Primera Probs - Hesitating Etc.

[Matt Evans]

Hey all.

Just bought an 'N' Reg. Primera SRi, for getting to work while my Pulsar is off the road. Only thing is, the O2 sensor has been disconnected because the engine was intermittently hesistating and holding back, when trying to accelerate. I plugged the sensor back in and sure enough the symptoms were quite apparent.

I know the obvious answer is a knackered sensor, but I bought the car from my parents and I know for a fact a new o2 sensor has been fitted, and it was the garage that fitted it, who decided to disconnect it.

So, anyone have any ideas? I've had a trawl through the net, but can't seem to find anything definitive.

 

[GTIR-LOZ]

are you sure it was a new sensor not a second hand one as the garage would have had to fix the fault for free and disconnecting a brand new sensor seems a bit dodgy, if it is you may have a problem with the wiring back to the ecu or a problem with the ecu itself as long as the exhaust system is ok

 

[Matt Evans]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm not 100% sure that the sensor is new, but my parents did say the garage offered to put the old one back on and refund the money, but they couldn't be bothered, and told them to just leave the new sensor disconnected.

I'll try and have a look at the sensor on the weekend.

Exhaust is ok as far as I know, but again, not 100% sure.

I obviously need to do a bit more investigating, but I was just wondering if anyone had encountered this exact same problem and found what the cause was.

I'll try running DataScan on it, and see if it throws out a fault code... If I can find my data cable.

 

[Matt Evans]

Ok, I've finally run Datascan and its throwing up code 34 - Det/Knock sensor.

I unplugged the det sensor and reset the ecu, only to find code 34 is still present. Also, the det sensor looked brand new, so I'm wondering if it was the det sensor that was changed and not the O2 sensor.

Anyway, I left the det sensor unplugged and plugged the O2 sensor back in. I took the car for a drive and it was a little hesitant at first, but then seemed to be ok. I drove the car for about 10 mins with no hesitation at all.

So now I'm even more confused as to why the fault code points at det sensor, but unplugging the O2 sensor is what seemed to affect things. Could this mean I have a det sensor problem and an O2 sensor/wiring problem?

 

[Matt Evans]

Right, I've just found the receipt for the new sensor and it was actually the lambda sensor that was replaced. So I guess my next port of call is to try a new Det sensor.

 

[stumo]

why not take it back to the garage and get them to fix it properly......

 

[Matt Evans]

The car belonged to my parents when it was taken to the garage. They asked my parents did they want to leave it with them for a while so they can find the cause of the problem, but they decided not to as they were planning on getting rid of the car. The only thing was they didn't realise they were going to end up selling it to me! lol

P.s. The garage was Kwik-Fit, so I'd rather not take it back to them.

Anyhow, I'm starting to think that both the det sensor/wiring and the O2 wiring are dodgy. I unclipped the O2 sensor and repositioned it, and now the car doesn't stutter or hesitate, so I'm thinking a dodgy wiring loom is at fault for that. Just need to borrow my det sensor from the Pulsar now to determine whether its actually the det sensor or the wiring thats throwing up code 34. Then I can stop worrying about this frigging Primera and carrying on rebuilding my R!

 

[Matt Evans]

Ok, I've put the det sensor from my 'R' onto the primera and the code 34 has now disappeared.

The lambda sensor is still plugged in also, and when I took the car for a run it still stuttered like hell for a couple of minutes, then as the car warmed up it was fine, no hesitation at all. I know I can just unplug the lambda sensor and stop it stuttering completely but I don't really want to do that.

So, any ideas why when the lambda sensor plugged in is causing the car to hesitate, but now only when cold?

 

[geoff pine]

Maybe the sensor is is the wrong one as there are two main types (a quick search will help to show this) how much did they charge you for it a new one. From Nissan there a round £100 is there a part number we can check ?

 

[Fusion Ed]

Plug in data scan again and drive @ 50mph on a flat road the lambda feedback should swing left and right and the ARF base should be around 90-110%