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Hi, I'm John and I own a Nissan.
I've been having a problem with the engine shutting off suddenly for the last week or so. This is the CA20E engine. When it shuts off, it usually won't start right away. Sometimes this happens in the driveway before the engine has even had a chance to warm up, so it doen't seem to be temperature related. The engine is in good shape mechanically. It has spark at all times. Timing belt is only 10 months old. New fuel filter today. Fuel pressure checks out good, 30 to 35 psi when running.
When it refuses to start, the fuel pump runs on much longer than it is supposed to and it makes a cycling sound. The idle control valve hammers in sync with the cycling of the pump and I even noticed that the code lamps in the ECU both flash with the pump cycle. While this happens the fuel pressue goes up to about 40 psi and cycles up and down about 1 psi. This might happen for a dozen attempts to start the engine, then it will work just right, but only run for a minute or two before it starts all the cycling again and shuts down. From looking at the service manual, it looks like the ECU controls the fuel pump based on inputs form the sensors. The fact that it works right sometimes makes me think the sensors are OK. I'm starting to think that it might be the ECU since everything else seems to check out, but I would like to be totally sure before I lay out that much money. Has anybody seen this before? Any ideas?
Thanks,
John
I've been having a problem with the engine shutting off suddenly for the last week or so. This is the CA20E engine. When it shuts off, it usually won't start right away. Sometimes this happens in the driveway before the engine has even had a chance to warm up, so it doen't seem to be temperature related. The engine is in good shape mechanically. It has spark at all times. Timing belt is only 10 months old. New fuel filter today. Fuel pressure checks out good, 30 to 35 psi when running.
When it refuses to start, the fuel pump runs on much longer than it is supposed to and it makes a cycling sound. The idle control valve hammers in sync with the cycling of the pump and I even noticed that the code lamps in the ECU both flash with the pump cycle. While this happens the fuel pressue goes up to about 40 psi and cycles up and down about 1 psi. This might happen for a dozen attempts to start the engine, then it will work just right, but only run for a minute or two before it starts all the cycling again and shuts down. From looking at the service manual, it looks like the ECU controls the fuel pump based on inputs form the sensors. The fact that it works right sometimes makes me think the sensors are OK. I'm starting to think that it might be the ECU since everything else seems to check out, but I would like to be totally sure before I lay out that much money. Has anybody seen this before? Any ideas?
Thanks,
John