'08 Xterra Off-Road - School me

[Gatordoc]

I've been looking for a new Off-roader/DD for the wife off and on the the last couple of years and just this week came across an Xterra that's local that looks like it fits the bill.

It's an '08 in Off-Road trim with the 6MT and 107k on the clock.

I stopped in a spent about 10 minutes looking at today, just to see if it would be worth bringing the wife and doing a test drive. Seems to be in good shape, starts and runs smooth. Rust free other than some very minor surface spots on the undercarriage. Will need tires before winter. The actuators and indicators for 2wd, 4hi, 4lo and the rear locker all worked as expected, though I did not actually drive it as I didn't have the time today.

I know very little about Nissans or Xterras, are there any specific issues I should be looking for outside of the usual used car stuff?

I am not a huge fan of electric shift t-cases, though that is admittedly due more to hearsay than personal experience; has that been an issue with Xterras?

Two things worry me a little; the listing on the website says "Built out as of 2/5/08 SUV" - I have no idea if that's significant, but verbiage like that is not something I've seen on a listing for a used car before, so my imagination is immediately jumping to there being a recall cutoff or something. Possibly related, it's being sold as-is, no warranty, not even the usual 30 day deal you get with a used car. This also makes me nervous as there must be a reason they aren't offering a short warranty of any kind. The sales guy let slip that they got it at a dealer auction and have only had it about a week, and also apparently the carfax is clear, but I haven't looked at it.

NADA says it's worth $11,875 "clean retail", they are asking $10,991.

 

[Longrange308]

Its a manual so you don't have to worry about the SMOD..

Mine is a 2006 with 111k miles on it. The issues I have had are seized bushings in the Lower Control Arms, so they had to be cut off and replaced (the arms themselves) so I could fit proper camber bolts to get the alignment correct on it after my 2" lift. The Crank position sensor went out on me, causing it to run sluggish and get horrible mileage for a week. When I took it to the dealer, they also serviced the timing chain as well for peace of mind. The timing chain guides were around 90% worn. This ended up being around $3500 worth of repairs at the dealer.

Lastly the transfer case was leaking ATF out of the front drive shaft seal. While they were fixing that (and replacing the flange with an updated design) they also noticed a leak in my radiator. So for the T-Case repairs and the radiator R&R, that was around $1k in repairs.

Ive also done plugs (at 100k miles), brakes and the like myself, so I don't include them. Its been mostly reliable, though expensive when it does need attention.

All that said, I love it off road, and its totally livable day to day, but I am in the market right now for a newish F-150 or Chevy 1500. I simply just miss the utility of a truck..

 

[wreckdiver1321]

I've got nothing but good things to say about my Frontier (pretty much the same thing as an Xterra). They are well built, comfortable to drive on and off road, very capable, and extremely durable.

Here's the little quirks I know of from owning mine:

There is a small black box that controls the evap system near the rear axle. Inside it is a valve that likes to get packed with mud, dust, and various other debris. When that happens, it throws a check engine light. Very easy to prevent though, like $15 to build a breather for it.

The rear axle vent likes to get packed with stuff and not work properly. This happens with a lot of factory axle breathers. When the vent stops operating, there is a buildup of pressure in the axle that will cause the seals to leak gear oil. Build a $15 breather for it and it's not a problem anymore.

The hood latch design is a little rattly. It was a problem on my truck, and I have heard some Xterras have the problem too. It keeps the hood closed, but it can be loose and you can occasionally watch the hood jiggle with the wind as you go down the highway. Wrapping the catch on the hood in a couple layers of electrical tape fixes that.

The front suspension can occasionally give you trouble when you decide to lift it. As Longrange said, getting cam bolts in can be pretty tedious. If you go with an extended travel setup, it's actually pretty easy to swap everything out and get a good amount of lift. The whole process is a lot more straightforward than it looks.

Research and personal experience has told me that the serpentine belt system on the VQ40 is a bit finicky. The tensioners are known to go bad every 55-100k miles. Luckily it's a cheap and easy DIY fix. I just did mine a couple days ago.

The timing chain guides are the only potential bigger problem, but get the set replaced and you're good to go. Having mine done cost $1650 at my mechanic.

Otherwise they're pretty much bombproof trucks that will give you thousands upon thousands of miles of trouble free service. I've put a shade over 30k on mine so far, and it's never left me stranded or let me down once. And it's never been unable to conquer an obstacle I pointed it at.

 

[Dmski]

I'll also chime in. I have an 06 Xterra SE and I've driven about 17k miles in a year (I know, ridiculous) and I've had nothing but good things to say as well. There are a few well noted issues as with any vehicle but it is a solid performer.

First is the automatic transmission. Since you are looking at manuals you are in the clear but the autos share lines to the radiator which has been known to crack and mix coolant with trans fluid (no bueno). You don't need to worry about this but it is a simple fix of bypassing the cooling system.

Second is the rear suspension. They tend to be soft from the factory and don't maintain rear leaf shape very well. At 100k miles I'm sure it will need a refresh unless you get lucky for some reason. Many options to go with, some more band aids than others, but for me I opted to do a full suspension refresh and lift it at the same time with new leaf packs using the OME lift kit. Best option if you need to do everything and want to maintain a relatively stock height.

Third is the front diff (r180) is known to be a little weak (specifically the spider gears). This only applies to those who plan to wheel harder but the general consensus is larger tires and too much skinny pedal can nuke the spider gears in rock crawling and serious offroading. However, loads of people do wheel hard on them and have never had an issue. It depends on driving style really. It can be fixed by putting in a Lokka locker, ARB locker, or swapping the diff to the M205 by going the Titan front end swap route. Again, something to be wary of but it is honestly probably not an issue for 99% of people out there. Depends on what you classify as hard offroading and how you drive.

Fourth would be the timing chain tensioner. In earlier model years it has been known to slowly wear away and create a whining noise. If it breaks, you have some serious problems but I have yet to hear of someones actually breaking.

These may seem like problems but every manufacture is prone to some and these happen to be them for the Xterra. They are well documented to exhaustion and some never even have to worry about them. Otherwise, the rigs are bomb proof. They are built off the Titan platform and are a bullet proof frame. They are awesome rigs and I can't say enough about mine! I personally have not had an issue yet and hope to keep it that way with routine maintenance.

For more info on them check out thenewx.org. Great information and literally every topic has been touched on to some degree over there. Careful though, mod bug is a legit addiction:sombrero: