I noticed a thud noise under neath the pathfinder when I first put my all wheel mode selector and shut the engine off . its almost like a Little pressure on the transfer case area . but if I shut off the select first then shut off the engine No Noise. whats with this just a characteristic of the 4 wheel drive?

What model do you have?

Mine have all been "LE" -- they have the electric transfer case. Knob with the "auto" position. The pathfinder is an "old school" 4wd .. it's not AWD. The cars with the auto position only go into 4wd when the ABS system notices slippage .. they are in 2wd all the time. Pathfinders don't have the open differentials of AWD. Switching to 4wd should only be done on dirt /snow/ice. What you are feeling is the tries being forced to slip on the pavement. If I'm on the highway in snow ice situations I may put the system in 4wd and proceed at a moderate speed -- otherwise it is in auto.

yeldogt wrote:What model do you have?

Mine have all been "LE" -- they have the electric transfer case. Knob with the "auto" position. The pathfinder is an "old school" 4wd .. it's not AWD. The cars with the auto position only go into 4wd when the ABS system notices slippage .. they are in 2wd all the time. Pathfinders don't have the open differentials of AWD. Switching to 4wd should only be done on dirt /snow/ice. What you are feeling is the tries being forced to slip on the pavement. If I'm on the highway in snow ice situations I may put the system in 4wd and proceed at a moderate speed -- otherwise it is in auto.

Do you mean you never use 2wd? On my car many times if I have it in auto when I come up to highway speeds on dry pavement I'll start getting resistance and vibration. When I realize i'm still in auto and click it back to 2wd I get a clunk and everything is back to normal. I don't know if mine is malfunctioning but either way I certainly wouldn't keep it in auto indiscriminately. I also get much worse gas mileage in auto.

The proper placement for a car with the electric transfer case is "auto". Your car is not working correctly.

By 2000 all upper level SUV's were coming through with some sort of AWD -- there was no way to give the Pathfinder AWD without extensive and expensive reworking. The Jeep GC had AWD at it inception more then 10 years before -- the Pathfinder was outclassed in this department. Nissan decided to add an electric transfer case -- They reworked a few things so 4WD with the electric transfer case could be engaged "on the fly". Using the already installed ABS system and sensors they could now offer a car that would give you 4WD when needed without driver input. In "Auto" the system is in 2WD and only switches to 4WD when the wheels slip -- then returns to 2WD. The 2WD position turns off the system -- the car is never allowed to enter 4WD. The two 4WD setting .. high and low -- keep the system in the respective 4WD mode.

When driving on dry pavement in "Auto" your vehicle should be in 2WD. Do you have the same brand tries with the same tread depth? If not the car may be thinking it is slipping -- and turning on the 4WD. All the tires must be the same .. and the tires must be rotated to maintain equal diameter.

Since the truck is almost always in 2WD -- The MPG should be the same in "Auto"

rhondas wrote:I noticed a thud noise under neath the pathfinder when I first put my all wheel mode selector and shut the engine off . its almost like a Little pressure on the transfer case area . but if I shut off the select first then shut off the engine No Noise. whats with this just a characteristic of the 4 wheel drive?

This is normal behavior for our R50 Pathfinders.
It's actually mentioned in the vehicles handbook/driver's manual.
I don't have mine handy so I can't give you the page number, but you'll find it in the AWD/4WD section.

If you turn off the car's engine and the transfer case is in 4WD mode -- you will feel the tension between the front and rear axels -- The pathfinders don't have differentials that allow for the slippage. They are connected in 4WD. This is normal.

Buzzman wrote:

rhondas wrote:I noticed a thud noise under neath the pathfinder when I first put my all wheel mode selector and shut the engine off . its almost like a Little pressure on the transfer case area . but if I shut off the select first then shut off the engine No Noise. whats with this just a characteristic of the 4 wheel drive?

This is normal behavior for our R50 Pathfinders.
It's actually mentioned in the vehicles handbook/driver's manual.
I don't have mine handy so I can't give you the page number, but you'll find it in the AWD/4WD section.

thanks Buzzman . Ill have to check the manual however I'm happy to hear its of normal behavior and not something wrong.

yeldogt wrote:If you turn off the car's engine and the transfer case is in 4WD mode -- you will feel the tension between the front and rear axels -- The pathfinders don't have differentials that allow for the slippage. They are connected in 4WD. This is normal.

Thanks for the information , i guess the differentials are limited slip or positraction, so when in Park is it a good practice to turn off the selector for all wheel mode before I shut off the engine?

yeldogt wrote:The proper placement for a car with the electric transfer case is "auto". Your car is not working correctly.

By 2000 all upper level SUV's were coming through with some sort of AWD -- there was no way to give the Pathfinder AWD without extensive and expensive reworking. The Jeep GC had AWD at it inception more then 10 years before -- the Pathfinder was outclassed in this department. Nissan decided to add an electric transfer case -- They reworked a few things so 4WD with the electric transfer case could be engaged "on the fly". Using the already installed ABS system and sensors they could now offer a car that would give you 4WD when needed without driver input. In "Auto" the system is in 2WD and only switches to 4WD when the wheels slip -- then returns to 2WD. The 2WD position turns off the system -- the car is never allowed to enter 4WD. The two 4WD setting .. high and low -- keep the system in the respective 4WD mode.

When driving on dry pavement in "Auto" your vehicle should be in 2WD. Do you have the same brand tries with the same tread depth? If not the car may be thinking it is slipping -- and turning on the 4WD. All the tires must be the same .. and the tires must be rotated to maintain equal diameter.

Since the truck is almost always in 2WD -- The MPG should be the same in "Auto"

Yes I have the same diameter and size tires and most of the time I do use 2 wheel drive except in the snow y winters .
Thanks for all your information. very interesting about the electric transfer case.