2016 Nissan Rogue S Electrical Gremlin

[RCW]

Has it ever been in a collision, mainly in the front?

Ford - my son worked this deal with the independent shop owner/mechanic/dealer and his wife, who was the day-care provider for all our kids....friends of ours that watched our kids grow up. Good people.

They bought it at a wholesale auction in PA, And sold it to my son for same $$...they made $0 on it.

It seems like there was a clean car fax.....but can’t say 100%.

 

[Fordtech86]

Ford - my son worked this deal with the independent shop owner/mechanic/dealer and his wife, who was the day-care provider for all our kids....friends of ours that watched our kids grow up.

They bought it at a wholesale auction in PA, And sold it to my son for same $$...they made $0 on it.

It seems like there was a clean car fax.....but can’t say 100%.

Yeah a clean car fax doesn’t mean much. Its usually pretty obvious (well for someone who sees them everyday) to tell.

Hopefully they diagnosed/guessed correctly. If not come back here or PM me and I can try to help some more.

 

[RCW]

Yeah a clean car fax doesn’t mean much. Its usually pretty obvious (well for someone who sees them everyday) to tell.

Hopefully they diagnosed/guessed correctly. If not come back here or PM me and I can try to help some more.

I looked it over pretty close after he got it. All the doors, body panels looked good. Hood was good. Alignment good, spacing good, etc.
There was a buff in the hatch they fixed before giving him the keys.

At the Car Museum I’m part of we do see some iffy body work, but you’re right I don’t see it everyday. I appreciate that expertise.

Since it’s dumped/quit on him a few times now, he’s spooked driving it. Can’t say I blame him.

But, from what I’m hearing is that if there was a worse time to buy a used car, this might be it, as new ones are hard to come by....

 

[skeets]

Well good it is under warranty, though I have to go with fordtech there is a short circle in there some place

 

[Fordtech86]

I looked it over pretty close after he got it. All the doors, body panels looked good. Hood was good. Alignment good, spacing good, etc.
There was a buff in the hatch they fixed before giving him the keys.

At the Car Museum I’m part of we do see some iffy body work, but you’re right I don’t see it everyday. I appreciate that expertise.

Since it’s dumped/quit on him a few times now, he’s spooked driving it. Can’t say I blame him.

But, from what I’m hearing is that if there was a worse time to buy a used car, this might be it, as new ones are hard to come by....

I don’t pay much attention to the sales side, but I know our lot is pretty bare and they are hurting for used cars.

I was just guessing at the suspected fuse which I am pretty sure its #35 that keeps blowing. It feeds the PCM, the constant 12 v to the coils, and the EVAP purge valve. I went back and read your original post and missed the part about the coil blowing apart. Was the first replaced coil blown apart/housing split/melted? Second coil the same? Any issues with the coil now? That happens when either the coil driver in the pcm sticks (not saying always but everyone I have seen once it sticks it stays like that) or the short is in the coil driver circuit back to the pcm.

Possibly the harness was disturbed enough when the 4 coils were replaced to get it away from whatever it was shorting too?

You said he was off at school, not sure how far away or how mechanically inclined he is, but for a quick test after getting it back have the engine running, wiggle the wiring harness focusing mainly in the area between the coils and PCM (which looked to be under or near the air filter housing?) and try to recreate the short. Push the harness towards anything its routed by. If it is wiring it should be in a relatively small area and shouldn’t be that hard to find.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

re: That happens when either the coil driver in the pcm sticks (not saying always but everyone I have seen once it sticks it stays like that) or the short is in the coil driver circuit back to the pcm.

If this really happens , it's down to very,very poor stupid designing by an 'electrical engineer' that needs to go a REAL school. There is no way an overdriven coil or 'short' should cause the PCM or fuse to 'fry' IF the designer actually properly designed the equipment. It doesn't take much these days to design 'bulletproof' electronics, especially when manufacturers make devices DESIGNED for the applications,unlike 4 decades ago when we designed on paper,tested on the bench, then in field trials, THEN built the equipment.
One glaring problem with the Nissan( others too probably) is using CAN bus and relying on shoddy software and substandard interface components.

 

[Fordtech86]

re: That happens when either the coil driver in the pcm sticks (not saying always but everyone I have seen once it sticks it stays like that) or the short is in the coil driver circuit back to the pcm.

If this really happens , it's down to very,very poor stupid designing by an 'electrical engineer' that needs to go a REAL school. There is no way an overdriven coil or 'short' should cause the PCM or fuse to 'fry' IF the designer actually properly designed the equipment. It doesn't take much these days to design 'bulletproof' electronics, especially when manufacturers make devices DESIGNED for the applications,unlike 4 decades ago when we designed on paper,tested on the bench, then in field trials, THEN built the equipment.
One glaring problem with the Nissan( others too probably) is using CAN bus and relying on shoddy software and substandard interface components.

Welcome to the auto business.

 

[bearbait]

I don’t pay much attention to the sales side, but I know our lot is pretty bare and they are hurting for used cars.

I was just guessing at the suspected fuse which I am pretty sure its #35 that keeps blowing. It feeds the PCM, the constant 12 v to the coils, and the EVAP purge valve. I went back and read your original post and missed the part about the coil blowing apart. Was the first replaced coil blown apart/housing split/melted? Second coil the same? Any issues with the coil now? That happens when either the coil driver in the pcm sticks (not saying always but everyone I have seen once it sticks it stays like that) or the short is in the coil driver circuit back to the pcm.

Possibly the harness was disturbed enough when the 4 coils were replaced to get it away from whatever it was shorting too?

You said he was off at school, not sure how far away or how mechanically inclined he is, but for a quick test after getting it back have the engine running, wiggle the wiring harness focusing mainly in the area between the coils and PCM (which looked to be under or near the air filter housing?) and try to recreate the short. Push the harness towards anything its routed by. If it is wiring it should be in a relatively small area and shouldn’t be that hard to find.

"Possibly the harness was disturbed enough when the 4 coils were replaced to get it away from whatever it was shorting too?"

That was my thoughts also.

 

[RCW]

Text from my son:

“Replaced the ecu and he said they found a broken wire on the engine harness that they fixed too”

You have no idea how happy I was to see that!

I'm thinking that broken wire might be the REAL culprit....any takers on that bet?!?!

My message back to my son was hats off to the techs at the dealership for checking further, and not just plugging a new ECU in.....

Ford - - they obviously dug a little deeper in some way. Follows your suggestion of rattlin' the harness around while running, as that was what you were suspecting.

Not sure if it will alleviate his distrust in the car.....he's 150 miles away in an urban/suburban area (Rochester, NY).

Thinking your car might just quit while on the highway is a little disconcerting....

 

[Fordtech86]

Text from my son:

“Replaced the ecu and he said they found a broken wire on the engine harness that they fixed too”

You have no idea how happy I was to see that!

I'm thinking that broken wire might be the REAL culprit....any takers on that bet?!?!

My message back to my son was hats off to the techs at the dealership for checking further, and not just plugging a new ECU in.....

Ford - - they obviously dug a little deeper in some way. Follows your suggestion of rattlin' the harness around while running, as that was what you were suspecting.

Not sure if it will alleviate his distrust in the car.....he's 150 miles away in an urban/suburban area (Rochester, NY).

Thinking your car might just quit while on the highway is a little disconcerting....

I see this all the time. Modules rarely fail. Was just earlier this week had another tech in the shop came to me after replacing every module on the network and the network is still down. Ask him whats the resistance between your two CAN circuits....he says 2 ohms Well time to go find out where the two network wires are shorted together at, which happened to be where the the shop it got towed from ran a screw through the wiring harness.

Its getting bad out in the field unfortunately.

 

[RCW]

I’m just hoping that broken wire was the original problem from his first quit back in July.....fingers crossed.....

Even my limited experience I think of modules as pretty bulletproof. Surprised me when they were replacing it.

 

[Daren Todd]

I've had a few ECM's go bad at work. Cummins has been really bad with water infiltration in the quick connects on the wiring harness on some of my equipment. And Cummins is horrible about warranty on wiring harnesses. They say the harness isn't theirs, therefore they won't warranty it. it's a fight every time.

The harness ends up shorting out in one of the main quick connect fittings and then burns out the ECM.

My latest gremlin was on a Kohler diesel. Had one shipped in with the harness all torn apart and missing the harness cover/ clips for the ECM. Nearest shop to handle Kohler diesels is Memphis.

Unit had a new harness installed under warranty a couple years ago because it aouldnt charge. Shipped to me out of warranty to fix.

Traced the issue and it was a brain dead set up in the design. The power for the exciter wire is powered through the ECM. There isnt a diode in the circuit. So I'm figuring the ECM got spiked and burned out that port.

I ran over to the John Deere dealer and picked up a 12volt diode. Hooked it to the exciter side of the alternator, and wired it to the starter solenoid. Now it gets power to the exciter circuit while crankimg, but doesnt back feed and keep the starter engaged after the engine starts.

And it's now charging the battery fixed for $20 versus $1,800 for a new ECM

 

[Fordtech86]

Yep agreed with Darren. Module failure is typically from other issues. In the case of your sons car the circuit was the power supply and fuse protected so shouldn’t have been any issue. But won’t beat a dead horse anymore, hopefully all is good now!

 

[RCW]

Just wanted to circle back and close the saga with solution....

A few weeks later, the car would occasionally "chug chug" as my son described it. He was away at school, so I didn't see it myself.

Dealership said it appeared to be a multi-cylinder misfire.

They offered to try replacing new aftermarket coils with OEM, but even at $900, no guarantee it would fix it.....geez, but they were really doing what they could...

Even though he has little or no mechanical ability, my son resolved it all by himself....

He traded it for a 2017 Honda Civic.....

 

[bearbait]

Just wanted to circle back and close the saga with solution....

A few weeks later, the car would occasionally "chug chug" as my son described it. Dealership said it appeared to be a multi-cylinder misfire....

They offered to try replacing aftermarket coils with OEM, but even at $900, no guarantee it would fix it.....geez, but they were really doing what they could...

Even tough he has little or no mechanical ability, my son resolved it all by himself....

He traded it for a 2017 Honda Civic.....

Thanks for letting us know and yes that was the best fix he could choose.

 

[RCW]

Thanks for letting us know and yes that was the best fix he could choose.

Yeah. One of his housemates is a Ford tech, but not “The” Fordtech we know. He helped a lot.

My son was home a couple days...just got the replacement Honda the other day. . Been dinking around with it a while.

Not sure I'd fit in it, and he's 6' 5", but he says it's comfortable.

 

[bearbait]

Nice car, you can't go wrong with Honda or Toyota, both are pretty much bullet proof.

 

[Daren Todd]

Yeah. One of his housemates is a Ford tech, but not “The” Fordtech we know. He helped a lot.

My son was home a couple days...just got the replacement Honda the other day. . Been dinking around with it a while.

Not sure I'd fit in it, and he's 6' 5", but he says it's comfortable.

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View attachment 51350

Fitting in it isn't the issue. The seats go back to where you or I are driving from the back seat

It's getting out and being able to keep the knees on your pants clean thats the issue

Wifes old Mazda 3 sat low like the civics. I had to roll out of the car after a long drive. Then stand up.

We went on vacation a few weeks ago. 4/10 of a mile from our Airbnb a rod decided to let go in the engine of the Jeep Limped the jeep under the carport at our cabin where it sat till I had it towed to the local dodge dealer on Monday.

Beth got a brand new Buick Encore GX for my birthday It's about the same size as the Rogue.

 

[bearbait]

Does she have a sister...oh wait a minute, forget that.

 

[KateshiBlack]

Does anyone know Nissan has this a common problem?