so i set off the CEL today:

MY car has not been chiming when i leave the lights on or the key in the ignition with the door open, so i figure since i've got nothing better to do, i'll check fuses, and make sure that nothing's burned out, also, wanted to see if i could find the relay for keyless entry (which seems to be the one way to find out if your car actually has keyless entry or not)

Fuses were fine, the relay was there. Everything was good. Then i goto check belts. so i start the car up (No CEL) and look at the belts for cracks, movement, etc. When i go back to the car, the CEL is on. So i go inside, and grab a screwdriver to diagnose ecu. Then, i remeber how i broke the screw off the ecu the last time, so i can't diagnose the ECU. i figure i'll give it a try anyway. I put the screwdriver in, and feel around. It feels more like a spring is in there than a screw, and i can't seem to get the screwdriver into the grooves. So as i'm messing around with the screwdriver, i noticed that each time the screwdriver slipped of the head of the screw/spring whatever it touched would cause a connection to be made with another wire in the ECU. Not sparks or anything, but you could hear a sound from under the dash, like something had just recieved power to it. I figure at this point i'll stop messing with it and goto autozone to get it OBDII scanned. Well, as i'm driving down the highway to autozone, i look down, and the CEL is gone. I figure it was just a short or something and i turn around and go home. When i get back home, i turn off the car, and turn it back on. No CEL. I do it again, and now there's a CEL. Also, the clock has been reset. I figure that's from me pulling fuses.

So here's the kicker: I find out that the place that i thought was an autozone is actually an Advanced Auto Parts. (Stop Laughing) The reason why i thought it was an autozone it because i drove past there once (the town it's in is like 15-20 miles away) and seemed to remebr it being an autozone. I find out now that the closest autozone is roughly an hour away, and that advanced, napa, and carquest don't have scanners. So here's my choices on what to do:

1: Goto my local nissan dealership and have them diagnose it for $65. I'm trying to save this for last because i really do not have the money to spend on diagnosing it. Plus, if there actually is something wrong, i'll have to buy parts. My goal here is to spend as little money as possible.

2: Call National Auto Parts and see if they still rent out tools. Then get myself an ODBII scanner and do it myself. $20 deposit is all it takes. This would be great, because then i could scan for all codes, and get a detailed description.

3. I used to be cool with the mechanics at the dealer where ibought my car. I could give them a call and see if they'll hook me up with a free diagnosis. The only thing that would suck is that i'd have to beg and plead for a favor, and then if it turns out that the car needs work, i'll be SOL for finding someone to reset the CEL when it's fixed.

any advice/help/suggestions are appreciated. Thank you.

 

let me also add that since the ECU screw is gone, i've been looking into an OBD II scanner for myself. Does anyone have any experience/recommendations for a particular model? I've been eyeing up this one. It's the cheapest and most compiant one i've found so far. once again, any suggestions/advice is appreciated.

 

bump

 

wow man, that sucks, i dunno what i would do if i didn't have my little screw!!!! ne way, sounds like you fked the thing up, cause that **** is def NOT supposed to happen, i would see if you could get a new module or something!!!

 

option 2 and 3 seems to be the best choice if you are short on cash.

my local auto store kragen, napa and autozone is willing to check code for my car for free. all i need to do is ask them check the code nicely.

if you fell nothing wrong with the car, just drive it. my car have a CEL 6 months ago and 2 days after that, the CEL disappearing for good (knock the wood).

 

okay, this is the situation as of now:

Went to the place where i bought the car. The guy tried getting the codes, but the import cartridge for his scanner was all fukked. There was a possibility that he could have a new cartridge by saturday, but it's not defintite. So i'm going to my local nissan dealer in an hour to get raped. I asked for an estimate on it when i called, and the woman was like, well it's $65 an hour. I told them it would take no more than 10 minutes. She comes back on and is like, well the service manger says it will take roughly an hour to fix it. I told them outright, no fixing, i just want the codes. She puts him on the phone and tells me the same **** she just did. I tried to explain that i just wanted the friggin codes. So, i tell him, i know how long it takes. I know what needs to be done, i just don't have the tools here, otherwise i would do it myself. He realizes i (somewhat) know what i'm talking about, and explains that anything an hour or under gets rounded to an hour, and that they only bill half-hours after the first hour.

so i'm going to nissan in an hour, but first, i have to pick up some vaseline, so it won't hurt as much as it did last time.

 

I can't use Auto Zone to pull codes and tell what is wrong...

they say the state of California will not allow clearing of codes cause of the emissions tests run and won't show up as visual failure even if a code is present/resident.

 

I got back from the dealer, and this is the problem: At idle speed, all 4 O2 sensors are not functioning. When i get to above 2k RPM, they start functioning again. Why this is happening is unknown. Their guess is that it's a wiring problem, but the only way to know for sure is to do more diagnosing.....at $65 per hour. Plus, the O2 sensors might be damaged, which means that there is a chance that i will have to have them replaced, in addition to a new wiring harness. dammit.

 

WOW... that sucks,

all 4 oxygen sensors die so soon...i never replace any sensor on my 96 gxe. i checked the ecu along time ago and get the knock sensor error... reset it and it's gone for good.... i just check ecu for the code again and the code is no longer there (knock the wood). from what i know,, the 99 ecu is somewhat different than 95-98 ecu.. so i dunno if you can reset it... may be by unpluging the battery cable for 24 hours..
if the code still there, try replace the wiring harness.

hope you can the replacement parts cheap..