D40 Motor issue

[Brooker500]

Hi all.
Just a newbie. D40 motor problem , 2007 STX

lost power whilst drivin at 60 Km thought I missed 3rd into 5th. Not the case. Slowed & dropped back to 2nd to pick it up. No joy. Stopped dead . NO warning lights and the motor still idling like a kitten. Tried to move forward no movement and revs struggled to get over 1500 .The motor coughed and splutter as the revs increased. Clutched and tried again to move forward this time I could hear a rattle/ mashing noise from what seemed to be beneath my feet. I thought the clutch/ gear box area. Turned off motor check for oil/ water etc. Nothing, gears moved freely and clutch peddle okay. Motor would not start. tried multiple times. Left over night. Next day cold start first time. Rattled and mashing sounds. turned off.
Now at mechanics.
Mechanic could not get it started.
Timing chain okay
Fuel okay
Compression 200 across all 4.Lower than what we expected.

Motor in pieces.
We are lost for a cause . Any ideas?

 

[bods]

How many km on it? Could be common rail pump and/or injectors... the common rail pump is on the driver's side of the engine so if that has eaten itself could have been the sound you were hearing. Is the mechanic a diesel specialist or just a general mechanic?

 

[Old.Tony]

If the starter's turning the motor over fine (I'm thinking that the rattle/mashing sound might have been broken bits of starter gear) then the first thing I'd do is a ECU reset. Remove the battery negative lead, stomp on the brake pedal, reconnect the battery. Does it start? Hook it up and see if any codes show. Watch particularly for P0088/9, 0182/3, 0192/3, P0200-0204 - any of these could actually be triggered by a dirty SCV. It's a small component on the side of the fuel pump. It CAN be cleaned, it CAN be replaced separately ($240 or so) to the $4K fuel pump.

Codes aren't everything. BEFORE you try starting it, give the exhaust a sniff. Smells of diesel? Might be faulty glows. We've had glow relays fail before (located between the battery and the side of the car). When it does start/run, examine the exhaust. Any smoke? What colour? While it's running, look at the turbocharger. A round gold thing on the top should have an arm beneath it moving in and out of the turbocharger all the time. No movement = possibly bad. No movement when someone revs the engine = definitely bad, look for damaged vac hoses, failed solenoid, failed actuator (usually a damaged diaphragm), vac leak in the brake booster (yes has happened) or (really rare) a failed vac pump.

It could also be the MAFS but that will throw a engine light on.

OOOOH. Here's one that doesn't throw a code and it's happened before. EGR valve sticks open. The combustion chambers are flooded with exhaust gas and can barely combust the fuel. Block the EGR (takes about 15 minutes if you can cut the replacement "gasket" from 4mm mild steel, I used 1mm stainless in mine) and try again. Working? You've fixed it, forget the EGR you don't really want it anyway.

There are other possibilities, but trying to get DTCs from the ECU is important, as is trying an ECU reset (mostly because it's free to do and solves things like buggered fuel maps).

 

[Brooker500]

Thanks boys I will forward the info to mechanic. He is not a diesel mechanic but he has worked on Nissans b4. This has him stumped.
No codes all clear.
Stay tuned fir next update.

 

[Tappet]

Tricky. Funny thing is the noise is coming from down low. From some of the symptoms I was kind of thinking the big spring in the DMF has totally let go. With the engine off it could still be possible the clutch operation and gear selection would still be ok but that does not explain the the motor coughing and spluttering. Then no start. Then Started first pop, next day. Perplexing.

Look forward to the update. Any info like that is very valuable for the knowledge base.

Good Luck.