engine stuttering at turn over.

[CMF_Pierce]

I just stopped at the shops. came back and the car turns over fine but after about two cam turns the engine puts out. throttle isnt helping and the fuel is at a quarter. was running like a dream last few weeks. the fuel may be misreading? could i just be empty? or is this a dizzy or tb problem?

 

[CMF_Pierce]

Well fuel wasnt a problem. I have had the battery on a few slow charges over the last six months and the little green okay dot is now black. which says bad battery. Ive got a mate coming with a sparebattery and a dizzy and cords. hopefully i can drive away from this **** in a couple hours...

 

[CMF_Shifter]

Keep us updated, I've also had one of those battery's fail and it still showed green in the window!

 

[CMF_Pierce]

As much as I hate myself for not starting with a throttlebody swap (if the afm chip is ****ed, does that mean it could stop power from going to the fuel pump?)....

I will persevere through other ideas as it I don't currently have a spare throttlebody that works.

So far:

It isn't the fuel pump, changed plus wiring was good under seat and in fuel tank, visually good only, didn't have volt tester.

It isn't the battery being low on fluid, a swap with good battery didn't help one bit.

I am changing the dizzy right now.... will report soon.

It is such a shame the sun was going down and I had to fork out 80 cash for a tow. I had a lot of onlookers at Masters Springfield Lakes haha, too many poor cars trying to turn into the 'empty' spot next to me only to see half an engine bay of ancillaries on the ground...

Please be the distributor XD

I don't want to have to pick up a throttlebody from my dads tomorrow... or maybe now is a good time to install the sr20 tb and rb25 afm, though I have to check and see if the afm is the same plug from the cg13 throttle body...

 

[CMF_Rudy]

throttle body plays up in different ways, first time mine went it was instant, it barely kangaroo hopped home, resolder then good for 4 years, this time (recently) it was gradual and erratic, I swapped out everything chasing it (shoulda started there)

 

[CMF_Pierce]

yeah I would of started with a tb swap over if I had one lying around BUT...

I can confirm that it was indeed the distributor giving me trouble, a swap of my spare dizzy from the black micra (who needs it when you're going coil pack) has fixed my problem.

PROBLEM WAS:
Specifically, the fuel pump was not receiving power. I blamed the pump and changed it; that didn't help. Turning the key turned the engine just fine but when I only switched it to 'on', the fuel pump did nothing.

As it turns out, the distributor 2 x plugs on it, one is obviously power to the dizzy, the other one must be power out to the fuel pump, which at first I thought made no sense, because I figured that the pump would simply pump fuel as soon as it had vacuum pulling the fuel.

But I guess I don't know jack, and that the pump is actually told when to push fuel through based off the dizzy?

Maybe I'm way off path, but all I know is that swapping the dizzy made the fuel pump work again, which lets my car go broommmmm.

 

[CMF_frank2]

nice one pierce
the fuelpump will only run for 5 secs if the ecu gets no cas signal eh, in case the ign is left on, and as an alternative crash/safety system to the inertia switch

 

[CMF_Pierce]

I feel so defeated right now. I had the car running even running the next morning... now im stuck at work and its the same problem. honestly im sick of this. The only thing I havent tried is the throttle body. If that isnt it then Im stumped.

also, why did it work perfrctly after changing tbe dizzy,only to fail 24 hours later. Is something breaking my dizzy? 2 duds in a row? Or is the throttle body to blame? The fuel pump isnt ticking again though im quite sure the fuel line is full...

 

[CMF_frank2]

have you tried a drop of fuel down the t/b pierce ?

 

[CMF_Pierce]

hey frank2,

Nope, haven't tried that, I'll try tomorrow although I'm beginning to run out of ideas.

I've changed the spark plugs, fuel filter, fuel pump, 3x dizzy, throttle body, battery.

Can't seem to get it into fault mode either... ****ing car hates me

Also checked all fuses in dash area, and fuses in engine bay (visually only, will use my light tester and volt checker tomorrow).

What a great way to start a month of holiday with almost 40g in the bank. Trying really hard not to cave in and buy a new car :/

 

[CMF_Pierce]

Anyone with any ideas, no matter how far out there, let me know.

 

[CMF_frank2]

Pierce WROTE:

"Anyone with any ideas, no matter how far out there, let me know.

diagnosis is the key really mate, for a non starter i always try a drop of fuel down the t/b first (to rule out a pump/injector/nats issue)
then i check for a spark, or evidence of flooding

 

[CMF_Pierce]

Id say flooding is evident from my spark plugs thread haha but the tips are ghost white. thats lean right?

 

[CMF_frank2]

light brown ideally eh, and flooding is pretty common (nissan used to supply a piggyback loom for the coolant sensor)
i always pull the pump fuse and crank it till it fire up

 

[CMF_Pierce]

what a bloody unexpected issue.

$100 dollars later, I had a sparky checking the car. It turns out the neg wire from the fuel sender unit to the fuel pump was the problem :/

I never would have picked that, as from visual inspection on each end it looked fine. As soon as he changed it the car primed and turned over. A couple more test runs and so far it's been great.

The real test comes soon, when I go to the shops and try to drive home. This car loves to stick it to me whenever I'm turning it on anywhere but home...

 

[CMF_Rudy]

don't you hate it when you cant friggin work it out yourself, hope its the end of this issue for ya

 

[CMF_Pierce]

Yep all sorted. It's running now!

But... I stupidly didn't mark my dizzy spots and after changing it I'm getting a knocking sound. I don't own one of those timing strobe lights either.

Also, I can't remember who I bought this spare throttlebody off but holy crap, the idle is set to 2k rpm WTF guys!?

 

[CMF_Pierce]

I'm going to prematurely exclaim 'Happy Days!'

I didn't have a timing light but I've based it as closely off the old dizzy's markings as I could and it seems to be driving right, in that it feels like it used to. It still sounds more like two cheese graters rubbing together than a nice tight timing chain but I've got that big service and parts replacement job for it this week.

I'm going out for a drive further than around my block now, wish me luck

 

[CMF_Pierce]

On another note the sparky I had over said that sound might not be my timing chain, it may also be my pulleys.

Anyone know where I can buy new pulleys?

Cheers.

EDIT: It seems nuline don't make pulleys for the micra :/