I have a 2001 pathfinder manual trans. When I engage the 4 wheel drive it seems to work, but once I am going 10mph or so the steering gets really sloppy and it jerks from side to side quite a bit. It is worse on dry pavement than on slick roads. It is bad enough that I don't use it. Where to start? Thanks.

Are you in 4wd Auto or are you in 4wd hi (locked)?

5speed pathfinders did not come with all-mode 4wd

saveth wrote:5speed pathfinders did not come with all-mode 4wd

Well played,

In that case, you only have 4hi and 4lo, both of which are not supposed to be operated on ground where you expect good traction (dry pavement).

You have Part-time 4wd

I've made that mistake before, don't worry.

Chris.m wrote:

saveth wrote:5speed pathfinders did not come with all-mode 4wd

Well played,

In that case, you only have 4hi and 4lo, both of which are not supposed to be operated on ground where you expect good traction (dry pavement).

You have Part-time 4wd

I've made that mistake before, don't worry.

And even 4hi is not meant to go fast, it's just meant to be slightly faster than crawling.

I'm making that up, as far as this pathfinder goes. But in every 4wd I've ever been in, that's how it is. Locked or unlocked, it's not meant to go fast that way, unless it's "awd".

Actually it really depends on the road surface, and if your mostly going straight and not doing hard turns. The longest time we've driven is about 1 hour or so in 4wd Hi with the snow tires up in Connecticut coming home from purchasing another car, it was snowing, and the road had maybe half an inch or so of accumulating snow and slush, and the one lane we went in for a little while wasnt plowed at all with maybe 2" or something like that with snow, this was doing maybe 50-60mph on the highway.

And it wasnt just once, multiple times its been used when driving on the highway when they didnt start plowing yet, or theres some accumulation, at speeds 40+.


The main thing is, i think in the book it says you can engage the 4wd at speed or something like that, that is what you dont want to do, disengaging at speed is ok, but i dont see it being good if you engage 4wd at lets say 20mph, im usually going very low speed 5mph or engage it at a stoplight/stopsign.

I'm pretty sure r50 pathfinders are shift on the fly. I have a 94 4runner that I shift into 4hi on the highway all the time. Just let off the gas when youre going from 2wd to 4hi. I would be surprised if a newer pathfinder cant do that also.

It is shift on the fly, but back to my original question. What could be causing it to drive erradically when in 4WD. It used to be smooth in 4wd even on pavement, a little rough turning sharp maybe, but now when in four it feels like it is going to rattle to pieces. It will start drifting side to side, the steering feels super loose, and in general it sounds pretty bad and feels like there is some drag in the system... like if the park brake was stuck. I am not trying to do anything at high speeds, we are talking residential neighborhood driving at less than 20MPH. Could something be stuck or not fully engaging? Please send me under my car to take something apart and look at

I assume this thing has a front differential, and thus at least one universal joint on a front driveshaft, and at least two front CV axles?

Check driveshaft balances, play, free rotation, check CV joints, maybe wheel bearings (altho I don't think so on the last).

Do some experimentation, to see what speeds things act up, and what makes it worse, IE if you can drive slowly in a line, but at the same speed, turning to lock makes it shake or anything like that.

Well, I took the vehicle in to Les Swab and they checked out all the alignment and suspension related stuff on the front end and besides some worn out swaybar links I am good to go. They said the four wheel drive problem is somewhere in the drive chain, and the erratic driving not caused by anything suspension or alignment related. There are pretty much two symptoms at any speed over 5 MPH... 1) it feels like the the tires are fighting against each other... cant tell if it is the front vs the back, or the left vs the right 2) Sometimes it is almost impossible to get out of four wheel drive. I can usually drive in reverse and it releases, but at Les Swab it didn't release until they picked the vehicle off the ground with the lift. Not sure if the two are related.

Assuming there is a problem in the differential, can I open it up and diagnose anything visually? I am mechanically inclined and not hesitant to get in over my head.

milenine wrote:I have a 2001 pathfinder manual trans. When I engage the 4 wheel drive it seems to work, but once I am going 10mph or so the steering gets really sloppy and it jerks from side to side quite a bit. It is worse on dry pavement than on slick roads. It is bad enough that I don't use it. Where to start? Thanks.

Have you figured out what is going wrong? I have the same problem, I can barely turn the wheel because the wheels start jumping

Well, the first problem from the original post is driving on dry pavement in 4WD. Don't. The OP probably destroyed something by doing so.

Your experience also sounds like driving on dry pavement. You need to read this: http://www.4x4abc.com/4WD101/def_turnpart.html

Everything you need to know about when and how to use 4WD is spelled out in the Owner's Manual, which is pinned at Nico (pathfinder-qx4-general-information-and-q-a-t549378.html).

Two years later and I have finally figured out what was wrong with my 4WD. To recap, when I originally got this Pathfinder the 4WD was able to cruise around at slow speeds on dry pavement, like from slick spot to slick spot in a parking lot or on the road with icy patches. Hard packed dirt roads were also not a problem rolling in 4WD. Then one day I was approaching some snow and decided to put it in 4WD a few dozen feet before the snow. The car sounded terrible and felt very rough. Seemed like my 4WD was doomed. From that point forward I could only use it is really slick conditions, like pure ice, mud, and that is about it. Had an epiphany the other day that maybe my tires aren't the same size. Sure enough the front tires are a different brand and a bit smaller than the back. The font and back axle must turn at the same rate or about the same in 4WD causing the tires to fight each other when there is traction. This probably should have been a no brainer, but I didn't realize the tire situation until now. Thought I'd share in case this ever happens to someone else.

Thanks for the update.

Have you actually bought new tires and checked to see if this was the problem? Were the tires different before? Did they just wear at different rates until it finally caused a problem?

No, I was cheap and only replaced two tires at a time. Bought some on a deal that were quite a bit smaller than the other two. I don't know the sizes in my head, but they are visibly different to the eye. It really doesn't look that good. I have 4 new tires to replace them and will report back in a few days. Hopefully it will fix the problem. The timing of when the 4WD went bad and when I got those tires is seems really close if I am remembering correctly. Any mechanics out there know how big of a problem it is to put diff sized tires on a 4WD vehicle?

Found this info on another website, hope it helps...

Running mismatched tires (regarding their rolling diameter) will cause excessive binding in the 4wd components, namely the transfer case.
To check rolling diameter, with the truck on level lot, mark a line at the bottom of each tire (on the sidewall) (tape or wax pencil), and roll (drive) the truck forward for 10 tire revolutions as seen at one left side tire 'til the mark is at the bottom again. Any mark on the other 3, that is off by more than an inch, indicates a rolling diameter variation beyond acceptable, and it must be corrected to ensure the continued reliability of the 4wd components.

Thanks, O4pathse! I suspect the news tires are going to fix it. Luckily I never drove more than a few feet at a time in the current situation.

Yes, you should not put mismatched tire sizes on 4wd or AWD vehicles...or really any vehicle. Even tires of the same size and different (or even same) manufacturer might not be the same.

The problem you experienced, again, was from driving on dry pavement while in 4wd. It's just a no-no. 4wd is not AWD. When your drivetrain can't break traction (as it would be able to do on any dirt/mud/rock/wet/snow surface), something else has to give. You can drive on pavement, but it has to be a loose traction scenario. When traction can't break, your t-case bears the burden.

Other reasons to not run mismatched tires is because of the ABS sensors. Since the wheels are rotating at different speeds, the ABS computer might attempt to proportion braking accordingly.

Hopefully the new tires will be the true solution, and that nothing in the t-case has been damaged.

Problem fixed! I've been several years with what I thought was broken 4WD. Put a set of four new tires on last night, all the same size, and the 4WD now works perfect! Bring on the snow! The problem seems really obvious to me now... Kinda surprising to me that the tire dealer years ago would have allowed me to put smaller tires up front without giving me a major warning that it could have killed my transmission or diff.