First Time Car owner 03 Pathfinder

[cpta2020]

Hello Board.

I have recently just bought my First Vehicle it was a 2003 Nissan Pathfinder Chilkoot Edition in Ontario Canada with 164,000 kms (102,000 Miles). it seems to be in really good condition. I bought it from a local Used Dealer. the Vehicle had two previous owners so I am the Third.
The only history I got on the Car was that it was Originally out of Quebec Canada, and it spent the Last Two years in Windsor Ontario. No accidents reported on it.
The Dealer could not give me any repair history on the car??? I'm guessing privacy issues. however they did inform me that it had the Nissan Extended Warranty, (I'm guessing thats a good thing).

Here is What I have done so far:
Clean the throttle body....(It was idling low and sometimes it would stall after startup when warm) Problem Fixed!!!;
Change Differential Fluid both Front/Rear with 80W90;
Change Transfer Case Fluid with Nissan Brand....i believe its the same as Dextron III;
Change Transmission Fluid with Nissan Brand;
Change Engine Oil with Castrol GTX 5w30 and Nissan Oil Filter;
Change Airfilter with Nissan Brand Filter; and
Install 4 New Tires Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max CS (also got a new alignment done and boy was the truck waaay off!!).

I'm planning to:

Change Spark-plugs and wires, Fuel Filter and flush and change brake fluid in a few more thousand Km's.

Is there anything i'm missing? I want to keep this truck running strong for lots of years to come.

Any pointers or issues I should watch out for?

Please point me in the right direction as a first time owner I can be ignorant to many important issues.

Thanks a million

Pictures of the Truck bellow

[Towncivilian]

Looks like you covered a lot of the basics.

A potential issue with our VQ35DE engines is the power valve screws can slowly back out of their holes and possibly get sucked in by the engine, potentially causing severe engine damage. Replacing the screws is not a bad idea (since the original screws have been subject to heat and vibration; new screws will stay in their holes tighter), but either way, be sure to use some red (permanent) threadlocker as there is no reason to ever remove these screws for maintenance or other purposes.

I believe a Nissan dealer will charge you $300 or so to do. I'm not sure how much of that is parts and how much is labor - they may replace a couple upper intake manifold gaskets and the throttle body gasket simply because the FSM suggests to, but they are durable metal-backed gaskets so I'm not certain this is required (though I replaced all three when I did this myself).

There is a how-to with pictures here. I've done this process, and it's not very difficult, just time intensive. If you have a decent socket set and a torque wrench that does inch-pounds you're set! Read my thoughts on the process if you wish.

You don't have spark plug wires and a distributor; you have coil packs over spark plugs. Thus, all you can do is change out the spark plugs. There is an excellent how-to here. Use the OEM specified plugs for sure (NGK PLFR5A-11). The specified change interval is 169,000 km, so you're just about due.

Some other things you should do:

• Change in-cabin air filter - use NAPA Gold (if available) as it's nearly exactly the same as OEM, down to the pleat count - see here for a comparison, and here for a how-to on changing it. Dealer will want about $36 USD for it.
• Change out the power steering fluid - I suggest using a synthetic ATF for best results, such as Mobil 1 ATF or Valvoline MaxLife. Use a suction gun to siphon & fill the reservoir; do this a few times a couple days apart, then once every oil change.
• Download a copy of the factory service manual here, and owner's manual here if you don't already have a physical copy.
• For some reason, the owner's manual states that you should not use synthetic engine oil in your 2003 Pathfinder. I see you are heeding this suggestion by using Castrol GTX and an OEM filter - keep up with this at the severe service interval (6,000 km) and you'll be a happy owner of a Pathfinder for a very long time.
• Go to the dealer, check for recalls if you haven't yet. You should be able to get the entire service history printed out for your Pathfinder - my local dealer was happy to oblige with mine. Strange that you could not.
• Check out my LED interior conversion!
• If you're still rockin' the stock sound system, do this tweeter mod, it'll make the tweeters come alive.
• Are your seat belts slow at retracting, or don't retract by themselves at all? You can get them replaced for free! Read here.

Nice looking Pathfinder. It's the same color as mine.



I sure hope this helps you. Feel free to ask any more questions, and welcome to NICOclub!

[cpta2020]

Thanks a lot!!!!

This is one of the best replies answered everything a new pathfinder owner could possibly need.
I really like the black bumpers and fender flares on your Pathfinder.

[Towncivilian]

Thank you for your kind words

I just finished painting them a few weeks ago. I also enjoy the way my Pathfinder looks now. It resembles the older pre-facelift (1996-1999; facelift occurred in 1999.5 - brings new bumpers, slightly larger vehicle overall, and some other minor differences) R50s. That, and my flares/bumpers had the wrong color touch up paint on them due to a stupid mistake on my part, so some fresh paint was a good idea no matter what.

Let me know if you need help with anything else, I'll be glad to help.