11th Jul 2008, 03:35

Just bought an SE 95 Pathfinder with 100,000 miles & pretty clean. I just had to have it inspected and found the frame has bad rot and been patched in the past. I was floored when I found out the rot was that bad.

I'm told the owners manual says to wash the frame out once a week. This sounds like a REAL pain in the neck to have to do 52 times a year. Frame rot never entered my mind when looking at this truck. If I bought an OLDER truck that was sitting on the frame on wet dirt for many years... sure I would look at the frame.

It's either poor steel quality or no drain holes to let water run out... either way... Nissan should help with the cost of fixing it (after the 1st time) for sure. This could become a class action law suit as there are plenty of unhappy Pathfinder owners with this problem. I'm not even in a heavy salt state like Michigan.

My 93 Explorer never STARTED to rust on the frame. Nissan better help these guys out with the repairs...

1st Aug 2008, 01:51

My 95 Pathfinder SE has 315,000 km. It's a manual. Just replaced timing belt before my differential gave out. I found out that if the incorrect transmission fluid is used accidentally by some unknowing mechanic, it could trash the differential. Just had a used diff shipped from Sunrise Nissan, but just one part was pulled and put in the old one. 75-90 fluid was used as recommended by Nissan. It's rough on the turns at low speed, so I'm wondering why the whole replacement diff wasn't used. Is it really that costly to put the whole replacement diff in? It's been a great reliable truck BEFORE it was maintained by non Nissan shops. No Nissan dealerships where I've moved to.

5th Aug 2008, 00:13

I have a 95 Pathfinder SE 230k. I bought it for $900 two years ago from a girl I knew. It needed a battery, a starter and a few little things. Some say that I stole it from her. Up until now she was running fine with no problems. Just last week the reverse gear stopped working. I don't know what to do now. I think I had it coming since I didn't take care of the transmission much. Maybe it's just Karma.

12th Aug 2008, 17:27

I recently bought a '95 Nissan Pathfinder SE for $2800 from an amazing car owner. It only had 120k miles on it and it runs extremely well.

I have noticed that when driving I have to give it quite a bit of gas to go, and I am sure that is what everyone refers to as "under powered". Not only is it "under powered", but it is pretty thirsty at the gas pump. At $4.13 for gas in my area; this is not nice on my small earnings.

The car itself is well built though. I am very pleased with the smooth ride and the great display of the gages. Most cars have ones that are hard to tell your speed or other silly things, but the Pathfinder was well designed.

I am wondering why it is so light and gets such bad mileage. In the morning I can push it out with my left foot like I do my other sedans, but this one gets much worse mileage for sure. For a V6 it should have more power as well.

However, the Pathfinder was MADE for conditions that are hard with other cars. That is the primary reason for purchasing it. I live at the mouth of a few canyons in Utah and this car performs beautifully in the snow and rain! The other sedans I drive slip and get stuck in the snow. They even had front wheel drive, but they cannot measure up to the amazing Pathfinder. Then again, it is an SUV, but that is what they are made to do. Unfortunately I live where there are lots of hills everywhere and the car struggles unless you have a heavy foot. I try to accelerate slowly up hills because the engine is sure loud even at 3000-3500 rpm.

This car has never had to been repaired says the CAR FAX report and the owners documents. He always kept it oiled and changed fluids more often then other drivers do I may add. That proves how reliable this car can be when it is kept nice.

I also love being high up in tough conditions, it gives me a little piece of mind.

I have noticed a LOT of comments about having problems going into reverse. I sure hope that does not happen to me. I use reverse quite often each day with errands and getting out of parking places.

Overall, I have loved this car and I hope I get another 100k or more miles out of it. Awesome car!

31st Oct 2008, 19:16

Owned a 95 Pathfinder and maintained it regularly, and I also had reverse go out on me. I can't really complain, I got good use out of the vehicle, but it seems ashame to cart it off the junk yard... the body and engine were in good shape.

Oh yeah, the speedometer went out after only 25000 miles.

23rd Nov 2008, 20:55

I too have the same fabled 1995 Nissan Pathfinder SE, 186k on the odometer, and recently MY reverse has decided to take a vacation... I have been a mechanic for 40 years, never have I seen a more poorly designed vehicle... From the oil filter directly above the starter (I wonder how many drops of oil the starter will take before failure occurs) to having two (2) cats...

Don't get me wrong, I also think the tank does what it was meant to do, although we think Nissan Engineers would or should have learned from their past successes which of their designs to keep using, and to also quit redoing what should be left as done. As we all know,all auto manufacturers fall in the SAME EXACT CATEGORY, and to change this, everyone needs to simply stop buying these P.O.S., and go back to buying AMERICAN pieces of S@#T... At least we could MAYBE be satisfied with our own DESIGN flaws...

I on the other hand am rebuilding my no reverse Pathy with a new tranny and crossing my fingers...