Having big problems with reliably starting my K12

[fyllbee]

Hi there MSC!

I was wondering if anyone can offer me any insight into diagnosing my Micra.

Since June I've been having problems starting it, initially it was the starter switch which I then replaced along with a new battery at the same time, the car went from not turning over at all to working fine for about a weekend. It has around 63,000 miles on the clock and is only driven about in town, I've had it since 2007 but it is a 53 plate 5dr SE.

Then the car seems to have developed a new fault which is very strange, it will start fine first time but if it is then driven anywhere, turned off and left for a while when I come back the car will not start. The starter motor will turn over but the engine seems to make no attempt at reacting to this and nothing will happen. The boot lid was also opening when I turned the ignition so that is now disconnected via the fuse box next to the steering wheel.
However if I say come back to the car the next day it will fire up fine, the engine sounds like it's running perfectly so I don't think it is timing chain related. However after repeated attempts at starting the engine warning light comes on, with the error code warning about the CAMSHAFT SENSOR. I have taken the car to two different garages, one a Nissan specialist and they both cannot find a mechanical fault anywhere and cleared the code, a mechanic from the second garage did however say it could be an anti-theft error.

Nissan have been less than helpful as they want to charge £85 just to look at the bloody thing and then never seem to have anyone on the other end ready to take my call.

The strange thing is this error seems to be completely random and is very annoying as you cannot go anywhere and guarantee that you can come home as the engine will not turn over. I was planning on using the car this summer with friends as I only past my test last year and I'm miserable as a result because it keeps letting me down.

Does anyone have any ideas, just to summarise I have:
Replaced the starter switch, (which made the car work fine for a weekend until this starting problem occurred)
Replaced the battery; again the car worked fine for about two days after doing this.
Put in a whole new tank of fuel to burn off anything that might be causing problems.
Put in new oil although the car barely uses any anyway.

I've honestly ran out of ideas how to fix it and everyone else online seems to have had the original problem with the starter switch and then their cars' have worked fine.

Any ideas anyone, otherwise it's going to sit unused outside the house gathering dust

 

[raptoranderson]

Test the alternator and see if its actually charging the battery. There are numerous YouTube videos about testing an alternator using a voltmeter and different tests you can do to make sure the battery is charging. Just make sure you have the wires connected up properly! I set up the voltmeter and overlooked that someone hadn't put one of the inputs into the COM input and the voltmeter started literally cooking because the circuit was not fused and it was melting the wires but it still works fine now if it's not your alternator then get the battery life tested, NOT voltage-drop tested. It may be that you have a bad battery. I went through 3 in the space of one year because of a bad batch of batteries ... not fun.

As for it being the camshaft sensor you would know immediately if it was the sensor having a fault. The engine revs would pulse and surge up and down as the car was running because the camshaft was out of sync with the rest of the engine. I had my radiator boil over and the fluid leaked onto the sensor and burned it out so I had to get a new one as well as a few new radiator hoses.

 

[plmval]

Non-starting when hot/warm

1) A proactive targeted route to a diagnosis would be to call out yours or a family members/friend’s breakdown service to diagnose it for no cost, the next time it refuses to start!

2) The symptoms you describe imply possible flooding rich running. Flooring and holding the throttle at maximum wide open and spinning the engine on the starter may dry the plugs sufficiently for it to start?

3) The ageing K-12 is notorious for electrical faults, any one of which could be the source of your problems.

Reference; https://www.micra.org.uk/threads/micra-k12-completely-dead.61654/#post-697849

Good luck!

 

[alexvanwyk]

What worries me here is that the boot opened when the problem started. It could be a short in the wiring. I have had solder joints that were fine when they are cold but dont make contact when hot. Try taking a look behind the fuse box and check for any water damage or corrosion.
Or it could be the anti theft messing you around.
Good luck.

 

[BH12MWA]

Several possible explanations
1. Too much petrol is going into addmision on startup-check throtle body
2. Short-circuit somwhere(an electrician should solve this). If there are no errors when put on a tester, the chances are very small finding the problem
3. One or more ground cables are loose or not making good connection.
4. Sparkplugs and their connection cables are ok? Is there oil in your air-filter box?

Strange problem you have