The Nissan Path

Hello all,

Looking to purchase a 98 Nissan Pathfinder SE 4x4 5 speed with 86xxx miles. Original, Medical Doctor owned vehicle. The owner has done regular maintenance and had a decent stack of workorders I quickly thumbed through. He stated anything that they recommended to be fixed in the past he's fixed as far as scheduled maintenance. Looks like struts, battery, seen something about rustproofing, tires are relatively new. He also stated they recently sanded his rims because he had a slow leak or two with the tires. Wish I could say more but only had a short time to thumb through orders. He said the only issues he has been warned of recently are sway bar end links needed and the evap canister. Also, there is a small hole in the exhaust. Other than the above mentioned, I looked underneath and noticed an oil leak. Looked like it was leaking in front of the engine and above and onto front suspension pieces. The oil pan sat behind where the underside was wet with oil, but it was dry. He said it was not mentioned to him when he had the vehicle last checked. But we informally agreed on a price and he said he would address the oil leak. Wish I could have made photocopies of the work orders. He said he's been keeping up with oil changes regularly and using the higher mileage oil (I'm assuming synthetic or a blend). Oil is full and clean. Body wise I only noticed surface rust on the rear quarters just below the rear doors, but above wheel well. Also the hitch and what looked to be the sway bar end links were rusted. Other than that body and interior were in excellent condition.

Any advise from the experts is appreciated. Any other info I can email him and try to find out more info.

A little bit of oil is no biggie. The oil filter is a bit awkward to get to and change and some oil will always get left behind. Anti sway bar links are cheap and easy to change.

The body rust is normal in those areas. Check all around the strut towers also for any rust. Depending upon what state the vehicle has been in, it can be none or ready to fall apart. Nissan had a recall for it.

Thanks for the tips. I'll try to check the strut towers. Is this recall still active? I did see something about struts had been replaced in one of the workorders. I suppose the oil coming from the filter makes sense since the filter is in front of the engine and it was in front of the engine were it was wet underneath.

I would think Nissan would do something if a vehicle came in that fell under a safety recall at some point and hadn't been addressed. The potential for a lawsuit if something bad happened is enormous. Let us know what they tell you.