nob and nothing happens. I've looked for a fuse directly related to it and I've not had luck.

For both things I've dug through the manuals I have but I haven't found anything specific yet.

Are there any more locations for fuses in the pathfinder? The only fuses I can find are next to the drivers side door in the dash. All the fuses look good. Any suggestions?
 
#3 ·
The lights are probably the switch itself, pull the light switch and clean the contacts in it, every Nissan of this vintage I work on requires this it seems like. The bulb(s) behind the heater controls are probably just burned out, mine are the same way it just doesn't bug me enough to bother changing.
 
#4 ·
When you say switch, do you mean the actual switch you rotate to turn on the lights, or the connection of the switch in the column? The switch you rotate doesn't look like it's supposed to be disassembled. The one in the column I can give a quick look and clean up.

I'll take a look at the ventilation control lights. The ones in the dash behind the tach, speedo, and guages are out too.

Also, made a battery tie down today out of some threaded rod and flat iron.
 
#6 ·
I pulled the column apart and took a tooth brush to the contacts. I also used compressed air to clean them out. It didn't seem to work at all.

Also, I pulled the cluster and all the lights had their filaments in tact. I may go by the auto store and buy a mix of fuses to replace all of the ones in the truck just in case.

Are there any relays I can check?
 
#9 ·
Ok, I'll take a look to see if there is a connection a bit farther down on the column.

For sanding the terminals, I'll steal one of the wifes nail files and cut it down to fit into the female connector. That's the only way I can think to get a piece of sand paper stiff enough.
 
#12 ·
I finally had time to pull the entire switch out. I started digging through it and found the issue. The poles that the light switch was rubbing against to active the lights were very worn down and gunked up beyond reason. Plus, when I would rotate the switch, the contact would never connect. Either way, I found a oem replacement switch w/ cruise control on ebay for 35 bucks. Hopefully that'll take care of it for me.
 
#13 ·
The light switch has been replace and we have running lights! :) I'm happy it was an easy fix. Now all I have to fix for now is a flickering reverse light and an exhaust manifold leak. Both of those should be pretty straight forward. Then on to other fun upgrades as time permits.
 
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