1997 Pathfinder FML...

[Platinum_Racing]

Today while riding on I95 in the Pathy I noticed a strange, somewhat scary thing. I was going about 75 MPH, like everyone else, when I noticed something wasn't right.

 

 

The rear end of the car was unstable, like it was floating. The rear was drifting around so bad, and the body roll was so extreme even in a straight line over normal bumps that I had to get off the highway. It felt like the rear had lost all damping completely, and the body was just floating around on the axle. Conclusion? Rear suspension bushings. To be more exact, rear trailing arm and panhard bar bushings. The shocks are brand new, not even 1,000 miles on them yet.

 

 

I knew from the start that the rear bushings liked to go on these cars, but I didn't know it was going to be that bad. I figured they'd loosen up over time, maybe crack or show signs of dryrot, but this was insane. The issue went from a rough ride and a bit too much body roll to an abnoxious ride and an extremely unstable rear end. I'm 100% positive that if I had to do an emergency lane change or any other evasive maneuvering the rear would've come swinging out without even trying to hold traction. When I noticed it had gotten really bad I sloshed the wheel left and right real quick just to see what the problem was, and I thought I was going to die. The rear had so much body roll it literally felt as though the body was shifting on the axle, but the axle wasn't moving from the ground.

 

I limped it home and now I need to either replace the entire arms with new ones, or torch out the old bushings and replace them with new ones. I think I'm going to just keep the arms and replace the bushings because this is cheaper and the bushings are of much higher quality materials. The thing is, the underside of the car is immaculate. No rust, no damage, exhaust and brake lines are great, U-Joints are great, the car is perfect. The bushings don't even show signs of wear but there is definitely play in the suspension for sure.

 

 

FML.....

[Penguin]

Driving an older vehicle is not for the feint of heart, or the mechanically disinclined. Basically it needs you, as much as you need it at this point.

[Platinum_Racing]

Pretty much. I've got the bushings on order from NAPA.

 

I'm currently getting one of the links out. One bolt came out nice and easy with the impact wrench. The other bolt is stuck in the bushing, so I'm about to resort to the trusty Sawzall. Once I get the link out I'm going to take it into work where we have a giant hand press to get the old bushings out. Tuesday when the new bushings come in I'll install the new bushings, put the link back on, then move on to the other side.

 

 

 

 

 

*sigh*

[ehsnils]

Evidence is that you need an extra vehicle if you have an old car in order to be able to get parts for the old car.

 

But on the other hand - having an old car builds experience in how to fix things and also how to identify strange problems.

[Platinum_Racing]

The Pathfinder is in great shape for its age though, no rot, no damage, runs great, well taken care of. Plus I took it home for $1,200 under the blue book value of $4,200.

 

The Subaru on the other hand, wasn't well cared for until I got it.

 

And I would say with all the work I've done on cars I've got enough experience to diagnose "Strange Problems."

 

Plus, the girlfriend has a 2007 Corolla 5 speed that we can drive if both of these cars ever crap the bed, so it's not a total loss if they do.

 

 

 

As for the Pathfinder, I went to a Nissan dealership today and bought the entire links. The NAPA bushings I had them order weren't the right ones. It would've been another few days of waiting if I had the dealership or NAPA order me the right bushings and I didn't want to wait. In the end, I spent a little more but I got entire replacement links so I don't need to press out the old bushings or any of that crap. Now it's just a matter of a simple bolt on installation. That's what tomorrow after work is for. I'll probably wind up replacing the panhard bar bushings, the upper trailing arm bushings, and the sway bar bushings later on as well, just to round out the set.