Engine Light

Dave_Ally

Ex. Club Member
Argh! First time I've seen the check engine light on a Micra :(
Lit up on the motorway whilst cruising, engine runs without any problems but it's now constantly on. Short of going and getting an expensive diagnosis are there any cheap readers for these? It's a K11C 2000 SE+.

Car is due a service next week so whether it's just a lambda or something I'm not sure. fwn
 

Guy

Has gone over to the oily side...
Club Member
When I had my K11, the engine light came on at 30,000 indicating faulty cat. Was still on when I part-exed it at 107,000 miles. Never failed an emissions test either :). eBay do the readers for ~£25-30.
 
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Dave_Ally

Dave_Ally

Ex. Club Member
Right have ordered a code reader, hope it turns up tomorrow. :(
Seems to be running OK except my idle is a bit low - 500rpm. It's not cutting out but I find at lights I balance my foot on the pedal to keep it at 700-800 so it's smoother. Maybe related?
 

Guy

Has gone over to the oily side...
Club Member
I'm no expert but from what I've picked up on here that sounds like a possible throttle body solder job. Do a quick search for 'solder' :).
 
this happened to my micra its a 2000 1.0 s. the engine light came on. and it was idling low. it turn out to be the MAF. got one of flebay for £25 and this solved the problem for me so might be worth a look.
 
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Dave_Ally

Dave_Ally

Ex. Club Member
OK, got the code reader this morning (quick ebay service!) and the code is:

P0171
System Too Lean (Bank 1)

Possibly an oxygen sensor or the MAF?
 
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Dave_Ally

Dave_Ally

Ex. Club Member
Well it's been a while since I posted in this but I'm still having this issue I guess.
I had it in the garage on Friday to be hooked up to diagnostics, the only thing found in the live data is the exhaust O2 sensor was occasionally 'slightly lazy' but it's still functioning fine between rich and lean? They cleared the code after that and there was nothing further after that. Picked it up and put some more fuel in, parked up and left it until today.

Started up fine and set off but noticed after I'd gone out of the first street that it was jumping between 1.5k and 2k revs like it wasn't getting the right mixture! Was fine above 2k RPM so got it parked up, turned off and started again. Did it again a little bit when I set off but as soon as it started to get warm it was smooth as ever and the light hasn't come back on. Which leads me to think something isn't working when it's gotten cold after the light is reset which needs to be compensated for eventually leading to the light coming back on with that same code?
 
Most cheap ebay code readers have the OBDII 16 pin plug on them which might not fit your Micra (they changed about 2000)
Your car may still have the earlier Nissan 14 pin diagnostic plug on it.

You can get adaptors to connect your laptop to your car, theyre on ebay too about the same price! Try searching Nissan consult.
Alternatively, visit your local garage and ask them to scan it. When they tell you what they found you can price the job up with them or get the bits yourself. That will cost between £Free and £40.
 
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Dave_Ally

Dave_Ally

Ex. Club Member
Most cheap ebay code readers have the OBDII 16 pin plug on them which might not fit your Micra (they changed about 2000)
Your car may still have the earlier Nissan 14 pin diagnostic plug on it.

You can get adaptors to connect your laptop to your car, theyre on ebay too about the same price! Try searching Nissan consult.
Alternatively, visit your local garage and ask them to scan it. When they tell you what they found you can price the job up with them or get the bits yourself. That will cost between £Free and £40.

As earlier in the thread it does have OBDII and the recurring code is P0171 (System Too Lean [Bank 1]). As I said I took it to the garage on Friday when the light was on and they couldn't find anything in the live data other than a slightly lazy O2 sensor in the exhaust but apparently it's still switching between rich and lean OK.
 
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Dave_Ally

Dave_Ally

Ex. Club Member
Yeah it's a CGA3DE so I think it has the one in the exhaust they were talking about and one up front somewhere. I did ask whether it might be related to that one or the MAF as I've heard the MAFs can cause trouble on the later models but everything appears to be normal when the light was on and just after it was switched off.

It isn't really affecting fuel consumption either (roughly 40mpg which I think is alright considering I am mainly doing town driving in the week). The low idle seems to have settled down a little bit since I picked it up, it's sitting a little bit above 500 now where as before it would usually sit at just that and occasionally dip below for a second like the car was going to stall before righting itself. Weird this one :down:
 

frank

Club Member
we,ve had members posting up problems with the 2nd lambda on your type of model before dave (there might be some threads on the ilexa forum)
 
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Dave_Ally

Dave_Ally

Ex. Club Member
Hi, the lambda diagnosed as lazy was changed the other day. All seemed fine until this morning, pulled out from my house and found absolutely no power. Welded foot to the floor and it wouldn't rev at all, just sat at 1k RPM.

Thankfully wasn't busy so quickly pulled over (with some clutch work), stopped and left it for a few minutes and started again. Pulled out fine but then proceeded to judder violently until past 2k RPM (much worse than before). Again, once it warmed up it was fine again. Just seems to be when starting cold. Maybe check how it starts cold without the MAF connected next to see if that improves things?

Edit: After further searching through the archives here it seems I'm also using the wrong spark plugs in my CGA. Will get the NGKs swapped out for FR8DCX plugs ASAP! I temporarily disconnected the MAF and took it for a short run and it seemed a little better but it's already started compensating for the fault again by the looks of it (takes about 60-80 miles before the light illuminates again it runs better until the MIL is reset again - annoying!).
 
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Dave_Ally

Dave_Ally

Ex. Club Member
Argh! The MAF sensor has now been changed twice and both times the light has come back on. The first time, the air temperature meter on the side of the MAF burnt out after a few miles and threw up a new error code. After replacing it, the light has come back on this morning so I need to check it for codes and see whats up now.

Bad batch or are there known MAFs that work with these? Getting really frustrating now :doh::(
 
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