limp mode

[rmoore]

G'day,
I have twice now had the 4.8 L go into Limp mode. Frightening stuff because I am often in very remote areas. In limp mode speed gets to about 60 kph and it drinks fuel like you would not believe.

First time the situation cleared itself for no apparent reason, although I suspect trailer electrics may have been involved. hard to analyse/prove what corrected the issue.

I then did another 20,000km until went into limp mode at Wudinna, on the way to Googs Track. Engine warning light came on, as it did before.Cleaned the MAF/throttle body assy with that special electrical spray. Disconnected battery for half an hour. Local mechanic (who had just relinquished their Nissan dealership so had no diagnostic tool) could not help. Limped back towards nissan dealer in Whyalla. camped in the scrub nearby. Started car and it drove all OK. No Limp. No light. Drove back to Adelaide (aborted Googs Track trip) without stopping the car. All OK. Next morning on start up it went immediately into limp mode. At Unley Nissan they plugged their diagnostic unit in & found error codes about throttle position, Cleared the codes, cleaned throttle assy/MAF sensor. All OK.

Has been fine since then (3,000 Km).

My questions are:

(1) Is the 4.8 L OBD11 port able to take a diagnostic tool such as Rev, Fuzzy or Kiwi? (there area contradictory reports on Patrol 4 x4).

(2) can I effect a fix if I am remotely located (e.g., the Gary Highway, 3 days away from a dealer).

(3) what causes it?

Cheers from a first time poster, Rick.

[Dhuck]

We have a few peeps here that may be able to help with this matter. Just be a little patient and they will be along soon. However as for myself, I can't help much, sorry. Wish I could with these newer vehicles, but I am old school.

[patch697]

Rick there are some after market diagnostic units that will interface with the Nissan's but what ones the best I can't help you on.

A throttle position error generally refers to a fault in the TPS itself so I don't quite understand how cleaning the MAF is going to rectify this if you had already done so (maybe someone can help clarify this further) & the fact that the issue itself has returned would suggest it hasn't.

There is obviously something faulty here & given the error code reported previous I'd be getting the TPS looked at & even replaced cos as its an intermittent issue it may well be working fine when its being checked out.

Wait for others to reply to see what other have to say about this also.

[gerard2]

for diagnostic tools look on ebay choose free shipping and locate to china

[Silver]

I'm old school, too, Rick, points and plugs in Silver, well, not quite, replaced the points with a pertronix. but the points are in the car :-)

Love the fuel efficiency of modern cars, and the comfort, and the fact that they don't come rusty from new, but it comes at a price when things go wrong - must have been so frustrating for you to have to call off that trek.

All the best with it

Rick

[poltac]

Hey Rick did they tell what the codes were eg P012 or something like that was it the throttle position sensor or does your vehicle have fly by wire (no throttle cable) then it could be the throttle pedal position sensor hard to help unless you have more info
hard to fix out of a workshop cause most codes in OBD11 systems relating to throttle codes are normally a electrical fault ( a ECU detects when the voltage to a throttle position sensor is out of range meaning they operate betwwen 0.8v to 4.8v approx if the ECU does not see the correct voltage or lower or higher than expected it will log a code ) and being a throttle code due to safety reasons built into the ECU you will have limited throttle reponse
and that is just the short version
John