Engine Management light

Hi there,

I am new to this forum and I very much need the help of the combined knowledge of the Almera Owners Club forum. I know this subject has been brought up before in different locations but I feel I need some clarification.

My engine management light is on on my 2003 Nissan Almera 1.5SL.
There doesn't seem to be any problems with the engine apart from excessive fuel consumption (27mpg), and I've checked for leaks. The rev counter also seems to be slightly fluctuating when idling and pulling away in first gear has an uneven feel to it.
I've tried shorting out the pins suggested on various web sites but the engine management light doesn't flash at all. After a couple of days it would go off and come back again after a couple more days. The days when it is off the fuel consumption is still poor.
Does anyone know which pins I should short and on what plug? The plug bottom right of the fuse panel is currently in use, there a wires going into it already. So am I suppose to be shorting pins on the diagnostic plug bottom right of the steering wheel?
I am reluctant to pay over £50 for someone to tell me it MIGHT be a £15 sensor that needs replacing.

So does anyone know what the problem is lightly to be?
Or does anyone know how I can easily find out?

Please help
 
yes its the diag port you need to use matey. if it shows a fault for the crank sensor it may be the dreaded cam chain stretch. ie - the chain stretches throwing the sensors out of sync. dont hold me to this though, it could just be a MAF (mass airflow meter) fault. try the shorting pins on the diagnostic port and report back.

tom
 
Thanks for the quick reply Tom. However as I said I've tried the pins as suggested. The IGN and CHK pins which aren't obvious are suggested by Haynes manual. I have found on http://www.justanswer.com/view_image.aspx?href=http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/fifelad/2008-11-01_220622_nissaneobd.JPG that it is the bottom left and bottom right pins on the 16 pin plug that I should short. My diagnostic plug does have 16 pin holes but the bottom left has no contact in it. I would include a picture but don't know how to on this web site. Any other ideas?
Would the problem you described cause high fuel consumption, oh and black soot round the end of the exhaust pipe. A similar problem is described on another web site where they thought it might be the Oxygen sensor.
Any thoughts?
 
Hi, have you been playing in the engine bay & forgotten to plug summat back in?

I did this on my old 1.5 SE, turned out I`d forgotten to plug the lambda back in.
 
you really need to get it plugged in, you could spend all day replacing the sensors and it may be the chain at fault as Tommo said.
 
I'd second reply above.

Your symptoms are exactly what I had when my O2 (lambda) sensor failed, fortunately whilst still under warranty.

I believe you can't do the flashing EML trick on N16s. I looked into this when my SRS light came on. I had to bite the bullet and cough up at a Nissan main dealer. I couldn't find any indies capable of reading the codes. It was a dodgy plug connector under the passenger seat. It still needed the main dealer to reset the system to turn the light off after the fault was fixed.
 
Thanks to those who replied. My local mechanic has the equipment needed and has found the fault is a fluctuating voltage from the pre-cat O2 sensor. I unplugged the O2 sensor in question, took a drive and found that the fuel consumption immediate increased. My mechanic has told me he will replace the sensor for £100, including the diagnostics time already carried out. Needless to say I am quite happy about this.
 
Well further to the replacement of the O2 sensor the problem still persists. I have since worked out how to retrieve the code myself and it is indicating a problem with the O2 sensor heater. As the sensor was replaced I carried out a bit of electrical diagnosis and found all is OK apart from one interesting problem....
There is a voltage on the O2 sensors heater input when there should be none, i.e. the fuse has been removed. Now I don't know if this is normal or not. So I would like to ask anyone with a similar engine to check the voltage the same as I have.
I have written quick instructions but cannot attach them to this post so I would have to e-mail them. It would take about 10 minute and all you need is a voltmeter/multimeter.
Please reply or PM me if you would like to help.
Thanks
 
Whip the cover off and have a look at how far the tensioner is protruding. If it's out more than 10mm, then your chain needs changed.
 
Thanks for the info StevenC. I checked as you suggested and there is no problem there.
If anyone else out there with a N16 1.5 SE is willing to carry out a quick test on their car to compare against mine I would be very grateful. It will take 10 minutes and all you need is a multimeter.
 
buy a OBD kit from ebay (£20-£25) it will work on 90 if not 100% on OBD2 cars. it worked on my dads merc and audi 2005> onwards

before you carrry on what mileage has the car done? the only problem that I had with my QG15DE (phase 2 fly by wire) was a cam angle sensor.
(I also got a Almera N16 SE 1.5)

if the car is high mileage it may not be the lamda sensor giving a faulty reading it might be your cat that has gone.

as for mpg I only get 25mpg but I drive my car quite hard and even if I dont drive it hard I get 25-27 at most.
 
my n16 1.8 has this fault but diag. on mateys bosch diagnostic said 02 sensor bank2 (post cat), not done it yet as im a lazy c**t

will report back soon
 
Usually if you change one sensor, and it doesnt solve your problem, change the other. We used to do loads of duplicate warranty claims for Oxy sensors on N16s in days gone by. I fancy your chances changing the 2nd sensor to be honest!
 
@ bug_bloke
If your still on here mate,I'd love those quick instructions you have as I have the same issue in my 1.5 N16 but no mil on dash
Found out by using the foxwell obd2 diagnostic tool


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