DREZ

Truck has 218,000 kms and showing a little rust around the wheel wells according to the owner. I asked if the timing belt/water pump was replaced, and he did not know....??? He said he will have to look at his receipts to see if it was done. I think you would know if this major maintenance work done.

I have not seen the truck personally and so I wanted to know what problems to look for.

How many hours would a garage charge to get timing belt/water pump changed?
Should I be worried about the rust? I live in the snow belt and the hwys are full of salt.
Is 218,000 kms too much mileage?
I read somewhere that I should look for cracks on the engine manifold, are they common on these trucks?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

turn8a

a little more detail how much are you going to pay ?

DREZ

Private seller..asking $4995 CDN.

lewisnc100

If you have the full list done when you get the timing belt and water pump then it will probably be around $1,000 US.

__________________
1997 Pathfinder XE
Air Lift Air Bags, Warn Hubs

Zilverado

The fact that a seller would not know if a timing belt/water pump had been replaced is not particularly surprising. Not everyone takes such an interest in the workings of their vehicles. Especially for routine maintanance (timing belt every 100km etc) - they may just bring it in and write a check on the way out...

Speaking of receipts, I paid $627 CDN back in 2003 when I had my belt/pump replaced (one of the few times I've had someone else work on my vehicle). The old belt coming out looked fine, but we had driven it about 120,000km - as a second owner - and I was not about to take the chance on having the pistons eating the valves for lunch if the belt should break.

As for the mileage, our 1992 has about 330,000 km and the engine is still pretty strong - as strong as a 3.0L V6 can be with such a heavy vehicle. I am actually quite impressed. I do most of my own maintenance and repairs, but have had to do very little on the engine itself. We've had some transmission problems, but I think your tranny is different than ours.

The rust? - well only you can answer that one. We live in Winnipeg, and while snow and ice can be an issue, thankfully they don't use alot of salt on the roads here. However, rust is still a problem. We had to do a major repair ($1600) of the rear frame rails a couple of years ago after the exterior walls of the tubes were completely rotted away behind the coating. I've learned (even by looking at other PFs in parking lots) that this is a VERY COMMON problem on late 80's / early-to-mid 90's models - I'm not so sure about the '97s. I'd give it a good look-see for sure.

The price - well we paid about $12K for our 92 back in 98 (6 years old), so $5K for a 10-year old, doesn't sound too bad. I'd say especially if you are somewhat handy and can do routine maintenance/repairs yourself - - older vehicles always need a little extra attention as things begin to fail.

So have fun and let us know what you decide.

__________________
Zilverado
1992 Pathfinder V6-SE 4wd

 

pathy97

Great choice on the 97. I own a 97 pathfinder also. I just bought it in November, and have had no problems, the kms on mine are alot lower though, it has 129,000 right now.

I cant believe that you are getting such a good deal on it. I live in Kamloops, BC and i payed 11,000CDN for mine, and that was even a deal. It was a private deal, but there are more in the newspaper that are asking 15,000 + CDN. So I am just wondering if it is that cheap, there might be more problems with it. Have you had a chance to take it for a test drive? and if so have you gotten a full inspection on it? If not, you should. In most shops they charge about 50.00CDN and it will be well worth it.

Unfortunately, the winters here are not so good, and last week I had a lady in a piece of shit truck hit my rear driver side door. According to ICBC (our insurance agency) it is my fault because I was behind her when it happened. So I now have to come up with 2400.00 to fix it. And that is cheap. I am going through my bf's work place to get it fixed.

Well I wish you all the luck with your truck, i love mine, and will probably stick with the pathfinders for the rest of my life.


Good luck..

Cathy

papapao0721

I own a 97 pathy too... first owner and i know everything that has been done to it as far as maintainance since it's my main daily driver. I've had problems with rear suspension previously and thank goodness was still under warranty at the time when I had it changed. No manifold problems so far. I think you would need to get a copy of the "paperwork" that the seller has so at least you'll get a good idea what and if it was done.

turn8a

how did you make out did you but the pathy?