Hi All,

I'm excited to join the forum!

I have been looking to buy used car and stopped on R51 Pathfinder. It looks good and it seems to be reliable, based on what i'm reading here and bunch of other rating websites. On top of all that it's real SUV that i can actually take off road a bit, and not worry about snowstorms.
I am driving out on Monday 5/11/2020 and look at few different ones within 250 miles of New York. Trying NOT to buy in New York:)
I kind of don't want to spend more than $7k and would prefer 2012 and 2011. but would be happy with 2009 and 2010.
The trim doesn't matter so much as long as its a good truck and we can have few fun years together
It would be the first car I will own, after leasing for a while, and i'm excited to play around with some mods, that you guys seem to covered immensely here

It seems that a lot of people here are able to get them to 200k miles. I figured if i buy at 120k - 140k i should be good for 3-4 years. Am I right?

Basically, I would love to hear any advice on how I should choose this truck, and what to watch out for?

Really appreciate all of your input and knowledge!

I have a 2005 with just under 180K miles. It has a life time contract. Aside from the timing chain tensioner issue which a 2011 or newer should escape, the engine, transmission, and other major components have no major issues that would limit the expected service life. And I paid $3,500 at 170K miles to fix my tensioners (not correctly fixed the first time) in January, after going end-to-end through my truck to see if there's anything else that might cause me to want to sell it in the next five years or so.

I test drove a bunch of things including the new Explorer. Nothing is really close, I would get slightly better mileage but with Bilsteins and the Moog springs (especially in the rear...droopy rear springs are a chronic Pathfinder problem)...this thing is just really good! I could easily go buy something else, including brand new. Just don't want to. If you really like Pathfinders, go for it...

ShipFixer wrote:I have a 2005 with just under 180K miles. It has a life time contract. Aside from the timing chain tensioner issue which a 2011 or newer should escape, the engine, transmission, and other major components have no major issues that would limit the expected service life. And I paid $3,500 at 170K miles to fix my tensioners (not correctly fixed the first time) in January, after going end-to-end through my truck to see if there's anything else that might cause me to want to sell it in the next five years or so.

I test drove a bunch of things including the new Explorer. Nothing is really close, I would get slightly better mileage but with Bilsteins and the Moog springs (especially in the rear...droopy rear springs are a chronic Pathfinder problem)...this thing is just really good! I could easily go buy something else, including brand new. Just don't want to. If you really like Pathfinders, go for it...

Thanks, good stuff. I have been reading so much about it, that I’m sold long time ago. But want to make sure I get a good one, and stay away from any lemons.
I really hope one of those I set to see next week is going to be in good condition.
I was test driving one here in Brooklyn from one of auction resellers, and while I loved the model, but few things seemed off. I was wondering if that is a problem or normal for pathy.
1. Whenever I would accelerate a little harder the car did pretty loud Wooing sound.
2. It didn’t seem to be able to drive slow for parking. As I lift the foot from the brake and start slowly pressing acceleration it would stand until it actually takes off. Really hard to park that way.
3. As I looked behind the wheel, whatever the name of that pole inside the spring it seemed to be all rusty and chipping off. Is it a big deal?

New York Auction cars are IMHO often not a good buy.
My advice to you is to check the closest state to you with a "normal" driving environment.

It's as much, if not more, about maintenance as it is about mileage. I have 210,000 and 250,000 miles on my two R51's.

palmerwmd wrote:New York Auction cars are IMHO often not a good buy.
My advice to you is to check the closest state to you with a "normal" driving environment.

I'm driving to Pennsylvania tomorrow to check out couple of cars there.
Hopefully at least one of them will be in good shape.

smj999smj wrote:It's as much, if not more, about maintenance as it is about mileage. I have 210,000 and 250,000 miles on my two R51's.

True, Hard to judge by the pics though, so i have to rely on newer and less miles being better. I can't view/inspect all of the ones for sale within 250 miles

Pics are tough..Have fooled me twice driving out long distance to a dealer.

However in the end I feel its worth driving a distance for a vehicle. It will be with you long time.. its worth the effort to sacrifice a Saturday or two for that.

Most reputable dealers will let you see the CARFAX report.

Quick tip.

Make sure you have defrost mirrors!
Depending on where the model was sold, it may not have them. You'll need them in the winter time and might have to retrofit it.

Make sure you have a mechanic look over the truck.
Perhaps find a specialist in the area the vehicle is being sold (ahead of time) and prepare to have the truck inspected if you decide to go.

Stealerships are the best places, as they want to fix everything thats broken and not broken at the same time. But at least you have a report in hand to negotiate something if it doesn't check out. They should have a flat fee service for inspections, maybe one hour labour.

I took mine to a stealership, and was rewarded with a generous cost to fix everything, and this was a good tool to negoatiate whether your want to buy it or not.

Shocks, brakes and tires.
These trucks are heavy and these costs should be assumed as an automatic when buying it. Replacing these add up in a hurry.

After a ton of searching and viewing a ton of garbage, finally found a great one.
Please welcome 2009 Pathfinder SE Off-Road 76k miles.

https://realogy-my.sharepoint.com/:i:/g ... g?e=PrYouN

Thanks all for few advices.
You will be seeing a lot more of me. I’m very excited to join the community.[/img]

Beautiful truck and great pic!..



Consider changing the radiator or doing the bypass sometime soon just in case to protect the tranny from possible coolant contamination..
The 09 radiators were better than the 05/06 but not as good as the final model that went into the 11s and 12s.

palmerwmd wrote:Beautiful truck and great pic!..



Consider changing the radiator or doing the bypass sometime soon just in case to protect the tranny from possible coolant contamination..
The 09 radiators were better than the 05/06 but not as good as the final model that went into the 11s and 12s.

Thanks!
Would you suggest getting Nissan’s radiator from 2011-12, or aftermarket?
Any recommendations on getting discounts?

ikulichkin wrote:

palmerwmd wrote:Beautiful truck and great pic!..



Consider changing the radiator or doing the bypass sometime soon just in case to protect the tranny from possible coolant contamination..
The 09 radiators were better than the 05/06 but not as good as the final model that went into the 11s and 12s.

Thanks!
Would you suggest getting Nissan’s radiator from 2011-12, or aftermarket?
Any recommendations on getting discounts?

The Nissan radiator after '11 is quite good BUT expensive.
Nearly all the aftermarkets are good too, so very few folks go with the Nissan OEM.

If you are down on cash since u just bought the vehicle you do do the bypass (explained how-to elsewhere on here) for now. Its basically free and only costs a little of your time.

PS : Edited for typos

palmerwmd wrote: The Nissan radiator after '11 is quite good BUT expensive.
Nearly all the aftermarkets are good too so very few folks go with thwe Nissan OEM.

If you are down on cash since u just bought the vehicle you do do the bypass (explained how-to elsewhere on here) for now. Its basically free and onloy costs a little of your time.

Cool.
I’ll dive into reading what I can find here on radiators

A lot of people like the Spectra Premium radiators. It's a Canadian company, but the radiator is made in China (as most are) with a 2-year warranty. Rockauto.com carries them and other choices, as well.