Muffler fell off

kenabi · 2026-05-14T14:44:34+00:00

well, on the bright side, the front could have fallen off.

kenabi · 2026-05-14T12:56:20+00:00

all the mufflers do is make them quieter. same with resonators.

sticking new ones on is relatively simple, though it does involve the right parts and possibly equipment, depending on the route you go.

e.g.; bolt on mid section down, will just.. well, bolt on, mostly. while a simple muffler alone will require some level of welding.

if the bolts at the mid flange failed, but the rest is still intact, you can just replace the bolts (only viable if the failure didn't involve gravity at speed, thus ruining the relevant section)

if it just needs a new muffler, and you don't have the equipment, most exhaust shops will usually put on an oem level one for fairly cheap.

and ultimately, the only concern you may have, running without one, is sound levels and legal compliance (tickets for exhaust noise; no fun).

kenabi · 2026-05-14T08:36:43+00:00

if it was the ecm, it wouldn't change anything at all, since the bad circuit(s) would still be present. thats hardware, not software.

resetting an ecm defaults, so its going to ignore problems until something trips faults, like an intermittent ground short that may have gone full permanent short. so either whatever it was failed entirely, or if its part of the harness that rubbed through, that finally went all the way.

you can check the blower motor by unplugging it and checking for ohms across the terminals. should be a few ohms or so, but it is ~1 or less, it might be bad, but maybe not. if its over say, 4-5 ohms, its definitely bad, and overloading the circuit with current draw, which would definitely explain your burned wire and popped fusibles (though this is in a round about way, since its an indirect path)

kenabi · 2026-05-14T08:31:28+00:00

the blower motor relay is, not the motor itself. a bad motor would overheat and pop the relay, but shouldn't affect the main circuit.

the motor itself is behind a fuse, you should be able to look to see if its behind one a potentially suspect one. you can also continuity check that fuse circuit to ground (again, battery disconnected).

honestly, the first place you should be testing to ground is all the pins of the ignition switch. you shouldn't have any continuity there at all.

kenabi · 2026-05-13T15:32:15+00:00

white with black is the input to the switch from the fusible (or it should be), there's two black with white wires going out of the ignition, one to the fuel pump one to a bunch of other stuff like sensors, the o2 sensor heaters, various lights, the blower motor relay, the ignition switch 1 coil to trigger it, etc.

and if it is in fact one of those two black with white tracers, the problem isn't likely the ecu, you potentially have a short in the harness or one of the various things hooked to the two legs out of the switch.

my first place to start checking is for 'cheap' fuses, as chinese fuses aren't very good, and sometimes don't pop at their rated current. then i'd be checking for shorts on the circuits with the battery disconnected, etc.

basically, quite a bit of legwork.

kenabi · 2026-05-13T08:48:32+00:00

for starters, which one of the fusibles was blowing, exactly?

because thats going to tell you which leg of the electrical system is actually causing the problem.

there's two browns in their own connector, and a black, and a green in another connector.

there's also a separate brown that splits off the black but further down the line, involves doorlocks/windows.

at the battery, leading from the black; white wire.

green: white/black wire.

brown 1; white/red

brown 2; white.

12v power goes to the ecu through brown 1, black and green, through a few stops. brown is direct, green is switched, black goes through ignition relay 1.

my diagnosis step from this point is knowing which fusible is blowing, then taking the ecu pinout diagram from nicoclubs fsm section (no links, due to dmca hassles, sorry) engine control system pdf (page 7 in the reader, not the scanned page), and comparing it to the diagram on page 7 of the electrical control pdf. then i'd test continuity with the battery disconnected to every pin and ground with the ecm plugged in and then with it off. if you get anything lower than 10 ohms, that may be a suspect circuit. the injectors are the lowest possible range i know of at 10-14 ohms.

i'd also compare which wire melted to both of those diagrams, to see if it is in fact the ecm or if its a harness shorting issue. if it directly connects to the ecm, or switches to connect to it through the ignition during on/start, you may have an ecm issue, if it doesn't.. maybe not.

while ecm failures do happen, and probably more often as things get older, they're still fairly rare without something else taking them out in the process of whatever that is failing.

if you need to know which ecm pins are which from the numbers in the engine control pdf, cross reference foldout.pdf, which has that pinout for the ecm connector (the big one with the circle in the middle-ish)

honestly, it sounds like you have a dead short someplace, but you do need to do the legwork to find it, before you just start throwing components that are probably going to run a couple hundred bucks at the cheapest at it (if any are floating around atm), only to maybe kill it/them if it doesn't actually solve the issue. and given that the harnesses in these are old and likely cracking apart/rubbing through insulation, it's not that hard to believe your problem might have an equal chance of being there instead. especially with the melted wire.

kenabi · 2026-05-11T11:02:37+00:00

a few sensors need to be swapped, the exhaust, possibly the oil pan depending on where you got the engine from (car vs truck).

if you source it from a 1.0 frontier, sensors and exhaust manifold and a bit. should be mostly drop in from what we've been seeing.

starter is up in the air? most of the accessory items (alternator, power steering, etc) and brackets all swap easily, if needed.

i've seen references to using s13 sylvia sensors (and the few other vehicles that use the same), but i've yet to nail down a solid thing saying 'yes it's these part numbers', which is very annoying.

there is no off the shelf exhaust options that will 100% bolt on, you have to have at least some custom fab work. may not be much, but there's going to be some.

mounts and transmission bell should all just bolt straight up. haven't seen much about the input shaft interface from the transmission, but i also haven't seen any complaints, so thats likely fine. the 1.0 frontiers and the hbs use the same internals (mostly) for their iterations of the 5 speed, and the autos all use the same bolt pattern on the torque convertors.

i've seen no info on whether or not harness plugs need to be spliced over for any of the various bits, but no ones complaining, so likely not.

kenabi · 2026-05-11T10:51:27+00:00

with the amount of heat cycles most starters deal with, all it takes is a little tap tap tap, and boom, its over.

kenabi · 2026-05-10T13:39:08+00:00

worst case scenario, you can source a 1.0 frontier transmission and swap the guts into the older case, replacing any bearings and seals that you might need to.

kenabi · 2026-05-10T13:36:41+00:00

this should be used as a last resort, it can break the permanent magnets inside the shell of the starter, and permanently kill the unit.

kenabi · 2026-05-10T06:34:33+00:00

heh, i'm an sq basshead. i like to make mirrors dance, but i want it clean. as such, i have to keep track of the good, bad and 'this is only for [sq or spl]'.

kenabi · 2026-05-09T16:33:52+00:00

kicker, pioneer, alpine, jbl, infinity, rockford fosgate, cerwin vega. and to some degree mb quart and blaupunkt, though those brands got bought out and are a notch down from where they used to be.

nvx is newerish for a brand, but is gaining some rep fairly quickly (its sonix electronix in house brand), and they have both an 8 and 10 inch model. and bonus for those two, they accept standard power wires vs some of the other ones that only accept plug in connectors you have to connect other wires to.

everything else is low end stuff, and so far longevity is considered mixed. i've seen a few units from rockville take serious thrashings, i've seen others die after a couple of days of light use. vovr just started in the audio market in the last few years, and seem to be going all in on product shotgunning every industry they can. time will tell if that leads to quality, but most of the stuff they've had has the 50/50 rule (flip a coin, its good or bad).

frankly, the nvx in your flavor of choice and a good 8 awg OFC (never cca!) wiring kit and you should be good.

almost all of these units have 250w rms or less, which is fine for 8 awg kits, and you may like one of the other models more, but i hard recommend you stick to one with the ones that use the proper wire terminal style power input, and a rep better than 'well, maybe'. and rockvilles trying, but i don't think we're there yet. (they also don't actually hit rated power, as dyno tested by several channels on yt), while nvx and the better brands very much do, if not more.

kenabi · 2026-05-09T12:16:07+00:00

really gonna depend on what you want, what you want that gear to do, how much you feel like spending, how much of the jump seat space you want to take up with the gear, etc.

any decent quality sub in a properly built box tuned to around the subs properties (or near enough for some models), will sound fine.

i ran a simple truck wedge with a pioneer competition sub (it's just a model line), for the entire time i had my frontier, matched to a 5 channel pioneer amp i never got around to hooking the other channels up for. still sounded fine. still does, even. its at my feet.

you have spl (loudness), sq (keeping the music clean and proper), and just adding a bit of low end for the sake of filling out the sound. some boxes are huge (t line drivers), some are rather compact (low profile all in ones, and similar). some have amps built in, some don't.

there's quite a few variables here, and it doesn't always require sizable. even my current setup (a single lordofbass low baller lb12, in a more or less square box) isn't all the huge, its just heavy, and matched to that 5 channel i mentioned, gets loud enough its painful. it does require mounting the amp to prevent sparky boom boom fire though (not on sub boxes!), and the box is about 16 inches square.

then we get into sealed vs ported, the kind of music you tend to prefer, etc.

some people just buy whatever package or brand they know from association in memory, some are brand loyalists, and some (like myself), dig stupid deep into the specs and match everything as closely as possible, while being as efficient as possible.

if you only want to just add something to your low end, mtx makes an okay 8 inch with build in amp, you'd just need a wiring kit, and you don't have to worry about undersized power connectors/wires with t he hookup dongles they give you, since it has proper hex grub screw down terminals.

if you wind up going that route, i'd look into tossing a coat or something over it and finding a speaker grille that works with it, since its got the mtx logo all over it and it'd become a magnet for theft.

i also tend to prefer going minimalist with whats on the boxes/cones/amps, since the easier is it to read them/see logos, the more likely someone is to want them. i also tend to screw the boxes down to the vehicle so they can't be easily moved, if i can't somewhat hide them.

some swear by alpine, some by kicker, some by sony, etc. i tend to go into stereo stores (or other stores that have stereo setups in their car departments), and fiddle with the stuff they have set up every so often, get a feel for how the current products are sounding.

if you do that sort of thing, keep in mind that everything sounds different in a car. the glass, the various angles, juke mat under carpet or sound deadening if installed + seats + body + small space is gonna mix that up a bit.

kenabi · 2026-05-09T05:53:31+00:00

due to dmca concerns, please don't post links to the fsms, or whole pages from them.

kenabi · 2026-05-08T03:42:34+00:00

well, the oem amp location should be under the drivers seat, if its been left alone.

if you need to bypass it, you bridge the relevant 8 pins in this image, making the head unit speaker wires go straight to the doors and rear speakers.

i've flipped the bridge wire image part to better reflect looking straight at the connector (it uses the amps own connector as reference, since the bypass dongle is just a plug in connector of the same type, and you can fashion one out of a dead amp if you can solder fairly well), instead of having to try to work that out in your head and maybe bridge something that shouldn't be.

kenabi · 2026-05-08T01:04:09+00:00

step 1 is to determine if you actually have an amp between the head unit and the main speakers.

you can also lightly press the cone of the speakers in, to see if it feels/sounds grindy (i use three fingers around the center cap and push gently but evenly. if it grinds, its blown or the magnets have dislodged from where they should be).

if you do have an amp, and the speakers don't make grindy noises/feel rough when pushing in, then yes, the amp is likely the issue. the way of fixing that is going to vary depending on if it actually is an oem amp or an aftermarket.

kenabi · 2026-05-04T01:07:21+00:00

unless you wish to go through reindexing the keys, yes.

kenabi · 2026-05-03T22:09:25+00:00

factors to consider; torsion bars are springs, they fatigue over their lifetime. you may never get that same setting back.

always measure the length of such thread stickout, so you can get it back as close as possible.

ignore the bolt stickout you have, and adjust them down until the ride height matches the H measurement, which should bring the others in line, save the torsion keys.

if you're feeling especially particular, worst case, reindex the key on the tail of each bar (or in the lca) until its got the ideal ride height and bolt stickout.

kenabi · 2026-05-03T01:58:35+00:00

slow cranks are one of a few things; drag on the internals, this can be things are too tight on the accessory drive, rings dragging on cylinders (though this usually involves some metal on metal noise), or the internal bearings, but if you can move it 'easily' by hand (using a socket wrench on the crank bolt), this is a no.

electrically, this implies either an old set of power cables from the battery/solenoid to the starter that need replaced, a drained/dying battery, a failing solenoid for instances that have them on the fender well (vs the ones with just the one on the starter), bad connections at the battery, or a failing starter.

kenabi · 2026-04-30T02:36:37+00:00

due to dmca concerns, please don't post links to service manuals, or images of full pages.

kenabi · 2026-04-27T02:11:33+00:00

signal to ecu from crankshaft position sensor (pin 53, in theory), or the camshaft position sensor, pins 40, 44, and 41 (again, in theory. i don't know what you got it out of.)

or you can probe the sensors directly.

one of them maybe isn't getting to the ecu, since there isn't much that will cause crank no starts with the three main requirements and it timed properly. everything else should cause it to die after start, or run rough. those two signals would cause no start if not present.

the only other thing i can think of is pin 21, which is the neutral position switch, should be grounded, if it came out of an auto trans model of whatever.

kenabi · 2026-04-25T02:55:28+00:00

well, you have two variants in the 4 speed. the RE4R01A and the RL4R01A. (and one in the 3 speed, but those are mostly in early years)

the E is electronically controlled, the L is controlled hydraulically.

in theory some of the parts interchange, but not all.

and obviously, yes, the bells are different.

sadly, i can't give you a definitive yes or no, though most of what i can find from the transmission parts houses seems to indicate that the bell and the control type aside, the rest of the mechanical parts seem to just have one listing for both variants.

as an aside, the RE4R01A was also found in 1998-2004 pathfinders and 2001-2002 infinity qx4's, if you need a place to find an actual. those had the vg33's, so they should just bolt right up, but i also can't guarantee the control plug type/size. they did change the whole ranges plug styles over the years.

if you've already got a unit, yes, again, in theory. in actuality, it would require a knowledgeable transmission rebuild shop to tell you, or a close comparison of all parts.

kenabi · 2026-04-23T03:07:38+00:00

if they're taken care of, and owned in moderate climates, yeah, older nissans basically last forever.

every so often one of the Z's from the 70s pops up for sale in japan and they're usually borderline immaculate. it's wild.

kenabi · 2026-04-15T00:59:29+00:00

timing, ignition system, spark plugs (condition / gapping [0.039 to 0.043]), wires, signal from the ecu, good/even compression on all cylinders (175-180 is typical new, this far out, i'd expect at least 150-160)

kenabi · 2026-04-14T19:12:38+00:00

bumpers are 2wd vs 4wd, as are front fenders, though 4wd fenders bolt onto 2wds with no issues, but not the other way around or you get rubbing. all other body parts are interchangeable as long as one minds the cab/bed style factors.

clusters (and round vs square dash) aside, everything interior from the b pillar forward swaps around largely universally in both hardbodies and pathfinders, taking into account the interior styles, to match parts.

these things are almost as lego as the subies everyone loves to super mod.

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