Nissan Almera Tino - Car stalling out

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
View Threaded
Sun 26 Feb 2017 14:43
Nissan Almera Tino - Car stalling out - DCH12

Hello! I'm looking for some suggetions/ advice on where to look to sort out this problem.

On feb 15 I was driving my 2002 Nissan down an A road, about 50K/H at 8PM, when it lost power and slowly lost speed and stalled. The engine wouldnt' turn over. Tried again about 5 minutes later and the engine turned over, so attempted to move off. It went about 100M then did the same thing. No fault lights came on, there was just no response to the accelorator. At that point I"d driven about 50 miles, over 90 minutes or so.

We'd called Green Flag and waited about 2 hours for them to arrive. He had to jump the battery but it drove home about 8 miles away just fine. He followed me home just in case.

I drove it again on the 17th and it was fine.

On the 18th, it did the same again. But we'd only been on the road for 4 minutes. I parked it in town and had it towed to my garage on the 20th, and they held it there for me until it was booked in to be looked at.

They couldn't find anything wrong with it. Nothing looked rusted, loose, or worn enough to cause it to stall, nothing came up on diagnostics. The battery is fine, the fuel line pressure was fine, nothing seemed clogged.

I had the heating running on the 15th and 18th, not on the 17th. Today when I was driving it there was a lot of hot air coming from the windscreen vents but I left the fan and heating off. It didn't stall today.

Any suggestions?

Edited by Denise Hayes on 26/02/2017 at 14:44

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 26 Feb 2017 15:30
Nissan Almera Tino - Car stalling out - mss1tw

Has it got any oil in it?

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 26 Feb 2017 16:47
Nissan Almera Tino - Car stalling out - DCH12

Yup, it was serviced and MOT'd beginning of Dec. It doesn't eat oil.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 26 Feb 2017 17:53
Nissan Almera Tino - Car stalling out - mss1tw

Fair enough, have to admit I skim read and missed the "I drove it again on the 17th and it was fine." part. It sounded like a hot seized engine that was freeing up when cool, and although I did think you'd notice some damage afterwards I've gotten away with it on motorbikes before.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sun 26 Feb 2017 19:38
Nissan Almera Tino - Car stalling out - DCH12

Fair enough, have to admit I skim read and missed the "I drove it again on the 17th and it was fine." part. It sounded like a hot seized engine that was freeing up when cool, and although I did think you'd notice some damage afterwards I've gotten away with it on motorbikes before.

Couldn't have been hot seized after 4 minutes? This is my 3rd Almera Tino, my 2nd ate oil so i'm in the habit of checking... The only difference between the 17th and 18th was having the heating on to clear the windscreen, but my garage didn't think that would be it.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 1 Mar 2017 21:19
Nissan Almera Tino - Car stalling out - VengaPete

Hi
Newbie here, long time lurker but I've encountered this and think I can suggest where to look so felt compelled to join and suggest. I've owned my Tino since 2004 (its a 2001 model) and my father in law has had his since 2007(its a 2004 facelift model).
Assuming water and oil levels are good this sounds like the immobiliser randomly immoblising rather than heat related
At first it sounded like either crank or cam sensor but they normally bring up a EML light and the car will turn over.
A dodgy immobiliser won't show a EML as the car just doesn't power up properly and specifically doesn't allow the car to turn over.
This specific fault has been on my FIL's.
His was normally randomly not starting rather than cutting out .
The Tino's have a key with the remote opener "blipper" and also the chip which is detected when you put the key in the ignition. The detection unit is inside the steering column cowl about half way down below the steering lock.
Obvious things to try are:
Change key battery
If you have a second key, try using that
If you have lots of other keys on the keyring try just using the ignition key on its own. Other keys can interfere with the signal if the chip is starting to die (does happen and you can get new keys on a certain auction site - BUT, they do then need programming)
As mad as it sounds, when it happens again, give the steering cowl a fairly strong hit with your hand (not too hard as this can crack the cowl!) and wiggle the key about in the ignition.
My FIL's turned out to be a loose connection on the immobiliser unit and giving it a tap made it work until we could get the cowl off and reseat all the electronic plugs.
You can also try getting the garage to reinitialise the key (they sometimes get confused). You can Google how to do it, but it is quite specific so probably better left to a garage.
If you do delve into the steering column - make sure the screw holes are aligned when you put the cowl back on. The screw retainer holes are near the edge of the plastic and if you get it wrong, you end up cracking the cowl.
I might be wildly off the mark so apologies if I am, but the symptom does suggest the immobliser.



Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Looking for a garage you can trust? Honest John's Good Garage Guide has thousands of reader recommended garages, plus how-to guides and tips on servicing.

The Good Garage Guide