Modern car problems

[slopster]

Trying to fix my mums car for her. It is a 97 nissan pulsar 1.6. She has had it sitting in the garage for a few months with a dead battery - it was running fine until she left it and the battery went flat. Today I put a new battery in and expected it to start up but the check engine light was on and wouldn't start. It was cranking and I could smell the fuel but no starting. I Whipped a plug out to check the spark and sure enough there was no spark. I plugged my timing light in and that wouldn't light up on any of the leads. This is where I get confused cos I've only ever worked on old cars. I had a look at the distributor and it looks like a combination of a bike style signal generator with a traditional points style distributor as well. I cleaned up the points to no avail. I couldn't even find the coil is but there isn't the traditional HT lead to the centre of the dizzy. Lastly I managed to find out on the net how to do a self diagnostic test and the car says fault with the crank angle sensor. I couldn't see any sensor that looks like being anywhere near the crank.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[Crazy Steve]

Trying to fix my mums car for her. It is a 97 nissan pulsar 1.6. She has had it sitting in the garage for a few months with a dead battery - it was running fine until she left it and the battery went flat. Today I put a new battery in and expected it to start up but the check engine light was on and wouldn't start. It was cranking and I could smell the fuel but no starting. I Whipped a plug out to check the spark and sure enough there was no spark. I plugged my timing light in and that wouldn't light up on any of the leads. This is where I get confused cos I've only ever worked on old cars. I had a look at the distributor and it looks like a combination of a bike style signal generator with a traditional points style distributor as well. I cleaned up the points to no avail. I couldn't even find the coil is but there isn't the traditional HT lead to the centre of the dizzy. Lastly I managed to find out on the net how to do a self diagnostic test and the car says fault with the crank angle sensor. I couldn't see any sensor that looks like being anywhere near the crank.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Try going to bed.....? ?

Crazy Steve...

[Tank]

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

a car forum or a mechanic would be a logical place.

[HRT]

Pull the plugs out and give them a good clean, leave them out for a bit so any extra fuel can get out of the cylinders. Most likely the crank angle sensor is inside the distributor, which will be where the coil is too for that matter.
Hopefully just plugs fouling up? Usually if the sensor fails then you wont get any fuel or spark

[MSTRS]

Pull the plugs out and give them a good clean, leave them out for a bit so any extra fuel can get out of the cylinders. Most likely the crank angle sensor is inside the distributor, which will be where the coil is too for that matter.
Hopefully just plugs fouling up? Usually if the sensor fails then you wont get any fuel or spark

?? Surely it will be adjacent to the external crank pulley? That's the big one at the bottom, front of the engine? That's is where it is on Holdens...in fact, it hides behind the pulley, which needs to be removed to get at the sensor. Perhaps with a front wheel drive, the designers found a different place to hide the unit?
It's job is to tell the ECU when to open the injector/s and when to pulse the plug/s. If yours is feeding gas, then I suggest it is something else causing lack of spark.

[imdying]

Heh, interesting that a 12 year old car would be called 'modern'.

[slopster]

I said it was getting fuel but I'm not so sure now might have imagined the smell. Fuel pumps deffinitely going though. Having looked a bit further on the web it seems that the crank angle sensor is in the dizzy (why would you call it crank angle and not cam angle?) It's a little optical type sensor with the slotted disc that spins inside it. Theres nothing visually wrong and its clean. Lastly sparkplugs are in pretty average condition but if the timing light won't flash then the spark plug isn't going to be the problem

[MSTRS]

When you fitted the new battery, if you put the + terminal on first you may have blown a fuse somewhere or damaged the ECU.

[imdying]

Wouldn't worry too much about the ECU, they're incredibly hard to brick... ignition modules like to die though :/ And yeah, the CKS is probably hanging off the end of the camshaft.

[slopster]

Yeah I deff put the negative terminal on the batt first. And I'm pretty sure I've checked every fuse in the car too. They are all labled in gook speak so had to check them all.

Um whats an ignition module and how can I check that and is there anything I can do to test that CAS.

[MSTRS]

The CAS is often the culprit in these sort of symptoms. However, I find it strange that it picks this particular time to die. There are far more delicate electronic and electrical components to be suspected. Top of my list, if it's not a fuse you've somehow missed, is the ignition module as Imdying said. This was the problem in my Holden when I had similar issues.

[imdying]

I would probably start by downloading a service manual for the vehicle, or any other with the same motor (the type will be written on the chassis plate, probably something like SR16 or CA16). That will describe the process for testing it.

[slopster]

Sorted cheers guys. It was the crank angle sensor I got one from pick a part for $11 bolted it on and started first pop.

[MSTRS]

Well knock me down with a feather!! Proof that sometimes the theoretical obvious IS the answer. Good score on the price too.

[Pussy]

When you fitted the new battery, if you put the + terminal on first you may have blown a fuse somewhere or damaged the ECU.

Isn't it best practice to fit the positive terminal first?

[MSTRS]

I've always fitted the earth strap first. Or attached a jumper cable to - side first. Haven't had an issue with nasty stuff as a result.