Nissan Micra (1992 - 2003) - 02 1.4 Engine Management System

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Tue 14 Jul 2009 20:38
02 1.4 Engine Management System - vjs
Last September my wife?s Micra 1.4 engine management light came on ? orange light, lit continuously. We took it to our local garage which we know and trust. The Air Flow Meter was diagnosed as faulty. They sourced a reconditioned unit (£178) and charged one third of an hour labour (£14.10). We had absolutely no problem with the diagnosis, the service or the cost. The problem was that the light came on again on the way home.

The car was returned and again diagnostic checks were done. The Air Flow Meter showed as good but the ?O2 (Lambda) sensor? was indicated as faulty. This was replaced at a cost of £83.72 for the part and half an hour labour at £23.50. The labour prices alone indicate the garage was not making money from us!

After about 5 miles, the light came back on. The car was returned and again an O2 Sensor showed as faulty. The garage owner was very apologetic and told my wife he hadn?t realised that there were two O2 Sensors. The second sensor was replaced, free of charge.

After a few miles the light came on yet again. In a discussion with the garage and my wife, I expressed my own lack of confidence in engine management systems generally. I suggested that short of removing the bulb, the next move might best be at a Nissan main dealer, where they would presumably have more sophisticated and more up-to-date diagnostic systems.

We took the car to our nearest main dealer and related the history of the problem so far. They diagnosed the O2 Sensors and said that they probably needed replacement again because previously they had not been replaced as a pair. There was in fact a gap of about 20 ? 30 miles between their previous replacement. The O2 Sensors were again replaced, and the car was MOT tested at that time. It passed with no problems ? including the emission test. About 20 miles later, the light came on again!
The car was returned to the main dealer and this time the O2 sensors showed OK, but the Air Mass Meter showed as faulty. We left it for repair, but fortunately for us the garage said they had difficulty in locating a replacement part, so we took the car home.
Throughout all this, the car has been running faultlessly, albeit with the engine management light on.

If anyone can offer any advice or suggest a way forward I would be very grateful Ideally, we would like the fault sorted and the light extinguished without a continual cash haemorrhage. The service manager at the main dealer did say that the engine in my wife?s car was only fitted for a period of about 18 months and the air mass meter needed to be specific to that engine. As I write this post, I wonder if it?s possible that the wrong part was fitted last time.
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