Tell me about 1st Gen (2000) Frontiers

[huntsonora]

A buddy is looking at a 2000 model Frontier crew cab 4x4 with the 6 cyl and automatic transmission with 103,000 miles on it here in CO and neither of us know a damn thing about them. It looks like a clean truck but we are going to look it over better tomorrow. Asking price is $8000

Anything I need to look for? Any worries or concerns with these trucks? Are they reliable? Good offroad?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated

 

[mortonm]

A buddy is looking at a 2000 model Frontier crew cab 4x4 with the 6 cyl and automatic transmission with 103,000 miles on it here in CO and neither of us know a damn thing about them. It looks like a clean truck but we are going to look it over better tomorrow. Asking price is $8000

Anything I need to look for? Any worries or concerns with these trucks? Are they reliable? Good offroad?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated

Yes to all your questions haha. The front ends are exactly the same as similar model years Xterras, leafs and frame are slightly different out back.

Very reliable and capable. Fuel mileage isn't the greatest but nothing in this class is.

A few build threads around here.

As for things to look for knock sensors fail fairly regularly, but if it isn't a supercharged model, and I don't think they offered that in 2000, its not a big deal.

At 100 000 miles the timing belt is due. So check to see if that's done, if it has its a big bonus. Its important to stay on top of it because they are inteference engines so if it let's go there could be significant damage. If it hasn't you could probably knock some money off the truck when you go to negotiate

I have had no issues with my Xterra, at least nothing mechanical.

Lots of lift options and pretty good after market. If you only want to run 32s then a few more turns on the torsion bars and longer shackles out back will yield nearly a couple inches. 33s you will need a 3" lift but there are plenty of kits out there.

As for price it seems a little high, but your market in colorado might be different than in Canada. However if it was in great shape I wouldn't hesitate to pick it up for 8000$

100 000 miles on these are nothing. Should be good for nearly triple that.

 

[huntsonora]

Thanks for the insight!

This is the truck in question...

http://fortcollins.craigslist.org/cto/4009939019.html

 

[mortonm]

Looks pretty good. I would definately ask about the timing belt service. That's probably 500$ plus if you have a garage do it. Tires look in pretty good shape.

I would get under it as much as possible. Look for oil on the rear bell housing (rear main seal) and check for oil on his driveway. Might give some indication if anything is leaking.

Good luck!

 

[Co-opski]

^^^^ what he said. also look for leaking valve cover gaskets, and cracked exhaust manifolds. My rear main seal is weeping and my valve cover gaskets went around 150k miles, my exhaust manifolds are cracked but I just live with it for now, I may have headers in the future. $8000 is on the high end but this one is clean.

 

[mortonm]

^^^^ what he said. also look for leaking valve cover gaskets, and cracked exhaust manifolds. My rear main seal is weeping and my valve cover gaskets went around 150k miles, my exhaust manifolds are cracked but I just live with it for now, I may have headers in the future. $8000 is on the high end but this one is clean.

My rear main seal weeps as well. I cant even notice a change on the dipstick between 3000 mile oil changes so I'm not even worrying about it for now. Free oil spray!

 

[drbandkgb]

Seems a little high.. But look how old it is.. 100k for that many years is pretty sweet..

Like others have said.. 3.3 is a solid motor minus a few little bugs..

Timing belt and water pump is a key item that is due to be down now.. Belt breaks and its over..


Nice truck though

 

[DesertFront]

I bought a 2000 desert runner back in 1999. It was a king cab 2wd v6, auto. I live out about 25 miles from any pavement. The little desert runner was used to haul water. Now water is about 8 lbs per gal and my tote tank was about 275 gals and was in the bed of the truck. The little Nissan would squat right dwn to the stops and off I'ld go, bouncing across the dirt roads to home. The water fill well was in town 25/30 miles away.

Oil changes where far and few between. In a nut shell, it was rode HARD and put away wet. At about 240k on the odometer, and at 120*F, t finally gave out.
Because of the little DR, I drive nothing but Frontier.

 

[GlennA]

My current frontier (2003) has 155k miles on it. It has experienced the same problem as my last frontier(2000). At about 70K, the A/C clutches on both began to malfunction. Replaced them, and about 70k miles later the problem is back. If you don't use the A/C, this is a mute point. Where I live, A/C is needed year round.

Other than that, no problems.