Any Nissan experienced mechanics about?

[Uridium]

The Engine management light popped up on my Nissan Primera today (2.0i SR20DE Engine)

Shocked me actually as it's the first time I've ever seen a fault on a Nissan I've owned!!!

Now according to the manual a "Steady" MI light means a fault has been detected in the "Emission control system"

What does that mean!?!?....

Is it a knackered CAT or just a duff sensor somewhere?

 

[HARRY 76]

Hi from memory a flashing light means a Cat damaging problem so go to your dealer asap, where as a steady light is a problem but not Cat damaging. Hope this helps

 

[Steve.J.Davies]

When the Primera came out I got one as a company car the GSX (Botnar flavour).
Three years later I had to change so this time I got an SGX (same colour, black and same number of doors - 4).
They never put a foot wrong, were a joy to drive - and really hacked off a lot of BMW drivers. You could go quite quickly in that 'boring looking family saloon' cos they drove so well. Comfy too.

French influence on cars....lets see... coupla 'quirky' ones and put together by a team arguing about politics... about sums it up for me.

Would be tempting to drive a new one to see what they are like but maybe best left to memory...

 

[Uridium]

When the Primera came out I got one as a company car the GSX (Botnar flavour).
Three years later I had to change so this time I got an SGX (same colour, black and same number of doors - 4).
They never put a foot wrong, were a joy to drive - and really hacked off a lot of BMW drivers. You could go quite quickly in that 'boring looking family saloon' cos they drove so well. Comfy too.

French influence on cars....lets see... coupla 'quirky' ones and put together by a team arguing about politics... about sums it up for me.

Would be tempting to drive a new one to see what they are like but maybe best left to memory...

Yup fortunately mine is one of the last of the "Non" french ones.

It's a 2000 V-Plate 2.0 Sport+

Basically an updated version of the old Primera GT. (same engine, Suspension etc.. ) but with updated interior and higher spec.....Basically Nissan threw every extra they had in these.

And as you mentioned, regularly catches out people who haven't seen the way a GT suspensioned Primera handles

I'm sure it's just an iffy sensor or something, most cars have to have these on them nowadays to keep the tree huggers happy.

Like i said i was quite shocked to see the light on as in over 100,000 Nissan miles (in two primera's this is the FIRST time I've ever had a single problem)

 

[Uridium]

Hi Uridium.

We are both Japanese bikers. Jap bike bikers, if you prefer.

When did our Jap bikes ever go wrong and upset us?

Nissan fell on hard times some years ago. People would no longer accept a Japan-market Micra, made to last 3 years maximum, rotting away after 12 years in the UK.

Many car makers were approached to buy the controlling interest in Nissan. Who wanted it? The Regie.

Now Nissan is mainly owned by Renault. Read and weep. You are now seeing why I say this.

Clarkson said something about a Nissan Sunny with Italian assembly.
No, not Nissan, Sunderland or Japan assembly and Italian styling.
Other way around.
French electrics and Jap designs. Jap design is perfect, if assembled. French assembly, look at Airbus, peugeot, renault, citroen....

Weep?

I'm sure your trying to make a friendly helpful point here but even after re-reading your post several times I'm afraid i have no idea what it is?

Oh and the Renault/Nissan thing is actually a partnership, Renault don't own Nissan.

Renault have a 44% share (so not controlling) and Nissan have a 15% share in Renault.

As I said in the post above mine is a pre-Renault Nissan, but even if it wasn't a single pop up of the engine warning light in 60,000 miles is hardly weeping material.

Hell the Wife's Zafira does that every other day. German build quality for you?

 

[Uridium]

Well according to the Nissan dealer if it was anything serious the ECU would have gone into "limp" mode and stopped the car revving past 2800rpm. suggested it was more than likely a random trip.

Dealer said take it in and they will reset the warning light for £40!!!

so popped over to www.npoc.co.uk (Primera owners club) and picked up the info on how to reset it yourself in 30 secs with a paper clip!

All sorted

Don't you hate robbing dealers

 

[riget]

You can access the ecu codes manually, by bridging the chk and ign terminals of the dlc.
If you want to have a go I'll get the info for you.

Ha I see you have sorted it, did you bridge the terminals 2 times to erase the ecu?

 

[Uridium]

You can access the ecu codes manually, by bridging the chk and ign terminals of the dlc.
If you want to have a go I'll get the info for you.

Ha I see you have sorted it, did you bridge the terminals 2 times to erase the ecu?

Yup that's the one. worked a treat

 

[Joe90sDad]

Call the dealer back up and tell him you've discovered a really easy way to reset the ECU so that he won't have to charge his customers £40 in the future. I'm sure he'll be really grateful.

 

[Bl4ckGryph0n]

Did you 'read' the error first before you reset it? A randam trip should have been resolved by just switching the car off and on....

I'm on my second boring Nissan as well...Actually I don't think they are boring at all....The design is getting quite something these day...But the reliability has been amazing for me....My Patrol I owned for 60k miles from new, nothing but tyres and brake pads, not even a squeek....And our current Murano is not at 19k miles, which did have a rattle in the dash but Nissan fixed it very quickly free of charge and is fine now....

The Renault partnership (Indeed!!) is good I think as Nissan now gets access to some fantastic diesel engines...Their own ones were a bit agricultural but very powerful nevertheless in the case of my 3.0TDI in the Patrol....

Up in Ashridge Forest we parked up and upon our return I though it was quite amazing....A Murano, new Primera, 350Z convertible and a new Micra convertible were all parked together....I think Nissan is going the right way....

Did anyone see the new 'mad' in type-r style Almera yet....It is awesome....

 

[Uridium]

Did you 'read' the error first before you reset it? A randam trip should have been resolved by just switching the car off and on....

I'm on my second boring Nissan as well...Actually I don't think they are boring at all....The design is getting quite something these day...But the reliability has been amazing for me....My Patrol I owned for 60k miles from new, nothing but tyres and brake pads, not even a squeek....And our current Murano is not at 19k miles, which did have a rattle in the dash but Nissan fixed it very quickly free of charge and is fine now....

The Renault partnership (Indeed!!) is good I think as Nissan now gets access to some fantastic diesel engines...Their own ones were a bit agricultural but very powerful nevertheless in the case of my 3.0TDI in the Patrol....

Up in Ashridge Forest we parked up and upon our return I though it was quite amazing....A Murano, new Primera, 350Z convertible and a new Micra convertible were all parked together....I think Nissan is going the right way....

Did anyone see the new 'mad' in type-r style Almera yet....It is awesome....

Not sure how i would even "read" the error, would it have come up on the computer display?

Anyway you got a link or photo of this new Almera? can't look any worse than the last two!

 

[Bl4ckGryph0n]

Unfortunately I don't think the computer display is linked to those engine management errors...To read it, is a matter of counting the blinks when you do the paper-clip trick before resetting it...The expensive was is having a fault code reader or using the garage (but I don't trust them too much), the alternative is finding a list of the number of EML light flashes and short the two correct pins with the paperclip and start counting.....Unfortunately I don't have the list for the Primera, but perhaps someone at the forum you used might have it....

Spy shots...
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/spyshots/201273/nissan_almera_replacements.html
http://www.autocarmagazine.com/News_Article.asp?NA_ID=221370

Unfortunately I can't find a spyshot of the GTI version which looks wild compared to the spyshots.....

Don't like the sedan version though...But yeah everything is better than the looks of the current one...Although it is not too bad a drive......

 

[riget]

To get the codes, do the paper clip trick once, then count the flashes on the MI light, a long flash is 10, short flash is 1, some ecu's also have a led on them that flash.
If you do it I can get fault with the code.

 

[Uridium]

To get the codes, do the paper clip trick once, then count the flashes on the MI light, a long flash is 10, short flash is 1, some ecu's also have a led on them that flash.
If you do it I can get fault with the code.

Cheers, bit late now i guess but if it pops up again I'll give you a shout with the error code

 

[Layne RIP]

To get the codes, do the paper clip trick once, then count the flashes on the MI light.

Ahhh... i have a special diagnostic tool for just such an occasion!!

 

[Uridium]

Do you have the Nissan part code for that?

I may get one to replace my paper clip

 

[Layne RIP]

Do you have the Nissan part code for that?

I may get one to replace my paper clip

No sorry it's got a toyota part code!!!

 

[Uridium]

Cheers, bit late now i guess but if it pops up again I'll give you a shout with the error code

Damm, been fine for a week but the light has popped on again.

 

[Uridium]

OK found this page via google http://www.ilexa.co.uk/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=g93aa0ndmsb6fsude55sovqa07&topic=9443.0

which seems to suggest that 1999-2002 model error codes consist of four sets of numbers.

(1999-2002
Each trouble code consists of four groups of one or more flashes.
The first group of flashes indicate the 'thousands' of the trouble code
The second group of flashes indicate the 'hundreds' of the trouble code
The third group of flashes indicate the 'tens' of the trouble code .
The fourth group of flashes indicate the 'units' of the trouble code
Ten flashes in a group indicate '0'.
A short pause separates each trouble code group .
A long pause separates each trouble code)


I've checked and rechecked but it's very difficult to be 100% as it's almost impossible to differentiate the pause from the flashes

the ones I'm not certain on are the second two digits however i'm 100% certain that the last number is a 7

so I'm pretty certain the error code I'm gettting is P1217 - Engine Coolant Blower Motor - Malfunction.

The car isn't running hot at all and temperature seems absolutely fine, think it could just be due to the recent hot weather and the AirCon being on non stop?

 

[Bl4ckGryph0n]

Sorry to state the obvious, but is it actually blowing? I must admit that with my car that despite the hot weather it really took a being stuck in a traffic jam for a long time before the fan kicks in.....

Personally I would check it out as on a normal journey it shouldn't really come on...But when you get stuck in traffic you might stay stuck in traffic....

 

[Uridium]

No worries about stating the obvious, sometime it needs saying!

I haven't heard the fan come on at all, but then again I haven't in the 2 years I've had the car. thing is though the temperature gauge moves to "Normal" as soon as the car warms up and then never moves. The car never shows any sign of overheating even on the hottest of days.

Now if it was a ford/Vauxhall/"any French car" or something this would concern me but having owned several Nissan's I'm pretty sure there not a problem with the thermostat/fan or anything.

Think I'll resign myself to it being a faulty sensor or something then get it checked out when next service is due in a couple of thousand miles.

 

[riget]

I see you've sorted the code, I've checked and p1217 is the fan as you know.
Sorry if I misled you with how to read the flashes, I must have looked at a 1999 model that has only 2 numbers. And yes it can be hard to work the code out with so many flashes, a lot easier to use a scanner.
Maybe the air-con fan is doing enough to keep the engine cool? I'd test the fan by turning the air-con off and leave it ticking over to see if the fan cuts in.