Car is a 52 reg Nissan Xtrail.
Battery turns over the engine but no sign of engine firing. Then somewhat mysteriously engine starts when turned over.
During the non staring periods, the radio, Nissan OEM, is displaying WAIT and is silent - usually it shows the name of the radio stations and plays
quite merrily.
The battery is charged and connections to it are good. There is petrol in the tank (it is petrol engine before some quips!) Dunno if it is not
getting a spark since there are individual coil packs for each cylinder. Could be fuel not getting in but it looks quite involved getting the
injector hoses.
Any suggestions? Is there a diagnostics module that can be interrogated without additional equipment?
A brief history.
Tues pm - had been raining, turn car over for say 5 to 10 seconds, several times = nothing (radio said WAIT) . Squirted some WD40, tried again, after
maybe 4th attempt it started. I did floor the accelerator to clear cyclinders as you do but that and the WD40 is probably coincidence but radio did
start to play, can't remember if that was before the successful firing or after, more likely former.
This morning, friend whose car it is, tried to start - but wouldn't - radio said WAIT. I then tried maybe 1/2 hour later, fired 1st time, again
think the radio was working so looks like some electrical/engine management ecu type problem to me.
[Edited on 4/10/12 by 02GF74]
I would be thinking Main Relay ( the one the ign Key energises ) or imobiliser if one fitted that or the earth straps
ATB agriv8
Have you tried the spare key? You can test if it is a fuel fault by spraying a bit of carb cleaner into the airbox while someone is cranking it over. IIRC the xtrail only had a feed fuel line and no return and the pipe is one piece with no way to tap into it. If you lift up the drivers side rear seat, pull back the carpet you will see a square plate with 4 plastic lugs in the corners. Twist the lugs so you can take the plate off and you will have access to the top of the fuel pump mounted in the tank. Try listening to it to see if it is working while someone cranks it over. You can also remove the fuel pipe from the pump to see if the pump is working.
Colleague has a long saga of intermittent difficult starting/no starting on one. Eventually an auto electricial co found it to be a failed connector
on the ecu.
It nearly broke him (in the head) He was convinced it was haunted and needed a shaman to cure it.
[Edited on 4/10/12 by Litemoth]
Not sure if its the same but my old Primera diesel had trouble starting and it was the earth strap to the gearbox - sometimes it'd fire first
turn others it wouldn't.
If you're getting the dreaded turn of the key and get a 'click' from a relay somewhere and nothing else its probably the starter motor
goosed. If they're tired they can stop in a position they struggle to start from due to internal damage. 3 solutions to that:
1) new starter
2) get someone to give the starter motor a belt while you try to start it (I found a 2ft breaker bar handying for delivering the jolt.
3) put the car in gear and roll it / push it a short distance.
Long term solution is a new starter. I found the one on my primera had chewed a bit off its teeth (presumably sticking in mesh slightly too long after
starting) and it was jamming in the flywheel preventing it meshing.
My mums old maestro suffered the same but as they live in a hilly area it was easy enough just to let it roll a foot or 2 and try again until they
eventually sold it for £30.
A few causes spring to mind at the top of the list are the coolant temperature sensor and the crankshaft position sensor but before changing parts
at semi-random you need to get the codes read and look at the live data. On a 52 plate I would think the is OBD II compliant a cheap OBD II code
reader that reads live data or dongle should see the temperature sensor and rpm readings. Before a cold start any coolant or inlet
temperature sensor reading much above above ambient would indicate a senor or connection problem. Likewise if you don't see or get an
erratic RPM reading when cranking then it points to the crank sensor.
Another way to test is to give the engine a very light squirt of easy start into the air filter, then try to start it if it fire up it indicates
the engine isn't getting cold start enrichment which points to the temperature sensor.
quote:
Originally posted by Litemoth
Colleague has a long saga of intermittent difficult starting/no starting on one. Eventually an auto electricial co found it to be a failed connector on the ecu.
It nearly broke him (in the head) He was convinced it was haunted and needed a shaman to cure it.
[Edited on 4/10/12 by Litemoth]
I klinda sussed it when the radiocassette dsiplay showed Security and looking closer at the unit is was words like NATS - Nissan Anti Theft Security
plastered over it - basically the immobiliser is rogered.
Car again refused to start, call to AA since and plugging the OBD showed up fault codes 1610 and 1614 - NATS Malfunciton which confirmed my
diagnostic.
It's strange that the immobiliser is allowing the engine to turn over yet is inhibitng the injector (AA man tested them); I would have expected
the engine not to turn over at all.
Oh well, someone is gonna have to pay a quid or two to sort that one out - may be keyfob battery needs replacing but the fob is unlocking.locking the
doors with no probs so most likely won't be that.
thx for the suggestions.
quote:
Originally posted by 02GF74
I klinda sussed it when the radiocassette dsiplay showed Security and looking closer at the unit is was words like NATS - Nissan Anti Theft Security plastered over it - basically the immobiliser is rogered.
Car again refused to start, call to AA since and plugging the OBD showed up fault codes 1610 and 1614 - NATS Malfunciton which confirmed my diagnostic.
It's strange that the immobiliser is allowing the engine to turn over yet is inhibitng the injector (AA man tested them); I would have expected the engine not to turn over at all.
Oh well, someone is gonna have to pay a quid or two to sort that one out - may be keyfob battery needs replacing but the fob is unlocking.locking the doors with no probs so most likely won't be that.
thx for the suggestions.
It won't be the battery do even bother replacing it. As I said earlier have you tried the spare key? It may just be the transponder in the key that is at fault. Quite alot of factory immobilisers will disable the injectors and ignition and leave the starter alone so you can't rule out the immobiliser if the engine spins.
This thread in another forum might help same Nissan fault codes 1610 and 1614
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=55560115
The cure is given in the last post in the thread "turn the ignition on for 5 seconds, turn the ignition off for 5 seconds and repeat
the sequence twice".
Thats the coding sequence for a new key.
thx - yeah, we found the on/off sequence in the owners hand book - no doing.