04 Pathfinder and 05 Altima similarities

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lostpuppysyndrome
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Sep 13, 2013 7:18 pm
Location: United States

04 Pathfinder and 05 Altima similarities

Postby lostpuppysyndrome » Fri Sep 13, 2013 7:26 pm

Hey folks, new here. Just doing a bit of research on older Pathfinders. I'm looking to buy a mid-size SUV as a light-load work truck (I do tiling) and occasional babyhauler. I'm strongly considering a 01-04 Pathfinder due to price, capability, and relation to my Altima. Wikipedia tells me they use the same VQ35DE as my 05 Altima 3.5 SL, which is a fantastic car, and I'm wondering what other similarities or differences there might be, other than the obvious. carcomplaints.com notes a high degree of problems relating to coolant leaking into the transmission in 05-07 models so I've more or less ruled those out, but I do love the VQ and it seems to be a good vehicle in comparison to other SUVs like the 4runner and Cherokee. Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks!

LPS


festerfm
Posts: 48
Joined: Wed Jul 25, 2012 12:37 pm

Postby festerfm » Tue Sep 24, 2013 6:29 pm

i'm only 8 months into owning an 02 and if i remember from doing the research back then, this body style with the 3.5 has a timing chain and NOT a belt that has to be changed every 70k or so. the automatics have some sort of power valve screw or something that falls into the engine and screws stuff up. the manuals do not have this problem and also have 10 more hp than the autos. this body style has a tendency to rust bad on the rockers and also on the trim under the windows. there's also a strut tower recall that you will want to check out. if you are up here in the snow belt and live someplace where they use salt on the roads it's a MUST to have it checked out at a dealer which if it's fixable they will fix it but if not i understand they will buy the truck back off you. that's just some stuff i remember from when i was doing my research.


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