I’m not very knowledgeable in terms of cars, so please write back to me as if I was a 6 year old.
I have a 2008 Nissan Versa, and it has been having some ignition problems. Sometimes when I turn the key, it will crank, but the engine will not start. The cranking will be a couple of seconds. I would then stop, shut the car off, and turn the key again. The car would start immediately usually.
Now when I take it to get checked out, the mechanics cannot reproduce the cranking problem so they can’t do anything. It happens a different times of the day, different temperatures, and I have no idea why it does that. It is very random, but my car is literally 10 days old, so is it a faulty part, bad luck, what?
What can I suggest to my mechanic, or is there something that I can do (with very little car maintenance experience). My mechanic says that this is a situation where it will get better after it get’s worse, meaning they will know what is wrong when they see the problem for themselves.
The next time it does this, turn the key off and back on WITHOUT cranking the engine over. Do this 4 or 5 times in a row. If the vehicle starts instantly it could be there is a problem with the check ball in the fuel pump. This maintains fuel pressure in the lines so the vehicle will start instantly.
As an analogy, think of a water balloon. If you poke a tiny hole with a needle (leaky check ball) the balloon will lose water (fuel pressure).
I assume this mechanic is the Nissan dealer looking at this so make sure you always get a paper copy of your complaint and what, if anything, was done in the diagnosis. If this were to turn into a Lemon Law issue you will be dead in the water without a paper trail to back it up.
This should be a warrantable problem and only a Nissan dealer should be messing around with it.
Granted, there are a number of things it could be but a leaking valve in the fuel pump is the first thing that came to me. It is odd that it would happen on a new vehicle but anything mass produced is going to have a certain amount of failures.
If it comes down to guessing, a Nissan dealer could warranty this pump and replace it. The Nissan rep will want to see the old pump (you are not involved in this process) and a creative service dept. can easily fix the original pump where it will never work again before the rep sees it. There won’t be any ifs, ands, or buts about it.