Error code management?

Submitted: Friday, Aug 01, 2014 at 19:47
ThreadID: 108978 Views:1807 Replies:3 FollowUps:7
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Hi Guys,

I've just returned from a two week vanning trip which was great except for a glitch in the computer. So long story short I had the engine check light come on and this turned out to be error code P1122 or a problem with the Electronic Throttle Control. It turned out to be a dirty plug to the throttle body.

Fortunately all this turned out ok with the assistance of Nissan Warwick and NRMA Moonbi.

The purpose of this post is to discuss what it could have been if I had been remote travelling! Clearly managing error codes and being able to clear them is important even if there is a possibility that an error code may not have a remote solution. The possibility of a solution other than an expensive tow bears further thought.

Kind regards
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Reply By: AlbyNSW - Friday, Aug 01, 2014 at 20:06

Friday, Aug 01, 2014 at 20:06
A scan gauge will allow you to clear a fault or read what the fault is to help fault find the more basic problems

The other way to clear a fault is to remove your positive battery terminal and put your headlights on to drain any residual power from your computers for a minute and then connect back up again
AnswerID: 536974

Follow Up By: Member - bbuzz (NSW) - Friday, Aug 01, 2014 at 20:38

Friday, Aug 01, 2014 at 20:38
Will the headlights work without the battery connection?

bill
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Follow Up By: Ross M - Friday, Aug 01, 2014 at 20:49

Friday, Aug 01, 2014 at 20:49
Turning on the interior light will use any electrical charge held within the electronics capacitors if that is going to work. Headlights? won't come on and only the headlight relay coil will try and be energized anyway.
So interior light is as good as anything else.
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Follow Up By: AlbyNSW - Friday, Aug 01, 2014 at 21:06

Friday, Aug 01, 2014 at 21:06
It has always worked for me with a Hilux
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Follow Up By: Member - Beatit (QLD) - Saturday, Aug 02, 2014 at 18:52

Saturday, Aug 02, 2014 at 18:52
Thanks Alby,

The scan gauge is not suitable for the 4.8 petrol Nissan (unfortunately) it seems that it uses Nissan Scan Data II for its communication protocol (ie not OBDII).

I tried the battery thing but did not drain the residual currents so I'll lock that away for the future.

Kind regards
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Reply By: Ross M - Friday, Aug 01, 2014 at 21:04

Friday, Aug 01, 2014 at 21:04
Beatit (QLD)

Did the Nissan people register the fault with Nissan Australia? ie. That issue in their computers against that Vin/Eng No?

Why I mention this is because a bloke I know has a D40 Navara and he had total stoppage after a few thousand KM from new. Faithful Nissan customer.

While on holidays, a remote local mechanic and then far away dealer looked for the fault. Mutiple sensor faults coded.

Trucked to his home town and the selling dealer looked at it and fiddled around.
Then it ran again but they didn't know which item looked at cured it.
He lost confidence in the fault finding techniques and with the vehicle and around 5 min after all was OK and getting the reply, "Nothing Wrong", " NO Faults" he requested to trade the vehicle in for another Nissan vehicle.

Dealer refused to trade it, despite 5 min beforehand declaring to the owner it had no faults.
Their reason for not trading was, "the vehicle has a problem".


So, if a problem develops and is recorded, then any dealer can look up the vehicle history and lower a trade price or refuse to trade on the info they glean from warranty claims or prior fault checking .

Win Win for dealers, Loose, Loose for customers of the product.
I only became aware of this type of thing happening in the last 12 months.

99% of dealers give all the rest a bad name.
AnswerID: 536979

Follow Up By: pop2jocem - Saturday, Aug 02, 2014 at 07:11

Saturday, Aug 02, 2014 at 07:11
Easy solution, trade it in on another brand of choice and see how that works out.
Without having a bias against any particular brand it does appear that the Nissan dealer group have less customer "care" in their policy than others. Which is a pity because it would seem the Nissan has no more dramas than any other brand. Well apart from the early 3 lt engines.

Cheers
Pop
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Follow Up By: Member - Beatit (QLD) - Saturday, Aug 02, 2014 at 19:02

Saturday, Aug 02, 2014 at 19:02
G'day Ross,

My Nissan experience was more positive, they fitted me in with no notice and then did it for free, really can't complain about that!

They did all the paperwork including issuing a zero invoice so I assume it's in the system. Not too worried about the resale because low k's means I will keep it for a while yet.

Normally I'm more negative towards dealerships but this was different and almost blew me away.

Kind regards
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FollowupID: 821282

Reply By: olcoolone - Sunday, Aug 03, 2014 at 12:18

Sunday, Aug 03, 2014 at 12:18
For anyone with a tool to clear fault codes....... don't clear them.

It makes it very hard to trace a fault later on and if the vehicle is under warranty no manufacture will accept a fault under warranty unless they see the fault code them selves.

And as for codes, codes don't tell you what is wrong but gives you a head start of where to look first, a fault code can be generated from something and point to something that may be not associated with the fault.

A fault code is like a street directory.... it gives you a suburb and a street but not the number or description of the building.

Depending what the fault code is and where the problem lies is to how it gets logged..... a failing component may need 3 failures to register a readable fault code,this could be over time or distance, others may register straight away as a soft fault or hard fault.

How they list as a fault can also give insight to what has failed or caused the fault.
AnswerID: 537083

Follow Up By: Member - Beatit (QLD) - Monday, Aug 04, 2014 at 08:58

Monday, Aug 04, 2014 at 08:58
G'day OCO,

I appreciate your comments and certainly you would not want a warranty fight afterwards.

My situation is a little different in that my vehicle is long out of warranty and I'm just looking into remote travel and the possibility of getting stuck with a computer problem.

In my case the error code was discovered and cleared by a dealer, the paperwork told me what the error code was and what they did to fix the problem. the same problem reoccurred again some time later with the NRMA finding the same code and clearing the code after a fiddle with ETC plug.

I was down and out for the count with the car working in limp mode and it made me reflect what a huge problem (read cost) it would have been when I was travelling remote two years ago.

I was just pondering if the capacity to read codes and clear them should be part of every travellers spares kit! Much like carrying a manual, even if you can't use one, someone else might.

Kind regards
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