having trouble with my car , acceleration

gabrielle williams

gabrielle williams

hey , im new here . im having trouble with my micra 1.0 16 valve major trouble , even mechanics cant find it , im wondering if you enthusiasts know of any trouble of what i will explain .

i came across the car in december and stupid me did not take it for a test drive . after paying for car i took it down the road , it seemed to run fine until the engine started warming up , then i had hardly no acceleration to get up to speed , jumps in 1st 2nd 3rd gear 4th and 5th seem to pull ok but still judder . i changed rotor arm , dizzy cap , leads , spark plugs and its made no difference . ive noticed it picks up if i floor it and then quickly dies back down again . every hill i go up is first gear job at about 2mph i get lots of white smoke when car is warm . also now because ive got this trouble with the engine the clutch is deciding to give up right at the top of its bite
from cold it runs fine with full acceleration until it warms up .
help me otherwise its going to be scrapped and i will buy another k11
i payed £450 for it with 123,000 miles no service history . front shocks have gone, front crossmember is rusty, rear suspension has gone , handbrake dosent work and loads of various knocks and rattles on steering

please help mee
 
You probably won't think this is very helpful but, based on the list of things wrong with it, you'd be better off breaking it for parts or selling it "as is"...
 
oil is clean ive had a mini service done on it oil , filter , spark plugs , ht leads ,dizzy cap , rotor arm . where to is the MAF sensor located so i can try disconnecting it ? if it is the MAF sensor do i leave it disconnected until i get a replacement ??
 
White smoke doesn't sound good.

Does the white smoke feel very wet if you hold your hand by it?

Is the car using any coolant or oil?
 
ive had the timing chain checked by nissan and they have said its fine , im hoping to get it running properly by march as its due for MOT. Where is the MAFsensor located i will try that to see if it runs better disconnected
 
gabrielle williams said:
ive had the timing chain checked by nissan and they have said its fine , im hoping to get it running properly by march as its due for MOT. Where is the MAFsensor located i will try that to see if it runs better disconnected
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that only applies to the coilpack k11,s gabrielle, a lazy oil light could be serious
 
when i start it the oil light stays on for 5 seconds then goes out , its never come on while driving , im using castrol gtx 10w40 . had this oil in my old suzuki wagon r too . ive heard some say to use 5w30 as its an old engine , is this true ??
 
gabrielle williams said:
when i start it the oil light stays on for 5 seconds then goes out , its never come on while driving , im using castrol gtx 10w40 . had this oil in my old suzuki wagon r too . ive heard some say to use 5w30 as its an old engine , is this true ??
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that does,nt sound healthy ! thicker oil might help (20w50) sounds like you have bought a lemon
 
i just need it painted yellow , i live in the welsh valleys too , hills everywhere . a 50cc moped beat me up the mountain the other day , embarrased was not the word . i love driving it apart from all those faults lol . i may gp pout and buy another micra if i cant get this one fixed in time for the dreadded MOT lol
 
From the sounds of things it might cost you more than the £450 you paid for it, as said before I would break it for parts and then put that towards another one.
 
White smoke.. or unburnt fuel vapour? Overfueling/lack of air can cause a lack of power
You say oil and coolant is clean so I wouldn't blame head gasket just yet.

I'd be looking at an air leak. If its ok when cold but misbehaves when warm. Things expand when warm.

I remember pulling my hair out last September with similar symptoms. Car ran ok until warm.

Its free to check and could well be the issue
 
at the moment its running without an air filter box because it seemed to run worse with all the air filter on its fuel and air related i think , one of my friends said it may be a collapsed catalytic converter but i thought the car wont run if thats blocked . ive used fuel treatment such as redex cataclean and its made no difference atall
 
gabrielle williams said:
at the moment its running without an air filter box because it seemed to run worse with all the air filter on its fuel and air related i think , one of my friends said it may be a collapsed catalytic converter but i thought the car wont run if thats blocked . ive used fuel treatment such as redex cataclean and its made no difference atall
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When you bought the car did they say it'd been sat at all?
 
gabrielle williams said:
if i put the air filter box on and filter it backfires slightly with popping noise coming from throttle body and tries stalling due to lack of air
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gabrielle williams said:
bought a new filter the day i had it , made no difference
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A clean air filter should offer no restriction to air flow but if it really is that sensitive I'd be looking for an air leak. Air flow dictates fuel supplied
 
When my injector went on the 160SR it knackered the cat and the lack of power was horrible - the exhaust cannot get past all the collapsed baffles and causes huge back pressure on the engine.
 
any ideas which one is the MAF sensor on the throttle body , do you know if check engine light will become engaged its the standard engine with distributor , i understand i will have to remove or take out the air box assembly to get to it
 
i dont think the same applies with the pre coilpack maf gabrielle, and the 3 plugs on the t/b are......a long idle control valve one, the throttle position sensor on the end of the shaft, and the vertical maf one :)
 
gabrielle williams said:
any ideas which one is the MAF sensor on the throttle body , do you know if check engine light will become engaged its the standard engine with distributor , i understand i will have to remove or take out the air box assembly to get to it
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Easy checks are open the fuel rail and take the spark plug ht off so it won't start up and then u can see if all the 4 injectors are flowing, and other ones are Thottle cleaning which is 4 bolts to take off and clean it up, the maf is on the left of the t/b 3 wires if am right, give all them a try


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MAF has made no difference / i think the cylinders have gone . when going uphill if i take my foot of then plant it back down it decides to pull a bit but not much , it wont rev at top end either if left in gear with foot down on straight road in 2nd gear i would say it only revs to 4500rpm does 50mph flat out . i think the engine has gone
 
gabrielle williams said:
MAF has made no difference / i think the cylinders have gone . when going uphill if i take my foot of then plant it back down it decides to pull a bit but not much , it wont rev at top end either if left in gear with foot down on straight road in 2nd gear i would say it only revs to 4500rpm does 50mph flat out . i think the engine has gone
Click to expand...
Sounds like running on 3 cylinders ? And not giving full power? So it's going in to limp mode ?


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easy fix open open cam covers undo the timing cover and all the nuts then 10 bolts for head and clean and replace the gasket


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Just a thought, but maybe someone has driven it through a flood in December and after screwing the engine up has decided to get rid???

Gabrielle, Micras are all about reliability and ease of ownership. By the time you've corrected the faults, your going to be old, pss'd off and miserable. Someone seems to have sold you something they have driven into the ground. Do yourself a favour, save yourself a life of hassle and cut your losses. You should get about £120 scrap or someone on ebay will give you a couple of hundred if you make sure your honest with the faults. Alternatively, if you have the time, break it for parts and you will get your money back but it will take a while. If your front crossmember has gone, I'd bet money your sills are screwed too, so add on another couple of hundred quid to sort those out. Why didn't you test drive it man!, that's a must on any car!

Get yourself another Micra, but buy it from a nice house from someone who has owned it for a few years, where the guy takes care of his house and if possible can show you a service history, old MOT's and receipts! Only buy a micra once you have taken it on a good test drive to allow it to warm up. Go through all the gears, drop down and boot it to see if it picks up, give the brakes a good stamp, check no knocks in the steering, check sills all the way along with a firm tap, check cross member underneath and above, check for head gasket gunge under the oil cap, check for smoke, check it ticks over on idle without sounding like the choke is on, check heater works on all 3 speeds, check shocks on all 4 corners, check exhaust doesn't blow, check drive shaft boots are in tact, check for any oil or water underneath, check you have a locking wheel nut key (if it has alloys) , then and only then think about buying it! There are plenty about, K11's are only second on the road to white lines so no one ever, ever, ever needs to buy the first one they see.

Sorry if it's not the answer you wanted, but I know how you feel, and having been there, its not worth it. Get a good one and you won't look back.
 
Last edited:
blanes said:
Gabrielle, Micras are all about reliability and ease of ownership. By the time you've corrected the faults, your going to be old, pss'd off and miserable. Someone seems to have sold you something they have driven into the ground. Do yourself a favour, save yourself a life of hassle and cut your losses. You should get about £120 scrap or someone on ebay will give you a couple of hundred if you make sure your honest with the faults. Alternatively, if you have the time, break it for parts and you will get your money back but it will take a while. If your front crossmember has gone, I'd bet money your sills are screwed too, so add on another couple of hundred quid to sort those out. Why didn't you test drive it man!, that's a must on any car!

Get yourself another Micra, but buy it from a nice house from someone who has owned it for a few years, where the guy takes care of his house and if possible can show you a service history, old MOT's and receipts! Only buy a micra once you have taken it on a good test drive to allow it to warm up. Go through all the gears, drop down and boot it to see if it picks up, give the brakes a good stamp, check no knocks in the steering, check sills all the way along with a firm tap, check cross member underneath and above, check for head gasket gunge under the oil cap, check for smoke, check it ticks over on idle without sounding like the choke is on, check heater works on all 3 speeds, check shocks on all 4 corners, check exhaust doesn't blow, check drive shaft boots are in tact, check for any oil or water underneath, check you have a locking wheel nut key (if it has alloys) , then and only then think about buying it! There are plenty about, K11's are only second on the road to white lines so no one ever, ever, ever needs to buy the first one they see.

Sorry if it's not the answer you wanted, but I know how you feel, and having been there, its not worth it. Get a good one and you won't look back.
Click to expand...
Here are example I bought a none starter Micra but I thought 120 pounds with mot I'll sort the problem out and came home and after few changing parts it was a fuel pump that didn't start the car up and now it's worth my try's, don't scrap until u have few try's on few bits, gabrelle is right buy from a good home and look out for service and under car mainly


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