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Does it have that "hopeless chokeless" carb or was it a fuel injected? I can't remember which years had which..

An 85 had the electronic carb. It cost me $800 for a rebuild. A new one was $1200.

I had an 85 that ran for 130,000 miles. Besides the carburetor replacement mentioned in another thread, the worst thing that happened was a clogged catalytic converter. The 85 had two of them. One directly under the exhaust manifold enclosed in a cast iron box and the other in the exhaust pipe under the cab. Unbeknownst to me, the one under the manifold became clogged and the car would hardly run and became worse each time I took it out. I bought a new 93 Sentra and stored the Pulsar in the yard for a couple of years and then had a shadetree mechanic look at it when I wanted to repair it and give it to my daughter. The mechanic discovered the clogged converter. After I gutted the cast iron one, the car ran for another 50,000 miles until it was traded in. Other than those two problems (and a blown 5th gear synchromesh), that was one of the best cars I ever owned. 1.6 engine, 36 MPG, took turns like a formula one racer, and I had it up to 115 MPH one time on an empty turnpike early one Sunday morning. It didn't have AC though, and commutes in the Summer required that I keep cool clothing exchanges (shorts, t-shirt) in the car.

Hmm... okay then. :) I understood all of that except the synchromesh thingy. The only cars I've ever worked on were Beetles and I know my way around a Type

1 engine fairly well . I could tell you some real stories about working on the '65 baja I had, but no time for that. I know *nothing* about watercooled engines but I did get a diagnosis on my Pulsar of the list of things wrong with it. The rings are bad, the clutch cable is at best stretched out, if not in need of a new clutch period, the muffler is completely rusted out on bottom, the a/c is busted, headlights refuse to stay adjusted, the gas and temp gauges don't work but the RPM, tach, and speedo work fine. The fuel filter needs to be replaced and I have a slow oil leak. And something in the gears is screwy. Sometimes it doesn't want to shift so you have to beat it into submission. The tint has bubbled and the horrible "new" paint job it had 2 years ago is shot. Oh, and there's a huge crack in the dash.

So again I say, should I just junk it or try to work on it? The rings and the shift problem are an issue for me. The rest I can either figure out or already know how to do it. I haven't got $1000 + to take it to a mechanic. Single mom of a 2 year old, crappy job, putting myself through college and then the police academy so money is an issue. I also have an '83 Monte Carlo and it's problem is 1 of 3 things, battery, starter, or alternator. I really love my Nissan and I don't want to get rid of it. Do you think I have a snowball's chance in hell? I don't even know if the thing is fuel injected or not! I'm thinking it is, but on the other hand, I ran out of gas a couple times and when I put gas back in the tank it started right up both times. Does that even mean anything? Hehe. I'm so lost.

Kidd

"The Little VW Goddess"

Wasn't that one actually a Subaru, re-badged as a Nissan??

I can't tell you what you should do with your 18 year old car, or how to spend your money. If it was my car and my money, I'd be looking for a replacement, especially if I was ferrying my kids around in it.

Eh. Thanks for smacking me with a bit of reality. Now I have to figure out if I can even sell it or just junk it.

Kidd "The Little VW Goddess"

I had one, a 1987 Pulsar NX-SE with the twin cam 1.6l fuel injected engine. the standard engine was the 1.6L out of the Sentra. In 1989 they put the 1.8 twin cam in them.