1995 Nissan Hardbody Pickup XE 4wd from North America - Comments

Rust prone. Front bumper is rusted through in 4 places. Both front fenders rusted through above and behind wheel well. Bottom of doors rusting through. Passenger side bed rusted through above whee lwell.

Fuel tank bottom rusted through from inside. Fuel tank sender/pump cover rusted letting dirt and water into tank. Sending unit bulkhead wire connectors failed on cover. Fuel lines along frame rusted through and spilled fuel.

Brake lines along frame and on rear axle rusted away. Weld on brackets on rear axle rusted away.

Inside of boxed frame rails rusted thus clogging small and sparse drain holes. Both sides of frame from cab to rear axle are 75% filled with packed dirt. Entire bottom of truck bed has peeling paint and primer; 80% is rusted. Rear bumper is bubbling with rust from backside.

Drain holes in frame and crossmembers are poorly located. Cross members won't drain and collect debris. Serious rust throughout.

Brakes have seized. Front brake caliper pistons seized in bore. Rear brake wheel cylinder pistons seized in bore. Rear brake system rusted completely. Sheet steel debris deflectors welded to backing plates for drum brakes look like alpine lace cheese. Rear parking brake subsystem seized, type LT30A. Seized at aluminum pivot block inside drum. Seized at lever mounted on top of backing plate. Seized at pivot on cross member under cab. Bracket holding parking brake release spring next to shoe inside drum has rusted away on both backing plates.

Exhaust system support brackets under bed and on frame rusted away - only one left. The exhaust shop installed new exhaust pipes and supported the system with the only remaining mount - no other support. Catalytic converted rusted through at front and rear flanges. Muffler lasts 2 years due to front tilt of factory design.

Spare tire chain lift mechanism seizes every winter. Installed new factory unit - same problem.

Found machining chips in the factory installed wheel bearing grease in the rear axle.

Plating on fasteners is poor. During removal of everything down to a bare rear frame, the only bolts that didn't break were the M12 and larger.

Replaced rear 2 1/2" square bend U-bolts due to corrosion.

Replaced leaf spring clips, were rusted in half.

All of the brake line support brackets on the rear axle were rusted away.

The radiator support panel is nearly rusted away where it is lap welded to the front frame rails on both sides.

The front valance panel under the bumper is rusting from the inside out.

Most of the steel lines, fittings, and fasteners in the engine compartment are rusted.

The mounting tabs on the heat shield on the exhaust manifold are rusted away.

I believe this is a poorly designed and produced vehicle. Material selection is poor. There is nice paint on the outside, but the vehicle rusts from the inside out.

Design for corrosion protection is minimal. I have a Honda that is 6 years older and has twice as many miles that is in better shape than the Nissan XE 4WD pickup.

Replacement parts are hard to get. Dealer parts are very expensive. The 2 small wire cables for the parking brake mechanism inside the drum are $58 for a set.

There is no drain in the fuel tank.

The M10 and M12 metric fasteners are ultra-fine pitch at 1.25. These are difficult and expensive to replace, especially with stainless steel. A threading die to restore the rear shock welded-on mounting bolts is hard to find and expensive.

The sending unit/fuel pump cover on top of the fuel tank is designed as a dish - it collects salt, mud, and water. Then the material rusts.

Incompatible materials are used throughout the vehicle. An example is the parking brake components on the rear axle. Bare aluminum pivots on a plain steel pin.

Wow...what a difference salt and cold weather make. I have the 1994 Nissan truck, but I am in Texas. For a 10 year old truck, I constantly get comments on how well it has held up. I use the truck to commute 90+ miles everyday. For a cheap vehicle, I have no complaints. 160,000 miles and no sign of dying. I couldn't ask for a more trouble free vehicle. On the flipside, I own 2 Toyota vehicles that have been less than stellar. As far as comparisons go, I guess the Toyota vehicles must also be taking a pounding up north. At some point, I will switch out the Tundra for the Titan.

I live up north too; almost all Nissan trucks have rusted out front bumpers. The Pathfinder models look like they take the brunt of corrosion on the body panels. Toyota pickups seem to be as bad if not worse with much rust on the wheel wells. So I think the moral is Buy an upscale American truck for the salt and snow.

The winters have also been tough on my 95 truck. Bought it new in Erie, PA for a good price and it has 145k miles on it now. The city/county spreads cinders on the winter roads to aid traction, but these fine particles get into any open spaces underneath the truck. Body seams were the first to rust through. Replaced gas tank too, the rust popped the seams open between the top and bottom halves of the tank. Shop said it's typical on low end trucks. My anti-lock brake valve by the gas tank went bad - that was expensive. Use the truck now as main vehicle for winter driving. Learned my lesson - you get what you pay for. And I won't buy a white vehicle again - shows too much rust.

I love my 95 hardbody, but I can't seem to figure out why it hesitates while driving very bad throttle it hard and it goes away replaced O2 and sensor on air filter took check engine away, but still runs poorly any help?

I drive a 95 Nissan hard-body for more than 8 years now. This truck runs fine with closely monitored maintenance only, but it really works great. Regarding the poor engine performance

and hesitating, this was corrected by a full tuneup including replacing spark plugs, distributor and cables with original ones, a new gas filter and a good injector cleaner stuff definitely made it run like brand new.

The corrosion problem can only be controlled with a good anti-rust oil treatment every year and cleaning the dirt accumulated in critical spots.

That seems a lot of care, but it's worth it, my workhorse

is now 11 years old, has over 150000 miles and people still

tell me how I have a nice truck.

Mine has 91k miles on it. XE 4wd. I bought it in Arizona. If buying a used Nissan of this era buy it from a dry state like AZ or TX as they can have a rust problem.

Very reliable, not real comfortable but I bought it to use when only a pickup will do so it doesn't get driven much and it stays garaged. With routine maintenance I expect that I'll die before it does. A friend has had many Nissan Pathfinders and pickups, some with 300k miles. They are cheap and reliable but only buy a used vehicle from a dry state that doesn't salt the roads in winter. Get a manual tranny also as the automatic, if not maintained, will go out. Oh yes! Why no cup holders!?!

I used to live in the rustbelt (Ohio) and I can tell you that ANY vehicle that has seen a few winters with road salt is subject to major rust problems. I've owned them all, both American and foreign, and they all rusted out.

The worst offenders were the full-size Chevy trucks I had.. some of them rusted so badly that the cab mounts were gone. I really don't know what held the cab in place at that point.. maybe luck?

My point is that you absolutely cannot expect any vehicle driven in road salt year after year to be rust-free.. it ain't gonna happen.