73.P3 FAULT CODE - Fuel pump

the rodeo's fail fairly regularly as well. was talking about it with the injection guy at the time.
actual numbers is hard to say as they only see faulty ones. it also depends on why its failing.
the pump ecu failing is more about the amount of time its heats up and cools down.
but i think they are all prone the timing piston issues and a big part of that is inlet restriction. that maybe where the issue is with the navara/patrol.

$4k is not bad compared to $10-20k for CR engines. thats the downside of modern diesel, expensive pump repairs. tho common rail repairs will be getting cheaper is they are a lot more common. vp44 are not that common and not all of them have the setup to be able to do them.

the direct injected petrols are not cheap to fix either.

From what I can gather rumpig I think your absolutely spot on. I think a lot have been misdiagnosed, hence why i did everything under the sun to suss mine out before taking it in and even then I hammered the diesel tech about checking everything again himself. It seems as though air entrapment is indeed an issue, that lift pump/filter being a big culprit.

But, when your car throws up 3 fault does - its pretty much sums it up. Bad bad bad! I read a good thread on the patrol forum about a Patrol owner who kept having the 73.P3 comm line code keep popping up from time to time, and he eventually put it down to an air issue within the fuel system. But after my experience the last few week, if my Patrol or Navara kept throwing codes up to do with pump/ECU/whatever (even if you could clear them and keep running) I wouldn't be mucking around with it too much... I'd have it on CarSales or Gumtree within the hour. There;s obviously a big issue somewhere and there's no point waiting for it to arise. Ok 4K is better then 10 or 20K... but not getting to that stage is even better!

Thought I'd report back with a few thoughts of mine.

Have ended up putting a new recon'ed IP in... not cheap as I've stated (touch toes and close your eyes... without lube it hurts).

Around 4 or 5 months ago I had a fault code come up... ute wouldn't have any power but it would idle in first gear (engine light flashing). I had a technician come during the day while I was at work so I wasnt with the ute, but he told me the issue was a sensor button under the accelerator pedal... like a plastic 10c piece. I have done a quick search on the forum and have discovered this is indeed a green button of sorts. He told me over the phone to not worry about it... he removed the broken bits of button that were stuck and re-set the ECU... all good. Apparently no need to replace the button, and when I went to my local Nissan dealer to possibly get a new button (he told me they were worth $5) they told me I had to buy the whole pedal assembly!!! No way joe!

I now also read that there is a 0-5V connection or wiring loom that is connected from the accelerator pedal to the fuel pump. I am just wondering if this earlier problem of mine has ended up causing the pump to fail? Should I enquire more about replacing the button? Another issue I also had around the same time as the button was a lack of power in 4th gear which turned out to be a neutral switch which my brother in law and I replaced. It fixed the problem straight away... all power returned to 4th gear but I also wonder if for the few weeks that I was driving around with this problem possibly under or overfueled the pump during operation. This may have possibly thrown out the timing injection?

Any thoughts on this? Apart from the problems mentioned above ('green button', neutral switch and injection pump) the ute has been faultless for 5yrs of driving. I just wonder if there is a bug somewhere in the ECU or if the electronics are just getting to 'that age'.

Will be interested to find this out myself. Not a problem I have had but would be good to know in case of similar issues arising. Would it be a wide open throttle switch? I have read that aircon switches off at wot but thought that would be from tps??
Hope your rig is running better now mate, should be good for another couple hundred fingers crossed

Cheers mate.

It certainly seems like its running much the same, but I've just got a hunch there's still something not quite right. I can't put my finger on it. I keep reading the same thing that the vp44 Bosch pump is known to fail for certain reasons, but for mind it can't give up the ghost that easy. It's hard to see (or fathom) how you can park a ute up after a normal daily drive of 30 to 40km, fire it up the next morning only to discover the pump has died??? It doesn't ring right to me. I just feel there's an electrical indifference or bug somewhere... otherwise I'm just still having troubles with the fact I handed over 4K in cash the other day and just dont have faith in the might Nissan badge anymore

Don't despair of the badge brother, the hilux/Prado injector problems caused many a tear and empty wallet. My mate has a 3.2 BT50 that had an injector failure and killed the engine after only around 40 thou. Luckily he was still in warranty.
If you are having similar problems after a new pump it seems there is more afoot. No fault codes now though?Gotta keep at it now after that investment

Solanum1 said:

It's hard to see (or fathom) how you can park a ute up after a normal daily drive of 30 to 40km, fire it up the next morning only to discover the pump has died???

Click to expand...

thats fairly typical with vp44.
when i was talking about it the injection guy, he gets them all the time like that. they just die instantly.

The accelerator pedal has a "throttle position switch" on it which reads from 0-5v as well as 2 other switches, one which tells the ecu your at full throttle and one for throttle fully closed. The TPS normally reads 0.44 volts at idle and around 4.1 volts at Wide Open Throttle, however it can get out of calibration over time. You can do a TPS relearn by get the engine up to operating temp and then letting it idle for a full 10 minutes, this resets the idle reading to 0.44v.

The full throttle switch is used to shut the aircon off for more power as well as selecting a raised torque limiter.

The switch for fully closed is used in conjunction with the neutral position switch to tell the ecu to stop injecting fuel while coasting in gear to improve fuel economy.

Nissan don't sell the TPS separately, you have to buy a complete pedal assembly, around $550. Try the TPS relearn.

I doubt the pedal problems or NPS had anything to do with the vp44 failure but i'd recommend putting clear 10mm hose either side of the fuel filter and checking for air in the fuel.

Bump.. i think my pump just went.. went shopping, came out and started her- starts fine "2 turn overs" idles fine then stalls/ stops.... nothing! Call mobile mechanic says its getting no timing readings from pump and spill line ? He thinks its a pump frig it... I'm on the road in qld from vic !

How hard are these pumps to remove and refit?