Nissan Terrano II SE+ - Mechanical questions

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Soldato
Joined
1 Dec 2006
Posts
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Location
Amsterdam, NL
Some of you might have seen me post about my mum buying the above car, well I got it instead, to replace my 130i M Sport, yea, bit of a change. But I'm absolutely in love with it. It's incredibly practical, perfect for trips down the yard and pulling boxes. Comfy on normal runs and great on the motorways. Not fast by any stretch, but fine for today's roads.

Anyway, a 13 year old vehicle costing £1,800 isn't without it's faults. So here they are:

  • Driver side shock failing, 1" lower than passenger side
  • The AC doesn't work
  • Heating only blasts out lava at any settings, even when turned to 0 and cold, hot air still comes out
  • Drivers window doesn't go down, jams about 2" down. The window can be moved and shimmied to go lower, I'm thinking it's loose in the door
  • Electric mirrors don't work
  • Some form of whine that occurs between 2k and 4k revs. Not sure what this is, turbo's fine, as are all belts...

The ones I need help with are the heating ones, and the whine. I've not done any investigation what so ever bar checking the turbo in case it was related to the whine (it's not). Is it worth dumping the car in a garage or are most of these simple things, simple enough to the point a home mechanic can sort them? I've ordered shocks already.
 
Shocks have nothing to do with controlling ride height. If it's sitting low on one corner it's much more likely to be a spring issue.
 
sovietspybob said:
Is the whine purely related to engine speed and not car speed?
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Correct, it is gradual as well. The best way I can explain, is like a siren, a very quite one, starts at 2k, increases in pitch, still can be drowned out by normal conversation and then dissipates at 4k. Also, dissipates if you hold the throttle at a certain rpm in the range I'm describing, only present when accelerating.
 
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kaiowas said:
Shocks have nothing to do with controlling ride height. If it's sitting low on one corner it's much more likely to be a spring issue.
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Front doesn't have springs. Only shocks.

12352_Front_Axle_2.jpg
 
Whine honestly sounds like turbo on its way out, heard it on an ex's dad's Astra, sounds like a siren going down the road.
 
acemastr said:
Whine honestly sounds like turbo on its way out, heard it on an ex's dad's Astra, sounds like a siren going down the road.
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It's very quite though... Anyway I can clearly test? I can't hear the whine when stationary, only when under load accelerating.
 
Before you go replacing the turbo spray some V belt lubricant on the belts.

Alternators whine
Tensioners whine
Air conditioning pumps whine
 
I've had the noise before and it was intake, tightening all the jubilees sorted it. As for temperature, at a guess it's the mixer system stuck on hot? Have you checked the car with a reader of any description?
 
Myshra said:
I've had the noise before and it was intake, tightening all the jubilees sorted it. As for temperature, at a guess it's the mixer system stuck on hot? Have you checked the car with a reader of any description?
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Nothing at all, I've literally picked it up, used for commuting and a few trips.

I've done nothing to it yet. Not even an oil change. Been too busy.

I will have a load of time this weekend coming so will tackle and jobs it has then.

maccapacca said:
Before you go replacing the turbo spray some V belt lubricant on the belts.

Alternators whine
Tensioners whine
Air conditioning pumps whine
Click to expand...

I'll give it a shot :)
 
Whine could be the rear diff?

Old landy's sometimes get that, quick top of diff oil and all is well.

If it has the selectable 4wd thingy, see if you can switch to just 2wd - if it happens but is a little quieter then I'd say its the diff - not to hard to drop and swap.

Heating could be any number of things
1 - Busted heater control panel in the car
2 - heater control valve (The part were the two water pipes enter the engine bay bulkhead)
3 - heater matrix

A quick google brings up this thread from difflockers

http://forum.difflock.com/viewtopic.php?t=71902&sid=9031817995fb046dc51b3563472265f6 (Hope mods don't mind this?)

Looks like its a relatively comment issue thats got a proven fix?

Ac con - might just be a simple re gas - think its about £50-80 for a service and regas .

Drivers windown - pop off the drivers door card and try just greasing the runners, as you say they could just be a little stuck and tired
 
tcfreer said:
Whine could be the rear diff?

Old landy's sometimes get that, quick top of diff oil and all is well.

If it has the selectable 4wd thingy, see if you can switch to just 2wd - if it happens but is a little quieter then I'd say its the diff - not to hard to drop and swap.

Heating could be any number of things
1 - Busted heater control panel in the car
2 - heater control valve (The part were the two water pipes enter the engine bay bulkhead)
3 - heater matrix

A quick google brings up this thread from difflockers

http://forum.difflock.com/viewtopic.php?t=71902&sid=9031817995fb046dc51b3563472265f6 (Hope mods don't mind this?)

Looks like its a relatively comment issue thats got a proven fix?

Ac con - might just be a simple re gas - think its about £50-80 for a service and regas .

Drivers windown - pop off the drivers door card and try just greasing the runners, as you say they could just be a little stuck and tired
Click to expand...

You legend, I will try the whine thing tonight. I got a video of it... I'll try upload it in a second.

Here is the video:

As for the forum link, that's not what the issue is sadly, the actual fan's work fine, it's the heat. No matter what setting, it only blows hot air, and when set to 0, it still 'oozes' out boiling hot air meaning the cabin gets bloody hot on a long journey unless you open the windows.
 
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If thats the case - as per the link

The heater resistor - so the one that controls the actual heat, not fan speed, could be the fault or the heater control valve.

EDIT - just re read your post (doh my bad) i would say its definatly the Heater Control Valve - little box that the two water pipes go into just ebhind the engine bay bulkhead/ firewall area. Same thing goes wrong in Ford Mavericks etc - think they were a simaler design? - if its the ford part its about £50-60 for a new one and about 2 hours to swap and change the coolant over. Don't get one off ebay if it is as there was, and still is a bunch of cheap knock offs for about £20-30 that don't work so you end up asking for a enw one, there as cheap to nip into Nissan / Ford and get a new one. Swapping it is easy, google / youtube are your friends there

those are all the cheap fixes first - after that it gets expensive

Rule 1 of bangeromics - if its costs more then 75% of the purchase price - sell on after 6-12 months use and replace with another.
 
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tcfreer said:
If thats the case - as per the link

The heater resistor - so the one that controls the actual heat, not fan speed, could be the fault or the heater control valve.

those are all the cheap fixes first - after that it gets expensive

Rule 1 of bangeromics - if its costs more then 75% of the purchase price - sell on after 6-12 months use and replace with another.
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I'll give it a shot then mate :D If it's not fixed by spring I'll have to get rid! No chance I'm having full heating on when ever I drive it in the summer, I'll die!

Is it worth mentioning that when I enable the AC (pressing the button), the light shows on the button, but the idle rpm doesn't change at all, nothing. It's as though the button does nothing. So could this also be because of the fudged board? I'll take a look now actually.

Edit: Couldn't see anything... Mind you, not entirely sure what I'm looking for.
 
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I have AC on my little meriva - it makes no difference when I put Ac on as well - same rev's etc.

Does the fan kick on more often with AC on? - if so it could be sign its working, just not cooling the system - thus a a service and re gas is needed

Baring in mind this is all based off you comments - I'd say it sound like you have a Heater control Valve that's buggered.

Its a cheap and quick fix - might aswell get it done at the same time as the air con being re gassed etc - you won't tell if either has worked if your just getting hot air all the time :)

I'd say for the creature comforts sort of things - heater and air con issues you could drop maybe £100-150 and it might sort it - leaving just the whine and the window
 
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In terms of the air con- get the engine running, and once its warm switch the air con on, with the heater control set to cold.

step out and listen for the fan kicking in - it should do it more often with the air con on ( at least mine does and it's a easy thing to find)

If its kicking in more then I'd say its just a air con service and re gass to resolve. but you wouldn't know if thats worked as I said above without the heater valve replacment aswell
 
Nothing kicked in at all, no changes to anything when AC on and left on for 5 mins.

So, it seems as though the control board (if there is such a thing) has stuffed it's self.

I need to find where that is and inspect it.
 
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