Micra K11 1.3 won’t start up

D

danb6387

Hi all,

Here is my first post despite following the great advice from you all over the last couple of years!

I need some pointers as my car died on me as I was driving.

I own a Nissan Micra K11 1.3ltr and for the last four years it has been very reliable up until now. I was out driving and 5 minutes into the journey the engine cut-out on me and would not fire up again. The starter motor works strongly and all fuses and relays appear to be in working order along with the battery being replaced within the last two months. There is no power to the fuel pump and no spark in the engine (measured with a voltmeter and taking the spark plugs out) along with no injectors.

Has anyone got any ideas as to what the issue could be?!

I’ve tried looking everywhere for an answer, hopefully I can get some here!!

Many thanks
 
danb6387 said:
Hi all,

Here is my first post despite following the great advice from you all over the last couple of years!

I need some pointers as my car died on me as I was driving.

I own a Nissan Micra K11 1.3ltr and for the last four years it has been very reliable up until now. I was out driving and 5 minutes into the journey the engine cut-out on me and would not fire up again. The starter motor works strongly and all fuses and relays appear to be in working order along with the battery being replaced within the last two months. There is no power to the fuel pump and no spark in the engine (measured with a voltmeter and taking the spark plugs out) along with no injectors.

Has anyone got any ideas as to what the issue could be?!




I’ve tried looking everywhere for an answer, hopefully I can get some here!!

Many thanks
Click to expand...


Any progress/update?

With such a very old car the usual suspects to check: fault codes? Loose corroded connections? Loose corroded fuses/holder? Ignition switch? Distributer? Nats? All common non start culprits. Good luck
 
Hi there,

All fuses and relays have been checked and they are in good condition. If it was corrosion surely it would be an intermittent fault and then eventually fail like it has done rather than be fine one day and the next just stop altogether?

Tried diagnosing with the diagnostic tool on the engine and was incapable of reading the ECU, but was able to communicate with the airbag ECU. We also tried the self diagnosing, connecting the two pins below the fusebox and we didn't get any illumination on engine check light or ECU led. I have 12v down at the ecu plug on three pins with ignition on. It's also dry as a bone so not water damaged.

An ECU is on its way today so hopefully by tonight it can be confirmed or not as to whether the ECU is at fault.

The distributor was opened up and looks fine, but even if this was at fault surely it would cut all spark, fuel and injectors? I'm stuck if it's not the ECU!! aha
 
danb6387 said:
Hi there,

All fuses and relays have been checked and they are in good condition. If it was corrosion surely it would be an intermittent fault and then eventually fail like it has done rather than be fine one day and the next just stop altogether?

Tried diagnosing with the diagnostic tool on the engine and was incapable of reading the ECU, but was able to communicate with the airbag ECU. We also tried the self diagnosing, connecting the two pins below the fusebox and we didn't get any illumination on engine check light or ECU led. I have 12v down at the ecu plug on three pins with ignition on. It's also dry as a bone so not water damaged.

An ECU is on its way today so hopefully by tonight it can be confirmed or not as to whether the ECU is at fault.

The distributor was opened up and looks fine, but even if this was at fault surely it would cut all spark, fuel and injectors? I'm stuck if it's not the ECU!! aha
Click to expand...
A bit basic, but have you checked that the distributor rotor arm turns when the engine turns over? Failing that do these K11's have a crank position sensor?
 
An update, the Micra lives for another day!! The ECU was at fault and thanks to Just Nissan in Bolton for selling the ECU kit who were extremely helpful and honest with what I needed. I didn't realise how hard it was to get hold of an ECU kit for a 1.3! Thanks for the guidance from you guys too :)
 
plmval said:
Well diagnosed as ECU failure is rare in the K11? :)
Click to expand...
My thoughts as well, ECU's are normally bomb proof.......only scenario I can think of is water ingress and/or corrosion of the connector block where the loom plugs in...?
 
John_D said:
My thoughts as well, ECU's are normally bomb proof.......only scenario I can think of is water ingress and/or corrosion of the connector block where the loom plugs in...?
Click to expand...


Additionally I would be looking for intermittent possible causes of rare ECU failure such as over voltage peaks or ignition switch failures sometimes holding the starter engaged (generating excess voltages) while driving ? :eek:
 
I know, my dad rallied his micra in his days and said exactly the same thing. That's why he was stumped after looking at everything other than the ECU. With the ECU located inside, the connections appeared to not corroded and we opened it up and it was dry as a bone but something clearly went wrong. How will I be able to measure/ find intermittent voltage peaks?
 
danb6387 said:
I know, my dad rallied his micra in his days and said exactly the same thing. That's why he was stumped after looking at everything other than the ECU. With the ECU located inside, the connections appeared to not corroded and we opened it up and it was dry as a bone but something clearly went wrong. How will I be able to measure/ find intermittent voltage peaks?
Click to expand...


Random & wear out failures of the K11 ignition switch are fairly common unlike the ECU?

1) An intermittently failing ignition switch can sometimes hold the starter engaged over running it driven by the engine, generating excess voltages that can cook itself & the ECU, while driving. Pre-emptively changing a suspect ignition switch is a practical option.

2) Alternator issues can sometimes be found via test at idle & at 2K RPM DC & AC voltages generated & compare with a known fault free vehicle. Typical @ idle 14.26 V DC & 0.016 V AC ripple volts @ no load indicates good regulation almost AC ripple free rectification by the alternator.
Good luck fault finding? :)
 
Last edited:
This is frustrating, after changing the distributor cap and rotor the car has erractic revs, stalling and engine managment light flickers when these happen. Put the old cap and rotor back on, still same problem less eractic. New distributor?!
 
danb6387 said:
This is frustrating, after changing the distributor cap and rotor the car has erractic revs, stalling and engine managment light flickers when these happen. Put the old cap and rotor back on, still same problem less eractic. New distributor?!
Click to expand...


Was it running ok before changing distributor cap/rotor arm?

If yes, then it maybe that the HT leads have been crossed over interchanged & the firing order interrupted.

Haynes Workkshop manuals have a detail explanation how to verify rectify this issue.

Use the MSC search function; firing order?

https://www.micra.org.uk/search/11812504/?q=firing+order&o=relevance
 
I changed the HT leads one at a time from the old cap to the new as to avoid this and it is also numbered on cap. I am 100% sure I haven't crossed the HT leads as it runs fines and just throws a wobbly from time to time and cuts out for half a second before being okay again for a couple of minutes. The rotor/ cap can only go on one way and the distributor is rock solid on the engine so I know I haven't changed the timing, could it be a fault with the distributor?
 
Looks like I have the same problem with starting as described here. No spark, no fuel but fuses/relays ok. Car is a 1.0 SE from 2001 (coilpacks not distributor). Looks like it may be the ecu then? I am able to connect to ecu via the obd port -- no fault codes are recorded. Interestingly while connected I can monitor engine rpm and even when I crank the engine, no revs are showing. Could this be a sensor problem?
Any advice gratefully received.
Neil.
 
nmallam said:
Looks like I have the same problem with starting as described here. No spark, no fuel but fuses/relays ok. Car is a 1.0 SE from 2001 (coilpacks not distributor). Looks like it may be the ecu then? I am able to connect to ecu via the obd port -- no fault codes are recorded. Interestingly while connected I can monitor engine rpm and even when I crank the engine, no revs are showing. Could this be a sensor problem?
Any advice gratefully received.
Neil.
Click to expand...

Is the led on the dash flashing or does it go off?
 
should be in the front of the g/box bell housing neil, behind the rad, you would probably need a scope to test it properly
 
When I probe it (cranksharft sensor) with a multimeter it appears to be completely open circuit. When I probe the camshaft sensor (which looks to be identical), I see some resistance between two of the contacts. Suggests the crankshaft sensor is duff.
 
The might sound like a wild thought but if you do go down the road of buying parts for it, you could get scrapper pretty cheap. That way you could not only swap parts in diagnosis but use the working one for test reference points.
This is what I am planning to do, incase i get the same problem as you. Or use a friends car for diagnosis if they have the same model.
Depends on condition, how long you intend to keep it, excetra..
just throwing the idea out there as I can get the same car for around 100 quid and no more bits to buy:p
 

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