[FearinLoathin]

One of the most frustrating things I had to deal with was that damned reservoir. I've taken that engine down to the block once (head gasket change), pulled the cams twice, and had to remove the front timing cover three times, gutted the passenger side cats, swapped out a wheel bearing assembly, dropped the oil and transmission pans, broken off ignition coil bolts and much more, and the only thing equally cuss-worthy has been the manifold heat shield on bank one (that's... I hope you never have to remove that thing). Anyway, I had the bright idea of pulling the tank to just give it a nice routine cleaning, and I like to never got that little 3" hose on the bottom to go back on. It may sound like overkill, but clear out that entire freaking area or at least have a solid gameplan going into it, because I did neither and almost set the damned thing on fire before it was over with.

That said, this is me we're talking about, so it's probably a breeze. I hope it goes well. Just trying to throw a "heads up" from experience out there. 😁

 

[FearinLoathin]

Appreciate the heads up! And I know exactly how seemingly simple jobs can end up as a cuss-fest on the Xterra. When I replaced the heater hose that runs along the firewall (I thought it would take me maybe 20-30 minutes), it ended up being a struggle because the aftermarket part I bought did not match up properly with the firewall mounts. Rather than take it back out and wait for a new part, I ended up breaking out my welder to fab up a screw-on extension to the existing mounts. It ended up working out well, but that was a Saturday afternoon lost.

I am really hoping for a simple job. And fortunately I don't really need the truck until next weekend so I should have time to deal with issues.

Yeah man, you've got this. In all seriousness, there are quite a few places where it will get really tight really quickly. Let me see if I can recall the major headaches:
As suggested above, taking the battery out will make things much easier on that side of it.
The bolts for the fuse panel are covered by the relay, and the relay is connected to the ECM by... Ohhhhhh. Now I remember...
That godforsaken chunk of harness will be in your way the entire time.
Some long needle-nose pliers are your best friend for the hose clamps.
I didn't find out if it's worth the time to just pull all the electronics or if that's even tangible, but man, if you can find a way over, around, or through what's in the photo below, your neighbors won't wonder who you're about to murder.

Any good news? Well, pretty much every bolt you'll need to pull is short. An impact (or drill & socket adapter) with both a short and long extension and a 10 mm ( if you have a deep well, all the better) will make short work of those. I'd like to hear how it goes! Good luck.