Starting Problems

[Wayne.G.]

I have a '97 P11 Primera 2.0 The other morning I went to start it, and it turned over fine, then it died. I went to start it again, and the none of the ignition lights/fuel gauge came on, although the starter turned over but the car wouldn't fire up (no fuel geting in?). I took the key out and locked the car then tried again and it went after a couple of attempts. Could it be the NATS system ar what? Any input to this would be great!!

[eeyore]

The NATS system has an engine immobiliser triggered by the radio in the key. If the immobiliser were active, it would allow you to turn the car over, but not start - it shuts down the LV which (eventually) heads to your spark plugs. In other words, you could be right. Have you tried a spare key?? I've never heard of one of these going faulty, however.

But, the fact that you said it turned over first time, then died would suggest a fuel failure - the engine would use whatever pressure was available in the fuel lines, then give up when it used it. Something for you to try:

pull up your back seat (there's a couple of ring-pulls under the bottom seat at the front). Underneath you'll find the wiring and the top of the fuel pump. Turn the ignition on, then listen. Normally, the fuel pump should wirr and tick for a couple of seconds, pressurising the fuel line. If it doesn't, suspect a fuel pump failure. From here, check the voltage to the pump, if this is ok, unhook your fuel filter and place a container underneath, then get a mate to turn the ignition on, you should have fuel pissing out. If you don't, then you know it's the fuel pump gone awol.

Finally, be careful of engine flooding here. If you've just had the engine running from cold, the auto-choke is dumping loads of fuel into the engine. If you then turn the engine off (or it dies) within a couple of minutes of starting, you'll have a load of residual fuel kicking about. Next time you start the car, it won't start. I say be careful, because this has caught me out several times before now - I've ended up doing complete diagnostics only to find nothing. Unscrew the plugs and take a sniff, if they are soaked and you can smell petrol coming out the block, you know the engine is flooded and it won't start. Leave the plugs unscrewed for 1/2 hour to let the fuel evaporate and also give the plug heads a brush-up.

Good luck!

As for your lights not coming on, I have no idea whatsoever. If the engine turns ok, then the battery must be good. Sometimes, they just don't come on if the engine has just been running.