Nissan Micra K11 - WONT START?!

[@alansorbie4038]

A simple repair! I remember when these cars were new they had this problem especially when owners would start the engine , move the car a few metres out of the garage to wash it then drive it back into the garage. Over time the plugs would get fouled as the car was always running on a rich cold start mixture, especially if the car only made a lot of short journeys. On some cars of this era you can clear a flooded engine by holding the throttle pedal all the way down and cranking the engine - the full throttle signal disables the fuel supply when cranking which can help to dry the plugs.

[@davyarthurs]

Clear flood crank😄

[@stuartkenny]

Used to happen on my 97 if I was shuffling cars on the driveway. Throttle flat to the floor and just keep cranking. Sounds horrible so you would get some looks from the neighbours.

[@nunoinacio3046]

Bought mine last year from a friend who had it new in 1995. It has 350.000 km, and it works like a Swiss clock. Last Monday morning didn't start, just like this one in this video. Though it could be the starter, but found this precious video the day after. I immediately realized it was the sparks! Changed it, it's better than before! Thanks a lot!

[@TheStobb50]

I had one of those cars from nearly new, we used it daily for 10 years until rust eventually got it, but it went to the scrapyard with the original exhaust from New absolutely unbelievable

[@delukxy]

Lawn mower syndrome. Over fuelling when cold washes the oil off the bores and you lose compression. When the engine stops the cold oil can keep hydraulic tappets a full stretch which can hold the valves open and also reduce the compression. Vicious circle as more and more fuel washes the the bores. In this case the old plugs couldn't supply a good enough spark to fire the initial very rich mixture. At this mileage the tappets might be tired and a bit gummed up. Some new oil and an Italian tune up might help. Nice cars. I hope you can continue to win your battle with the rust. Must keep Sis happy.

[@mehrzahl2219]

I have that too when I park my car for a longer time. Injectors leak some fuel and cause compression loss.

[@sunilphalakdhari3869]

Love these everyday car videos. In the 90s you forget to mention a new very well designed Japanese company that entered the world market that gave the 3 top runners, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan a run for their money. Hyundai! Today they lead the market with absolutely reliable cost effective vehicles.

[@jontaylor1652]

My ex-partner had one of these, she kept it for years and I have to say it was one of the most reliable cars I've ever known.

[@jochenstacker7448]

I used to despise those cars! Not because they have anything wrong with them (they don't), but because in Ireland in the 00s these cars were driven exclusively by elderly folk who all got their license in the amnesty* and they couldn't drive for toffee. So when you saw one of those, you know that it will be driving down the road at an absolute maximum of 60 km/h whilst meandering all over the place and followed by at least 20 other cars and trucks. And Ireland didn't have motorways at the time, so you knew you would be stuck behind this for the next 20-30 km whilst desperately hoping you would find an opportunity to overtake. Usually the two cars behind the Micra also wouldn't overtake, so you would have to overtake three cars. My blood boils just thinking about it (i have gotten a lot calmer on the road though). *The Great Driving License Amnesty of 1979. In 1979 over 60,000 drivers were given an amnesty as they were granted a full driving licence without sitting a driving test due to the large backlog of driving test applicants at that time.

[@KitamiK11]

And nowadays they're cult classic b-road bashers. We have to thank the old biddies for that, eh!

[@jochenstacker7448]

@KitamiK11 I fully agree.

[@mohabatkhanmalak1161]

I had a 4 door Micra some years ago and I loved it. Very economical, reliable and enduring car for city driving.

[@batlin]

I had one of the K11 1.0 CVTs for a few years and loved it. Slow but super light and easy to drive. Because of its weird electromagnetic clutch, it didn't even creep when in gear, except when the engine was cold and the idle setpoint is high. Later models switched to a torque converter. Eventually the cabin heater started leaking and the engine overheated due to lack of coolant pressure, and even after replacing the heater core, the head gasket had developed a leak that made it overheat when you go above 60 km/h, so that was the end of it. Would love to have it back again.

[@cedriclynch]

Sparking plugs with iridium or platinum or gold-palladium tips will spark much more reliably under unfavourable conditions such as extreme dampness or a succession of very short runs. They cost several times as much as the basic plugs but they also last several times longer. They slightly improve the fuel economy and also allow smooth idling and pick-up on a slightly leaner mixture. You can get below 0.1% carbon monoxide even with a car that has a carburettor and no catalytic converter.

[@tboHammu]

It even has a tachometer, bit jealous about that

[@Fordprefect1000]

I dropped from fifth to first in one of these looking for third to get it onto a motorway. The engine and gearbox were fine with this and it survived but I nearly popped the window out with my head!

[@Fordprefect1000]

What I like about this channel is that the cars are old but still well within their service lives and just shows that new cars are replaced too early and people are distracted by new and shiny things

[@SeasideGarage]

I reckon that we could stop producing new cars today and live with what's already there for 40+ years at least!

[@pepijnwittopkoning4582]

Great Fix! Little tip if you have fauled sparkplugs and you want to clean them just sandblast them in your blaster cabinet! I saw my neighbour (professional mechanic, car restorer) doing that and it works quite well. Replacing is always better. But if you want to clean them blasting is quick en very effective!

[@SeasideGarage]

Great tip!

[@zaneclone]

Every time I buy a second hand petrol car I replace the leads and plugs- because I know everyone else takes them for granted and never change them lol ! Petrol cars of the 90's to 00's were a victim of their own success- running so well they rarely got serviced as often as they should. Plug leads are top of the list of neglected items with the plugs themselves a close second...

[@jefferysmith3930]

The ‘92 Honda Prelude I bought out of a garage after it had been sitting for 8 years required only new plugs to get it running. The previous owner had been told the catalytic converter was plugged. I began by draining and replacing the fuel. No go. Pulled the plugs out and cleaned then. They looked fine. No go. (Almost set in on fire checking for spark with a paper towel soaked with brake clean that was too close to a spark plug wire) Put in new plugs not expecting any change. Fired right up. Yes, sometimes just the simple things.

[@zaraak323i]

Seeing all those leaves under the hood/bonnet, the first thing I would've done was check the air filter. I love simple problems. I wish more of my problems were that simple!

[@stevesas632]

I have late fathers 1998 Micra 1.3 Si with only 40k miles on the clock. I did have to get some rust repair to sills & front cross member, but i love driving it. I think for a small cheap car these drive & are built very well.

[@laurensnieuwland4657]

These things are awesome! Pretty much the 90's equivalent of a Mini. You can get supercharger kits for these things!

[@billdyke9745]

I had two of these. Rust got them both. The big problem is turning off the engine without having let it run for a few minutes. The answer is what our man did. Take out the fuel pump fuse, nail the throttle and crank it over for a while. You learn not to make that mistake...

[@robertnilsson4775]

Buy Denso or Ngk plugs next time, they will last much longer. 👍

[@DumpoDeluxe]

Hvor FEDT har haft sådan en 1.0 SLX i æblegrøn. Fantastisk pålidelig og egentlig for hvad den er ganske velkørende.. Har savnet japanske biler på kanalen siden Datsun 110🫡

[@aslandama]

Very interesting but it just shows how we can overlook the simple things.

[@103erik]

Glad you got it running, but I'd dig a bit deeper. For instance, pop off the distributor cap and check it and the rotor. If there is carbon tracking there it might run ok with new plugs, but the electrons will seek another path when the plugs have higher resistance. Cheers!

[@twocvbloke]

At 250k KMs, a good service wouldn't go amiss, already got the plugs, but changing oil, filters, coolant etc., would keep the engine running for a long time, whether the body lasts as long though, well that's another story... :P

[@SeasideGarage]

Dont worry all that is also done... :)

[@jerrycarroll9243]

These K11 Micra's were well known for this over fuelling when cold, nissan uk supplied a harness with resistor to go between temp sensor and ECU to prevent it happening , I fitted a few back in the day for my customers but on my own K11 I'd pull the pump fuse until it started to fire and then quickly reinsert fuse and full throttle till it cleared 😂

[@phphph6022]

I made that (actually it was me and few hundred other folk) 😊

[@mj4083]

Good job, there is nothing wrong with good regular maintenance 😅

[@harryharker9564]

Yes these engines were marvellous

[@Bob-ll4xu]

Did you have to gap the plugs? I would have checked the air filter too, could be clogged, effecting air to fuel ratio. Love engines from this era!

[@KirksAudioSanctum]

9:30 My Nissan X Trail had the very same issue... Turned out to be head gasket failure. You had to crank it with foot down and it would finally start. After this it would be fine all day long. Next day same thing. Would keep turning over. Went through three starter motors. Gave up on the motor in the end! Shame it was a really nice cruiser!

[@諾哉]

日産マーチ！😂懐かしい😊15年前まで日本では、そこら中走っていました！

[@DanJansson-uf6cg]

This engine is so god! I got now 450000km on my 1998. Of course it is rust everywere on the car, but its most easy fix, its only my daily driver.

[@foamyflightmaster9385]

Oh how we all miss the simplistic engines of cars like this, you know 'kiss'...and cheap to run and fix

[@chylimzbydzi]

At 4:23 I'm thinking, check the spark plugs, if the engine is flooded you'll have proof of that... I'll keep watching:)

[@nicodenhaak3961]

Great for your sister. I would also check the airfilter. If it's as well maintained as the spark plugs?

[@SeasideGarage]

its new(ish)

[@pipodeclown3782]

Remove the leaves if you don't want more rust😐

[@SeasideGarage]

but I love rust!

[@pipodeclown3782]

@@SeasideGarage I know, but probably not more rust😄

[@lesklower7281]

A Japanese car from the 1990s the best decade for cars they were so much simpler and so reliable and l own a 1997 Toyota Hilux and its reliable since owning my Hilux l have changed the spark plugs twice and that is in 29000 kilometres a simple car with a simple problem 😊

[@mtttony]

It's good when an engine wears out spark plugs.

[@ChishanFipz]

Spark plugs can be very quickly destroyed by running too rich - and it used to be the last thing I remember to do - no amount of cleaning ever woke mine up - and they were brand new before my poor attempt at tuning a car ....

[@datsunruss]

The distributor on my 1996 Micra failed after about 15 years - did not take long to pin it down as the culprit, cost about £130 for a pattern part to fix.

[@Ugloke]

when i sold old cars, we often had to change the plugs. When they had a lot of test drives.

[@ferguscosgrave7510]

Had one would keep going no matter what you done to it

[@walterpfannschmidt8449]

Also had a no start on mine, and it was the immobiliser. My 1300 ran for 9 years without the slightest hitch.

[@MrJolly-lb9je]

Nissan petrol engines seem to have pretty high cold start fuel enrichment . I had same issues with them Micra/Almera/Primera/Maxima .. Usually if just briefly starded from cold and switched over witing few sec./min. and left for hours or especially over night , next cold start just adds more fuel and you end up with scenario like that . I tend to unplug MAF sensor connector (if MAF based system) and 9 times out of 10 they start up with just short cranking over .

[@Train-ing]

What's the grey vehicle in the background

[@petemommo9622]

My neighbour´s an old dear who has precisely this Micra in this spec only in 90s turquoise and the thing is mint as. I hope her family ask me if I want to take it off their hands when she walks through the pearly gates. I know, I´m a very bad man.

[@AdelSTech]

I had one many years ago. I had to scrap it because of rust

[@jeremyaustin9103]

Tow bar too

[@alanduncan9204]

How did you know if the plugs were not firing when it was idling ? Sound / vibration ?

[@SeasideGarage]

sound and vibrations... reminded me of our old citroen c1... (three pot)

[@leaulife569]

Maybe check the air filter?

[@peters7413]

next time try standing beside the car and putting the seatbelt around your upper body, that way you can stear at the same time you move the car

[@kevinnye5132]

Seppo I wouldn’t start either if I was a Micra 😂, at least it’s colour is red so cannot not see it’s embarrassment 😁. Before I get any hate comments 😁 from Micra lovers , it’s a JOKE LOL 😂

[@MS940]

Sorry I could't watch this. It is so damn boring car. Commented anyway😀