How reliable are Nissans? more specifically how reliable are the hardbody trucks, be honest. I have 156,000 miles on mine and was wondering what I may be able to get out of it. I now have a fresh transmission but the truck bed is rusted to hell and its burning alittle bit of oil between changes(nothing serious) This is the slowest, crudest vehicle I have ever driven but its still a blast for some reason. Do you guys think 250k would be possible if I keep all the fluids in check? Whats the normal range when the ka24e's die off? Thanks!

I have 215,000 on my clock. The truck has been extremely reliable as long as I do basic maintenence. It will nickle and dime you time to time, speedo goes out, cheap parts wear out ect. But, that happens with every vehicle of that age. The engine and drivetrain though rock solid. Of course I have the VG30e so I guess my input doesn't matter that much. The truck has never left me roadside stranded.

My red truck in my avatar has 107K runs like a champ. My current 95 HB has 140K. Has a valve gasket leak, I need to replace the gasket.

3 years ago I had a 89 path 161K. Sold it, still driving around town.

dad had a old 720 with over 300K. I know 720's don't count since we are talking about HB's.

Over all nissan/datsun drive train is top notch. As for suspension, all suspension components wear out. They are not going to last the life of the truck. This is where people get nickel and dime.

The worst thing you can do to a Nissan is not change the oil and do your tune up. Nissan trucks are really easy to work on, so being able to do all your own maintenance is awesome.

Before I bought my Frontier, I met several hardbody owners w/ over 250K miles.

I have over that now on my KA24DE...

keep the fluids fresh, change the GL-4 in the manual trans every 30K( overfill it 1.5 quarts), transfer case gets Gl-4 as well, same interval w/ the diffs but GL-5 lube, the auto trans- drain and fill every 12- 15K miles w/ fresh Dex3.

Never use GL-5 in a manual traNS- even mobil1!

So, it's GL-4 then

I just noticed that the AC pully on the crank wobbles really badly... like it got tweaked somehow. The other two pulleys do not wobble at all (power steering, and alternator).

I think I am gonna cut off the AC belt today, and see if that pully is loose (wobbles by hand). I also noticed that my fan has a bit of wobble in it too

What would cause the pulley to wobble? Bad bearing on the pulley, harmonic balancer, damaged crank?

GL-5 in the Tcase is fine.

Definitely GL-4 in the transmission tho.

500 k miles and still going strong..
z24 in an 87 d21..

My pathy is close to 180k and still runs like new. The engine is bone stock and has never been opened up except for timing belt changes.

I'd say they are pretty reliable.

My '87 Pathfinder 3.0v6/5 speed/4x4(same as HB) has 256K, runs and drives great, absolutely everthing on it works, the engine burns a quart of oil every 2000 miles, gets 20mpg on the highway, leaks nothing. I'm also a maintenance freak though, and spend copious amounts of time fixing small things and inspecting stuff. There is not one area of this truck that I haven't wrenched on in the last couple of years, although that is mostly due to maintenance and/or modifications, no major problems.

In the last couple years, I've taken it on a couple of lengthy road trips 2 - 3000 highway miles each, regularly run moderate to difficult 4x4 trails in Utah and Colorado, and rely on it to take my family on extended backcounty 4x4 trips a long ways from civilization.

IMO, these Nissans offer Toyota reliability at half the used purchase price.

quote:

Originally posted by Geoff B:
My '87 Pathfinder 3.0v6/5 speed...

Kyle, gonna jack your thread a little and grill Geoff to dig into the reliability issue...

Geoff, original owner?
Original MT? NO problems?

How often serviced? filled w/ what, and how much?

Are the diffs on the same schedule- to be modified if they goes "swimming" , of course?

hillbille,

I'm not the original owner, I think I'm the third. I bought it a couple years ago with 230 some odd thousand miles. It was bone stock and in exceptional condition as far as paint, body, and interior goes. It ran great, too. I don't know the service history of it, but it appeared to be pretty well taken care of. I picked it up $1800, which in my neck of the woods is a pretty good deal for anything 4x4, as complete beater similar year Toy 4runners go for $3-4K. I was a bit wary of the miles, but figured I can fix anything that goes wrong myself, so I'll take a chance. This is my 3rd Nissan 4x4, having owned quite a few other 4x4's in the past, including a couple of IH Scouts ('71 & '74), a Toyota pickup ('93), a Chevy Blazer ('85 and perpetually broken) , a Ford F250 ('97), and an Isuzu p'up ('83).

When I bought it, I promptly changed all fluids, including the proper GL-4 for the MT and overfilled by 1 quart (I was aware of the TSB's in this regard). The MT case does not have the altered fill plug location, so it would seem to be original. It was not overfilled when I got it, so I doubt that it ever had been before. GL-5 85w140 in rear diff with locker, 80W90 everywhere else. I change engine oil and filter every 3K and will change the other drivetrain fluids at around 30K.

In the past couple of years, I have done the following repairs due to actual problems:
-clutch replacement (noisy TO bearing)
-lower control arm bushings (had to weld up frame mount on drivers side)
-new fan clutch (overheating on trail)
-reseal clutch master and slave cyls (leaking)
-O2 sensor (poor fuel mileage)
-cleaned MAF electrical connector (intermittent engine dying problem, had corrosion buildup on pin connections)
-replaced 1 auto hub with JY parts (wouldn't return to neutral position)
-the stupid brake light on dash (like in your sig) came on for no reason from time to time. I eventually removed the bulb. It comes on for 2 reasons, according to the schematic - grounding through the park brake sensor or the brake fluid level sensor. I had the light on with both disconnected and no harness faults, so the problem appears to be an internal ground fault in dash cluster.

Most of this was done in the first few months. I suppose most people would consider that a lot of stuff, but I just consider it a part of buying a used high mileage vehicle that was not owned by a mechanic freak like me.

Right on! Can I bring my truck over for a tuneup SOunds like you have a keeper.

Hillbilie, I noticed in your sig that you fixed an A/C problem. My A/C hasn't worked since I bought it, maybe I have the same prob as you. What exactly happened to you and how did you fix it. Also, Love the Avatar

quote:

Originally posted by Kyle B:
Hillbilie, I noticed in your sig that you fixed an A/C problem. My A/C hasn't worked since I bought it, maybe I have the same prob as you. What exactly happened to you and how did you fix it. Also, Love the Avatar

THe avatar changes...

The ac "problem" was due to having the original factory installed belt on for over 200K miles. It finally gave up one day.. Installed a new belt and it's fine.

Only fan speeds 1 and 4 remaining, tho.

Steering box started leaking again, but a dose of steering stop leak fixed that a month back. I'll probably end up sourcing a box somehere whenthe steering gets too loose. It's still tight enough for my taste.

Gota milk it for all it's worth

I have 90k on my 94' 4cyl auto, i just hope it last as long as my Mazda b2200 that just turned 300k, i havent had any problems yet with the HB.