550 limp mode ? no fault codes

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gomer

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I have had my 550 for 18 months with no real major issues. I have done 54000 kms now. For nearly 3 months the vehicle has had a intermittent issue with the gearbox engine ? I start it up in the morning drive out the drive way hit the 80 km zone and cant get past 60 kms an hour. The vehicle will not change up gear 3rd to 4th ? it revs out with no power. The only way to rectify this is to pull over turn the ignition off and it resets it. Then its fine for the rest of the day. It may do it again in the arvo after sitting again for some time. No error codes come up. It has been at the workshop for four week since September and they tell me it hasnt done it to them. I have supplied several film clips of it doing it. They have changed the egr valve to rule that out. After four or five time at that workshop I am now trying another workshop. Any ideas ?? I have booked it in over the phone they say it could be the long range tank. Not sure on that if I have had no issues for 54000 kms and 18 months.
 
This is the sort of problem that us YD25 owners have when the SCV is dirty. The V9X doesn't seem to have one!

I'm actually on my first tank of Chemtech Diesel Power - I poured the whole bottle in (150L tank). I've done about 400km and haven't seen any improvement yet, but I've got about 800km on this tank then another tankful to go before I surrender and start dismantling my SCV (I want to find a bottle solution so that I can just regularly add the bottle and avoid the problem altogether). You might consider similar - either Diesel Power or the Liqui Moly Diesel Purge.

Hopefully a V9X owner will jump in too - maybe they'll know what Nissan used instead of the SCV.
 
Hi,

I had a similar problem in the post a couple down. Might not be the same thing as mine didn't reset after turning off and on but it was the brake pedal sensor. Might be worth checking out or mentioning.
 
Dropped it off yesterday they said it maybe the long range tank and it could be sucking air. They asked if I saved the old tank, to which i said no. As they said they may need to change it over to the original to rule that out as Nissan would not be happy with a non genuine part. Anyway Have had a phone call this morning from the front desk saying its played up already. Thats great considering at the other work shop after 4 times and nearly a month with out it they think they have found the problem. The desk guy said they have found a air intake issue. They are waiting on parts then will trial for a few more days will keep you posted. :popcorn1:
 
They replaced a air intake valve they said that maybe the problem. Guess what still doing it. They still have it at the workshop atleast it is doing it to them at the second workshop. They have managed to get data and have it on the hoist and send info to Nissan so hopefully they can work it out. Seven days away again coming up Tomorrow. They supplied a courtesy car though very good of them.
 
Intercooler has now been replaced touch wood this is the issue. Sounds like this is getting expensive.
 
update today intercooler has not solved the problem still has the issue. Still no error codes etc but apparently the vehicle is running better now then before apart from the intermittent issue when it doesnt run well.Well Atleast i can say at the moment its a process of elimination. And there at this stage is no problem with the garage and myself, and atleast Nissan are all ears.Just a shame its taking a while to find the problem.
 
How did you get on? I have exactly the same problem!
I did notice that the intercooler is leaking, as evidenced by a big oil stain on the front of it. But I am not sure that it is the entire problem, as the "no power" is intermittent.
Today it finally threw up a code P0641 ans P0470 which is "exhaust pressure sensor a circuit" and sensor reference voltage a circuit/open".
I pulled out the exhaust pressure sensor and tube (what a bastard of a job) and cleaned it out, but it looked fine (although the sensor itself could be stuffed).
I also inspected the EGR valve and transfer tube. They were carboned up pretty well, but the valve appeared to be operating normally by turning the ignition on and off. Made up a EGR block off plate while I was at it, but none of this fixed the problem.
I will pull the intercooler off tomorrow and pressure test it..to see how bad the leak is. Don't want to fork out $1600 if that is not entirely the issue.
 
The specific code you're referring to could also be caused by a faulty electrical connection or a poor earth. Easy enough to test either without any expense at all - there's another place to look.
 
I got it sorted.
It turned out to be the exhaust pressure sensor.
The faulty sensor had good ground and 5 volt supply to it, but the signal return was only 0.04 volt irrespective of whatever revs you could get out of the engine. The fault code would recur after clearing, even without starting the engine..which made me think that the sensor was faulty.
The biggest surprise was the price! I did some research on the internet, and prices for the sensor varied from about $150 for a 2nd hand one out of the UK to around $400 for a new one from Latvia!
For a laugh, I phoned the local dealer for a price.. and he quoted $130! delivered overnight!!!
Hopefully this info might help someone else out down the track.
 
Hi Everyone I am new to the Forum but have had my 550 since new in 2013, and got around 120K on it now, two times it has had issues under warranty where the air con would not start or work, VDC off would come on, Cruise control would not work so they fixed it once, then the second time it happened 3 months before the end of warranty with all the same faults as before but now acceleration was affected and patchy sometimes at lights there was a huge flat spot of nothing then all of a sudden everything at once.
Now before this I was its greatest fan and have owned and supported Nissan products for a great many years but now through the dealer networks there is a new system which I am very unhappy with, its where the last fix lasted 1 month but was to busy but also it had started dripping oil which was only tiny and I did not bother to look to much at that time into it but it was there when it went in for the last warranty.
now I reckon all they did was clear the computer, so 2 months out of warranty it start dumping to limp mode with no fault showing and all the other boogy man things were back.
SO take it the the dealer who sold it and did the warranty here at Caboolture and get told how very lucky I am because its out of warranty but the Big hearted people at Nissan will pay 70% of the repair, $2,500 for a new intercooler which they have known for a great long time won't last or stand up and $1,600 for a new sensor that shows as faulty but please be aware they say that that is the only one we can currently see so there could be many more.
Now naturally I said I am not feeling very lucky but this is my warning here that sitting in the service lounge I got to hear many other lucky souls being told how lucky they were because Big Hearted Nissan was also offering them 70 % of the repair price for faults that were there while under warranty and the dealer had not fixed.
Ok that said I have consulted to Auto Electricians about these fault codes showing and one said they needed the work vehicle for 2 to 3 weeks to test in between diagnosis, now they are good guys but man the Faults this thing was throwing was like throwing darts at a dart board, Unrelated stuff from low power to gear box sensor, there were no kidding 20 different fault codes and so many where random so far removed from any sequence of logic. so what I am saying is the system they use, they don't even trust it and all they are doing is picking the most logical from the group and they start replacing from there, but at $1,600 a shot I am not feeling lucky even with a 70% discount for something that was there under warranty, in a 10 K drive it will drop to safe mode 15 to 20 times sometimes immediately the accelerator is touched, now yes that is being driven to the workshop for the testing, we had both the Brake pedal sensor and I forget what the other one was on top of the engine replaced but it now says that its a faulty MAP sensor out of range, now you ring Nissan for that part and get told it does not have one, now this was the original sensor fault picked up but the other tester showed the different sensor so the Auto electrician changed that one which I am fine with as he changed both for around $300 rather then $1,600 that Nissan wanted.
The whole diagnostic tools and system they use when pushed on it they say and this is Nissan is that your Intercooler can affect all the gremlins that were wrong with mine from Air Con not starting, to VDC OFF malfunction, Cruise Control, to random accelerations issues to poor gearbox changes, to pretty much every gremlin you could think of in the computer. SO my warning to you all is if you have any fault while under warranty hammer they hell out of them before you become lucky like me. Before this its the best car I every owned and after this its the last Nissan Product I will ever buy. I guess the real thing I want to make sure people understand is from a mechanical sense non logical things happening and randomly as they did and then would go away. were left because this is our main work vehicle and we simply find it so hard to put it off the road, But if anyone know where they keep the MAP sensor I would be extremely grateful to know.
 
What we've found over the years is that when you get seemingly random gremlins that are unrelated to each other, you either have a lot of coincidental failures (not likely but of course still possible) or an electrical problem like a bad earth connection. Typically these are either poor battery (battery itself), poor battery terminals, poor earth connection on ECU or poor earth connection on the side of the engine block.

It may also be contamination introduced into the electrical connectors by pressure washing the engine bay, something that many of us know not to do, but somehow the expert Nissan dealers often carry out using an industrial strength pressure washer.

These things are tough to find, but starting at the basics helps. If your cranking battery is 4 years old or more, consider tossing it. Century make a 910CCA unit that only just fits in the battery tray and turns the engine over like it's a postie bike motor. I have one, and highly recommend it. Make sure the terminal lugs are spotless. When reconnecting, use the battery terminal sealant.

Good luck!
 
I got it sorted.
It turned out to be the exhaust pressure sensor.
The faulty sensor had good ground and 5 volt supply to it, but the signal return was only 0.04 volt irrespective of whatever revs you could get out of the engine. The fault code would recur after clearing, even without starting the engine..which made me think that the sensor was faulty.
The biggest surprise was the price! I did some research on the internet, and prices for the sensor varied from about $150 for a 2nd hand one out of the UK to around $400 for a new one from Latvia!
For a laugh, I phoned the local dealer for a price.. and he quoted $130! delivered overnight!!!
Hopefully this info might help someone else out down the track.

Hi Mulgathumper can you tell me where the exhaust pressure sensor is please? Is it the one on the back of the engine bay to the left of the turbo? (As you face it) it has a little foil heat jacket on. Or is it elsewhere? Thanks
 

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