Kinda uncomfortable talking about myself, but I guess it may come in handy later if I ask questions. I bought a 2006 Xterra SE(I think it's SE) used from a dealership in DFW in 2006. It had 18k on it when I got it and it now has about 250k; I use it as a service vehicle to carry me and my tools around, I work on medical imaging devices.
Terra has been great to us. The only problem for the longest time was a blower resistor until Oct2011 when the fuel pump died. I was stupid and kept restarting the car and dumped unburnt fuel in the exhaust and a week after I replaced the pump(dealer) I had to hollow out the cats to stay on the road. Last year I replaced the cats(four of them, doing it myself) and have had a few issues getting the replacements to work without burning out the gaskets, but Napa is working with me on this.
Recently, while revving the engine to get the bolts hot on the cats so I could tighten them more, I ruined at least one gasket on the compressor and had to figure out why my a/c wouldn't cool. But I actually figured that one out and it seems to be holding pressure now. Now I have the stoopid belt making noise. It has nearly always squeaked at startup but quieted down once warmed up, but now it is almost gone while warm and at idle but really gets going when accelerating or maintaining speed. So I think I will get a stethoscope and see if I can narrow it down.
On the more minor side I have replaced the stereo and speakers and added a powered bazooka, and replaced the gas supports on the rear door. I put the 175lbs ones on and my wife "loves" them. Also I bought a bluetooth OBDII adaptor on amazon and have been using the Torque app on my Droid, this solution works so much better than running to autozone every time, and for only $25.
Anyway I have been lurking for a while now and thought I would join officially. Looking forward to picking brains.
A 2nd gen with more miles on it than mine Welcome to the club!
I bet all four cats put you back quite a ways. But it sounds like Terra has held up really well through all those miles. Tracing a squeak is going to be annoying and the gaskets can be a pain, but at least those are jobs that don't really require certified professionals.
Good luck getting everything sorted through and we'll see you around
I got 3 of the cats from napa, but one of them they couldn't get so the front left I had to let Midas replace. In all I think it ran $1200-1500 parts and labor.
This last time I changed out the exhaust gasket, the one between the two right cats, I let the car idle on the stands for about 10 min then I put a pipe on the gas pedal and tried to get it at a steady 2.5-3k to get the bolts on the cats flange really hot so as to tighten them. I was having problems with getting it steady, it seems the ecu or something would throttle down on it's own after 5-10 secs then throttle back up. I didn't like how it was acting, but I'm not sure if it is normal or not, or if it was due to the current problem code p2a00; I'm sure the O2 sensor is being fouled by the exhaust leak. Anyway while I was fighting with the throttle this awful chemical burning smell filled the air, and we were in an outside pavilion. Niether me or my friend knew what the smell was but I now think it was the compressor gasket failing. I didn't notice the a/c wasn't working for a week or two due to the cold weather.
Raise TBs (X), paint plastics (X), Replace radiator with one that is bigger and will last (X), install roof lights (X), IAB (X), better tires (X), shackles in rear(X), remove rear sway bar (X), Bilsteins (X)
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