Mike, my white 300€ Micra

[FinnishCoffee]

Summer

This story begins last summer. During the rest of the year an university student, but as holidays were on, I was working. Early hours meant no luck with public transport, and family circumstances meant I couldn't borrow a car from my parents, at least not reliably.

Thus the search begun for a veritable ****box that could take me to work and back, and as cheap as possible. In general, cars aren't as cheap here in Finland as in the UK, and obviously my budget wasn't that big. Under the 1000€ mark there's lots of old diesels (expensive tax, expensive fuel) and all kinds of rust buckets, most not roadworthy. But then this little gem popped up, within walking distance of home:

A 1999 Micra Avec 1.0 with 223 479 km, for only 300€. The only problem was, it wouldn't start. The owner told me it had run fine for years and tens of thousands of kilometers, yet one morning it would not start and had no spark. Some attempts were made to fix it, unsuccessfully, and it was, unceremoniously, listed for sale.

Armed with some knowledge about the car, I soon found this forum, and the most probable culprit: the ignition module in the distributor. So I called the seller to seal the deal and my brother to come tow it to my place later that afternoon, and soon I was the owner of a honestly quite manky K11.

We made a stop at the local cheap tools and car parts store (Biltema, for the nordics among us) to pick up some essential stuff, like another towing rope to keep in the car, fuses, jump cables and so on. I also took a picture, which coincidentally I later chose as my profile photo here.

Not long after, I had a non-running car sitting in my parking spot. Now I just needed to get it going.

To be continued, soon.

 

[FinnishCoffee]

Spark?

(Sorry, this post will not have many pictures. I was too excited.)

It was quite the quiet day at work, so I had ample time to browse the Internet and look for what's wrong. Most of you probably already know the issue at hand: a broken ignition module, also known as a RSB-53. With that info in hand, I started looking for one, and quickly resigned to the fact I'd have to order one from abroad and it would be weeks until it was here.

With a sigh, I went on to the website of the local auto parts conglomerate to look for other service essentials. Drivers rubber floormat for 1,50€? Yes please! Idly scrolling by the surprisingly plentiful lists of Micra-related paraphernalia, past the oddly cheap repair panels and overpriced motor oils, I stumbled upon the section named "Motor control systems". And there it was, under the heading "Ignition control units", what I was searching for. In stock at the nearest store. For 100€. God damnit.

After contemplating it for a few long coffee breaks, I decided to go for it. So I went to the parts store, and got the unit (it's got both the cam sensor and the ignition transistor in it, what should it be called?), the 1,50€ floormat and a can of almost-right-shade-of-white paint from the bargain bin for 1€. Also a cheap cigarette lighter socket, as the car didn't have one.

So, armed with some tools, way too little patience, way too much excitement, and this YouTube video as a guide, I embarked on my mighty quest of getting the car running again.

Aside from the rotor being held on with a completely wrong screw that was nigh impossible to remove, the swap went without a hitch. I went on to try and start the engine.

Moment of truth time. I turn the key, and: CRANK-Crank-crank-c r a n k-c r r r-click. Out of battery. Of course.

So I got the other, borrowed car next to the Micra and gave it a jump. Another try. CRANK-Crank-crank-cra-cra-cra-WROOM!

It started. The piece of **** started. 400€ and I had a running, driving car. Hell yeah.

And what do you do when you've got a new car that actually runs? You've got to take it for a drive. So I headed out to my brother's house, quite the way away. As I went, I remembered the local car wash had a rather good deal going, so I went for a wash. I was happy to see that the car didn't even leak.

Feeling smug, I got on the highway. Everything seemed suspiciously good, until I came to an interchange to another highway. Engine braking, all nice, but then I pressed the gas to speed up. The engine shuddered, it felt like the car got hit from behind or something. Panickedly I looked around but nobody had hit me, so I lifted off the throttle and tried again. No problems this time. "Must be the old fuel in the tank," I muttered to myself.

 

[FinnishCoffee]

Eh, I decided to forgo the more story-like, chronological updates. So random updates it is, with time jumps contained.

Recently, I fitted a new radio I got from my brother as he changed cars and a Pioneer is much more useful loose than a Seat stock radio:

I also blocked off the bonnet grills:

Write-up here:
Thread 'DIY guide: Facelift bonnet grill block-off / removal for painting'
https://micra.org.uk/threads/diy-guide-facelift-bonnet-grill-block-off-removal-for-painting.83566/

 

[FinnishCoffee]

Everything was nice with the new radio with Bluetooth and all, but there was one slight problem. When you crank the engine, ACC power is removed, which is a pain if you manage to stall the engine or have to wait somewhere with the engine off, as Bluetooth would disconnect and take a small eternity to reconnect. Well, being an electronics engineer(ing student), the problem was right up my alley.

Here's the circuit.

The 24kΩ resistor simulates the radio, the switch and 12V source represent the ACC supply. If you want to fiddle around the circuit, click here to open it in an online simulator (Click the switch to switch the ACC supply, and hover over components to see their stats.)

The capacitor stores charge and works like a little battery. The diode prevents the capacitor from back-feeding other equipment. The specific diode used does not really matter as long as it can handle the voltage (and you know its forward voltage, if you want to do some more exact calculations). The resistor shoud be in the 100Ω range to limit the charging current of the capacitor to 100-200 mA. The specification of the capacitor is the important part here.

First off, you should measure the current your radio uses on the ACC line, using a multimeter. Mine used about 0.5 mA. Another thing you should know is the ACC voltage at which your radio shuts off, which in my case was about 8.5 V. Knowing these you can plug them into the equation here; or use this online calculator if you're lazy. In this case V_C is the limit voltage, V_0 is the supply voltage minus the forward voltage, t is time in seconds to fall to that level and R is the equivalent resistance of the radio as calculated with Ohm's law. (Mine came out to about 24kΩ.)

Now that you know the optimal capacitance, your task is to find a suitable capacitor with a value close enough to your desired one. Make sure the voltage rating is sufficient: 16 V might be a bit tight so I'd rather go for a 25 V cap. In my case, the optimal capacitance would have been about 1800 uF, but I settled on a 1000 uF 25V cap after some bench testing. Make sure to build the circuit as drawn, as having the capacitor the wrong way around could cause it to explode, and having the diode the other way would cause your radio not to receive any ACC power. The resistor luckily does not have a polarity. Also make sure to attach the capacitor after the resistor (and diode), or you might burn out your diode.

Here's a GIF of my circuit working. The red wire is the one I used to simulate the ACC supply.

I prettied the circuit up and installed it behind the radio.

Keep in mind that I did my calculations using a worst-case-scenario voltage of 11.8 volts for my calculations. Thus the power-on time is longer than calculated, thus I was happy to use a smaller-value capacitor. I soldered the parts together and covered in heatshrink, to prevent damage and short circuits.

And woohoo, it works! No more Bluetooth disconnection when starting!

Edit: Demo video of it working:

 

[FinnishCoffee]

Well, fiddlesticks.

All was well and good, until today, literally a single day later, I was pulling out of the grocery store parking lot. I shut down the engine at the intersection to save fuel, and start as it turns green. Suddenly: BANG-VROOOOOOOM-SCRAAAAPE. The exhaust came off. [Insert pile of expletives]

Luckily, I was just about a kilometer from home, so a tow strap hung under the car helped me nurse it back into the parking garage. With the window open holding the other end, other end wrapped around the passenger side mirror. Well, it really did sound like a racecar and my girlfriend found it funny, at least.

Being that it snowed all night, the road was full of snow banks right in the middle. So the back cat is probably full of snow by now.

Well, the calculator nicely provided by Tragicom, er, sorry, Traficom, (aka. the Finnish bureau of transportation) told me that temporarily removing the car from registration would net me a profit after two days. So removed it was.

Time to find some way to get it fixed. Darn.

 

[khsfin]

Well, fiddlesticks.

All was well and good, until today, literally a single day later, I was pulling out of the grocery store parking lot. I shut down the engine at the intersection to save fuel, and start as it turns green. Suddenly: BANG-VROOOOOOOM-SCRAAAAPE. The exhaust came off. [Insert pile of expletives]

Luckily, I was just about a kilometer from home, so a tow strap hung under the car helped me nurse it back into the parking garage. With the window open holding the other end, other end wrapped around the passenger side mirror. Well, it really did sound like a racecar and my girlfriend found it funny, at least.

View attachment 85983
Being that it snowed all night, the road was full of snow banks right in the middle. So the back cat is probably full of snow by now.

Well, the calculator nicely provided by Tragicom, er, sorry, Traficom, (aka. the Finnish bureau of transportation) told me that temporarily removing the car from registration would net me a profit after two days. So removed it was.

Time to find some way to get it fixed. Darn.

Some would say that the exhaust falling of is just a feature to make it more sporty.

 

[FinnishCoffee]

Some would say that the exhaust falling of is just a feature to make it more sporty.

Haha, it sure does. Take a listen:


I'll have to low-rev it all the way to the exhaust shop next week. Luckily it's Kehä 1 almost all the way (a ring road with 80km/h limit) so the noise shouldn't bother too many people on the way.

 

[FinnishCoffee]

Well, I suppose while I'm at work and bored, I'll write up about a few of the things I had done, from looking at my phone photo album.

July 2022:

• Installed a lighter socket (for phone charging)
  
  
• Cleaned the seats and other interior bits with an extractor-vac
  
  
  

August 2022:

• Changed the fuel filter
• Got a Haynes manual
• Bought a second-hand set of wheels with good winter tires
• Resoldered the throttle body connections
• Cleaned the IAC valve
  
  
• Replaced speakers with Kenwood KFC-S1766
  
  
• Had the car spew coolant all over the parking spot (cracked coolant expansion tank, fixed with duct tape for now.)
  
  

October 2022:

• Filled up with E85 (not worth it at current fuel prices, car was sluggish and consumption increase was more than savings)
• Added an electric interior heater I found in my parents' garage (car was already wired up with block heater and interior socket)

December 2022:

• Broke the third brake light and fixed it with epoxy
  
  

January 2023:

• Changed oil

This should have the blog pretty much caught up to what happened between me getting the car and the other blog posts.

 

[FinnishCoffee]

Mike rides again! After a deafeningly loud 20min drive to the exhaust shop, I managed to be the second customer there, at 7.40 am. The guy took Micra in and fixed it in about half an hour, and it cost 60€. Not a bad deal at all.

Before and after:

Now off in the afternoon to buy some new door hinges (for 20€). Slowly and surely the ****boxiness of Mike is becoming aesthetic only.

 

[FinnishCoffee]

Hinge time! I bought a good set of driver's side hinges for 20€ off of some guy parting out his Micra. Thinking of ways to change the hinges, I decided to pull off the front quarter panel and change the hinges in-situ, with the door closed. Not the easiest job though, with rust etc.

Starting off, the headlight had to come off. The tab at the corner that fits into the quarter was a pain and a half, then I had to pull off the wheel to get the arch liner off to pull off half the front bumper cover, so I could get to the one bolt behind the bumper. My small Makita impact driver was absolutely my friend here, as some of the bolts were quite rusty and took quite the rattling to come out.

By the way, you only need to loosen the topmost 10mm bolt in the door hinge area to pull off the quarter, the lower ones just hold a support bracket.

There was, of course, about a country road's worth of dirt and muck held in the quarter panel. After getting the car to the pictured state, swapping the hinges was easy enough.

I used a ratchet strap across the roof to hold the door up as high as possible to make sure the door shuts properly. A little dab of blue threadlocker on the bolts should help them stay in place. Reassembly was the reverse of removal, with some broken plastic tabs replaced by zipties.

And hooray, the door shuts nicely! One item off the finnish-equivalent-of-MOT repair list and one less reason for the battery to run down. I suppose the next issue to tend to is the broken passenger door handle.

 

[Dotmars]

What a fantastic read, she seems to run like a beaut (minus the exhuast, of course).

I'm a little bias cos I've got a White K11 too, with black bumpers! (See pic!)

A question with the speaker change, did you notice a considerable change? Would you reccomend?

Thanks!

 

[FinnishCoffee]

What a fantastic read, she seems to run like a beaut (minus the exhuast, of course).

I'm a little bias cos I've got a White K11 too, with black bumpers! (See pic!)

A question with the speaker change, did you notice a considerable change? Would you reccomend?

Thanks!

Haha, thanks. Yours is like a younger look-a-like!

There's still some rough running here and there. Might be the fuel system, might be the timing chain. But it runs and drives fine enough for now, and I can get on with some more tinkering come summer holidays.

The speakers were a significant improvement over the originals (went from "only can bear listening to podcasts" to "hey, music actually sounds nice"), however the cheap chinesium head unit fitted at the time did not have enough power to make them sound that good at levels high enough to hear while driving. The better Pioneer head unit is actually up to the task of running them more than loud enough. So I totally recommend these speakers, fitting was super simple (just crimped on some spade terminals to the pre-existing wires) and the improvement was huge.

 

[Dotmars]

Mine's a 1998, the car is older than me!

Thanks for the reply, I think I might have to replace my speakers as well, however my head unit is most definitely due for an upgrade; 30 quid from Halfords! Therefore, it doesn't have any power in it, haha!

Have a nice day

 

[FinnishCoffee]

So the third brake light snapped off again.

Another smattering of epoxy was applied, with care taken to get some inbetween the cracks:

Bolted it up and threw in some rivets to make sure it doesn't fall off again:

The rivets make it hold tighter against the glass, so I think it should also see less shock from slamming the boot shut. I of course went to test it and no light; the damn bulb had broken.

A trip to the auto parts store (and to buy some gym shoes) later, I got the third brake light all working and also changed a blown out license plate light:

Damn, its quite dirty. Might have to go for a wash again soon.

 

[FinnishCoffee]

It might not have come clear enough from the previous posts, the car has never run quite right. The symptoms were initially identical to those of Daniel_ here in this thread, but they got much less bad as time went on.

I tried to change all kinds of cheap things from spark plugs and cleaning almost everything I could, and it got better yet not perfect. Haven't delved into the fuel tank yet, but that may come at a later date.

Some Finnish forums from earlier days, concerning Primeras with similar engines, suggested a spark failure could cause fuel to enter the cat, causing clogs. The behaviour described seemed almost identical to mine, and the suggestion was to replace the cat.

Instead, I did something really stupid. Do not do this. I repeat, DO NOT DO THIS. It might break your car, in ways I can't be arsed to describe, but you should know what all could go wrong before even thinking about doing this. Do your own research.

I essentially waterboarded the engine. Took off the air cleaner cover, and used a pump sprayer to spray some clean water at the intake, with the engine warm, of course. White clouds came out of the exhaust, the engine shuddered. I repeated until I had used up about two deciliters of water.

Afterwards, I took it for a spirited drive to dry out the airbox, with the engine sputtering at first due to the water being ingested, but soon it cleared up and the car felt great. Time will tell if this did anything.

I also gave the PCV valve a good bubble bath, and quite a bit of grot came out. It seems to seal better afterward.

Again, time will tell how much better it got. First impressions are still pretty good.

I think the next part will be some home-improvement style aerodynamics. I think that will be both interesting and useful.

 

[FinnishCoffee]

It's been quite quiet on the Mike front, but finally I got some new parts. Of course, there was a strike so the delivery was delayed by more than a week but finally, a box of goodies came over from our lovely neighbours down south, Estonia!

A new expansion tank, passenger door handle, fuel pump, rocker cover gasket and brake pads. The last two weren't necessary but were essentially free due to discounts and free shipping on orders more than 80€, so I made it just barely over.

There's quite the winter blizzard outside, so even though I have an interior garage spot, wrenching was quite limited. However, I decided to swap out the expansion tank and door handle. The battery had to come out to get the tank out, which was quite crusty.

The coolant inside seemed pretty much good, so I poured it in the new tank.

While the tank was out, I fitted the intake trumpet as there would no longer be coolant dripping right into the engine air stream.

Now onto the broken handle. I don't have many pictures as it was pretty fiddly.

The most difficult part is the metal rod connecting the handle to the mechanism. It goes into a vertical hole, and it's pretty difficult to see, the easiest way is through the handle hole with the handle removed.

But hey, it should be able to get a successful Finnish-equivalent-to-MOT done. Next up is the fuel pump, but I'm waiting for my brother to come help, as this week he's up north skiing with his kids. At least I get to drive his Leaf while he's away.