Micra/March problem

Hello all,

I'm a newbie here looking for some pretty basic information.

I live in Uganda and have been lent an MA10S circa 1991 Micra. It's badged as a Nissan March so I'm assuming it's a Japanese market vehicle personally imported here (most Toyotas, Nissans etc are ex-Japan cars).

One of the dashboard warning lights refuses to go out. I've no idea if it's got a standard (UK) dash layout but it's in the middle row to the left of the brake warning light, directly above the oil warning light and directly below the rear screen heater light. Any idea what this is for? I've check all the obvious levels etc and can't find a problem. I can email a photo of the dash if it's a weird one....

Not sure if it makes any difference but the car has power steering and air con (tragically not working at the moment).

Btw, can anyone give me a rough idea of the mpg? Fuel's not cheap over here so I want to make sure I can afford to run it!

Thanks,

Rich
 

joesouthgate

Super Moderator
Moderator
Club Member
well if power steering and aircon arent working then i would asume it was a warning light for one of those?
 
Just the aircon that's not working, the power steering is fine.

The aircon switch has been disconnected as the bearing was getting noisy (this happened before we got the car) but I'm not sure there's a warning light for low coolant or something.

The light will sometimes go off for no apparent reason and then come back on again after a few minutes. The car seems to run ok so I'm not too bothered about it but it would be nice to know if it's about to explode!
 

solarice

Ex. Club Member
if its intermittant, its possible it could just be bad connection somewhere...maybe just a short or somthing thats causing the light to light up.

Just had a quick look at my old K10 haynes manual, and the only thing that is in that area is the fog light warning light...if your dash on the left hand side is made up of 6 warning symbols.
 

James

Chairman
The only light i can think of that the JDM K10s have over the UK spec ones is the exhaust (or more specifically the cat I think) temperature warning light, which looks like this:

22.temp.jpg


(That's the best quality picture I could get I'm afraid)
 
That's the bunny! Didn't even know it had a cat!! Perhaps trhe bump starting I did a while ago isn't doing it much good......

So, as the light comes on from the moment I start the engine I'm guessing it's a faulty sensor....?
 

Ed

Fusion Motorsport
MSC Founder
Official MSC Trader
yeah ignore it. Its a temp sensor on the down pipe just after the cat, cut the wires and join them its not worth getting a new sensor. The light should go out then. Failing that remove the bulb. I know this is crude and I wouldn't normally recommend that, but the sensor is will cost a small fortune, and its really not something you need to worry about.

Nice pic James.
 

esha

Ex. Club Member
If it is just a temp sensor then i dont see a problem with just cutting it off, but Im pretty damn sure that thats the lambda sensor and for gods sake DO NOT CUT IT OFF, that sensor reads the emissions coming from the engine and tells the ecu if the engines burning up to much/too little fuel etc, if you cut this off your engine really is going to run like a box of frogs as the ecu isnt going to have a clue whats happening inside the engine, i think a new sensor would cost about £60 here which is a fair amount to pay but it is quite important, especially as the sensor would make sure theres no unburnt fuel coming through the exhaust which would kill the cat, and itll make sure theres the right amount of air getting and fuel getting to the engine.
 

joesouthgate

Super Moderator
Moderator
Club Member
If it is just a temp sensor then i dont see a problem with just cutting it off, but Im pretty damn sure that thats the lambda sensor and for gods sake DO NOT CUT IT OFF,

I should think ed knows what he's talking about by now!
 

Ed

Fusion Motorsport
MSC Founder
Official MSC Trader
The temp sensor is after the cat the lambda sensor is before.

BTW this is a K10, with ECC. Its not a K11 and even then if you were to accidentally cut the wires on either of those you most probably would not notice, especially on a K10, it has carb not injection. These older systems do not rely on the sensors anywhere near the same level as new ecus do.

especially as the sensor would make sure theres no unburnt fuel coming through the exhaust which would kill the cat, and itll make sure theres the right amount of air getting and fuel getting to the engine.

Cats usually die and melt due to a LEAN condition not a RICH one, when too rich they just dont work and can clog up, when too lean there is to much oxygen present and they overheat and melt.
 

nissanmicrak12

Ex. Club Member
i didnt know that ed :doh: lol

ive seen the cats a nissan we have them on our shelfs, if you look through them all the little holes you can see ony one bit of light amazing really :D
 

esha

Ex. Club Member
I wasnt trying to throw my weight around or offend anyone, apologies if it seemed that way, its the most common thing we see here when a cat has failed due to the lambda sensor being faulty, after reading your comment ed i realise that your right about the older models being less reliant on cats than newer models, but in the past we have had to warrenty quite a few cats weve fitted because after we refitted the old lamda sensor, we found that that was what was faulty and ruined the new cat after two weeks.
But my apolgies if i seemed like i was trying to be a t**t
 

Ed

Fusion Motorsport
MSC Founder
Official MSC Trader
No problem esha. I would entirely agree, and would always change a lambda sensor with cat, but usually on an old car where the cat most likely doesn't work properly anyway, and is not even needed its not an issue. K11 owners should of course do it the right way, but were really talking about the ancient K10s here.
 

Baz

Ex. Club Member
No problem esha. I would entirely agree, and would always change a lambda sensor with cat, but usually on an old car where the cat most likely doesn't work properly anyway, and is not even needed its not an issue. K11 owners should of course do it the right way, but were really talking about the ancient K10s here.

:down:
 
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