Hi

B

barry

Hi all, have joined here hoping to learn a few things - not the hottest on cars at all by any stretch of the imagination, so hopefully I can stick around and pick a few things up!

Couple of initial questions if I may :-) Car in question is an almera SX 06 reg that's done just over 36k miles.

I recently got my front tyres, brake pads and brake discs changed over, and I'm a bit sceptical of how well the work was done since the brakes are a bit squeaky every so often and the steering wheel has started shaking whenever I'm going above 60ish. My thoughts (which may be completely wrong!) are that perhaps the brakes need a while to bed in properly and it might be normal, but the shaking is probably because they didn't balance the wheels properly. Would these assumptions be correct?

Secondly, if I start from cold and in the first 5 minutes or so of running take the engine to more than around 3000 rpm, the whole car starts shuddering pretty badly for a few seconds (and doesn't accelerate beyond that until its finished its shuddering spree.) Sometimes it doesn't shudder but just doesn't accelerate (even if my foot's to the floor) for a few seconds until its sorted itself out. It's been like it a while and hasn't got any worse, but I haven't got a clue what that could be (some kind of sensor perhaps?) Anyone got any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks :)
 
Evening barry where bouts in kent you from??

Squeling like you say could well be due to the brakes need bedding in and the wheels probably do need balancing but i would have thought that that would have come in with the tyres??

As the the other problem is the engine management light on??? could be a stretched timing chain but im no expert on the n16, im sure someone will be along to point you in the right direction x

Cheers pel
 
Hi Pel, thanks for the reply! I'm all over Kent at the moment - it's a long story but I'm generally back and forth between Dartford and Canterbury :)

The balancing was meant to come with the tyres yes - I was going along the lines of I'm not convinced they balanced them properly when they changed the tyres over. They were certainly fine before that.

There's no warning lights on at all nope. Never have been :) Another thing I forgot to mention, pushing it beyond about 5k rpm I usually hear a faint rattle - not sure if that's normal or related in the slightest but thought I'd throw it out there in case!

Cheers :)
 
I have a N16, Check under the chassis where the exhaust is and see if theres anything loose. If not possible wheel bearing? I cant be sure unless you gimme a rough area its rattiling in :D But nice find dude better get some mods on that bad boy and some pictures up ;)
 
Touch_Reality said:
I have a N16, Check under the chassis where the exhaust is and see if theres anything loose. If not possible wheel bearing?
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Thanks for the suggestions :) If anything it seems to be coming from the front rather than the back - but it doesn't really bother me as long as it doesn't mean something's about to snap off! It certainly doesn't sound horribly unhealthy. I just wondered if it'd help anyone diagnose the shuddering issue (but it's most likely nothing to do with it.) I had a quick check underneath the car by the exhaust and nothing seems obviously loose.
 
Hi barry, welcome to the AOC.

As mentioned by pel7, the juddering could be the issue with timing chain stretching, but if im not mistaken, nissan changed the chain after 2003/4 for a diferent one (await confirmation from other users on this one).

Secondly, try cleaning the MAF (mass air flow meter), as if this is dirty it could cause your symptoms.

Liam
 
Thanks Liam - very helpful.

I've done a bit of reading around and if it was the MAF sensor it would make a lot of sense. It doesn't seem to have a heck of a lot of grunt lately (I regularly have to change down to 4th on motorways for example when there's a bit of an incline otherwise it can't keep going beyond about 50) and fuel economy hasn't been the best either - been getting just over 30 mpg out of it on average which seems a bit low to me. I'm not an economy driver but I don't thrash the thing either! Can someone confirm my logic is correct on the above?

Could you point me at any recommended guides for cleaning the thing? I've found a few online but they all seem to differ and people seem to disagree all over the place as to the best way of going about the job. So far I've gathered it's probably a case of using some form of MAF sensor cleaner to spray the little wires inside, would this be correct?

Thanks!
 
No problems barry! We're a friendly bunch!

30mpg on the motorway does seem little low...even in my slightly mod'd 1.8 i can quite easily see 38-40mpg on the motorways.

As for cleaning the MAF, i used an artists paint brush...very fine bristles an very soft....gently brushed a few times and replaced. Seemed to help out a litle.

Or other members on here will recomend spraying intake/carb cleaner from about 6inches away, leaving to dry completly, repeat a few times, then refit.

Oh and for endless amounts of useful tips/maintenance/discounts and other cool stuff, join up as a paid member. The best £16 ive spent :)
 
30mpg on the motorway does seem little low...even in my slightly mod'd 1.8 i can quite easily see 38-40mpg on the motorways.
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It's not just on the motorways - but I seem to now be average about 28mpg - that's a mixture of motorways and driving through towns at lesser speeds, but not ridiculously stop start. It's mainly on motorways / dual carriageways.

I'll have a look at the MAF when I get a chance and see how things go!
 
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