CRD engine dramas

[Scorpiovee]

Hi guys, having issues with my 07 pootrol, it's a 3.0 CRD that has has an EGR block, provent fitted, Dawes & needle fitted, welded inter cooler fitted, scanguage and butterfly removed. Generally runs great but now, for no apparent reason, just shuts down without any warning or fault codes showing. Mechanics in Euroa couldn't work it out, Nissan have looked at it, and have said that, even with the mods done to it, they are at a loss as to why it's shutting down. They reinstated the EGR, refitted the butterfly, removed the Dawes and needle valve and re plumbed the vac lines as factory and it still did the same thing, although Nissan agreed that it runs better with the mods. Reset the ECU both before and after the mods were removed and they are still at a loss as to what's causing it. ECU appears to be working fine. All wiring and connectors have been tested and found to be working properly.
Has anyone else had or heard of this happening before? And if so, what steps were taken to rectify it?
Will keep you all posted of any progress.

[happygu]

Scorpiovee,

Is yours Auto or Manual?

Mic

[Rock Trol]

I had a similar problem with my old VL Commodore with the RB30 Nissan engine. Car would run fine but then cut out on me and not restart. Would leave it for a while and then it would come good again for a few hours or a day. Changed a few things on it as problem was intermittent. Eventually problem got worse and would not start at the mechanics (after getting towed). It was found to be the crank angle sensor. Replaced that and motor has worked fine ever since (19 years without it happening again).

I know the VL was petrol but the CRD also has a crank angle sensor as well as other electronic sensors so maybe one is playing up.

P.s. The problem started after I degreased the engine and sprayed water onto the engine (first efi car I had) which got into the electronics.

[Scorpiovee]

Car is a manual. Looked at sensors as I thought the same.

[threedogs]

When the crank angle sensor went on mine it only went into lime mode. just backed off and it was fine.
It not the EMC relay if I got the term right. Its the one on the left in the picture, swap it with the aircon one to test.


Can you make it happen anytime you like ,?? If so how??

[Hodge]

Not that this is any help, I hope that it is not the pump. There have been a few that failed without any signs or codes.

[happygu]

Scorpiovee,

There have been a couple of reports of Autos, with a faulty TPS Pedal, where they would hit the brake with the accelerator pressed and the engine would cut out ..... don't think this would be the case for you then, but you could try wiggling the TPS side to side whilst accelerating to see if anything happens, and check it for dust/dirt too.

Mic

[threedogs]

what are you doing to make it shut down?
is it just going into limp mode
or shutting down completely.??????

[Scorpiovee]

Pump is fine.
It can shut down under acceleration, coasting and while on cruise, on the flat, down hill, up hill. Doesn't go into limp mode, just shuts down. At 100kph it won't even roll start. Give it 15 minutes or so and it will start again, then shut down once more. Could take a minute, could take an hour. Completely random.
We haven't yet swapped out the ECU as we didn't have one on hand at the time. Nissan doesn't think that the ECU is the problem but they aren't ruling it out. Tested the fuel and it came up clean, before and after the filter. Swapped out the filter, replaced the fuel lines. Swapped out injectors and glow plugs. Still the same. TPS working correctly. CAS has been swapped out. Cylinder compression across all 4 cylinders is within range. Nissan are scratching their heads.

[threedogs]

Is your key loose in the ignition ?? as in does it feel worn ??
Have you checked all the earths??

[BillsGU]

Sounds like it is something electronic that is failing when it gets hot. I had a similar problem on a sports car some years ago. I used the wife's hair drier to heat up electronic components one at a time while the engine was idling in the garage, until it failed. Turned out to be the electronic ignition module in the distributer (petrol engine). I confirmed it by spraying the module with a can of "freeze" spray, and the problem went away. I replaced the module and had no more problems.

[Scorpiovee]

Key feels tight. Barrel itself feels tight.

Changed the fuel cut off solubilisation and wiring loom. Still the same. Turbo checks out ok. EGT's I'm told are normal.
Does it hot or cold

[threedogs]

Id swap the blue EMC relay with the Aircon one and see what happens.
Only do one mod at a time so you'll know what it is

[Scorpiovee]

Faulty ECU. New ECU from Nissan also faulty. Second hand ECU out of a wreck has fixed all issues. Total cost $475

Thanks to you all for your input. Very much appreciated.

[Rock Trol]

Good to hear that the problem is solved. Did Nissan use their ECU to test or where you forced to buy it? How much are the ECU's when brand new?
$475 is not too bad for a second hand one.

[Hodge]

Pump is fine.
It can shut down under acceleration, coasting and while on cruise, on the flat, down hill, up hill. Doesn't go into limp mode, just shuts down. At 100kph it won't even roll start. Give it 15 minutes or so and it will start again, then shut down once more. Could take a minute, could take an hour. Completely random.
We haven't yet swapped out the ECU as we didn't have one on hand at the time. Nissan doesn't think that the ECU is the problem but they aren't ruling it out. Tested the fuel and it came up clean, before and after the filter. Swapped out the filter, replaced the fuel lines. Swapped out injectors and glow plugs. Still the same. TPS working correctly. CAS has been swapped out. Cylinder compression across all 4 cylinders is within range. Nissan are scratching their heads.

Glad to hear everything is solved mate.
I'd hate to imagine what this exercise was worth. So I'm guessing now you have new injectors etc after all that.

[threedogs]

Nissan put in an ECU and its still the same, goes to show you just cause its new doesnt mean it will work.
Glad its all fixed and not too many $$$$. happy trails

[Hodge]

Nissan put in an ECU and its still the same, goes to show you just cause its new doesnt mean it will work.
Glad its all fixed and not too many $$$$. happy trails

Before I knew Mudski, I bought a MAF from Nissan and it was faulty. Returned, swapped for another one and all was well.
Mind you the bloke behind the counter was a w@nker, as he didn't' believe me it was stuffed. Car ran like a bag of crap.

[mudski]

Faulty ECU. New ECU from Nissan also faulty. Second hand ECU out of a wreck has fixed all issues. Total cost $475

Thanks to you all for your input. Very much appreciated.

Reading through this and my first though was the ECU. The DSE, or now DEPI, used to run all Patrols a few years back, and now are Yotas . They had terrible issues with the utes and one of them was the engine would just simply cut out at any given time. They self diagnosed the issue themselves and found the ECU was to blame. At the time Nissan didn't want a bar of it, and the DSE had put lock out tags on their entire fleet of over 200 cars. I remember working at the DSE in Benalla a few year back and there was maybe 60 or so Patrols all parked up with lockout tags on the steering wheels.

Great to see its all sorted.

[Rock Trol]

:frown: That doesn't sound too reassuring. 200 cars?
I assume they all didn't have the problem but the dept. wasn't taking any chances with OH&S. Sounds like it could even be a current problem if the new ECU had the same issue. I wonder what the failure rate is?

[the evil twin]

:frown: That doesn't sound too reassuring. 200 cars?
I assume they all didn't have the problem but the dept. wasn't taking any chances with OH&S. Sounds like it could even be a current problem if the new ECU had the same issue. I wonder what the failure rate is?

Nah, don't worry about it... they hadn't added extra earth's, disconnected the batteries for 30 minutes or fitted small barn door extension brackets and fishing rod holders

[Rock Trol]

Good god E.T!!!
How could they have let them go out of the depot in that condition in the first place? Next you'll be telling me there was no fridge to keep the drinks cold!

[threedogs]

Reading through this and my first though was the ECU. The DSE, or now DEPI, used to run all Patrols a few years back, and now are Yotas . They had terrible issues with the utes and one of them was the engine would just simply cut out at any given time. They self diagnosed the issue themselves and found the ECU was to blame. At the time Nissan didn't want a bar of it, and the DSE had put lock out tags on their entire fleet of over 200 cars. I remember working at the DSE in Benalla a few year back and there was maybe 60 or so Patrols all parked up with lockout tags on the steering wheels.

Great to see its all sorted.

A few years ago now if using your VHF radio and hitting the brakes some 4x4 would cut out mainly Disco and some 100s.
Peter from Telstat diagnosed and fixed the problem

[Scorpiovee]

200 cars doesn't surprise me. The techie from Nissan reckons 1 in 4 CPU's were faulty on the production line

[mudski]

Nah, don't worry about it... they hadn't added extra earth's, disconnected the batteries for 30 minutes or fitted small barn door extension brackets and fishing rod holders

Lol. And NADs...
A few other issues they had was the rear tyres rubbing on the chassis, bending the rear of the chassis when towing (even though they had Nissan build to their specs), breaking rear leaf springs and splitting the rear rims in half. Mind you these Patrols weren't off the floor. They were all, beefed up, according to the DSE's needs.