3.0l starting problem

[Andrew.hebble]

Hi there, Thought i should share my experiences over the last few months with Nissan, over an issue i have had with rough starting. I spose firstly the moral of this story is go with your gut, it's probably right.

Anyway, the problem was with starting the engine cold. No matter how long i waited for the glow plugs to fire, whenever the engine was cold after sitting for a few hours, it would start on what sounded like 3 cylinders then after a few seconds all 4 would be going and it would smooth out. After several trips to nissan to get the car checked out. Timing checked, valve clearances checked, compression checked, return line vac tested. They still came up with no reason to the starting issue. All along i told them that i thought it might be either compression, air in the fuel or glow plugs. All were discounted and eventually they decided that the best course of action was to take the head off and replace the head gasket.

Looking dismally at the cost of this exercise i decided to check out the glow plugs and prove to myself it wasn't them. After a simple test of unplugging the glow plug relay, and then starting, it becam obvious that the glow plugs were to blame. With no glow assistance the engine took considerably longer to start however it started smoothly and on all cylinders.

A bit of probing later with the multimeter proved that the glow plug for cyclinder 4 was an open circuit.

Ater replacing that one glow plug with a spare that i already had, no problems whatsoever, smooth starts.

After spending money with nissan on various parts as they tried to eliminate the problem i feel rather stupid. One for not trusting my gut, and two for trusting trained mechanics servicing a vehicle of thier own making.


I hope no one else has to waste money and time like this, however i won't hold my breath.


Cheers

[barbz]

Least you found the issue in the end and didnt keep sending it down the bottomless pit that is nissan.

Did you clean the intercooler or throttle body while you had it all apart?

Paul

[Andrew.hebble]

Yeah everytime i have it apart it gets a clean in and around that general area. I had a catch can on it for a while so it isn't too bad in general.

Will soon be going Diesel Gas so i'm hoping for cleaner oil which should help with the dirty intake aswell.

[phippsey]

Well done mate, they are complete bellends.

My mates 3.0 kept having this engine fuse blow for no reason. He queried with Nissan over a wire rubbing through and making contact - no they said.

After several hundred dollars of Nissan work, they gave up.

He went to sparky mate - within 20 mins, found there was a engine control wire that had rubbed through and was shorting out.

Go with ya guts - never go to a dealer

[IN24BZ]

one bad experience shouldnt turn you off dealers not all are the same... it is dealers with techs and other staff that dont have a passion for what they do that causes the problem. just my 2 cents. as for a car being of our own making , i am a nissan tech and i know i didnt make any cars ever? i just fix the ones that are stuffed =] we are people that are working at a franchise so really we just cop flack from customers when they are unhappy about something that nissan have made or done. its pretty difficult on our side the electronic side of any new car is all but a nightmare now even with any form of on board diagnostic testers.. i would however shame that dealer for not being able to locate a faulty glow plug thats pretty well as basic as it can get.

[mkpatrol]

Did you go back & tell the dealer?

Maybe they can use it as a bit of a training exercise, always check the basics first.