Help with 05 Nissan Micra

ene

ok so first off i am totally clueless about cars, i have a 05 micra 1.2 engine with about 38,000 miles on it

last week the orange light came on the dash, i looked in the guide and it said to bring it to a garage which i did at the weekend. the guy there said i need to get a timing belt replacement as my one had stretched and he would do it for 600 euro as a deal and most other places would charge 1000... i dont know if i am completely being fobbed off here.

the guy hooked something to the car from the inside but was able to tell me this without opening the engine.

the car when i turn it on is jerking quite a bit and the revs go up and down, when i get going though the car is driving fine, this literally is for 1 minute. apart from that the car seems ok...

any advice would be really appreciated!!

Stheno

ene wrote: »

last week the orange light came on the dash, i looked in the guide and it said to bring it to a garage which i did at the weekend. the guy there said i need to get a timing belt replacement as my one had stretched and he would do it for 600 euro as a deal and most other places would charge 1000... i dont know if i am completely being fobbed off here.

the guy hooked something to the car from the inside but was able to tell me this without opening the engine.

the car when i turn it on is jerking quite a bit and the revs go up and down, when i get going though the car is driving fine, this literally is for 1 minute. apart from that the car seems ok...

any advice would be really appreciated!!

Was the orange light shaped like an engine?

If your car is now almost eight years old, then it's quite likely the timing belt needs replacing if it's never been done. You try getting more quotes from other garages to see if the quote you have is reasonable.

The guy probably hooked up to diagnostics in the car to read the error.

George Dalton

Timing chain on these rather than a belt. From the description of what the mechanic told you and the symptoms it sounds pretty plausible tbh.

Stheno

George Dalton wrote: »

Timing chain on these rather than a belt. From the description of what the mechanic told you and the symptoms it sounds pretty plausible tbh.

Sorry thought the petrols had a belt and the diesels a chain, my bad

biko

Your model is the K12.
Did the mech tell you what the codes were that was read with the cable connected inside?
How long have you had issues? Chains don't stretch overnight.
Any other info leading up to the light coming on? Noises?

ene

its the orange light that looks like a engine, the car was running perfect till about 2 weeks ago and since then its starting up weirdly, like the revs go up and down and its making a bit of a noise but oncde its moving the car seems fine.

the mechanic turned the light off on saturday and its after coming back on today

ene

biko wrote: »

Your model is the K12.
Did the mech tell you what the codes were that was read with the cable connected inside?

no, he didnt tell me anything like that, as i said i am totally clueless about cars!

Stheno

ene wrote: »

its the orange light that looks like a engine, the car was running perfect till about 2 weeks ago and since then its starting up weirdly, like the revs go up and down and its making a bit of a noise but oncde its moving the car seems fine.

the mechanic turned the light off on saturday and its after coming back on today

ene wrote: »

no, he didnt tell me anything like that, as i said i am totally clueless about cars!

Very basically the timing belt/chain keeps the engine rotating at a smooth rate, and makes sure it gets the right valves and other stuff to open and close at the right time, so that your engine is getting the right fuel/air etc. e The reason the light came back on is that the mechanic cleared the error code, but didn't fix what was causing it, so it's now showing up again.

Have you ever had a bike?

ene

Like a pedal bike? I am confused now!

Stheno

ene wrote: »

Like a pedal bike? I am confused now!

Yeah like a pedal bike I'm just trying to find something you might know a little more about to try and help you understand what's happened to your car, that all

timmy4u2

I honestly do not know an awful lot about these cars but I would be surprised if the chain stretched all of a sudden to put the timing so far out to bring on the engine management light.And with only 38k miles on it. It must have shown some signs of the timing going off.
I spoke with a mechanic friend who does and he said the timing chain stretching is a fault on them.
He said that the cover has to be taken off to check the timing chain to see if the chain tensioner piston protrusion is over 10mm.
Try the cam sensor and the crank sensor first.

Stheno

timmy4u2 wrote: »

I honestly do not know an awful lot about these cars but I would be surprised if the chain stretched all of a sudden to put the timing so far out to bring on the engine management light.And with only 38k miles on it. It must have shown some signs of the timing going off.
I spoke with a mechanic friend who does and he said the timing chain stretching is a fault on them.
He said that the cover has to be taken off to check the timing chain to see if the chain tensioner piston protrusion is over 10mm.
Try the cam sensor and the crank sensor first.

The crank/cam sensors would most probably cause the car to cut out, I'd to replace both of those on mine and the car was regularly cutting out.

The chain on this car is over 8 years old, so it stretching over time is not unrealistic?

timmy4u2

Stheno wrote: »

The crank/cam sensors would most probably cause the car to cut out, I'd to replace both of those on mine and the car was regularly cutting out.

The chain on this car is over 8 years old, so it stretching over time is not unrealistic?

Its not unrealistic giving that premature stretching is a fault on them.But It has only 38k miles up and unlike a cam belt age alone will not cause a chain to deteriorate.
The guy at the Main Stealers could not have made a positive diagnosis without checking the protrusion.
I would be cleaning and checking the maf n lambda first. It is a very cheap option.
My friend reckons 38k is too soon. He has seen one at 48k but most were over 50k miles.

Stheno

timmy4u2 wrote: »

Its not unrealistic giving that premature stretching is a fault on them. It has only 38k miles up and unlike a cam belt age alone will not cause a chain to deteriorate.
The guy at the Main Stealers could not have made a positive diagnosis without checking the protrusion.
I would be cleaning and checking the maf n lambda first. It is a very cheap option.
My friend reckons 38k is too soon. He has seen one at 48k but most were over 50k miles.

How old were those cars? Lack of regular servicing could also be an issue tbf OP hasn't said if it was a main dealer or not and George who has posted saying it's plausible is a fairly respected mechanic to be fair. Op has also been advised to get a couple more quotes.

From the perspective of them not knowing how things working under the bonnet, I'm just trying to explain what it means, i.e. in very basic terms if the chain has stretched, then just like on a bike when you start up/turn the pedals, it won't turn the wheels as it can't coordinate what is needed to get the wheels turning.

I'd reiterate that the OP get another opinion or two.

timmy4u2

Stheno wrote: »

How old were those cars? Lack of regular servicing could also be an issue tbf OP hasn't said if it was a main dealer or not and George who has posted saying it's plausible is a fairly respected mechanic to be fair. Op has also been advised to get a couple more quotes.

From the perspective of them not knowing how things working under the bonnet, I'm just trying to explain what it means, i.e. in very basic terms if the chain has stretched, then just like on a bike when you start up/turn the pedals, it won't turn the wheels as it can't coordinate what is needed to get the wheels turning.

I'd reiterate that the OP get another opinion or two.

I have no idea of the age of the cars and I am not very familiar with them but a mechanic friend of mine, who is as good as you will get, was with me when posting and he has worked on a number of them.

I have also recommended that he go elsewhere and exhaust the other options, or else he should get a mechanic to get under the bonnet and remove the timing cover and measure the protrusion of the piston. That will remove the conjecture and he will know what he is doing or what he has to do then

JohnBoy26

timmy4u2 wrote: »

I honestly do not know an awful lot about these cars but I would be surprised if the chain stretched all of a sudden to put the timing so far out to bring on the engine management light.And with only 38k miles on it. It must have shown some signs of the timing going off.
I spoke with a mechanic friend who does and he said the timing chain stretching is a fault on them.
He said that the cover has to be taken off to check the timing chain to see if the chain tensioner piston protrusion is over 10mm.
Try the cam sensor and the crank sensor first.

But sure would you not be better off checking if the chain has stretched before potentially wasting money on those sensors?

The mk2 almera also gave chain trouble and throws up codes for sensors. However it's almost always a stretched chain that's the cause rather than a failed sensor.

I don't know about the micra but on the almera a stretched chain can definitely put the eml light on all of a sudden and cause the car to run rough.

The timing doesn't have to be a way out to cause this and mileage isn't that much of a factor.

I've seen an almera with a stretched chain at 50k miles, I know of another one with 122k miles and it's still on it's original chain.

ene

Ok so I am going to find a different mechanic.. Any suggestions for one open on a Saturday South dublin?

What should I be asking them?

biko

Malahide ok? www.yelp.ie/biz/david-brennan-motors-dublin Maybe someone else will have a closer suggestion.

Don't tell them about the previous mechanic, let them do their own investigation from scratch.
Ask for error code numbers and write them down.

timmy4u2

ene wrote: »

Ok so I am going to find a different mechanic.. Any suggestions for one open on a Saturday South dublin?

What should I be asking them?

If you really want to find out if it is the timing chain get the cover removed and determine the length of the tensioner piston protrusion.
If it is ten inches or more; new chain.
Nine inches I guess on way out.
Under that problem is elsewhere so back to diagnostic codes.