exhaust system, burnt wiring harness

[eastcherry]

my tail pipe disconnected (appears to have corroded apart, although none of the rest of the assembly is suffering from corrosion) from my muffler at the clamp right behind the muffler. there was no apparent issues with the driving of the vehicle so I continued driving it (while I was pulling my trailer). There was a smell of exhaust (or so I thought) in the vehicle. I continued towards my destination, planned to get the tail pipe connected the next business day. After an overnight stop, continued my trip and after 20km the whole vehicle died (all the dash indicator lights came on, I pulled over and almost immediately everything shut down, no brakes, no steering). Towed back in and after 5 hours of examination, the service shop determined that the exhaust had melted my wiring harness (that was the smell, hot/melting plastic I guess) !!! i couldn't believe it!! Has anyone else heard of this or are aware of any service bulletins for this ? I'm not impressed with having to pay to fix an issue that seems to be a serious design flaw, especially when the tech says it could have been a serious fire hazard! (wished it would've burned down almost).

[mpe235]

It is very common on the titan and armada.

[Vortan_Deluxe]

Mine just did the same thing the other day! It is still in the shop now waiting on a back ordered part. I was towing a 4500 - 5000lb travel trailer and I was on the beltway just before rush hour.

It happened almost exactly the same as you described. The technician gave me the list of failures:

ECM
ABS Sensors (x2)
Evap Sensor
Wiring Harness
Battery
Cat-Back Exhaust system

Total with Labor: $3037

Of course it isn't under my extended warranty because the broken exhaust caused it.

Any ideas on getting some 'goodwill compensation' from Nissan?

[tech22]

It can't hurt to try. Good luck...

[tlacourse]

Ditto for My 2004 Pathfinder.
I had melty plastic smell from a rear exhaust exhaust leak into the chamber in front of the rear axle. It melted my brake hose and i lost my rear brakes.. easy fix.. but took a week to get he new brake hose.
Threw codes for minor and gross Evap leak.. I'm trying to sort those out now for inspection. I see wire harness insulation melted, thinking I need to replace the vent control valve and maybe the vacuum cut off valve. I just need to e gas smell to go away and the codes to go away to get my inspection.

Moral of the story:
When (not if).. your tailpipe flange over your rear axle fails on your Nissan Pathy.. fix it right away!! I had it welded.. the pipes are fine.. the flange was worth 2 cents.
Otherwise this 2 cent flange can cost you thousands in collateral repair.