I was away last week so my would have been sitting in the presumed wet of london for the past 7 days and now will not start.

it turns over but will not ignite. i can hear a knocking sound from the rear off side which i guess is the fuel pump so i guess that is fine. strangly when i first went to start it it seemed to ignite once then immediately die but since then no ignition at all. It was behaving a bit strangly before i went away in all the wet and snow by revs dropping low during idle like it was about to stall.

It is a daily drive car and leaving it standing for a week seems to do it no good. Another strange thing is that my cobra alarm keeps getting set off as well. the indication is that it is set off by the ultrasonic sensors but even when i set the alarm with ultrasonic excluded it still goes off with the same indication. It is like it resets itself and then the alarm triggers.

 

What is my problem? is it the electrics or fuel or air intake issues? what can i do to discover and cure my problem?

first things

 

you deffo have fuel in it (stupid question but it has been known.)

battery in good condition and fully charged

put alarm in total valet mode.

not with the car at the moment as had to take the darn tube into work.

There is fuel in it. Tried to start it off another cars battery so power supply is fine. Pretty sure it is not the alarm - imobiliser is off and acts to imobilise the car one key turn before turning over so should be fine.

 

what else could it be?

could be loads of things.

but the main ones are

MAF (check and clean the connectors leading to it.)

PTU (again check and clean connectors)

 

replace them with known good ones if it still don't start after that.

1 at a time obviously so you can eliminate the culprit.

hmm i had a similar problem a month ago. she's never had a problem with starting first time (as in, ever!) but once i tried to start her she just turned over and turned over and wouldnt fire up. after trying for a minute she fired up, but on 4 cylinders, then after a bit of throttle, up to 5, and then 6. and ive never (touch wood) had the problem since. the only thing i can think of is PTU (s1)

is she turning over strongly or sluggishly? (im guessing the first one).

does it have a series 1 or series 2 ptu? (what year was your Z manufactured) as S1's often fail (usual symptoms are cutting out while driving, but then being ok for a while after cooling down).

i wouldnt think the wet would have anything to do with it - if rain gets in the filter, it tends to run like its on 5 for a while until it dries out.

someone told me it could be something about my plugs being wet (with petrol i assume) and i need to remove them, clean them, check the gaps and warm them up(???) has anyone heard of this procedure and could give me further info of exactly to do it?

had same problem on sons car (not nissan)turned out to be a imobiliser problem.disconnected alarm system,starts fine now.

ok its still not working. i have disconnected all the plugs on the MAF, CAS and PTU (series 2) and cleaned them. PTU plugs seemed pretty new and clean and was MAF. CAS connector was a bit dirty but cleaned and removed unit and there were clicks on rotation (is this sparks from plugs or injectors firing? also how can i be sure that the CAS is now lined up properly will i need to get the timing done?).

Disconnected line out of fuel filter and seems to be fuel there. can here fuel pump priming.

air filter removed so that not causing blockage.

just about to go down to Halfords to get spark plug puller and check if they are wet and producing spark. If wet how do i dry + clean properly?

If there is spark and fuel that rules out dodgy immobiliser. WHAT THE HELL ELSE COULD BE WRONG!!!!!! Really need help on this. Cheers in advance.

Ok i have pulled two of the plugs and they look pretty grubby but the car does run rich. They still spark when touched against the head when cranking so i am producing a spark so electrics, plugs and imobiliser ruled out.

 

What else could be wrong?????

 

could i not be getting compression? how do i check that without doing a full compression test and why would that suddenly fail when it was sitting on the road not running or moving. could the cambelt just disintigrated and died while it was sitting there so my valves aren't opening??

 

Really need some help here as i have tried everything!

still really needing help here guys........

 

tested the error codes on my ECU and i have code 34 det sensor.....

 

does this explain the car not starting?

 

Im reseting the ECU memory now by taking the battery off and will see if it is still there after.

 

Any help?

should still start with det sensor fault, which would probably be the small harness connections at bulkhead in middle of rear engine top

might be worth replacing spark plugs if they haven't been changed for a long time.

isnt it always a possibility that the code 34 relates to actual detonation as opposed to just the det sensor failing??

Best results from reading through these forums is what was mentioned earlier. Try and borrow cas/ptu/maf from someone else so that you can eliminate which one of them is going wrong.

This might be of help. Had the same problem with my NA after it not being driven for a week over Christmas. Normally it gets used everyday.

 

It fired as expected then died almost instantly. I checked all of the usual suspects but all was ok. Pump in order, PTU ok - everything else in place.

 

I found that I could just get a take if I pumped the accelerator whilst trying to start it. After a long time of pumping it reluctantly started. It ran rough for a minute - with me pressing the acceleator to the floor - then sorted itself out and has run ok ever since.

 

It's as though the auto choke wasn't working (or confused) or there was no fuel getting to the cylinders.

 

So, without sawing the battery flat, pump the gas and keep turning it.

 

Good luck

 

Jack

fixed!! such a relief!

 

I think i had got moisture in my ignition system somewhere and i flooded the engine trying to start it. I dried it out by taking out the fuel pump fuse (30A long green fuse in the small fuse box near the brake master cylinder) and cranking it over a few times and then jamming the throttle open and leaving it a while. When i went back and put the fuse back in i got it starting and it sounded rough at first but kept it revving so not to stall and then took it for a long run and it came back fine. Success!

 

I dont know if this was the original problem or if that was solved by my cleaning of the connectors and so on.

 

Think i may have knocked my timing out a little espeacilly when i took off the CAS. The car is in for its MOT today, will a normal garage also adjust the injector firing timing with the CAS if i ask them to do my timing?

I had a similar problem and it was down to poor spark plugs. I replaced the 10,000 mile old Iridiums with pukka NGK jobbies and it worked fine afterwards.

 

A 'normal' garage ought to be able to work out how to set the ignition timing, but you may need to give them a bit of guidance for how to get the signal from the inductive loop and where the CAS is etc.