Nissan Pathfinder Problems

There is no law I am aware of that requires carmakers to hold a certain stock of parts, but it has been the practice in the past that they would hold parts for a period of 10 years. That was before the dreaded GFC. We know that carmakers are cutting back on the stock of parts held, that costs money, and are relying on being able to quickly source parts from overseas if they aren't on hand locally. I'd say you have been treated poorly; Nissan should have been able to fly in the parts you needed from their overseas affiliates and have them here in a matter of a few days. Jump up and down and make a fuss, it seems that's the only way some carmakers get the message.

Our Nissan specialist Jerry Newman services a dozen or more turbo diesel Pathfinders and he hasn’t seen any with overheating problems. The only issues he has seen are related to the variable build quality coming out of the plant in Spain, and they’re usually rattles and squeaks etc.

The reason you can't find a kit is that there are issues with the Pathfinder V6. The catalytic converters are located very close to the engine and particles can be blown back into the engine from the converter and cause a major engine issue. There have been a number of issues with the Pathfinder and most of the kits that were developed have been removed from the market because of the problems with the cats. It's not worth the risk to convert it.

Nissan's claims for your Pathfinder are 10.2 L/100 km average overall, and 12.4 L/100 km in urban situations. Using the latter figure as a guide your car is consuming around 30 percent more fuel than the company's claim. It must be remembered that the claim is taken from a standard lab test and not real life, and that it's meant to give a comparative figure when comparing one car to another, but to then find you car is guzzling 30 percent more fuel is unacceptable. Take it back to your dealer and demand something be done about it.

There have been issues with the catalytic converters overheating and breaking up and being ingested into the engine with Pathfinders running on LPG and installers generally don't recommend it. The guys at the Australian LPG Warehouse tell us that they have recently fitted a Pathfinder with one of their JTG liquid-injection systems.  They tell us that the combustion temperature with their system is the same as it would be on petrol, alleviating the problem with the cat converters.

The warranty has run out so you’re really pushing uphill if you want to get Nissan to pay for the repairs. If the rust hasn’t penetrated the sheet metal I would apply some rust preventative and try and limit the damage over the long term.

The engine has a timing chain and doesn't require servicing, and there doesn't appear to be a problem with it breaking.

For starters you don't have to have it serviced by a dealer, your warranty won't be affected if you have it serviced somewhere else providing it is done by the book. You could phone around and get quotes from other service outlets and other Nissan dealers. You could also ask your dealer to explain what things need to be fixed. Never be afraid to question your dealer and have them justify their charges. Oh, and three sets of tyres and four sets of brakes in 80,000 km is totally unacceptable.

Like it does with all of its models Nissan doesn’t recommend that you convert the Pathfinder to LPG, but that’s because it doesn’t want to carry the can for any problems that might arise because of the conversion. Aside from Nissan’s aversion to LPG there isn’t any real issue with converting the Pathfinder as long as you use an experienced and skilled converter and a recognized system. The system you will find you have to use is the more expensive vapour injection system, which does a good job but costs more. I would believe the Pathfinder would be a good car for your wife if she’s comfortable with the size, but it would be relatively heavy on petrol, and with the mileage I guess she could be doing it might not be viable to convert to LPG. I would consider the diesel.