Nissan Almera 2004 - Rev problem last night

Morpheus

Hi lads

nissan almera
3 door hatch
1.5 petrol
110,000 miles

Was driving from Tallaght to Navan, via balbriggan last night.

The car was going fine, I was avg 120kph on the motorway, but as I approached the boyne bridge in drogheda the car shuddered a little, felt more like a gust of wind than anything, no noticeable noise or anything except that the power dropped off. it didnt go completely, but was in fifth and the revs just dropped.

I took the slip road and started driving to slane but noticed that as i changed up through the gears, the revs wouldnt go as high as they normally do, they would flatten off around 3 or 4 thousand revs and id have to drop a gear, accelerate hard and then change up at a higher rev count than normal.

I turned around and headed for balbriggan. managed about 100kph all the way but in fourth or fifth the accelerator did nothing, in fact it struggled to keep the revs up and they would fade off if i hit an incline.

No warning lights came on and there was no noticeable change in the engine temperature, no chemical smells etc

Anyway got back to the town, stopped the car and turned it off for about 15 mins. Restarted and tried it out and it was back to normal.

I left it at home and its going to the garage today. But first thing this morning i had a look under the bonnet, no noticeable spills or leaks, but I noticed that the oil was low, ive changed jobs recently and before now would have commuted via rail and not driven the car far, thinking back, The last service was at beginning of year so it is probably due one now.

Anyone any ideas what it may have been???

bear1

Morpheus wrote: »

Hi lads

nissan almera
3 door hatch
1.5 petrol
110,000 miles

Was driving from Tallaght to Navan, via balbriggan last night.

The car was going fine, I was avg 120kph on the motorway, but as I approached the boyne bridge in drogheda the car shuddered a little, felt more like a gust of wind than anything, no noticeable noise or anything except that the power dropped off. it didnt go completely, but was in fifth and the revs just dropped.

I took the slip road and started driving to slane but noticed that as i changed up through the gears, the revs wouldnt go as high as they normally do, they would flatten off around 3 or 4 thousand revs and id have to drop a gear, accelerate hard and then change up at a higher rev count than normal.

I turned around and headed for balbriggan. managed about 100kph all the way but in fourth or fifth the accelerator did nothing, in fact it struggled to keep the revs up and they would fade off if i hit an incline.

No warning lights came on and there was no noticeable change in the engine temperature, no chemical smells etc

Anyway got back to the town, stopped the car and turned it off for about 15 mins. Restarted and tried it out and it was back to normal.

I left it at home and its going to the garage today. But first thing this morning i had a look under the bonnet, no noticeable spills or leaks, but I noticed that the oil was low, ive changed jobs recently and before now would have commuted via rail and not driven the car far, thinking back, The last service was at beginning of year so it is probably due one now.

Anyone any ideas what it may have been???

You may have answered your own question there.
Car has not been used a lot, oil was low and hasn't been serviced for over half a year.
Get the car serviced properly, and then give it a try.
Failing that, the MAF comes to mind.

Morpheus

Hope so... its in with mechanic now so we'll wait and see. thanks

skyhighflyer

Timing chain maybe?

mgbgt1978

Chain would normally throw a light, especially if the performance was that bad.
Also rev counter would be very jumpy with a stretched chain.
And would be very slow to start.
Unusual for a chain to effect the performance that much without the above warning signs well in advance.

Morpheus

well 3 days after the supposed fix, the issue raised its ugly head again... this time with the engine warning light, which has now decided to stay on....

I was acelerating to move into the overtaking lane on the motorway when again car shuddered like something had blown in the engine, revs dropped. got it back home, engine warning light is on, checked oil level and its fine.

if i punch the accelerator the revs flatten out at about 3000 and i have to do all my accelerating in 2nd and 3rd just to get it to do 80kph.

Can anyone point me in the right direction as to what it might be - do we think timing?? My ould chap is going to take it to a garage later today hopefully.

Avns1s

Get it hooked up to diagnostics and read the codes.

It could be a lot of things including crank or cam sensors.

Morpheus

Or drive it into a forecourt and do a trade in

truedoom

Sounds like timing chain to me.

Any issues starting it after car has been driven to warm up the engine? like it keeps cranking, and almost starting, but not quite getting there?

100k miles is all you'll really get out of the chain anyway so might be time for a change?

Have a 04 almera myself, and recently it's been acting up, and suspect chain is to fault also (104k miles on her).

Morpheus

no problems on start up or on revving when out of gear. engine sounds perfect which is why im confused.

bear1

So if it's in gear then it's got issues with starting?

Morpheus

hi, no problems when in gear or otherwise, engine sounds fine, just when im accelerating like to overtake on a motorway the engine hesitates and the revs will drop off - not completely now, but it wont go much above 3000. the needle doesnt bounce or anything, it just sits and im left with very little power available.

Avns1s

Morpheus wrote: »

hi, no problems when in gear or otherwise, engine sounds fine, just when im accelerating like to overtake on a motorway the engine hesitates and the revs will drop off - not completely now, but it wont go much above 3000. the needle doesnt bounce or anything, it just sits and im left with very little power available.

Will it rev over 3000 rpm when the car is out of gear?

Morpheus

yes it will no problem

it actually drives fine for the first 15 or 20 minutes but then it suffers the above issues.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Morpheus

got it checked out - the timing chain has "stretched" a bit.

Need to replace the timing chain.

Anyone done this?

Will contact Nissan themselves first for a price, but have seen them advertised on micks garage for 150 + for a kit.

I believe it takes a couple of hours to replace though so would expect to be in around 3 - 400 for chain and replacement?

Damn... im so broke at min that it would actually be more convenient to trade her in, tis only worth about 1.5K at min and I paid 15k for it when i bought it

bear1

I don't think a chain replacement will cost you around 400e.
Probably double that but I may be wrong.
If you don't have the funds to fix her then I'd pop it on DD and list the problems.