1996 Nissan Micra K11 type. Has always started OK.
It has been stood for 7 days as I have been away on holiday. This morning it refused to start. The starter motor turned but the engine wouldn't catch. I tried a few 30 second bursts trying to start it. Any longer than this I feared would definitely drain the battery.
I suspected a flat battery and called out Green Flag. A local garage recovery vehicle turned up and got it starting in less than 5 mins.
Turned out it was a flooded engine. Something I have easily fixed before a couple of times just by putting my foot to the floor and cranking.
The recovery man cranked it for about 3 x 30 secs in a row, and also did a trick of removing the fuel pump fuse then cranking. It eventually spluttered into life, belching black smoke.
The recovery man blamed the "ambient temperature sensor". Only £10 from the Nissan dealer, he reckoned.
What are my strategies to prevent a recurrence of this? Get a new sensor fitted or if flooding reoccurs, just crank like hell at the risk of flattening the battery?
Thanks
Mike
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Don't know if I would be happy to replace EMS components upon the whim of a 'recovery man'
In my experience, they are often wrong in their 'diagnosis'
Are you happy that the HT Electrics are serviceable? No misfires etc?
I'd wheel the car into a reputable workshop; preferebly avoiding the shiny dealerships (at this age of car, anyway) and see what they have to say
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
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Flooding could well have been due to prolonged efforts to start, rather than the root cause.
After a week outside at this time of year, given the amount of falling damps we've had in the last week where I live, anything with a less than perfect battery and high tension side might be reluctant to start.
Try a good spray with duck oil and keep your fingers crossed, until your Micra is mission-critical?
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Well-known problem. See your Nissan dealer for modified sensor and/or harness.
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common fault on k11 micras bad starting, we just change the cap, leads and arm and sometimes the cold start sensor lead, ask your dealer,unplug the lead from the sensor thats in the head, plug the new bit of wire onto the sensor and then plug the harness plug into the other end of new lead.
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Sounds like a connector problem - some Minis (1996-1997) had the very same fault, leading to the cooling fan running all the time.
It would appear that a link lead using gold-plated (or similar) contacts solves the problem.
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groups.msn.com/honestjohn - Pictures say a thousand words.....
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Aprilia is on the money ! There is a modified harness for the Coolant Temperature Sensor incorporating an additional resistor, but I would always change the sensor at the same time.
Flooding is very common where an engine is started from cold, run for only a short time (ie. moving car on driveway, turning round etc) then switched off. There is so much unburnt fuel around that not only are plugs left wet, but oil is washed off the bores leaving very poor compressions / inlet vacuum for next start.
Regards, Adam
Whatever is rightly done, however humble, is noble.
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