The Nissan Path

Hi all,

Been lurking for awhile now and decided to join today. My wife is wanting a R51 Pathfinder to replace our '11 Dodge Caravan. Her big thing is she wants to be able put all three kid's carseats across 2nd row (Caravan has buckets in 2nd row) and she's sick of driving a minivan. We also have the opportunity to make some money on the transition which would leave the extra cash to help me get something with 4wd.

So we finally were able to get in touch with the person selling a '05 near us. He replied back to my many questions and mentioned some work had been done on it before they bought it 4 months ago. He said "The dealer told me they had done $1200 worth of repairs on the vehicle prior to listing for sale. This was for repairs related to the crank sprocket, chain tensioner, tensioner guide, chain guide top and bottom, and timing chain. That is the extent of repairs and service that I have knowledge of."

He also said it makes a loud noise when it starts but took it to a shop and they couldn't find anything wrong with it. What could this potentially mean?

Should this worry us? I've read all about the radiator and tranny issue, but not about this. It has 138k miles on it. He's only put 8k on it himself.

He also said there is some rust showing up on a door. Is this generation Pathfinder known to rust in certain areas?

Also, where exactly on the top of the radiator should I look for the tag with the part # so I can check to see it it's original?

The craigslist post is still active but I don't think I can share a link yet since this is my first post. If I can let me know.

I appreciate your feedback! I'm hoping to go look and test drive it Monday.

Thanks!

Without hearing the noise, it's hard to say what it could possibly be. Rust issues usually develop on models that see a lot of salt, like states that use a lot of salt on the road or vehicles that reside near the ocean. I would at least be concerned depending on the amount of rust on the vehicle. The factory radiator sticker was on the driver's side of the radiator cap on the top tank. The sticker said "Calsonic" and the original part numbers typically seen are 21460-EA215, 21460-EA265 and 21460-EA200...although the radiators, themselves, had different numbers, they were physically the same. "NISSAN" was also molded into the top tank, on the passenger side of the radiator cap. If these don't exist or another manufacturer's sticker is on the tank, it has likely been replaced with an aftermarket unit.

Thank you smj999sm.

Would you happen to know anything about the engine components that were replaced? Is it common to have those parts wear out on the V6 engine? I think I read one thread on here about a similar issue but can't find it now.

One of the rust spots is from a little fender bender on pass side front wheel well. He also said he just noticed one small spot on the driver side rear door. They bought it in Pennsylvania when their van died on a cross country trip.

There were a number of 2005 through 2010 models that had links in the upper timing chains that were poorly stamped and would cause the upper timing chain to cut through the plastic tensioner faces. There was a TSB on the matter which called for replacing the upper timing chains and upper chain tensioner faces, but some will go ahead and replace the other timing components while they are in there.