My micra's giving me problems, could it be the chain?

[eddie3000]

Hi there! I'm new to this forum, and quite happy to find a forum dedicated to Micras.
I have a year 2004 1.2 litre k12 petrol micra and 100000km. I don't really know what's wrong with it. About three years ago it got really jerky when driving around, took it to the Nissan garage and they changed the cam and crankshaft sensors. It worked again for a couple years.
We started getting similar problems at the beginning of 2012, the engine would get really jerky, and it would even stop completely. If I let it cool down it would work again for a while. We also got a P0335 error code, so changed the crankshaft sensor only, and got it working again, until a month ago. Now we have the P0335 error again, and the car needs 5-10 seconds to start. Apparently it works fine once you get it going.
I've read many things about stretched chains, and my car is a likely candidate to suffer this problem. But I am getting confusing opinions from various mechanics. Some say it's the chain. But we do not get weird noises coming from the side of the engine, nor backfiring, no significant loss of power if any at all. In fact, the engine sounds quite well. Another mechanic says it is the electronic computer - timing calculator that's causing the trouble.
The thing is we have trouble starting the engine, have a P0335 error, and apart from that the car runs fine. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks.

 

[Belly93]

sometimes the car can run fine if i remember rightly its just that the chain has stretched so the sensors pick up the chain timing wrong causing the faults,
we have fitted a chain to a 1.3 k12 at work dues to sensor faults as we tried new sensors and the fault wasnt cured but i would get a few opinions to be sure

 

[sophieeloise]

Maybe a bit too late on this but I had exactly the same problem start of this year, my car was exactly how you described yours to be acting & I also have a 1.2 2004 K12, just under 100000 miles, took it to different mechanics who all had conflicting opinions on what was causing the problem, we stuck with our gut instinct that the cam chain had stretched, had it replaced at a hefty price of £500+ but turns out that was actually the problem, haven't had any trouble with it since.
Apparently it's a common problem with that engine.

 

[k12fixer]

Hi there! I'm new to this forum, and quite happy to find a forum dedicated to Micras.
I have a year 2004 1.2 litre k12 petrol micra and 100000km. I don't really know what's wrong with it. About three years ago it got really jerky when driving around, took it to the Nissan garage and they changed the cam and crankshaft sensors. It worked again for a couple years.
We started getting similar problems at the beginning of 2012, the engine would get really jerky, and it would even stop completely. If I let it cool down it would work again for a while. We also got a P0335 error code, so changed the crankshaft sensor only, and got it working again, until a month ago. Now we have the P0335 error again, and the car needs 5-10 seconds to start. Apparently it works fine once you get it going.
I've read many things about stretched chains, and my car is a likely candidate to suffer this problem. But I am getting confusing opinions from various mechanics. Some say it's the chain. But we do not get weird noises coming from the side of the engine, nor backfiring, no significant loss of power if any at all. In fact, the engine sounds quite well. Another mechanic says it is the electronic computer - timing calculator that's causing the trouble.
The thing is we have trouble starting the engine, have a P0335 error, and apart from that the car runs fine. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks.

If you live in the Wolverhampton area I could get it diagnosed for you to determine exacly if chain or not for £25