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kieranr

Hi there, I've had a long standing issue with an 1999 Nissan Avenir Salut X. I noticed a twitch or slight movement in rev needle of the vehicle when the car was in a low rev idle. There problems occuring along side this as the car would begin to constantly stall (and in some cases not restart) when I had been driving for ten minutes or so and I found myself in a low rev idel ie waiting at the lights or in traffic queues. A new crankshaft sensor - a cheapie non official sensor off of ebay was put in and the issue completely corrected it self. No more rev needle twitch and no more stalling. This was fine for around 6 months and then the sensor completely died on the highway. I then replaced the sensor with an official Nissian crankshaft sensor I obtained from the wreckers, the car is going again nut I've noticed the Rev needle twitch is back! That old problem is back(or never really left) I suspect some fault in the car is killing/eating crank shaft sensors. Any thoughts on what this could be? could it be an engine fault causing the sensor to work over time, could it be an electrics fault? I'd love to hear your thoughts...

Anon

Hi there,
If you think the fault is with the crank sensor (as it was fixed with the fitment of an after market one) you can't always trust a used part, and so a new genuine one may be required.
I would also be looking into the tune-up side of things, is the engine misfiring? How good are the spark plugs and ignition HT leads? I would also think about checking the idle control and air low sensor system and maybe giving it a clean to see if the idle will stabilize.