Help - Nissan Micra Stopped Dead

ianobrien

Help.

My mother's 2000 Nissan Micra stopped dead in traffic. The car was moving when the engine stopped and now it won't start.

I'm fairly sure that the car did not run out of petrol, as a car running out of petrol splutters. The gauge says that there is half a tank, and the car did not splutter.

I'm wondering could an ECU failure be the cause, or could the timing chain have snapped?

Has anybody heard of a Micra ECU failing while driving, or of a timing chain snapping? Could the distributer have failed?

The car has 65000 miles on the clock, and is serviced at home as per schedule.

All help is appreciated.

Seth Brundle

to be honest it could be a number of things.
Does it turn over when she tries to start?
Are there any warning lights on in the instrument cluster? Do all lights come in the instrument cluster before starting?
Is she in the AA?

ianobrien

kbannon wrote:

to be honest it could be a number of things.
Does it turn over when she tries to start?
Are there any warning lights on in the instrument cluster? Do all lights come in the instrument cluster before starting?
Is she in the AA?

To answer the questions
Yes it turns over
No, no warning lights
Yes, all the usual lights come on when you try to start
No, but the car is home (trusty tow rope)

Rowley Birkin QC

Do you change the fuel filter when you service at home?

ianobrien

bigkev49 wrote:

Do you change the fuel filter when you service at home?

Ya, and it's a curse of a job.

patrickc

could be a bloackage in the fuel line either.... or line broken..

Rowley Birkin QC

Thought it might have been a clogged filter stopping petrol going to engine.
I know you said it was your ma and i know my ma woulnd take any notice but did she see any blue smoke before it died?

ianobrien

bigkev49 wrote:

Thought it might have been a clogged filter stopping petrol going to engine.
I know you said it was your ma and i know my ma woulnd take any notice but did she see any blue smoke before it died?

I haven't asked her but I'd say that she didn't notice. I'd say that as soon as the car died, she'd look at the instrument panel for lights, and start looking for where to park the car while there is some momentum still in the car.

The next thing that she'd reach for is the phone, and the ear's still sore (it was my car after all.......)

Rowley Birkin QC

LOL i feel your pain!

ianobrien

I was just talking to Mother (she's calmed down a bit) Before the car died, the central locking kept locking and unlocking the doors while the car was driving. As well as that, the battery is now dead, and it's not from trying to start the car, so there is now something drawing current in the car.

This is pointing to an electrical/sensor/ECU fault, blowing the fuel starvation idea out the window?

Any Other ideas lads and lassies?

IrishRover

Bad alternator maybe, not charging the battery.
Have you tried starting it with jump leads?
If you can, leave the leads connected for a few minutes, and if it dies again when you remove the leads, best guess is a bad alternator and maybe battery too.

ianobrien

Thanks for the suggestions, but we got the car going last night, after an hour of an questioning as to what happened.

Initially we (Myself & Da) were told that the car stopped, the engine light came on and the central locking is clicking.

Da went out and found the battery dead and believing the above, towed the car home. He left it as it was raining cats and dogs.

Last night, the questioning started....

What happened is that Mother was driving home in the rain, with lights and wipers on. Her phone rang, she pulled in and answered the phone. She turned off the engine. She claims that the phone call was for 2 minutes (ya right) Basically the battery went flat as all the lights were on (the battery in the micra is tiny), the "Clicking from the central locking" was the relays behind the dash (never heard them before as the engine noise drowned them out) and it was her first time seeing the engine warning light (it comes on with the ignition, but goes out when the car starts)

Cause - Flat battery due to phone call

Before you ask, we cant get a bigger battery in due to the size of the battery tray (we looked at it allready)

Just don't start on the women and cars....

Seth Brundle

LOL women eh?

Rowley Birkin QC

micras and women! good to hear its sorted though. im sick of my car, wish they would hurry up and invent a commercially viable teleporting system!

Esel

ianobrien wrote:

Before you ask, we cant get a bigger battery in due to the size of the battery tray (we looked at it allready)

You might be able to get a battery of the same size with a higher rating though.