Crank... No Spark 1999 Automatic K11

Evening All !!

Newbie here, been going through tonnes of threads relating to a problem I have…… hopefully someone can help ? (Apologies for the long post)

My father has tasked me with fixing his 1999 Micra K11 (Automatic).

Basically, the car cuts out when warm, and does not restart until cool.

My initial thought was the Distributor, Ignition Switch or Fuel Temperature Sensor.

I took charge of his vehicle and ordered a brand-new Distributor, Ignition Switch and Temperature Sensor, and started by fitting the Distributor and Heat Sensor (Blue plastic one as the brown ones are not as good). All went fine, it got changed and the car fired up.

After about 20 minutes, the cars radiator fan kicked in as it had warmed up, and then the engine instantly died.

It started up again but died in a matter of seconds, and wouldn't start again.

From this point, I checked for a spark (which there was), but then the spark disappeared and has not been seen since and so whilst it was cooling down, decided to change the Ignition Switch.

All went well, and the next day, tried to fire her up again….. Cranks but no go (the Spark was still not present).

I put everything back to how it was (old distributor and ignition) just to see if this was an issue (I have been told that some aftermarket Dizzy’s are not exceptionally reliable).

Still no Spark, and no go.

Check for fuel, all OK.

Decided to get another Dizzy (2nd hand Nissan part), still no spark, tried a third Nissan Dizzy….. nothing!!

The chances of 4 Dizzy’s not working has made me realise that the Dizzy is not the issue.

Tried to scan the car, but realised that a Nissan OBD adaptor was required, so ordered that, on arrival, plugged in the OBD Scanner….. No Communication ☹

Did the bridging trick and got error code 21 which is ignition system, so I have gone through and checked plugs and electrical connections and found nothing.

I am sort of thinking now that it may be the wiring that plugs into the Distributor as therefore all 4 Dizzy’s are not having an effect in producing the spark.

The Engine Management light does not flash to indicate an ECR fault, so I am hopeful it is not an ECR problem.

Can you guys give me any clues as to my next plan of action, it has been suggested to add an extra body earth to the car, would this help?

Your help will be greatly appreciated ?
 

frank

Club Member
Evening All !!

Newbie here, been going through tonnes of threads relating to a problem I have…… hopefully someone can help ? (Apologies for the long post)

My father has tasked me with fixing his 1999 Micra K11 (Automatic).

Basically, the car cuts out when warm, and does not restart until cool.

My initial thought was the Distributor, Ignition Switch or Fuel Temperature Sensor.

I took charge of his vehicle and ordered a brand-new Distributor, Ignition Switch and Temperature Sensor, and started by fitting the Distributor and Heat Sensor (Blue plastic one as the brown ones are not as good). All went fine, it got changed and the car fired up.

After about 20 minutes, the cars radiator fan kicked in as it had warmed up, and then the engine instantly died.

It started up again but died in a matter of seconds, and wouldn't start again.

From this point, I checked for a spark (which there was), but then the spark disappeared and has not been seen since and so whilst it was cooling down, decided to change the Ignition Switch.

All went well, and the next day, tried to fire her up again….. Cranks but no go (the Spark was still not present).

I put everything back to how it was (old distributor and ignition) just to see if this was an issue (I have been told that some aftermarket Dizzy’s are not exceptionally reliable).

Still no Spark, and no go.

Check for fuel, all OK.

Decided to get another Dizzy (2nd hand Nissan part), still no spark, tried a third Nissan Dizzy….. nothing!!

The chances of 4 Dizzy’s not working has made me realise that the Dizzy is not the issue.

Tried to scan the car, but realised that a Nissan OBD adaptor was required, so ordered that, on arrival, plugged in the OBD Scanner….. No Communication ☹

Did the bridging trick and got error code 21 which is ignition system, so I have gone through and checked plugs and electrical connections and found nothing.

I am sort of thinking now that it may be the wiring that plugs into the Distributor as therefore all 4 Dizzy’s are not having an effect in producing the spark.

The Engine Management light does not flash to indicate an ECR fault, so I am hopeful it is not an ECR problem.

Can you guys give me any clues as to my next plan of action, it has been suggested to add an extra body earth to the car, would this help?

Your help will be greatly appreciated ?

you need this type of obd lead
and its easy to confuse the smaller dizzy plug with one of the coolant temp sensor plugs
 
sounds like a possible issue with crank sensor ..fault code checking is standard way forward .replacing everything can get tiresome and expensive. do also check inhibitor switch from gearbox. and any chaffed wires as easy to miss an earthing fault. check over wiring with a diagram but as it was running before .. what was changed that might have an impact of things now?
 
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