Zed Head

Many people believe (from what I've read on the various forums) that the stock factory u-joints are better than any aftermarket u-joints, if they are not obviously worn-out. Aftermarket u-joints are not as tight, brand-new, as the factory u-joints, in my experience. If the old joints are not dry, you can install some zerk fittings if they're not there already, regrease them and just keep using them. You'll probably be better off. Also, why would the half-shafts be involved in keeping your tires from leaving the ground when jacking up the rear-end? Don't the rear wheels hang from the struts at full extension?

When I had my alternator fixed (I was working big hours at the time so didn't do it myself, plus there is a lot of stuff under a Pathfinder hood) the Nissan service manager told me that the newer alternators could be damaged if you jumped a car with your engine running. The spikes through the jumper cables going from a dead battery to generating voltage when the other car started or something like that. I had just given someone a jump with my engine running a few weeks before so maybe there's something to it. Just a thought on why your new one may have gone bad.

Those might be the signs of a bad alternator. I had pulsing dim lights on my 95 Pathfinder when its alternator went bad.

The wires don't cross inside the original fixture that was used for the original fusible links. If you're not comfortable with rewiring you should just stick with the fusible links. They work well if the connections are kept clean as sblake01 said, in your other thread. Make sure you have the right ones in the right places, clean the connections and crimp them a little to tighten them up if necessary, get a cover for them to keep dirt and water off and you're good to go. If you rewire and make a mistake you could fry some wires and your car will be sitting for months.

If you have an ohm-meter or a test light you could test continuity from the "power out" wire from the 80 amp circuit to each wire end. The wire ends that show continuity should be the "power in" wires to the ignition and other loads, since they are fed from the main circuit. The left over ends are power out, to those loads. Hope that makes sense. If you get a test light or ohm-meter and start poking around you will probably figure out what is connected to what, and where to put your fuses.

Zedyone already covered it...

From inside the wheel well! Crazy! Easier with the wheel removed.

Use Part Search on the upper right corner of this page. http://www.thezstore.com/store/merchant.mvc? "alternator adapter"

If you posted some pictures some one might be able to help you out. A full length shot of the passenger (right) side of the transmission should do it.

My driveway is full and my cash flow negative, but I live not far from Raleigh Hills and have plenty of (too much) free time. I could check it out if for someone if they were seriously interested.

The topic pops up often. I was under the impression that there are differences in things like the speedo gear hole or the top gear switch boss, but that these differences were between years. But that some housings were the same for four and five speeds, hence my suggestion to go through the gears. I would guess that if you had a housing with a top gear switch and a reverse switch and the housing looked like those used in 1976, you could be relatively sure it was a 1976 four speed. To be honest, I have seen lots of discussion on this topic but I have not seen one complete definitive explanation. Just odds and ends. Maybe it's out there but I have missed it. A year by year description with details would be great.

This might help you determine what type of five speed you have, if you have one - http://www.geocities.com/inlinestroker/ratio.html But I think that if you have an early manual (early 70s to 79) you just have to put the shifter in and go through the gears. The four and five speeds used the same housings.

Saw this today and thought someone here might be interested - http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/cto/1854011603.html

I agree. I was just pointing out a far-fetched possibility that fit the symptoms, of "won't idle until it's warm". I have never seen a description of a shorted water temperature sensor or wires, or its symptoms, which is kind of surprising considering the location of the sensor and all of the bending and abrasion the wires can see over 30+ years. But I've only been reading the forums for less than a year.

If your water temperature sensor, or the power wire to it, was shorted, the ECU would see a fully heated engine, all the time. I've never seen anyone describe it but that might be a possibility (assuming the short doesn't fry the ECU). You can check what the ECU is seeing at the ECU connection in the cabin. You should see somewhere between 1 and 3 k-ohms between pin 13 and ground (according to pages EF-22 and 53). If you get an open circuit, then your engine is showing as "very hot" to the ECU. I think that the CSV only opens when the key is turned to Start (cranking the engine). So once the engine starts it should not be in play, unless it was leaking.

I had a lot of squeaking coming from the poly T/C rod bushings right after I put them in. That was the only suspension component that I had changed so I know it was coming from them (plus direct application of WD40 to the bushings stopped the squeaks for a while). Subsequently one of the T/C rods broke so I went to the poly in the front, stock rubber in the back, and ALL of the squeaking went away. I also replaced the front transverse link bushings with poly at the same time, and this did not add any new squeaks. For your consideration. Might be worth a trial anyway, pretty easy to change.

Any chance the green wire is supposed to go to the small terminal and the black to large? I believe that some DC motors will run backward. Just something to check, I have an aftermarket pump with + and - markings at the terminals, although difficult to see. I don't know what pump you are using or how it is marked.

Dude. You will have to put more effort in to your post to get a good response. Have you tried adjusting the idle screw? Have you checked for vacuum leaks?

I had a very similar problem with my 76 280. I just got off the O'Reillys Auto site and see that they use the same caliper so you might have the same issue. The previous owner of my car did some brake work on the car and accidentally put the calipers on the opposite side that they came off of. This put the bleed valve at the low end of the caliper instead of the top, creating a huge bubble that was impossible to bleed out. Once we figured it out, and swapped them back, it just took a couple of pumps to bleed the fronts. The big clue was that there was a large amount of fluid from the reservoir going somewhere when the pedal was pushed, then coming back when the pedal was released. It was taking up the volume of the bubble as it compressed it, then pushing it back when the pedal was released. Also, with the big bubble, the front brakes could be pumped up with several pedal strokes.

No offense intended, but I would find someone who knows these cars and let them crawl under it and look around. I know a little about cars and most mechanical things and I spent quite a while under my car after I got it thinking "What the heck is that and how does it work?" and "Is that all that holds the rear wheels on?" and "It's just a big chunk of rubber!" as I searched for my own "clunk" (it was the diff mount and a bad half-shaft u-joint and loose moustache bar bushings). You can't really tell by looking alone, that the bushings are bad. You have to torque parts around while someone looks (or vice versa). My diff mount looked like it had new rubber, but it was half split and worthless. Yours should be fairly easy since you have visible wheel movement. Just watch the link mounts while someone moves the wheel. Watch the joint at the spindle pin also. As far as one side to the other, they might not have worn evenly.

Have you checked your fuel pressure? I looked at your other thread and did not see any numbers. It doesn't take much fuel to get your engine to idle but under load you won't get anywhere if you don't have the pressure to feed the injectors. If you have disconnected your cold start valve, you can use that hose off of the fuel rail to connect the gauge to. It's right where you want to measure. I put one there permanently (made for underhood permanent use - from JEGS) and it's pretty convenient. Ideally, you would measure with the starter disconnected to check the pump and regulator, then with the engine running to see if those components and the fuel lines can keep up with engine speed.

Yes, the transverse link is the A shaped piece. Also called a control arm by many. If I remember correctly,the guy who had the worn bushings found them because he had a noise from the rear end. If yours are as bad as you describe, they could also be a part of your "thud thud" sound. If your mechanic is not familiar with the these suspensions he might even be mistaking bushing movement for wheel bearing wear. Each rear wheel assembly is held on to the car by three contact points with the body. The top of the strut and the two inner bushings. They take up all of the turning, braking and accelerating loads. You really need good bushings to have a good solid car.

Getting closer! I was going to say bearing. Seriously. Anyway... Your transverse link bushings determine the alignment of the rear wheels (assuming that their mounting points to the body are not misaligned). Are they worn? There are two inner, where the wide part of the link attaches to the frame, and two outer, where it attaches to the strut/bearing housing (the cast iron piece) via the spindle pin. If the inner ones are worn, I've heard (read) that you can get quite a bit of movement of the whole assembly. I think that it would give toe-out under braking, toe-in under acceleration. There is an account out there from someone about being able to move the whole wheel assembly by hand because the bushings were shot. There is also talk of poorly drilled bearing housings, from the factory. I still have my stock bushings though, and my rear alignment seems pretty good, so can't offer much more.

It might help you if you try to separate the drivetrain issues, from the suspension, brakes and wheels, as far as you can. Even if it's just down to fine details of the noise. You said decelerate originally and then later you said decelerate and brake. It's not clear if you're using engine braking, brakes or a combination of both. If you decelerate just using the transmission and engine braking, is the noise different than using just the brakes with the clutch in or transmission in neutral? With just brakes you're only loading the wheels and suspension. With engine braking only, you're loading the half-shafts and driveshaft, along with the wheels and suspension. You might even try stopping hard using just the parking brake, to put more load on the rear wheels. It might give a few more clues.

KDMatt might be on target. I have a spare engine that had a bad AAR and I could not get the idle down to where I wanted it until I plugged it off (it's a spare engine so I didn't replace it). The FSM says to pinch the hose to the Regulator when the engine is cold to see if it is open. The engine idle speed will change if it is open. If the hose is old though it will probably split giving you a big vacuum leak. You could remove it, plug the hose ends then see if the car runs differently. You might have to start it with a high idle screw setting when cold, then turn it down when it warms up. If you do decide to remove it, for testing or whatever, be careful, there is a good chance that you will break off a bolt in the manifold and tear the guts out of the AAR when you're trying to remove the electrical plug.