1987 Nissan Pathfinder XE 3.0
Summary:
It's like that cow from the movie "Me, Myself, and Irene"
Faults:
When it was first bought, the fan clutch had to be replaced.
It overheated for almost 2 years after it reached a certain speed, turns out it was the water pump.
The power steering damper is broken, I can't find the part, so it is still broken. Works fine, I just don't drive it through rough areas, and rotate my tires more often.
Power steering was leaking.
First it was too accelerated, fixed that.
Then it was too decelerated, fixed that.
Something regarding voltage or whatever it was, can't remember, but that had to be fixed.
The transmission had to be rebuilt.
Replaced the alternator.
It's again a little decelerated, need to fix.
Leaking from the transmission, need to fix.
The place where the engine connects to the tailpipe thingy is leaking emissions, so it's going into the cabin. Need to fix.
I think the heater is breaking down... still need to check.
General Comments:
My dad bought me this truck for college after my Neon was breaking down every 2 months. It was important because I commute for an hour to get to school, and another hour back from school. I have had the Pathfinder for 3 years, and I still don't know how it's still going.
Just recently I realized that it had 1,300,000+ mileage on it after my mechanic pointed it out. The truth is that I am used to seeing our cars have that amount of mileage on them, because my dad just has a keen sense when buying used cars. According to him, he bought it because he "saw the engine was in perfect condition". I honestly don't know what the people that owned this truck were doing before I got it.
The inside is pretty comfortable, lots of leg room in the front and back. I sometimes take a nap in the back seat.
Another thing is that it has pretty much most of the original parts in it. I decided to replace all the bands, the mechanic told me that he does not know how, but one of the bands was still the original that came with it.
For about two years, the engine started overheating after a certain speed (65mph). I was used to driving the poor thing at 80mph when I drove to school. So the temperature gauge was usually always 3/4 of the way most of the time. We cleaned the radiator twice, cleaned the engine, and pretty much did a lot of things because mechanics couldn't figure what was wrong. It turns out the water pump was damaged from the inside, but looked fine from the outside.
It does burn a little oil. And one time I put oil in it, and forgot to put the cap back on. I drove it around like that, and even went to school without oil in the engine. The engine is still working fine.
Since I live in the border, I sometimes take my vehicles to Mexico to get them fixed. I managed to drive all the way over there with the transmission not changing gears. The mechanic was surprised at the fact that the truck was still moving when I got to the shop.
In summary, this vehicle can take abuse. Lots of it. Not to mention, I still drive it at 80 or 85 mph on the road. I don't wanna go faster since I am starting to feel sorry for my poor truck. One thing for sure, I have had friends with newer vehicles that criticized mine. Hehehehe, I am having a laugh now that their cars are in the shop and mine is still moving. Like another reviewer said, you can't kill these things.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 13th December, 2011
18th Dec 2011, 23:49
Are you sure that's not Kilometers... or 130 thousand???
19th Dec 2011, 07:54
Wow - I used on own a 1987 Pathfinder and had no idea they were capable of such remarkable feats. I'm not sure that this Pathfinder in question is actually capable of inter-galactic travel, but it seems like it must have been to the moon and back a few times.
25th Jan 2012, 15:16
For some reason, I used to think it said 130 thousand, and I think that my dad might have read the number wrong when he bought it, and assumed it was also a number in the thousands. I never actually put attention to the mileage until my mechanic pointed it out. And like I said, I wasn't the one that put all those miles on it, I assume the previous owners did. Although, my friend has made some "calculations" and came up that someone had to drive it 46,000+ miles every month over the years to come up with that type of mileage. I would not know of anyone that would drive that much in a month. So it's a bit of a mystery.
And that is actually a very good point, maybe it is in km instead of miles. But, my other Nissans have everything in miles. And the manual has a pic of the factory here in the US... But I will keep that in mind that it could be in km.
29th Mar 2012, 20:32
I too own a 1987 Nissan Pathfinder, and it has been the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned. The meter says the car has done about 310 thousand kms, and so far, one of the only problems I have had with is that it used to over-heat, but that was because it had a single core radiator, and I fixed it by replacing it with a dual core.
The starter motor and power steering box failed, but they were easy replaced. And I believe the motor is the best of its era, as it has been submerged in water and survived, and it is still the original motor from the factory.
16th Dec 2011, 16:13
So, your Pathfinder has 1 million 331 thousand miles on it (as you claim) after you bought it three years ago with a mere 1.2 million miles on it.
How many other galaxies have you traveled to in it?