Nissan Primera III (1999 - 2002) - 01 1.8 engine management light stays on

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Thu 10 Sep 2009 17:28
01 1.8 engine management light stays on - John F
A colleague's been quoted £1500 to 'repair the crankshaft' for this. She and her husband know nothing much about cars and I fear a scam.

Apart from being a bit overfull with [clean] oil the car seems fine. At 80,000m it's just run in, I think. I took it briefly up the road and it drives OK, apart from a slight wheel hub-type noise, unrelated to engine speed. It does not overheat. The rev counter oscillates a bit around 3,500 - 4000 but becomes steady at 5,000. There is no misfire. She said it seemed to lack power up hills but it seemed pretty smooth and powerful to me.

Has anyone any ideas about this? Could it be some sort of sensor? This is a big thing for her because the quote is more than than her very-well-looked-after car is worth, I guess!

Edited by Pugugly on 10/09/2009 at 21:51

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Thu 10 Sep 2009 21:36
01 1.8 Orange engine management light stays on - McP
It is probably a replacement cam chain they have been quoted for.
At that price, I would imagine it is a quote from Nissan.

The cam chains on the 1.8 can stretch, particularly if oil changes are neglected.
Parts are around £200. It is a big job.
An independant garage would probably be around half the cost of Nissan.
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Fri 11 Sep 2009 10:03
01 1.8 Orange engine management light stays on - John F
Thanks, Primera 7. Do you [or anyone else reading this] know if this warning light [it looks like a small circular orange icon of the side view of an engine] would be an MoT failure? If it were mine, I think I would just run it till something more serious developed. There are no rattly-loose-chainy-tappety-type noises from the engine which seems to run very smoothly.
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Sat 12 Sep 2009 00:28
01 1.8 Orange engine management light stays on - McP
It does sound like the engine management light which is to the left of the ABS light at the bottom of the rev counter.

I don't know but wouldn't have thought that it would be a fail, providing it does not cause higher emissions.
An MOT centre should be able to answer.

A stretched chain may snap or cause the car to be awkward to drive. I am not sure to be honest.

You might try asking the same questions on npoc.co.uk (VERY helpful and friendly). You may have to wait until Monday for a reply as a lot of the members will be at the Jap car show.

By independant garage in my previous post, I mean a proper mechanic. Not any nationwide chain that sells tyres, exhausts, bicycles or roofracks!

Edited by Primera 97 on 12/09/2009 at 00:32

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