[CALGACUS]

Hi All,

I'm having a problem with my Nissan Primera 'R' registration/'98 1.6 litre.

I'm sorry about the length of this post but thought that I'd give you all the details of what's gone wrong - whether or not it's relevant.

The car is normally very reliable and starts first time regardless of the weather, but in January I went out to start the car and it refused. It eventually started up OK and ran fine from then on.

In February I was driving late at night and the engine cut out. I was towed to a garage who later told me that I needed a new distributor - this was fitted and again the car ran OK afterwards.

I then paid to have the car fully serviced.

Yesterday I went out to the car, it started fine as usual, but a second later the engine cut out. There was no warning, and no lights came up on the display.

The car was very reluctant to start after that. The engine cranked fine, but there was no sign of it catching. Then, eventually it did. I gave it a few minutes to warm up, but after about two it cut out again.

Lots more cranking later, it caught once more. After giving it five minutes I drove off only for the engine to cut out about 50 yards down the road. Again, it started up after a bit of turning over.

It then ran perfectly for the rest of the afternoon.

Yesterday evening I used the car again. It started first time and ran smoothly for about an hour before cutting out suddenly as I was approaching a roundabout. After I pulled in to the side of the road I got it going again after a few minutes of turning over and drove (carefully) home.

There are never any warning lights that give advance information of when the engine is going to cut.

The only other thing that I can think of to tell you is that ever since the distributor was replaced I have felt that the engine hasn’t being producing as much power as it did previously, but I don’t know if this is really happening, or if I’m just suffering from ‘vehicle hypochondria’. Also, I get a slight judder from the engine as the tachometer passes through 1800 rpm – this is particularly noticeable in third gear, but can also be felt slightly in fourth. I don’t know whether or not this is significant.

I know that the problem will probably lie either in the electrical or fuel systems, but after reading about similar faults on the internet it seems it could be any one of a whole host of things - spark plugs, HT leads, fuel filter blockage, injector blockage, loose ignition wiring, fuel pump fault, etc.

Again, sorry for the length of the post but I’m really hoping that someone will be able to suggest what the problem may be and what my next move should be.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions,

Don.

[Dave72400]

Hi Don,

Did you get your problem sorted in the end? Im afraid I havent got a solution, but I'm having similar problems with my 51 Reg Primera.

It starts ok, but there is alot of juddering between 1500 and 2000 revs in most gears and lack of power.

I've had it in the garage a few times, they know it is misfiring, but they cant figure out why. Its in the garage today, I'll let you know if they manage to fix it and what the problem was.

If yours is already fixed, could you let me know what the problem was?

Thanks,
Dave

[CALGACUS]

Hi Dave,

Sorry to hear that your having problems with your Primea,

I'm afraid that I haven't had any luck in fixing the fault. There are a lot of things that it may be and I doubt that I'll manage to narrow down the possibilities until the weekend (too dark and rainy in the evenings at the moment!)

I'm tending to think that It's probably the fuel pump though - judging from the symptoms. I found a description on another site of a failing fuel pump:

Symptoms may include surging, low power (especially on hills), hard starting cold, hard restarting hot (usually with less than half a tank of fuel), rough idling, dying at stops, etc. Replacing the fuel filter at this point will generally give temporary relief from some of these symptoms. The fuel pump will usually pass a pressure test at this point and may or may not pass a volume test.

The fact that the last time I tried to start it it caught momentarily before cutting out would suggest to me that the fuel delivery system was pressurised after the last time it ran - this caused the motor to start, but then the lack of more fuel from the pump caused it to cut out.
Now I just have to check whether it is the pump or the pump relay, or maybe even a loose connection in the power wires to the pump (I'll replace the fuel filter too).

I hope that the garage managed to fix your Primera - let me know what happens,

Thanks for the reply,

Don.

[Dave72400]

Hi Don,

Thanks for your reply.

Unfortunately the garage was unable to fix the car yesterday! And by the sounds of what the mechanic said, my problem is different to yours. He said the problem with mine is a piston 4 misfire, but he can't figure out why, he thinks it may be a wiring problem or an ECU problem but recommended taking it to Nissan.

I hope you manage to get yours sorted soon. I'll let you know what the problem with mine was if I finally manage to get it fixed!

Thanks again,
Dave

[CALGACUS]

Hi All,

First up - thanks for all the advice and support since I first posted on here over a week ago. It's made a tremendous difference being able to ask for (and get) informed advice.

Secondly (:o hangs head in shame:o ) my car's working again.

When it first went wrong I swear I checked all the electrical connectors, sprayed them with WD40 in case they were damp, made sure they were all secure. Well, I was just out at the car (and it's snowing here *brrrr*) and decided to check them again. And *pop* one of the electrical plugs and socket pairs clicked together (there was a bit of force involved).

The car started first time

I can't stress the :D :D enough!!

So, sorry to you all for wasting your time like this, but you have my heartfelt gratitude for your support and advice.

The good news is that after reading the Primera Haynes manual virtually cover to cover over the last fortnight I intend to go through the service checks it recommends one by one over the next few weeks and personally make sure that everything is in first class condition,

Cheers Guys,

Don.

[NZRob]

Dave have you fixed it

Dave,

My Primera 1995 P10 has exactly the same symptoms as yours.

Did you get to the bottom of what caused it?

Was it the E G R vavle by any chance?

Rob

[ntlsharks]

primera

Originally Posted by CALGACUS

Hi All,

I'm having a problem with my Nissan Primera 'R' registration/'98 1.6 litre.

I'm sorry about the length of this post but thought that I'd give you all the details of what's gone wrong - whether or not it's relevant.

The car is normally very reliable and starts first time regardless of the weather, but in January I went out to start the car and it refused. It eventually started up OK and ran fine from then on.

In February I was driving late at night and the engine cut out. I was towed to a garage who later told me that I needed a new distributor - this was fitted and again the car ran OK afterwards.

I then paid to have the car fully serviced.

Yesterday I went out to the car, it started fine as usual, but a second later the engine cut out. There was no warning, and no lights came up on the display.

The car was very reluctant to start after that. The engine cranked fine, but there was no sign of it catching. Then, eventually it did. I gave it a few minutes to warm up, but after about two it cut out again.

Lots more cranking later, it caught once more. After giving it five minutes I drove off only for the engine to cut out about 50 yards down the road. Again, it started up after a bit of turning over.

It then ran perfectly for the rest of the afternoon.

Yesterday evening I used the car again. It started first time and ran smoothly for about an hour before cutting out suddenly as I was approaching a roundabout. After I pulled in to the side of the road I got it going again after a few minutes of turning over and drove (carefully) home.

There are never any warning lights that give advance information of when the engine is going to cut.

The only other thing that I can think of to tell you is that ever since the distributor was replaced I have felt that the engine hasn’t being producing as much power as it did previously, but I don’t know if this is really happening, or if I’m just suffering from ‘vehicle hypochondria’. Also, I get a slight judder from the engine as the tachometer passes through 1800 rpm – this is particularly noticeable in third gear, but can also be felt slightly in fourth. I don’t know whether or not this is significant.

I know that the problem will probably lie either in the electrical or fuel systems, but after reading about similar faults on the internet it seems it could be any one of a whole host of things - spark plugs, HT leads, fuel filter blockage, injector blockage, loose ignition wiring, fuel pump fault, etc.

Again, sorry for the length of the post but I’m really hoping that someone will be able to suggest what the problem may be and what my next move should be.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions,

Don.

Sounds like your feul pump is going, I had similar problem and had to replace the feul pump and was all sorted after that

[NZRob]

update

two problems seemed to be present in my case. Loose spark plugs had let in some water..... I live in a rain forest, it gets wet in winter.
After replacing the fuel filter, taking #2 spark plug out and letting it run for a couple of minutes, then giving all the plugs a bit of a tighten. All was good in the world again.