I've now moved from a 95 Pathfinder to an '01 Xterra. With 36k on the odo, it was hard to pass it up. For now the PF will stay as my technical rig, the Xterra will be the daily driver.

Big question: There is a weld seam running underneath the width of the Xterra. It basically runs between the rear sidestep mounts on each side. Normally I would have considered it a body repair after a terrible accident, but there are no other indications of a problem, and the carfax looked good. It's painted just like the rest of the undercarriage.

Is this normal?

Yar

Sounds like it may have had a whole front or rear clip replaced on it.

Have any photos of the seam?

pinch seam from the rocker panels to the part above it forming the doorways. if thaats it, it's normal Yar.

Nope, no pictures. I'll pick it up on Friday from the seller and try to get the pix. DBAX- I know the rocker panel has a weld, the Pathy has the same.

It's not a pinch seam- it looks like a weld line that runs the complete width of the floor, pretty much under the rear seats. The bracket for the side rail attaches about that location on each side. The seam does not continue beyond the pinch seam and onto the body.

Before I hand over the money tomorrow I'll pull off the inside panel behind the rear seats and see if there is a seam on the body.

Yar

I just crawled under my 2000. I don't see a weld seam under there....

I appreciate your checking out underneath the Xterra. Before I give her any money, I'll take the vehicle to the nearest Nissan dealer and figure this all out.

I'll post results tomorrow.

Yar

After reading Stone's post last night, I went to bed worried that I was buying a hidden lemon. So this morning I had the seller meet me at Downtown LA Motors Nissan.

A Nissan tech lifted it up, and seriously checked it out- he swears it's a factory weld. I'll get pics up tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'm happy to now have an '01 Xterra SE with only 36k on the odo. It rides like a brand new truck!



Yar

If there was a front clip replaced. I would be very hard to cover up all the prep work and the paint would give it away.

Chances are it's a factory weld from when Nissan manufactured the body. Check for rust. Nissan sprays a corrosion preventive compound on the entire body before priming and painting. A collision body shop wont do that. If you seen no signs of corrosion( small bubble under paint) its a factory weld.

Given the truck has such low miles it's highly unlikely to have such major body work without documentation of being in a wreck.

Thanks for the positive response. The following are pictures. Keep in mind the seam is running across the width of the vehicle.

2 floor pan panels join there...

Yep.. thats normal. Looks like they applied heavy seal sealer in that area too.

My '02's got that same seam. I was looking farther aft based on your description. Congratulations on the X. 36K's just baby miles.

The 36k was the reason I bought it. It was someone's "dog car" used only to take the dog to the park in San Francisco.

Needless to say, I spent the entire weekend tearing out every panel and piece of carpeting- everything except the dashboard. Not only was there dog hair everywhere, but some sort of liquid detergent spilled so it was overly perfumed and had a gel-like gook all over the rear. In taking out all the panels I found lots of weld seams like the one underneath. Along with the comments on this thread, I feel confident the vehicle is unaltered.

Everything is back together now, and it worked, no smell!

Thanks for the assistance, I look forward to participating more in the Xterra forum...

Yar