Remove and Install Starter for 2001 Pathfinder

The starter is right under the oil filter. The biggest problem will be seeing what you are doing and then being able to get around in the space to do anything. A mirror may help a bit to see what you are doing. This what I would suggest. The first thing you want to do is disconnect the battery so you don't get burned. Next, give yourself some room to work. Remove the guard plate then remove the oil filter and the exhaust manifold heat shield as well as the front passenger side tire and the rubber splash guard from the fender. From the side you should now be able to see inside a little bit from where the tire was. Disconnect the oil pressure indicator which is to the left of the oil filter. I used a long flat edge screw driver and stuck it in to disengage the clip which holds it on. You should be able to get at the nut from up top to remove the one cable off the starter now. The bottom nut is just connected to the starter itself. There should only be the one connector left. If you can get at it push down on it about an inch or so from the end and pull. You have to disengage the clip on it or it won't come off. If it give you problems, you might get away with leaving it on until you have the starter loose. But do remove the cable from it's fasteners to give it slack. Once you have everything disconnected you can take off the starter. You get at the bolt from behind the flywheel; not from the starter side. What I did was position the new starter like the old one is sitting to get an idea of where the bolts would be. They are by the exhaust so you may need to look a bit for them. You will probably need a extension to get at these. I just left the bolts in the holes. When the bolts are removed the starter should drop, or at least loosen. The starter will need to slide out toward the front of the motor. In my case, a steel rod from the steering was partially blocking the way. You need to drop this rod down about an inch. What I found was that all you need to down is take the one nut off the steering on the passenger side which is connected to the frame and pound it down until the starter clears. It is a little hard to explain but it is closest to the bumper and is not the tie rods. You should now be able to remove the starter. Remember how you got the starter out because you will need to put the new one in the exact same way the old one came out. Before you do this clean up all the old oil and crud from the area and make sure not to get any in the flywheel area. Hopefully this helps. Good luck.

First you want to disconnect your positive battery cable and remove the key from the ignition. Then locat and remove the large wire going to the starter post, this will give you better acsess to the smaller wire/wires that go to the small terminal/terminals on the starter. If you need, make a small drawing of the wiring to make reassembly easier. Locat the mounting bolts and remove them from the bottom of the starter to the top. Hold the starter up while removing the uppermost bolt to make it easier to remove. Once you've done this the starter should come out from above as opposed to the American vehicles which drop out from below. I failed to mention that it's a good idea to spray a good penetrating fluid on all wire connections the day before you are to remove the starter. Best of luck my friend, Dana