Nissan Micra won't start.

[thatbloke]

to start a flooded micra , take out fuse for fuel pump , turn over engine a few times then tease the fuel pump with the fuse to fire up the motor.

I had a mica with a starting problem , I re soldered the board in the carb and changed all the ht leads , worked perfectly after that.

 

[ittim]

Sorry, I know this is an old thread but it came up while I was having a google.

My wifes K12 micra has the dreaded PS light, would the ECU reset trick at least clear the warning light? I'm not worried about any other keys working, we only have one at the moment!

 

[bullentj]

hi ittim,

any joy with finding out how to reset the PS light? just happened to my partners micra

Jon

 

[kbond]

Apologies for kicking an old thread but there is just too much similarity to ignore this one.

About six months ago my 98 micra 1.0 failed to start and after 30mins of continuous cranking while connected to a big reserve battery it fired and spewed lots of brown nastiness into the air. It ran fine after a few miles run and I never saw the problem again.



Yesterday (Monday), similar characteristics...
note: I had not done a short run it was parked up after a 10 minute run on Sunday.


5 mins cranking until battery dying (no reserve this time)
pulled plugs, soaked in fuel
Checked and re-gapped plugs (although spark was strong)
fuel pump running

Nothing worked until I tried a tow start. This took about 75 meters up lifting the clutch repeatedly in 2nd before she fired. Pickup from idle was problematic until I revved it hard to blow the nastiness away and let the engine reach temperature. After that it ran all day. Including a cold start in the evening for a five minute run.
If anything it was starting *more* eagerly than usual (and I'm used to it firing on the first turn, so this was *really* eager)

Based on the experience six months ago and thinking I had fallen fowl of the "short run" problem I expected the trigger for the problem might go away even though I knew I had not done a short run.

This morning (Tuesday) same fault. Tow start again (my neighbour will soon tire of this) and then a perky 16 mile drive to the office.


I have the following list of possible causes:

timing chain stretched = never misfires, performance is usually excellent
distributor = interesting, it has been very damp the last few evenings
(I did read about someone warming this with a hair dryer to start, now that only makes sense if it was damp...)
coolant temp sensor = where is this and what should it read?
HT leads = does not add up BUT they are original (16 yrs!) and I have been bitten by leads so many times.
ECU = I have no idea how to diagnose this.
Keys = does not make sense but it's free to try.


I have successfully borrowed a car so I'm free to diagnose this without panicking and sending it to a garage.

I think I'll try...

hairdryer - the damp angle is pretty tempting given the fogginess
fuel pump fuse pull to coax a start - would be nice to have a start method
keys - rolling the dice
ht leads - here be dragons

and I'll measure the ECT if someone can give me a pointer to it.

Thanks for your thoughts,

k.

 

[kbond]

I just went into the car park after the car had been sat in the cold for five hours. (9 celsius at the moment)

It leapt into life as soon as I turned the key. I'm erring towards damp as the trigger.

 

[Mursal]

Hopefully there will be a fault code logged, when you get it plugged in?
Local garage will read the codes for you (ask the price first) then go from there

 

[kbond]

OOooo Thanks, I may do that. I've always been unsure as to whether this car has OBD or similar.

Where is the connector? I've no problem creating the necessary leads if it's non-standard and someone has a pinout....

edit... ah it's OBD and it's in the under bonnet fusebox. I'll work on getting the codes.

 

[kbond]

Last night I put the engine to bed with a liberal amount of WD40 over every ignition related component (except HT leads) and connector I could see.

I also put a blanket over the engine block.

I don't know how low the temperature got overnight but it was 1degreeC this AM and it had been very foggy all night and morning, so very damp.

I turned the key straight to start without waiting for the fuel pump to prime and it started on the second revolution.

I figure either...

a) the true fault has cleared for another long period
b) the damp is the cause and the WD40 + blanket kept it at bay
c) having another car on standby is the the fix

I think I'll put the blanket back on tonight just to check that this morning was not a fluke.
(and I'm looking into finding fault codes, Thanks Mursal)

 

[Burnerman]

Personally I'd go for new (genuine) HT leads....at that sort of age they have to be past their best.
Covering the engine with a blanket isn't a common fix these days!
John