Nissan Micra k11 common faults
This page is a list of common faults that Nissan Micra k11 owners have reported over the years. Luckily, most of them are minor issues and the micra has been blessed to be highly reliable and last for hundreds of thousands of kilometres if correctly serviced and maintained.
Brittle / broken coolant overflow bottle
Symptoms
Smelling coolant or noticing fluid under the car after driving? 8/10 micras (K11) will have a hole or crack in the top of the coolant overflow bottle.Solution
This will need to be binned. Sometimes reproduction items can be found reasonably priced on ebay, chances are you won't find a good one at a wrecker, or get a new one at NissanBrittle door handles
Symptoms
Door handles can eventually become brittle and crack or even snap off completely.
Solution
They were originally manufactured not to the strongest standards, so there is no real solution once they have these symptoms. Protect them as much as possible from the weather by getting them painted the colour of your car (if they aren't already). Door handles can also be tracked down through Auto-Wreckers reasonably easily.
Fast flashing blinker
Symptoms
One of your blinkers flash twice as fast as normal.
Solution
This simply means that one of your blinker bulbs on that side has blown or been unplugged from the circuit. The others on the circuit continue to operate, however they blink twice as fast.
Walk right around the car until you find the blown bulb.
Fuel Smell
Symptoms
A strong fuel smell and/or a puddle under the car after filling upSolution
The return hose / breather line on top of the fuel tank has a few bends and seems to split causing leaks. The tank will need to be dropped to replace these lines. Also there is a rubber o-ring on top of the tank that seals the fuel pump, this can be brittle or broken. This can be accessed from inside the car under the rear seat. -DoomGear shifter not centering
Symptoms
Manual gear stick doesn't spring back into the centre either from the left or from the right.
Solution
It is reasonably common for the gear-stick lever return spring to break. You will need to access this from underneath the car. There is also exhaust heat-shielding in the way that you will need to remove. Remove the broken spring (which should be dangling by the end that didn't break). You can easily bend it with some pliers so that you make a new hook on the broken end, then re-install the repaired spring where it came from. Get someone in the car to move the gear stick around so you work out which direction it needs to spring back in order to work - that will also help you determine the location of the tiny hole that the spring is meant to hook into.
Heater fan not working on all settings
Symptoms
If your heater / AC only works on max speed (not setting 1, 2 or 3)Solution
There is a fan resistor card located under the glove box where the fan is. Chances are this has fried itself. There are two bolts and a plug that need to be undone. Once removed, bin the old one and purchase a new one from Nissan for around $60, replace all parts and it should work on all settings. -DoomJack difficult to wind
Symptoms
Micra's factory jack is extremely hard to wind.
Solution
The micra's jack works fine when new, but after a lot of use the thread can be damaged which makes the jack difficult to operate. Temporarily you should be able to grease the thread to reduce the friction, but you are probably best to replace the jack.
Leaking Rear Wheel Cylinders
Symptoms
Was a common fault on drum brake models built 1995. Car pulling to one side under breaking. Spongy/loss of pedal pressure. Brake fluid evident on brake shoes/pads.Solution
Replace rear wheel cyclinder. Advisable to replace whole unit or have cylinder bores honed and fit new piston seals and dust covers.Poor idle
Symptoms
Fluctuating and intermittent poor idle feeling like the car wants to stall. Also possible power loss and lack of smoothness.
Solution
Your air-flow meter could be out of calibration, they are susceptible to damage and do wear out eventually. There have been a lot of reports of malfunctioning air-flow meters and throttle bodies particularly when the vehicle has clocked anywhere over 100,000km. This is the perfect opportunity to upgrade to a large throttle body from a Nissan GA15DE engine.
This throttle body re-soldering guide has also proven to rectify this problem on many vehicles and is definately worth trying.
Poor idle / noisy induction
Symptoms
Rough/fluctuating idle and air whooshing sounds or a more rumbly deep engine tone.
Solution
Check that air intake pipes haven't become loose and moved to partially block off the throttle body. This is far more likely to occur if you are running a custom air intake system as the factory one is well secured.
Rattle inside the car from rear
Symptoms
A really annoying rattle from the rear of the car can be 1 of 3 things.Solution
1) The parcel shelf bounces around = stick some double sided felt material on the boot plastic between the parcel shelf and plastic to silence the bouncing. 2) The removable metal plate on the tailgate vibrates and rattles = either remove and bin it or remove it, and place some padding between it and the tailgate to absorb the noise. 3) The rear sway bar links are worn. These are a ball joint attachment that wear over time and rattle / clunk over bumps mostly. Bin the old ones and fit new ones.Rattling noise on engine startup
Symptoms
A metallic/clunky ticking kind of sound which only last for a few seconds when you first start your car up.
Solution
This is common and usually nothing to worry about. It's the timing chain rattling before the tensioners fully take up the slack. The tensioners are reliable and Nissan recommend that the timing chain is to last the life of the engine.
Or see the genuine Nissan bulletin in timing chain diagnosis and replacement.
Squeaky suspension
Symptoms
Suspension seems to squeek slightly when going over bumps.
Solution
Check all of your suspension bushes. You may need to replace them with newer ones. Note: aftermarket urethane bushes are more likely to squeek than factory rubber ones, however they shouldn't squeak if properly greased up with rubber grease.