2007 D40 STX Won't Start

[Nathan2411]

Hi Guys

Newbie to the forum here I've owned this car for 8years with no issues until now so here what's happened.

For a couple of weeks I had the car keep going into limp mode this was intermittent and was always fixed with turning the engine on and off

The car was running ok after having the clutch replaced then the limp mode became more prevalent until I was going up a semi steep hill and the car went into limp mode I managed to get it over to the side of the road and shut the engine down. After that I was unable to get the car started again I did lots of forum searches and a lot seemed to point towards the MAF sensor and the suction control valve, I cleaned the MAF changed the SCV did the fuel pump reset, and primed the system the car will not start it turns over and I get allot of smoke but the engine will not fire has anyone else had this problem after changing the suction control valve

 

[Old.Tony]

Welcome to the forum!

First of all, what colour is the smoke? If it's black that means it's trying, it's just short of air, which points to an inlet obstruction. If it's white, it could mean either a total obstruction of the inlet or a sensor fault (probably the MAFS) resulting in a misreading of the airflow and an incorrect amount of fuel being injected.

Inlet obstructions have occurred for the following reasons:

* Owl ingested by the snorkel and caught in the elbow in the guard.
* Rag left in the turbocharger inlet during maintenance
* Intercooler blocked by oil
* Intake manifold filled with mix of oil & diesel soot

The first two are easy fixes. You'll spot the broken grille in the head of the snorkel if your car has eaten a bird.

The intercooler does get oil in it, from the PCV. You can reduce the amount by fitting a catch can. The intercooler is easy to remove, flush it with petrol (I did mine 5 times before the petrol started showing its colour) then leave it open to dry for about an hour. Refit, tighten clamps and away you go.

An intake manifold fills with oil (from the PCV) and soot (from the EGR) and combines to form a gluggy pile of gunk that in small amounts won't kill the engine but in huge chunks will likely block ports and bring the engine to a stop. Some people have removed their intake manifold and cleaned it thoroughly, but with an inspection cam and a vacuum system designed to collect liquids through a narrow hose you should be able to do this through the EGR port. Preventing this is a matter of preventing the combination of oil and soot.

A catch can will reduce but not prevent oil from getting into the intake. The oil isn't dangerous on its own, won't do any damage to the intake or the cylinders, but it is important to use a good oil (I use Penrite 5W30 full synthetic).

Diesel soot on its own won't cause any damage to the cylinder either, but this can be blocked completely in the 2007 model because there's no flow sensor in the EGR valve. Just remove the gasket between the EGR pipe (the gold pipe that goes around the front of the engine) and the EGR valve. Cut an exact replica from 1mm stainless sheet and accidentally forget to replicate the large hole then install BOTH back in the pipe with a smearing on both sides of each part of Permatex Ultra Blue Sensor Safe Gasket Cement (about $18 at SCA).

So if you think it's none of those, make sure your primer goes firm after 4-5 squeezes. If it doesn't, there's a leak causing air to get into the system. Check the fuel filter - there's an electrical connection on the side, should be facing towards the front of the car and directly underneath the round protrusion on the side of the filter. If it's not directly underneath it, it means the mechanic hasn't clicked it into place and air may be getting sucked into the filter and allowing fuel to drain back to the tank, and may be allowing air to be sucked into the pump. It's best to pop the filter out (clamp the hoses first) and inspect the O-ring on the water sensor. It's quite a firm push to get the sensor clicked into place - but it MUST line up.

 

[Nathan2411]

Thanks tony I will try them all

 

[jonney]

also are the glow plugs working ? no heat no fire .

 

[Black_Outlaw]

1. Was it the right SCV for your pump?
2. Is it plugged in correctly? No damaged o-ring when you inserted the SCV?
3. Remove new SCV and compare with old one. Put old one back in - start?
4. Did you prime the SCV before putting it back in tight?
5. are all your hoses on the right way when you did the SCV?
6. Is it tight? Not sucking air?
7. Plant your floor flat and try starting it. What happens?
8. Remove battery for 10 mins. Allow a full reset. Prime fuel filter until HARD and then try.

 

[Nathan2411]

1. Was it the right SCV for your pump?
2. Is it plugged in correctly? No damaged o-ring when you inserted the SCV?
3. Remove new SCV and compare with old one. Put old one back in - start?
4. Did you prime the SCV before putting it back in tight?
5. are all your hoses on the right way when you did the SCV?
6. Is it tight? Not sucking air?
7. Plant your floor flat and try starting it. What happens?
8. Remove battery for 10 mins. Allow a full reset. Prime fuel filter until HARD and then try.

Hi Black Outlaw

1. All spare parts places I have spoken to have stated there's one type pre 2008 and one post 2008 mine being a 2007 model it is the first of the two I compared them before I put in the new scv and it looked exatctly the same

2. I have removed and reseated again just to make sure everything seems to be correct

4. I primed the pump by using the primer on the fuel filter if that's what you mean

5 there was no hoses coming off the scv only a wire on the end with a grey plug there is a green connector there that has nothing connected to it and nothing that it can be plugged into (don't know what it's for.

6. It's as tight as I can get it and has new o ring and gasket I can't hear anything when trying to crank it.

7. Just a lot of white smoke

8 I've flattened the battery about 5 times trying to crank it so I've done this a number of times now with same result lots of cranking no startling.

Computer is showing no codes

 

[Old.Tony]

White smoke means there's no fire at all. It's all raw diesel going down the exhaust.

It means you're getting fuel - either way, way too much (injector sticking?) or there's not enough heat in compression/glow to ignite it.

The next step is to check the glow plugs. There's a relay hidden between the battery and the right hand guard, should be 40A. Test the following:

Pins 85 and 86 - one should have a good connection to ground, and the other should only go active when the ignition is on and the coolant temp is below 85C.

Pin 30 or 87 has power when the ignition is off. When the ignition is on, BOTH should have power until the coolant temp reaches 85C.

If the relay is ok and appears to be providing power to the glows, it's time to check the glows themselves. First step is to check power at the glow plug to make sure it's arriving from the relay (you need to check the relay before this step, don't skip the relay check or you'll be back at the relay checking it anyway and discovering that D40s do have weak glow relays - more common than we'd like it to be). If the glows have power, it might be time to extract one and check it. Glows live in the combustion chamber and are subject to the blasts that occur every second engine revolution.

These beasties are complex but work from a very simple principle - fuel + air + heat = fire. The fuel ignites when it gets hot enough - simple - and most of that heat comes from compression as the piston rises. Some of it is latent heat (from the previous combustion stroke) or from the glow plug. You add some air to the fuel and it will light up.

So if the glows are working, you might question the air path. Forget the turbocharger, it'll let enough air through to start/idle the engine. However, the related component - the intercooler - is a different story. If oil from the PCV has gummed up most/all of the cores in the intercooler, there will be zero air flow and no ignition of the fuel.

That's when you remove the front grille and pop the intercooler out, cup one hand over one of the openings and pour about 100ml of unleaded (who gives a flock what octane rating, you want a petroleum-based 100% combustible solvent) and then block the upper hole. Turn it over. I did mine in summer, so as the fuel flowed through the cores, pressure built up and I had to release my uppermost hand. Turn it over a couple of times and pour the contents out into a container. My first 4 goes at this provided an inky black liquid. The 5th go saw it stay a little red. When you're happy, let the intercooler sit on one end for about an hour before reinstallation.

Let's see how that goes?

 

[Nathan2411]

OK an update

I Blocked the EGR and the car started I am still however having an issue where the car goes into limp mode this is always on a cold start (leaving for work in the morning) it will drive fine for about 5 - 10 minutes then go into limp mode turning the engine off resets it and it then works fine for the rest of the day.

I think I may have to start replacing sensors one at a time until it stops being faulty.

 

[Czechmate]

Hi
You need to scan the ECU for fault codes immediately.

You need this
http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/2016-Vgate...%3Aadfe2fc315c0ab67091c1823fffeaf4c%7Ciid%3A4

and this app
https://www.google.com.au/amp/www.androidauthority.com/torque-app-android-bluetooth-obd2-95772/amp/

I have an 07 STX that has had limp mode a couple of times, and this made scanning and reading fault codes simple.

Its not available for apple, so if you have an apple phone its well worth getting a cheap older model samsung just to use this app

My SCV died a year or so ago, got limp mode but no engine light. Pulled into woolies carpark and scanned code, instantly got "suction valve jammed" displayed onscreen.

When you replaced your suction control valve, did you go to a nissan dealer and give them your VIN? I found this is the ONLY way to get the correct SCV.

There are lots and lots of different nissan and denso SCVs that are slightly different, some long some short, but no two the same.

There is a thread on this forum titled "suction control valve" with a bit more info

 

[Nathan2411]

No I didn't get it from Nissan itself but gave all the details to the parts place I brought it from comparing the 2 valves they look exactly the same.

thanks for the heads up though I will do a bit more research

 

[Czechmate]

Too much internet research can hamper the process sometimes
Listen to old tonys advice is all i can say

Have you got a way of scanning for fault codes?

Either with the bluetooth adaptor and app i mentioned, or with a scangauge or other diagnostic tool?

You may save a lot of time and heartache with a quick code scan.

Eg. My brothers forester f*****d up the other day, we connected the obd bluetooth adaptor and used torque and there on the screen: high tension lead cylinder 3

 

[PaulOsborne]

Nathan2411, Have you checked inside your EGR value itself, I've had the circular shutter plate brake off inside so that it would not close the opening into the inlet valve, it immediately stops you in your tracks and you get bellowing white smoke out the exhaust. I made a s/s plate for this egr valve and haven't looked back. Oz

 

[Gcg7861]

Probably resolved but I had an EGT sensor issue that kept putting the ute in limp mode. Figured this out with mechanic by first reseting all fault codes, then going for a spirited drive to trip limp mode again and then re hooking the computer to the ute while it was in limp mode and running without turning it off. Got the error code replaced the sensor and no issues after. So try and get your car hooked to a computer while running in limp mode

 

[Czechmate]

Torque app with bluetooth dongle will scan, clear and reset codes at home for about $15 bucks

 

[Heath Robertson]

Did you fully resolved this? How did you go?