My Nissan Micra started having problems a few months ago. It's been into the garage a few times, and has been fully serviced, and the problem still persists. Basically it 'kangaroos' sometimes, and loses power for a few seconds, possibly as if not enough fuel is getting through. I have had the petrol pump replaced and the battery and belt for the alternator. Mr brother suggested putting in some 'Redex' as he thought it may be 'sticky valves' with it being unleaded fuel. This seemed to help a little, and I put some Redex in each tankfull now. The kangarooing and loss of power happen on a completely random basis, not in any specific circumstances. It can be fine for days, then have a few days of playing up. It does it more on long journeys. The problem sometimes seems to be associated with changing demand on the accelerator, eg it can play up after driving along smoothly for a while and then being stuck in a traffic queue, or after going round a sharp bend or over a humpy bridge it then can play up when setting off onto a smoother stretch of road. But as I said, this is all very random, it doesn't play up every time in those situations. Also sometimes the car stalls just after starting up in the morning (it starts fine) or can stall sometimes if waiting in traffic for a few minutes. Please help as my garage seem at a loss and I can't afford endless trips to the garage on the off-chance they can find what's wrong. Thank you!

T BARRASS, July 2008

hi ive got a 2007 nissan micra 1.2, the eml came on, took it to a local garage and the pc said it was a problem with cylinder one, so they put a coil pack and a set of plugs, light went out and car drove well for a couple of days, the eml came on after that but seems to be running on all cyclinders, it does a lot of chugging, any ideas thanks

indu, August 2015

earlier that day I changed a broken brake bulb, but didn't have the proper bulb, just bunged in a spare side light bulb lying around so at least had 2 rear lights. Got to destination in daylight fine, but returning home in dark, blurghhhhhh no power. TBH thought timing belt had gone. Freaked out. Saw comment on here about rear light earth. Took car for drive with lights on, no change; turned lights off - vroom car took off! Problem solved, £2 brake light. THANKYOU!!!!!

Jonathan Sharp, July 2015

This problem has just started happening to me. Reading from posts I see it's the throttle body or crankshaft. Can someone tell me which is it to stop it from kangoorooing. Thank you

Sheik, June 2014

Same here, folks, 2013 and kanga-Note is hopping along Bpl promenade with a vengeance...

janarchy, January 2014

Note to joe
Did u find out where the prob is coming up coz I am in the same situation...

ranny, May 2013

I have nissan march 12sr 2004. rough idling.
went to nissan service centre. had scan and tech asked me to replace spark plug and i did but still the same problem. tech recommend me to replace crank and cam sensors. is it gonna solve rough idling?
help plz.

Joe, April 2013

I have had all of the same symptoms with my 99 Nissan Micra 1.0 lt. I bought the car a year ago and about a month in, it wouldn't start,we did all the usual, got new plugs,a new battery,oil change etc,then got a new fuel pump,ok for a little while and then would stop again so we got a new distributor put in and then it was working great and then the same thing happened again,then the garage told me it was probably the NATS/immobiliser system so I got them to take it out. All was well for a while and then the chugging began to happen more and more and it would lose power when I was driving,sometimes if I was driving fast enough,say on the motorway,I could press down hard on the accelerator when I felt it losing power and it would be ok again but it meant I would have to make sure,when on the motorway, that I remained in the left lane in case of this happening so I could pull into the hard shoulder. It would always start up fine straight away but it would stop at least once every journey I would make and at random intervals. On occassion I'd be sitting at the lights and the rev counter would be jumping up and down so I'd turn off the car and restart it which would usually solve the problem but then two weeks ago,I popped into tesco,got back into the car,made it to the first set of lights and while sitting there the car stalled,so,because turning the car off and back on again usually solved the problem and got the car going again,I turned off the car but it failed to start up again,so there I was,stuck at the lights,blocking all the traffic etc. The police pushed me over to the side of the road and thank-god,cos god knows I've needed it with this car,I used my AA membership number and the guy who works my area came to try and start it up but it wouldn't. He said that there was fuel getting through and enough spark so it could be the immobiliser but since I'd had it removed maybe the cam sensor.Got towed to my garage and left the car there. I rang them a few days later and he comes on the phone and tells me its my immobiliser at which point I say 'well that's impossible because I paid you to take that out a few months back',another guy rings me back and tells me the same thing..so I'm thinking that these guys either didn't take it out the first time or are telling me lies now and are just guessing. They get an electrician in who manages to get the car running but they don't charge me cos they can't guarantee it won't happen again but they don't know what the problem is. On the way home from the garage the car loses power twice,its only a 15 minutes journey,this time I don't turn the engine off completely and it starts up ok again.
Now the car is sitting outside the house and I'm afraid to drive it anywhere because I might get stranded again and I have very little spare money to be spending on the getting the car fixed,yet again. Could someone give me some advice?I see that the throttle body seems to be a problem with micras but is there a cheap way of getting rid of this problem for good. I do love my little car but I am quickly losing faith in it. Thanks a million.

SophD, February 2013

Its the catalytic conveter... Get someone to remove it for you then it gets cleaned... After that... U'l love your car...

Zhiizy, January 2013

engine / oil/ battery light comeing on then looseing power in my 04 micra . any ideas would be most helpfull tanks

declan, January 2013

Could try the mas air flow senor

pigoo, April 2012

Sounds like idle circuit needs cleaning.sits on bottom of throttle body

rich, January 2012

i had the same problem, i went the the breakers and got a throttle body for £30 and i just driven up and down the road with no problems at all. although it cost £120 it total with new spark plugs & leads its had its little service and purring like a pussy again meow lol

DTBooth, May 2011

Hi,
I have a problem with my Nissan. I have a 1.4 Nissan Micra 2007. It was driving fine, till last week. As I was driving on high-way and all of a sudden it gave a few shudders and then lost power completely. I would then rev it for a couple of seconds put in into first gear and it would speed off one second and then all of a sudden have no power.
I have replace the fuel pump, got new spark plugs, cleaned out the oil filter and put in new oil..... BUT NO LUCK....

What could this be and how can we fix it?????

Misha B, March 2011

If your micra is kangarooing, rough idle, cutting out, kumping etc ...the chances are that it is the Throttle body. there is a link on here to fix yourslef...or buy a recon one for about £80 - £130. Or get one from a scrap yard ..amke sure its the same model as yours. A second hand one will cost anything from £30 - £65 This will more than likely solve the problem.

Alan ....Atherstone, November 2010

NEED HELP PLEASE!!!
I have a 1993 micra, with similar problems. It began with rough idle, car turning off at stop lights, exaust smell, lost of power. Took it to my the mechanic, initially he didnt know what was wrong, eventually he found a fuse which had rust, cleaned it and the car for a few days worked great! but eventually whent back to the same. I've read that Micras have problems with the Air mass meter/Throtle body, I mentioned this to my mechanic, he inspected the car and founf a loose plug connection that goes to the throtle body, again car worked great for a few days, but whent back to the same. Couple of weeks later out fo no where the car began to KANGAROO, intermiten jumping, which would get worse and worse once it started to KANGAROO, to the point where you would loose all speed. Eventually i noticed that when the car is cold you have about 30 minutes before the car start to kangaroo, also, notice that once if posible, I get the car above 60 kmh in a long drive without stoping, the car drives great again!!
I dont know what to do anymore, am a medical student, and I really depend on this car, but I am also on a tight budget so a different car is not a real option. My mechanic seems to be at a lost..I was thinking of replacing the Air mas meter/throtle body????? Any sugetions, comments please !!

Manny, October 2010

I could have written this word for word!!!! Exactly the same thing only the EMS light came on and I took it to a big nationwide chain. They supplied and fitted the part thrown up by the EMS code (a Lambda sensor £300) but within 2 weeks it was back to the "kangaroo jumps"! This garage said there was nothing else they could do and suggested it might be the timing-chain and recommended I got a Nissan dealer to sort it out. Took it to a wee local garage. Initially they hadn't a clue but as they were doing my MOT at the same time, they worked out it had something to do with the failed emissions test. They found a valve in the Catalytic converter blocked with soot, cleaned this out, the car passed the emissions test, the EMS light went out and the car went like a dream (and they'd charged me next to nothing). However, 3 months later, it was back to square one. I have since read in a "Motoring problem page" about a Renault that had the same problem. The garage in that instance had also spotted a valve clogged with soot and had recommended the owner had to take it for long, fast drives on the motorway to burn off the soot, as opposed to the short local journeys the owner had been making. I don't know what the long term solution to this is and I wish Nissan would get involved. Do I have to take the car to the garage to get this valve flushed out every three months? I'm stuck with the car forever as any test-drive would be a dead giveaway if I tried to sell it!

S Fitzpatrick, July 2010

my nissan micra has started to kangaroo seemingly when the engine gets warm at higher speeds. It ticks over fine and runs okay at lower speed. It's as if it has run out of fuel but as soon as you take your foot off the accelerator the engine runs okay. Changed the HT leads and all was okay till engine got warm. I've only 40000 miles.

bob, June 2010

unsteady shakey tick over

anthony green, June 2010

my car is the same no power when driving at low speeds revs free wen in neutral changed spark plugs and body throttle and crank sensor can someone help it a 2004 1.0

jazz alangh, September 2009

hi iv just had the same problem with my se2004 model. VERY long story short i had it in loads too and cost me loads, the conclusion was that my rear indecator light had a problem with its electrical earthing. so when ever i turned my indecator on, it was basically electrifing the back of the car shell. added to this there are very sesative sencors on the brake blocks that tell the engin to cut the revs when the brakes are aplied. the fulty light was sending a electric signas and tripping the brake sencor that was then in time telling the engin to cut the revs. sound long winded and it cost me a load to find it out but the conclusion was that the light was not earth properly, but just light you the car had to be worm before it did it, it didn;t happen if it was cold. hope this helps ad

adam levick, March 2009

I had exactly the same, got a bit dangerous in the end because it could happen at any point even when pulling out at roundabouts.
This was the throttle case housing. I ordered a reconditioned one and fitted it 3 years ago and I haven't looked back since, It was like having a new car.

Jessica, August 2008

Note to John:
Thanks for your reply. The model is a Micra 'Wave'. The year is 1994, M-registration in the UK, approx 120,000 miles, 998cc engine.

TB, July 2008

i had a similar problem before and it was a hole in the carburator. add exactly the same symptomes.

Tiago, July 2008

I assume that this Micra is the K11 - the mk 2 bubble shape?
They were very prone to throttle body problems - which is why you can never find one in the scrap yards. A firm called bba reman can recondition these, and its well worth looking at their website for prices and symptoms.

John, July 2008