Comments by "Aaron Britt" (@aaronbritt2025) on "Why Pay The Toyota Tax? An Expert Reveals ALL You Need To Know About Buying an Old 4x4 Nissan!" video.
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I'd consider myself to be a Nissan expert, having owned an SE-V6 Hardbody since '87, been working on them since the 80's and even did a stint as a Nissan dealer tech (went to Cali and took all of the SCOPE classes) for 4 years in the 20-teens.
The only real issues the Pathfinder has with rust is rotting out the front strut towers. This only occurs in vehicles that get salt an snow packed up in there and never get washed.
The lock cylinder issue is probably the little yellow piece of plastic that connects the lock cylinder to the lock rod. They dry out and break. It's really a bad design. I keep a few of them in my tool box. I've replaced them in my 460k mile Hardbody at least 1/2 dozen times.
This engine is the MPI VG30E, which makes about 150hp. The engine in my Hardbody is the less powerful VG30i, which is TBI.
You do see sunroofs in these occasionally. They're the pop-up type. It may have been part of the "Sport" Package and on SE's.
$4k is a very good price. If it was a stick, it would have been a killer deal. The sticks tend to sell for about $1k more. Also, add about another $1-$2k for an SE trim.
SMOD refers to the coolant reservoir. When a 4.0/auto came into the dealership with either an overheating problem or shifting problem, you open the reservoir cap and look inside. If it looks like a strawberry milkshake, it gets the trans and radiator replaced. It was such an issue that Nissan extended the transmission warranty. We also would listen for any 4.0's pulling onto the service drive that sounded like they had a supercharger. This meant the tensioners were toast. That's a nice job that paid about 6 hours but only took about 2.5 for a good tech.
I had an '04 Frontier S/C crew cab with the VG33ER. It was unfortunately an auto. The only way to get a stick with the S/C engine was the 4x4 extended cab. When I bought mine in '05, the new Frontier was already starting to show up on dealer lots and as a result, I had limited choices. There wasn't a single stick shift left in the country. I had a cold air intake, Pulley Boys 15 psi pulley and a catback. It was not a very impressive engine. The supercharger was basically a giant heat generator since there was no intercooler. I wanted to work with one of the aftermarket companies to develop an air/water intercooler, but there was no interest due to the limited number of S/C's on the road and the fact that it had been discontinued.
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