Limp mode

[Bigblue]

Hey new to this page I have a 2008 D40 Navara and every time I lose traction my car goes into limp mode to get it out I have to remove the key and start back up runs fine after that until lose traction again was just wondering if anyone knows how to fix this
Thanks in advance

 

[Old.Tony]

That's a very odd situation. The 2008 car doesn't realise (apart from the ABS system) that it's lost traction. We've lost traction a few times when off-roading (nothing major, but a spinning wheel is still a spinning wheel) and haven't had the problem (2009 model).

Has your ABS light come on?

Here's something to try: get the car to lose traction, and instead of turning it off, straighten the wheels (firm surface, don't worry if you're on dirt/sand/gravel) and try putting it into 4WD mode. Does it obey?

Also, find a sealed-road corner that you can take at a gentle enough speed in both directions. Do it, and listen for noise coming from the wheels. Is there any difference between a left turn and a right turn? Street corners may not do it, you need a decent bend.

 

[Bigblue]

That's a very odd situation. The 2008 car doesn't realise (apart from the ABS system) that it's lost traction. We've lost traction a few times when off-roading (nothing major, but a spinning wheel is still a spinning wheel) and haven't had the problem (2009 model).

Has your ABS light come on?

Here's something to try: get the car to lose traction, and instead of turning it off, straighten the wheels (firm surface, don't worry if you're on dirt/sand/gravel) and try putting it into 4WD mode. Does it obey?

Also, find a sealed-road corner that you can take at a gentle enough speed in both directions. Do it, and listen for noise coming from the wheels. Is there any difference between a left turn and a right turn? Street corners may not do it, you need a decent bend.

Yep still goes into 4wd and sounds normal when cornering was wondering if it could be over boosting causing it to go into limp mode?

 

[Old.Tony]

Absolutely, and you could avoid it by being very gentle on the throttle. The question then is why it's doing it ... is the BCS going straight to fully on when the ECU commands some boost? You will only know if you get a boost gauge and monitor the boost under relatively controlled acceleration, then connect the vac hose directly to the actuator and do the exact same test. If you're getting similar boost figures, it's possible that the BCS is not behaving. A check to ensure the vac hoses are connected to the BCS properly would be a reasonable step too, just in case.

Are you seeing any signs of oily emissions from the air path around the intercooler or the hose that connects to the intake manifold?

 

[GunMentalGrey]

In trying to understand the problem a little more, can you describe the situation of ‘loss of traction’ a bit more. Like what is the throttle position, are you driving hard or is it just when it’s really wet and slippery or off road only? Do you feather the throttle to control the slip or step off it immediately? Is it repeatable, ie can you do it same conditions every time or is it a bit more random?

Also manual or auto?

For what it’s worth, mine is really easy to lose traction in the wet, but needs a real flogging to get tyre chirp in the dry. Stepping off the gas makes it hard to control a slide, but feathering means a decent little drift.

 

[Bigblue]

In trying to understand the problem a little more, can you describe the situation of ‘loss of traction’ a bit more. Like what is the throttle position, are you driving hard or is it just when it’s really wet and slippery or off road only? Do you feather the throttle to control the slip or step off it immediately? Is it repeatable, ie can you do it same conditions every time or is it a bit more random?

Also manual or auto?

For what it’s worth, mine is really easy to lose traction in the wet, but needs a real flogging to get tyre chirp in the dry. Stepping off the gas makes it hard to control a slide, but feathering means a decent little drift.

it’s a manual comes on randomly sometimes I can lose traction and it’ll be fine but other times it goes into limp mode happens mostly in the wet and has happened when off roading going up a mud hill

 

[OldManBeard]

Stepping off the gas makes it hard to control a slide, but feathering means a decent little drift.

I was absolutely astonished to find that when my kids (they're adults now) learned to drive this potentially life-saving method was not taught to them, something I promptly corrected. The simple rule, always, is when you lose control to any degree don't make sudden changes. I don't know if my driving teacher was the exception or the norm but this was hammered into me almost from the first lesson and I reckon it has saved me many times, both on and off road.

 

[GunMentalGrey]

I was absolutely astonished to find that when my kids (they're adults now) learned to drive this potentially life-saving method was not taught to them, something I promptly corrected. The simple rule, always, is when you lose control to any degree don't make sudden changes. I don't know if my driving teacher was the exception or the norm but this was hammered into me almost from the first lesson and I reckon it has saved me many times, both on and off road.

It isn’t really something you can teach under normal conditions given the plod’s penchant for booking ‘hoons’. Then you really need to do it a lot to train yourself not to panic.

One of the reasons I want my kids to learn off road driving.

 

[OldManBeard]

It isn’t really something you can teach under normal conditions given the plod’s penchant for booking ‘hoons’. Then you really need to do it a lot to train yourself not to panic.

One of the reasons I want my kids to learn off road driving.

Maybe it depends on where you live. Around here we've always had some very quiet dirt roads and other places where you could learn these things. Back when I was taught shops were shut at 12PM on Saturdays and all day on Sunday, so we were able to use their car parks for many lessons, although we didn't use them for those that would leave rubber behind.

It became a little harder by the time I needed to teach my kids but, having lived in the district for most of my life, I know of quiet roads where, when wet, you very easily lose traction. When there's no traffic and you have a clear vision of the road(s) in all directions such spots are very useful indeed. Just pull up and wait for no traffic, then go for it.

 

[datura]

Hello.
I have an 09 D40, and she goes into limp mode a lot..
The mechanic says the error code it’s throwing is a can bus error, and they can’t figure out how to fix it..
I’m in Tassie, and they’re saying the computer might have to be sent to the mainland to be looked at..
Thing is, I’ve never even taken my Ute on a bus.

 

[Old.Tony]

Sorry but that was funny!

Welcome to the forum.

Ok, let's start with some simple diagnostic stuff. You should try to get the numeric error code, it would be good to know it, although there are plenty of things we can do (that don't cost much at all) without that info.

Does it blow any smoke? What colour?

Does the engine "hunt" when idling - the revs rise and fall noticeably?

When does it happen? Is it only happening when you accelerate hard? What happens if you accelerate very gently? With about half a tank of fuel in the car (or less), take off the fuel cap and try making it happen again. Does it?

Have you put any injector cleaner through it? Try a bottle of Liqui Moly Fuel System Treatment. Drive it for 100-200km (be mostly gentle).

There are a number of other things to look at, like turbocharger control - possible vac loss in the actuator control, the engine requires 3m of 3mm vac hose and just match the lengths and re-do it yourself.

The BCS might be faulty and not able to control the turbocharger. Test this by removing the vac hose that comes across the engine and connecting it to the top of the turbocharger (the round gold device with the black hose is the actuator that opens and closes the turbocharger's vanes). If the car behaves more normally (don't drive around like this for too long, just long enough to see if it's better) then your BCS may have failed. This might just be an electrical fault (uncommon, unplug and replug it to find out) or the BCS has failed (common). I've replaced my BCS with a Tillix valve.

There's a few things for ya. Let us know some more about it.

 

[datura]

Sorry but that was funny!

Welcome to the forum.

Ok, let's start with some simple diagnostic stuff. You should try to get the numeric error code, it would be good to know it, although there are plenty of things we can do (that don't cost much at all) without that info.

Does it blow any smoke? What colour?

Does the engine "hunt" when idling - the revs rise and fall noticeably?

When does it happen? Is it only happening when you accelerate hard? What happens if you accelerate very gently? With about half a tank of fuel in the car (or less), take off the fuel cap and try making it happen again. Does it?

Have you put any injector cleaner through it? Try a bottle of Liqui Moly Fuel System Treatment. Drive it for 100-200km (be mostly gentle).

There are a number of other things to look at, like turbocharger control - possible vac loss in the actuator control, the engine requires 3m of 3mm vac hose and just match the lengths and re-do it yourself.

The BCS might be faulty and not able to control the turbocharger. Test this by removing the vac hose that comes across the engine and connecting it to the top of the turbocharger (the round gold device with the black hose is the actuator that opens and closes the turbocharger's vanes). If the car behaves more normally (don't drive around like this for too long, just long enough to see if it's better) then your BCS may have failed. This might just be an electrical fault (uncommon, unplug and replug it to find out) or the BCS has failed (common). I've replaced my BCS with a Tillix valve.

There's a few things for ya. Let us know some more about it.

Mate!
Thank you heaps for taking the time to write all that for me!
It’s definitely given me a bunch more avenues to look down.
I will let you know when I make a breakthrough!

 

[Bigblue]

Sorry but that was funny!

Welcome to the forum.

Ok, let's start with some simple diagnostic stuff. You should try to get the numeric error code, it would be good to know it, although there are plenty of things we can do (that don't cost much at all) without that info.

Does it blow any smoke? What colour?

Does the engine "hunt" when idling - the revs rise and fall noticeably?

When does it happen? Is it only happening when you accelerate hard? What happens if you accelerate very gently? With about half a tank of fuel in the car (or less), take off the fuel cap and try making it happen again. Does it?

Have you put any injector cleaner through it? Try a bottle of Liqui Moly Fuel System Treatment. Drive it for 100-200km (be mostly gentle).

There are a number of other things to look at, like turbocharger control - possible vac loss in the actuator control, the engine requires 3m of 3mm vac hose and just match the lengths and re-do it yourself.

The BCS might be faulty and not able to control the turbocharger. Test this by removing the vac hose that comes across the engine and connecting it to the top of the turbocharger (the round gold device with the black hose is the actuator that opens and closes the turbocharger's vanes). If the car behaves more normally (don't drive around like this for too long, just long enough to see if it's better) then your BCS may have failed. This might just be an electrical fault (uncommon, unplug and replug it to find out) or the BCS has failed (common). I've replaced my BCS with a Tillix valve.

There's a few things for ya. Let us know some more about it.

hey Tony it’s come on again but this time with check engine light so chucked in the obd scanner and it’s come up with code P0093 which is “fuel system leak detected large leak” just wondering if you would know what’s causing this

 

[Horatius]

hey Tony it’s come on again but this time with check engine light so chucked in the obd scanner and it’s come up with code P0093 which is “fuel system leak detected large leak” just wondering if you would know what’s causing this

Not familiar with the D40 (thankfully by the sounds of it lol) but this article might help give you some ideas.

https://www.carparts.com/blog/p0093-code-fuel-system-large-leak-detected/

 

[Old.Tony]

In the Nissan service manual P0093 is caused by a fault in:

* Fuel pump
* Fuel rail
* Fuel pipe
* Fuel rail pressure relief valve
* Air mixed with fuel
* Lack of fuel

And rather than do the obvious and check to see if there's fuel in the tank, Nissan service droids would replace your fuel pump first ($4K plus labour), then the fuel rail (about $1K plus labour, will include the pipes), then the fuel rail pressure relief valve (I'm sure they'll squeeze hard for this) and THEN start looking at the hoses around the fuel filter and the primer bulb which is where you ought to start.

The best test for it is to start priming the fuel. In a normal working system the fuel primer will go firm after 4-5 squeezes at most. Keep squeezing a few more times. This will pressurise the fuel system in the area between the filter and the pump (where that area is normally low pressure/vacuum) and if there are any leaks in this area, fuel will start to come out. Fixing the leak should fix the problem.

It's also possible that you've a blockage somewhere. Try overpriming first (cheap and easy!) but then you might need to look at the fuel line to the tank, the fuel pickup in the tank ... algae can form in the fuel and cause blockages. Low temperatures can cause the fuel to start becoming waxy and block up the lines too.

If you have to go to this point, I'd drain the fuel tank, remove the hose from the tank and aim it into a bucket, then remove the hose from the filter and blow compressed air into it. Any gunk caught in the hose should get blown into the bucket for either forensic examination or simply the satisfaction of having discovered the cause. Reassemble, and don't forget to prime the fuel system manually before starting.