I was driving normally at about 40mph, suddenly the engine shut off , I had road service bring my car home.
Things I have checked:
- Stereo, lights work ok
- The car gets starting, but the engine does not turn on
- I did a visual inspection of cables that I can see from top and nothing seems to be damaged
- I also checked every cable I could see to see if there was any loose one, every thing was tight.
- Checked the fuses related to electric, ingnition, and engine in the box that goes inside, they were fine.
- Under the hood there is three fuse boxes: I checked all the transparent ones, they were fine. THE ONLY FUSES THAT I COULD NOT CHECK WERE THE BIG ONES (FROM THE BIG FUSE BOX, AND FROM ONE OF THE SMALL FUSE BOXES), THEY ARE NOT TRANSPARENT, SO I DON'T KNOW HOW TO CHECK THIS...
-The oil level was LOW, but the engine temperature has been fine all the time, I also added more oil yesterday but it did not fixed the problem.
I'm lost damn, these cars are supposed to be reliable damn!
What can I do? may be I can buy one of those compact computers to diagnose the car and then return it, and then solve the issue...
Appreciate your help!!
Christian
Last edited by Christian_C : Jul 8th, 2007 at 08:25 AM.
I was driving normally at about 40mph, suddenly the engine shut off , I had road service bring my car home.
Things I have checked:
- Stereo, lights work ok
- The car gets starting, but the engine does not turn on
- I did a visual inspection of cables that I can see from top and nothing seems to be damaged
- I also checked every cable I could see to see if there was any loose one, every thing was tight.
- Checked the fuses related to electric, ingnition, and engine in the box that goes inside, they were fine.
- Under the hood there is three fuse boxes: I checked all the transparent ones, they were fine. THE ONLY FUSES THAT I COULD NOT CHECK WERE THE BIG ONES (FROM THE BIG FUSE BOX, AND FROM ONE OF THE SMALL FUSE BOXES), THEY ARE NOT TRANSPARENT, SO I DON'T KNOW HOW TO CHECK THIS...
-The oil level was LOW, but the engine temperature has been fine all the time, I also added more oil yesterday but it did not fixed the problem.
I'm lost damn, these cars are supposed to be reliable damn!
What can I do? may be I can buy one of those compact computers to diagnose the car and then return it, and then solve the issue...
Appreciate your help!!
Christian
please explain the symptoms in more detail
turn key to ign on
do you hear the fuel pump prime?
do all dash lights come on warning lights etc
what happens when you turn the key to start.starter cranks engine ?
if turns over but does not fire is there a check Engine Light (CEL) on ?
do you hear the fuel pump prime?: Yes I can hear it when I open the switch
do all dash lights come on warning lights etc: yes they all come on when the switch is open and after I stop cranking
what happens when you turn the key to start.starter cranks engine ?: The engine cranks but it does not start
if turns over but does not fire is there a check Engine Light (CEL) on ?: while cranking only the car door, seat belt, and brake lights stay on
sorry didnt reply sooner been out.
so the CEL is not on now indicating an error ?
So i think you should check for a spark next.
If you have any spark plug pull one lead and put plug where you can see the gap resting on metal ( not the plastic valve cover) and crank the car. you should see a blue spark every 2 revolutions.
you can also listen for the fuel injectors with a screw driver, they apparently click when they operate. (not done that myself but read here.)
just for information what mileage on the car ?
Well I didn't see any spark, is the spark easy to see??
Regarding the fuel injectors, when opening the switch I can definitively hear a click, and a weird noise. (I did this same test on my girlfriends altima (which is working ok) and I only heard the click). I wonder if there is a little injection pump there that is being forced by some obstruction in the gas flow....
Well I didn't see any spark, is the spark easy to see??
Regarding the fuel injectors, when opening the switch I can definitively hear a click, and a weird noise. (I did this same test on my girlfriends altima (which is working ok) and I only heard the click). I wonder if there is a little injection pump there that is being forced by some obstruction in the gas flow....
you should see a blue spark, and a bit of a crack, its about 25,000 Volts but can be difficult to see in bright sunlight. in shade is easy to see.
so please check again.
If no spark that would explain sudden engine cuting out and not re-starting.
goo luck....
I did the check and I believe there is no spark there...
ok.
So next thing to do is take a look at the distributor, rotor cap assembly.
Some people have reported oil in the distributor, there should not be any oil.
Check condition of rotor arm and cap.
I suggest you search the forum for "distributor" and or "bad spark" also look in GA16 section.
the spark is all contained in the distributer and coil, so don't have to worry about the computer (ECU)
good luck...
Also forgot to mention that you can download the factory service manual from here. All B14's are similar so 1996 vs 1999 the differences are cosmetic. http://www.nissanforums.com/b14-95-9...ce-manual.html
I removed the distributor cap, and it looks fine, no oil, no moisture. I also tried to start the car with the cap off to see if there arm was rotating and it was ok. I guess this is an electrical problem and there is just no electricity coming to the distributor. I already had downloaded the FSM (thanks though for the link). I will study the electrical diagrams to narrow down where the electrical problem could be coming from...
Any extra ideas???
Last edited by Christian_C : Jul 9th, 2007 at 01:11 PM.
I removed the distributor cap, and it looks fine, no oil, no moisture. I also tried to start the car with the cap off to see if there arm was rotating and it was ok. I guess this is an electrical problem and there is just no electricity coming to the distributor. I already had downloaded the FSM (thanks though for the link). I will study the electrical diagrams to narrow down where the electrical problem could be coming from...
Any extra ideas???
The easy answer would be to replace the distributer with one from wreaking yard or a rebuilt from auto parts store.
good luck....
I replaced the spark plugs, the old ones looked pretty bad. It took some time the first attempt but it started!!! However, the car attempts to shut off, there is brrrrbrrrrr every 30 secs or so. Sounds like the spark still is not strong enough, may be I can change the distributor cap to see what happens... I just don't want to spend a lot of money on a new distributor
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