can't do abs codes on Nissan Quest

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- In2hoppn
  
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posted
13 years ago

Sat, Jun 12, 2010 7:00 PM

1999 Nissan Quest.

Had funny brake noise, brake light on, and abs sometimes coming on. So trying to make this a quick job for a good customer... but it IS NISSAN, which is the WORSE brand vehicle for parts and BS of all the vehicles I work on...

Red brake light on because fluid not high enough... closer to MAX than MIN, but not good enough for NISSAN. Add fluid, light out, OK.

Funny brake noise turned out to be abs tone ring on driver side axle flopping about... cracked and no longer tight on the axle. ABS light had come on driving it here. Change axle shaft. OK. All is done, except stupid ABS light still on. SNAP-ON scanner says short pin L in the Nissan connector at fuse panel to ground. NO CONNECTOR in that hole (4th one across the top). OR, it says for clearing codes use that pin OR pin 9 in the obdII connector. NO CONNECTOR for that pin number. Mitchell says same thing except to use pin 4 on obdII. Tried that, DOES NOT WORK. HOW MANY HOURS DO I WANT TO MESS WITH THIS PIECE OF CRAP?????? I'm coming up on ALL DAY to change an axle shaft unless I'm going to bill him my time to search out STUPID NISSAN PITA GARBAGE. So, it goes back to him with light still on and I'll tell him "it may stay on, it may go out".

If I can find a solution from here, I'll fix that another time when I have it here again. If not, I'll tell him it's NISSAN and he should buy something else anyway. THIS has been a total piece of JUNK since he bought it.

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- E. Meyer
  
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posted
13 years ago

Sun, Jun 13, 2010 12:45 AM

OK, you hate Nissan. I get that. You used two aftermarket diagnostic tools that were both wrong. I get that. For the amount of time & vitriol you've invested already, you could've gone to Nissan-techinfo.com & downloaded the actualy factory service manual pages you need to diagnose it.

Btw - you do know that the '90s Nissan Quest was a joint venture with Ford? That car was built on a Ford line with the Ford version of the same thing (Mercury Villager). Maybe it would be more palatable to you if you think of it as a Ford in disguise.

I think, though, given your apparent attitude, the best thing you can do for your customer is to tell him "sorry, don't work on Nissans".

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posted
13 years ago

Mon, Jun 14, 2010 11:43 AM

THANKS E.Meyer! more below...

Confession... when I'm that frustrated, I hate any brand : )

Not CHEAP aftermarket tools either... more frustration.

Had to look that word up... guess I was a bit caustic... too much frustration. Nissan just seems to be the brand that is difficult to get parts easily. They're not really the worst though... only second to Infinity. Not counting SAAB. I don't work on those anymore as everyone I know got out the habit of owning those.

THANKS again! I did not know that. I was doing pretty good at keeping my temper in check, until I wasted a bunch more time online trying to search out this problem and yielding nothing but the usual garbage. Every website on the planet now has everything you could possibly search for worded on their site to get you there. I'm going there next and download everything I can!

My experience so far is quite the opposite. The Mercury Villager isn't Ford. It's rebadged Nissan. It's Nissan in disguise.

Attitude better today! Now for the rest of the story. Second trip down the driveway and the abs light went out. GREAT. Next, heading down my road to the highway, I stomp the brake for a couple of abs activations and all seems fine. Well then heading down the highway about 5 miles and the front left brake overheats. Bring it back, remove wheel,... brake barely dragging now, but still a definite drag. Had to release pressure at bleeder. Then all is fine again. Start it up, stand on the pedal, release,... problem gone. Bleed and top up fluid... no air and fluid looked clean. Seems the abs pump left pressure on it for some reason. Hopefully it will never do it again, but I warned him it may have an abs problem. No more trouble so far, 20+ miles with numerous stops including a few deliberately heavy ones. I DIDN"T try another abs stop but warned him if he does he may have a problem after. But maybe not. It's really a good abs system in that you normally never know it's there. I can't say that for Fords of that era.