Car wont start.

Page 1 / 2
mechnificent, Jan 28, 4:08am
It might just be flooded from the short run cold. You could either give it a squirt of ether to see if it fires or you could pull the fuelpump fuse and try to get it to fire a few times then put the fuse back in.

jsbike, Jan 28, 4:09am
fuses! fault codes from the ecu!

mechnificent, Jan 28, 4:13am
You turned it off the other day. check it's not just flooded.

jsbike, Jan 28, 4:20am
if its flooded, unplug the fuel pump and try start you car with you foot to the floor, do this a few times. plug the fuel pump back in. to check fault codes look in the nissan section of the d1nz forum, http://forums.d1nz.com/viewtopic.php!t=11572&sid=1d3a8195c1354f77396e5e2fc00e9f22

mechnificent, Jan 28, 4:43am
Since you turned it off the other day, it is either something simple like moisture or flooded with fuel, or, you have done something by accident when you did the llast bit of work.

Have you looked all around where you worked. no small hoses off, no wires off or caught between things!

Definately check for trouble codes but come back and let us know what they are before you rush off buying parts that might not be needed.

mechnificent, Jan 28, 4:46am
Also, cars with electronics in them are very dependent on having good voltage when you are cranking them. If the voltage goes below about nine volts the electronics just turns right off, not like in the old days when a flat battery would still give a bit of a spark, the modern ones turn right off and you get no spark at all below a certain level. so make sure the battery is good, and charged.

mechnificent, Jan 28, 5:14am
Err, were you meant to turn a screw on the side of the case or something! Use a wire to link to pins perhaps!

It should flash.

mechnificent, Jan 28, 8:05am
Check todays work and anywhere you could have bumped something. It started fine the other day and you turned it off normaly.

ginga4lyfe, Jan 28, 12:08pm
sounds like you have a bit of a wiring problem, Not many peple will be able to help you unless in person, also, check that the battery wasnt in backwards also, make sure the air flow meter was plugged in, pretty much go over exactly what you did and make sure that you didnt pinch any wires or something

carkitter, Jan 28, 10:01pm
Check the main earthing points on the car. As it's a project, various things are likely in a state of disassembly so reconnect anything that looks like it might earth the brake lights.

Have you got the earth strap on the engine disconnected! Is it frayed or corroded! Also, remove the spark plugs and check if they are black or wet (petrol, not water). If wet, remove all the plugs are turn the motor over briefly to remove excess fuel from the cylinders. It will spray or mist out so cover the spark plug holes with rags to prevent it getting on your paintwork etc.

jsbike, Jan 28, 10:58pm
take all your brake light bulbs out. if you hit the brakes and the dash lights dont come on, you know that fault is a bulb or its socket/bulb put in wrong. from mem, there is only one big earth cable, it goes from battery to chassis to engine and then some smaller ones come off the big one to other earth points on the alternator an stuff

mechnificent, Jan 28, 11:33pm
I'd be checking for earth wires being off. There are likely to be some small earth wires attached to the motor somewhere, often to an inlet manifold.

Since the brakelights are playing up too I'd suspect there will be some main earth off as well.

You need to be methodical and you need to be thorough. If you are checking earths, disconnect them, clean the terminal and the surface they connect to, put them back on and make sure they are tight. not just that the bolt is tight but that the terminal itself is clamped tight. sometimes bolts bottom out and don't clamp.

If you are trying to clear excessive fuel from the engine, take the plugs out, pull the fuel-pump fuse, crank the motor till you are sure it is cleared, dry the plugs and put them back in then try to start it before you put the fuel-pump fuse back in.

Whatever you do or check. make really really sure that you are absolutly certain that it is right before going on to the next thing. otherwise you will be causing problems, causing confusion, overlooking the real problem because you think you have checked it.

It started and turned off the other day.
Lots of EFI cars don't like being started and then turned off after only one minute. If they have any inclination to flood. that will be enough to cause it.

mechnificent, Jan 29, 2:54am
Flooded. see above.

carkitter, Jan 29, 2:56am
Flooded.

mechnificent, Jan 29, 4:03am
Yeah. Dry the plugs, hold them over a clean gas flame even if you have one and if they are really black and wet, otherwise just use a rag. Then put them in and connect the coils and crank it a bit more before reconnecting the fuse.

When you try to start it. you probably need to hold the throttle to the floor to unflood it, but that varies from model to model and someone else may have a better idea about that particular model!

woody1946, Jan 29, 4:08am

mechnificent, Jan 29, 5:38am
Well done.

Reread the last four paragraphs in post 24 and make sure you remember them.

jsbike, Jan 29, 7:47am
nope. ask my neighbours ho well a skyline motor runs with no exhausy or exhaust manifold :) they really didnt like the noise, not at 8.15 in the morn anyway

mechnificent, Jan 29, 8:32am
Repeat the unflooding process, start it and give it a decent run and hold it at about 2000 revs for a minute or two till it runs smooth, then let it warm right up before you close it down. you have probably got fouled up spark plugs.

Have the lights come right yet!

mechnificent, Jan 29, 8:34am
Exjaust leaks won't stop it from running. Air leaks in the inlet or a small rubber hose may though. Are you sure the wastegate's diaphram hasn't got a hole in it!

truefan, Jan 29, 8:51am
If you have an exhaust leak before the O2 sensor it actually sucks air into the exhaust through the leak, this extra air will pass through the O2 sensor, the ecu see's this extra air and "thinks" that the engine is running too lean and it will increase the injector pulse width to try and enrich the mixture, this will be causing your engine to overfuel and will foul your plugs up super quick, fix the exhaust leak and you should be good

mechnificent, Jan 29, 8:58am
Nah, the O2 sensor is disregarded by the ecu for the first few minutes till the motor is warm.

Also, if the O2 readings get to far out of range after it's warm, the ecu will disregard it.

truefan, Jan 29, 9:34am
This engine runs a powered 02 sensor with a heating wire that preheats it when the key is turned on it doesn't need the engine to be running for a few mins to get it up to temp, the ecu can read o2 sensor values as soon as exhaust gas starts to pass over it.
These engines are notorious for leaking around the exhaust manifold, turbo flanges and also cracks in the casting. I havent come across it with this particular engine but have in other engines esp the 4G63T mistsi's where cracks in the manifold casting before the sensor caused overfueling, the air flow meter and the o2 sensor are the ecu's main inputs to calculate how much fuel to inject

jsbike, Jan 29, 10:42am
nissan workshop tech manual says that on cold start o2 sensor readings are ignored by the ecu until engine temp warms up, until then its a closed loop reading or sometheing.

mechnificent, Jan 29, 9:38pm
Heard of a temperture sensor!