Our car won\'t start!

Yes - that old chestnut. I've been through all the old posts but I can't find an answer to my problem. We have a 1995/6 1.0L Micra and the old girl won't start. We have had the car for about three years and it had a bit of an issue with a misfire at high revs when we fist bought it but this seemed to improve with time. We were told at the time that it may have something to do with dry joints in the throttle body but re-soldering of the connections had no effect.

Anyhow, it ran fine up until a couple of weeks ago when I drove to work (a journey of some 20 miles down the motorway). I came out of work 8 hours later and the car started straight away (as normal) but after driving a few meters it cut out. I thought it was probably flooded so kept it turning over with the throttle wide open and after a minute or so it started up again. It would run at low revs but as soon as I pressed down on the throttle it wanted to stall. I drove about half a mile but then came to an gentle incline which required more gas and as soon as I tried to accelerate it just cut out. I called out the rescue services and they couldn't find anything obvious so they towed me home.

Now I asked around and the throttle body came up again so I replaced it. It still won't start. I have checked the spark and it seems ok the plugs are wet so there's juice getting through but it just won't fire.

I'm a bit old and have worked on plenty of cars with nice simple electrics and proper carburettors but this fuel injection system and electronic distribution unit have me baffled. What should I do next. I'd really appreciate some help from you guys.

Cheers

Wheeltops

only running at light throttle would point to a fuel pressure problem usually wheeltops, but with wet plugs it should at least still start eh.
you could try pulling the fuelpump fuse

Yes, I thought about that but it makes no difference. I also disconnected the oxygen sensor but no joy. I'm guessing there's no diagnostic equipment fitted to an N reg micra?

there,s a very basic eobd1 system, where you short 2 contacts on the diag plug near your knee and count the flashes of the led in the side of the ecu.
its a 2 digit code (apart from 141-143 which tends to be a nats fault)

I agree it has to be fuel pressure related. I had a similar problem on a Ford Laser - a bit different because it was a carby system, not fuel injected, but it was a blocked fuel line. If the float bowl had some fuel in it, it would start, but would only idle. If the float bowl was emptied because I tried to drive it, it just died and wouldn't do anything. I can;t remember if the 1.0 litre motor has a fuel filter under the bonnet, but if it does, 1, change it, 2. leave it disconnected and get someone to turn the motor over while you watch the end of the fuel line to see if any fuel is actually coming through. Could also be the fuel pump on its way out - that gives similar symptoms for a while, then the whole thing dies.

Yes, I suspected a fuel blockage when it broke down and suggested it to the nice man from the RAC who was kind enough to humour me and disconnect/bypass the fuel filter but obviously it didn't help. I'll test the fuel pump function later although, as I mentioned earlier the plugs are getting wet.

What does the diagnostic plug look like which knee should I be looking at and where is the ECU LED?

Really apppreciate your help with this. Cheers!

Right knee behind fuse cover.Below fuses grey with about 16 holes in it.

Is the ECU there too?

It's a few years now, but in the case of my Ford Laser, the blockage was in the fuel pipe (dust from someone driving with no fuel-filler cap), so changing the filter didn't help. I had to physically unblock the pipe. When my Micra fuel pump failed, my RAC guy took out the air filter and got me to turn the motor over while he poured a bit of fuel down the air intake. Instant life! Instant diagnosis.
There's a good post somehwere here on changing the fuel pump if you have to. Tedious, but not too difficult if you don't mind putting your hands in a tank full of petrol. Don't buy a genuine part, they cost heaps, but you have to get an identical replacement or it won't fit in the mountings.

thats on the floor, under the stereo, if you remove the kickstrip there should be a small hole in the side of the ecu (with an led inside)

My wife,s R reg K11 Micra 1.0 would turn over but not fire even though it smelt of petrol and i discovered that the choke spindle mechanism had seezed , a bit of persuasion and some WD 40 freed it up and she fired straight up .

Thanks for that I'll have a rummage about and see if I can find it, is there a list of codes that will give me an idea of what's happening?

Thanks Dragonfly. Another possible cause. What does the spindle look like is it attached near the throttle body?

there are a few threads on "diagnostic" and "codes" , have you tried a search ?

OK it's not the fuel pump, a quick blip on the starter sent a fountain of fuel halfway across the road! I found the ECU and the diagnostic socket easily enough. the instructions to find the codes took a while to track down but, armed with all the information and a little bit of wire, I set to the job.

I turned on the ignition and saw the little red LED light up through the holes in the side of the ECU then shorted out the top two terminals and.........nothing happened. The LED continued to shine but didn't blink at all. I made several attempts attacking through both the front and rear of the socket but no joy. Am I missing something?

autodata shows the top 2 eh http://micra.com.au/community/message.php?messageid=46250 but the plug may be fitted the other way up ? (the pinout blocks are arranged 4442 eh, or 2444 if its upside down)

when the last time you replaced your leads, also check your dizzy cap, and your coil, if the plugs are getting wet but no igniting i suspect it could be 1 of these, the misfire at high revs sounds very much like a cracked dizzy cap

Ah! That'll be the one. You're right it's upside down. I'll have another go when I get home.Thanks.

Hi Wallie, thanks for your support. I've never changed the leads but given the symptoms it seems an unlikely suspect. I had a look at the dizzy cap and cleaned up the terminals but couldn't see anything wrong with it (no cracks or physical damage) what else should I be looking for? How do I check the coil? Cheers!

Now yhat's better - sort of. It gives me a 55 code which is 'no fault found'. So what else can I check? I do feel the old girl is inching closer to the scrapyard.....

so there,s definitely a spark ?

Sorry, bit a hiatus there while I suffered from a nasty bout of man-flu. Yes it is definitely sparking.

a corroded injector fuse is quite common wheeltops (near the battery)
have you tried a drop of fuel down the throttlebody ?