Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem | Technical matters | Back Room Forum

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Mon 3 Dec 2012 00:57

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - paul-d

Hi,

My friends Nissan Almera 2005 SX (1.5 i think) Manual petrol car has a strange starting problem. When you turn the key you can hear the starting solinoid clicking but it does not turn over or atempt to start... she got a jump start and it started straight away. So she bought a brand new battery and still the same problem. I thought it was the alternator so got a multimeter and with car off the volts was about 12.3 and then with the engine on it went to 14.4 ... turned on fog lights, AC, radio etc and volts was 14.1 or there abouts.

Here is the crazy part, she bought a portable emergency start battery (plug it into your mains over night and then can jump start a car)... So i connected it to the battery and 10 seconds later i tried turning the key and it starts straight away.... left the car running for 10 minutes on 2,000 ish revs ... turned off the car and 2 seconds later tried turning the key again and just clicking noise.... connected the emergency jump battery again and it starts straight away.

I've very little mechanical knowledge (im not a mechanic or even a car nut at all) but I'll try my hand at anything. She has brought it to her mechanic who couldn't diagnose it and just said "oh well at least it starts with the emergency jump start" so guess he isn't that great of a mechanic. So turning to Honest John members who might know what is the problem.

Thank you so much for your time,

Paul

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Mon 3 Dec 2012 08:30

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - elekie&a/c doctor

Sounds like there is a bad connection to the battery terminals.By using a booster pack you are providing power to the outside of the battery connectors.Remove both battery terminals and clean the insde metal where it contacts the battery posts.hth

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Mon 3 Dec 2012 09:11

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - TeeCee

Also, after cleaning both the posts and clamps and before reassembling, a good smear of vaseline on each post.

This keeps out damp and prevents future corrosion.

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Tue 4 Dec 2012 14:16

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - paul-d

Hi Elekie and TeeCee,

So I headed over to her house today with baking soda, wrenches, sandpaper etc ... The terminals looked very dirty so I was excited thinking that was the problem. Took both of them off and cleaned them and cleaned the terminals ... vaseline on each post then reattached the terminals. Tightened them up and gave it a shot.... Unfortunately the exact same problem.

It ticks twice and the lights on the dash board flash with the ticking AND!! most importantly it sounds like the doors are locking / unlocking themselves with each tick. I never noticed that before but guessing its an important thing. Any ideas?

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Tue 4 Dec 2012 14:24

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - bathtub tom

I'd start looking for a bad earth connection at the other end of the battery lead. It would seem the voltage is dropping with the attempted operation of the starter motor causing the solenoid to drop out and the volts drop to affect the door locks.

I'd also look at the other battery lead connections.

Good luck!

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Tue 4 Dec 2012 15:32

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - Peter.N.

Could be of course that your battery is u/s.

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Tue 4 Dec 2012 15:47

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - paul-d

Hi Tom/Peter,

First about the battery, the problem started happening a few months ago and thats the first thing the garage did was change the battery with a brand new one and the problem continues... Its intermitant so sometimes it just starts first time but most of the times it wont. I have checked the voltage with the car off and was getting 12.45 - 12.5 which seems good. With the engine on it was 14.4 ish so alternators good too.

Tom, A bad ground connection, I know very little about cars but I just done a bit of googling there and would I be right in saying I just follow the black wire from the battery to where ever it is bolted to a metal part in the car, remove that, clean it, make it shiney and see if that fixed it.

Is there any way I can diagnose this first if it looks ok? Can i attach the multi meter to the black wire on the battery and then connect the other end to the ground point and expect to see 0.v or something like that?

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Tue 4 Dec 2012 16:08

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - bathtub tom

>> follow the black wire from the battery to where ever it is bolted to a metal part in the car, remove that, clean it, make it shiney and see if that fixed it.

That's the idea.

>>Is there any way I can diagnose this first if it looks ok? Can i attach the multi meter to the black wire on the battery and then connect the other end to the ground point and expect to see 0.v or something like that?

You can try and diagnose it by attaching a multi-meter to the earth battery terminal and a clean earth connection on the starter. Switch to at least 12V scale and operate starter. If you see more than a minimal voltage you'll know that's the problem (somewhere).

It still seems a duff battery or terminal connection's most likely. Can you try another, good battery, temporarily?

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Tue 4 Dec 2012 16:28

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - paul-d

Thanks for clearing that up, I had a quick look and there is only one ground point from the battery and its directly to the engine and seems very rusty alright. I'll give it a shot in the morning when I have some light (or tonight because I've no patience haha). If cleaning that one point doesnt work I guess it could still mean that theres a bad earth from the engine to the body?

I thought it was strange to just have one ground like this ... so to diagnose a bad earth could I use a normal copper wire (taken from a 3 wire plug) and attach that to the negative terminal and then attach it to some metal part of the body inside the engine bay which I have sanded off the paint work to bare metal. Then try turning the engine on? If that works then at least I know what the problem is and would remove this temperary wire and send it back to the mechanic to do a proper job on it.

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Tue 4 Dec 2012 17:17

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - bathtub tom

>> could I use a normal copper wire (taken from a 3 wire plug)

Probably not big enough to carry the current, although having said that, there must be a path from engine to body carrying the current at the moment otherwise lights and stuff wouldn't work.

It used to be common on some cars for the engine/body earth to break down and for the current to pass down the throttle cable. Ever seen a molten throttle cable?

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Thu 14 Feb 2013 14:30

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - Quicksilver

Use at least 12mm cable and no more than 1m long. It is probably corrosion on earth return path.

Clean up and try again.

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Thu 14 Feb 2013 13:24

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - Stone

Hi Paul

Did you get this fixed as I have the exact same problem?

Thanks

Rob

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Wed 27 Feb 2013 14:16

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - DaveM1965

Hi Paul and Rob... I have the same problem..well sort of ..my car starts the majority of the time... but occasionally doesnt start...

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=99796

Did you two ever find out what the problem is or was?

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Thu 28 Feb 2013 09:45

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - DaveM1965

Love this forum but it really needs a way of setting up email notifications when your thread gets a reply... unless Im being a muppet and have missed the option here...

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Wed 24 Apr 2013 12:45

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - triumph72

Hi,

I have an 2005 Almera that now seems to have this very problem!

Has any of you managed to solve this...help!....

I am reasonably machanicaly minded, but modern electrics scare me a bit!

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Wed 24 Apr 2013 15:48

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - Basser

Hi,

I had a 2003 Nissan Almera for about 5years. I seem to remember it was subject of a recall. My Nissan garage said it needed a sensor fitting because of a starting problem.

Hope this helps.

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Wed 8 May 2013 12:48

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - Gordon17

I had exactly the same problem this morning, including the doors locking and unlocking. I had to leave the car at home to get to work, but my wife has called the RAC who are coming out to have a look. For some time there have been odd occasions when there is just a click on the first turn of the key, then I turn it again and it starts. There have also been a couple of instances of it cutting out momentarily, usually when quite cold, but I've always managed to catch it and bump start it straight away.

The battery was replaced at the last service (Aug 2012).

Is a bad earth the likeliest cause?

We had a similar problem on a minibus at work recently and the garage said that the earth strap appeared to have been eaten by rats or foxes!

Thanks

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Tue 8 Oct 2013 12:17

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - SpanielFace

Hi Everyone,

I too had this problem with my Almera Action 1.4, pre-2000 model.

At first I thought I had no power, as I turned the key and nothing happened - just a "click". After a few minutes I thought it odd that all the dash lights were on, and I had loads of power.

A friend suggested it was the solinoid. I had no idea what this was though. I went to the local garage (which is luckly 50m away) and asked if they could take a look. The owner said yes, and proceeded to walk to my car with me holding just a small hammer.

He asked me to turn the key and keep it turned. Whilst I did this, I heard him hammering lightly on something - and the car started.

So - what was it? He said the starter motor had jammed, and tapping on it with a hammer whilst having the key turned will do the job. The car now starts fine, but he said if it keeps happening then I'll need a replcament starter motor.

So I'll be keeping a hammer in my car for a while.

Cheers!

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Tue 28 Jan 2014 08:10

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - Wasim

Hello,

I've had this problem with my N16 Almera 1.5 2004 as well, I tried everything from Nissan service (seems useless in this case) to the hummer and finally I've discovered the issue:

when the starter is clicking and not turning (running) that means, it didn't got feedback from the petrol pump about the petrol flowing inside the combusion chamber, the only thing causes that is the immbolizer, the immbolizer is blocking the petrol flowing when reading wrong (unclear) key code, so just clean the car key from all contaminated dirt (use Izopropanol or varnish remover to clean the key).

It worked for me.

Regards

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Sun 5 Mar 2017 23:09

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - kieronmcg

Hi,

I'm new here having just signed up due to this thread. Thanks for the help this forum has provided already. I know this thread is old so apologies for reviving it.

I too have exactly the same problem as described on my 2.2 Tino. I can start 20 times in a row and then have the failure to start, only in my case if i put a 24v van jump kit onto the battery, as a standard 12v one doesnt work, the car will start first time and then start another 20 or more times before the problem occurs again.

I've done all the regular checks as detailed above by other posters, the battery is sound when tested with a meter and the electrics are always running fine. I'm going to follow the other instructions on here and other forums to check the grounding and clean contacts and fuses over the weekend.

I've one question. Am i doing any harm using the 24v jump kit - its a simple solution for now but i dont want to cause any additional electrical problems.

Thanks
Kieron

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Mon 6 Mar 2017 17:29

Nissan Almera - Nissan Almera - Strange Starting problem - hardway

Putting 24V into a 12V system is going to fry something eventually.

I wouldn't.

And I've come across this so many time on asian derived vehicles and my first stop is my battery tool post reamer.

One end cleans the battery post to nice clean shiny metal and the other end of the tool "reams" a nice clean internal hole in the terminal,

the terminal is tapered if you didn't know.

But some times this isn't good enough and I've had to renew both terminals.

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