Considering the fate of my NX...

Well, the MOT didn't deliver great news - I expected that it might be a fail, but it turns out the NX needs a fair bit of welding, as well as a catalytic converter replaced.

Overall, it's not an extortionate cost - the local garage estimated an MOT pass for about £300 of work.

But it looks like I'll be commuting more in the future, so won't need a car for getting to work - and can I really justify a second car for the occasional weekend trip? Plus, after getting an MOT pass, there's a few jobs which will need fixing for the future.

So I have a dilemma.

So far, the choice is to sell the car as a whole, strip it for parts (it's got some nice aftermarket bits fitted), or take it off the road and consider taking the time and effort to restore it properly (without a garage or a car lift, this is likely to mean professional help and a fair bit of expense).

I've been trying to decide for a while, in between sulking that the MOT was due just before the weather started getting better and I could at least have enjoyed a bit of summer cruising with the roof down...

Rest assured I'll have a decision shortly - after all, selling it or taking it off the road means I need to reclaim some of the car tax and cancel the insurance, so the longer I wait, the less I save.

In the meantime, if you're interested in snapping up what would be a great NX for someone with access to welding equipment, or a really cost effective donor car for parts including seats, alloys, lowered suspension, plus original roof cards and roof panel bags, give me a shout... (thewayoftheweb at googlemail dot com)

Strange MOT test coincidence

I hadn't noticed until now, but in a completely odd coincidence, it appears the two cars in the family, built 11 years apart by different manufacturers, and owned by different family members, have one striking thing in common.

The MOT is due on the same day!

So I'm already preparing justification for keeping the NX on the road, as it will inevitably cost more than the other, more modern car. I also forgot it was coming up, so committed the cardinal sins of not doing basic checks for possible faults, and not giving it a good clean etc to at least give a good impression.


Mainly I forgot because the eletrical problems I had turned out to not be the battery (So I now have a spare battery), but an electrical fault somewhere. Taking out the alternator to test it, and then replacing it, seems to have magically cured it for the moment, but I'm just waiting for it to reappear at the worst possible moment.

The cost of tax for the Nissan NX100 1.6

In addition to finding out the previous electrical problem was only temporarily cured by a new battery, there's a lovely letter from the DVLA asking me to renew the tax for the Nissan.

So if it's helpful, the cost for 6 months is £101.75, and the cost for 12 months is £185.00.

It's obviously cheaper to go for 12 months, if you know the car will last that long! Luckily reinforcements have arrived to help me work on the car, so hopefully I'll be able to go for the longterm option in the knowledge I might actually get the NX off the driveway at some point.

Replacing a flat battery on the Nissan 100NX

It seems like only yesterday that I was getting the alternator repaired on the Nissan, but last week when I turned the ignition key, nothing happened.
I assumed the alternator might have packed up again, but due to the winter evenings and an early start for work I charged and replaced the battery the night before I intended to use the car.
And when I sat in the NX the next morning, only the clock was faintly working.

So I had to assume the battery had died. Great timing! Luckily the Halfords website actually lists the Nissan 100NX in the list of batteries it carries, so I've picked up and fitted a Halfords Calcium Battery HCB005. I did turn down their kind offer to fit it for £4.99, thinking that even I can wield a 10mm spanner - and it'd cost me more to get the car there!

For the record, the steps are pretty easy to replace a battery - it's a five minute job.

Using a 10mm spanner, loosen the negative terminal first, remove the retaining metal bar, and remove the positive terminal last.

Take the battery out, put new one in.

Attach the positive terminal first, and the negative terminal last.

Job done.

(Disposing of a car battery means a trip to your local tip - although a sign in Halfords did say they also dispose of them. Best to be careful, bearing in mind they contain acid.)

What do you want to know about the Nissan NX?

Well, I'm back in full-on enthusiastic mode after the local auto-electrician (Grimwoods in Peterborough), managed to fix my alternator for £30 - and despite the fact it was likely to take a few days, it was ready to pick up in one!

So there's going to be a fair bit of work to be done on the NX, despite the absolutely horrible weather in the UK at the moment - but I don't just want to write about how I washed the car and discovered a slight leak in the door rubber if it's not helping anyone.

So what would you most like to read, see, hear etc about the NX? More details on the car and how it was developed? More specific guides to general tasks? Specific tasks? Bodykits? Tuning?

If I can't help, I'm sure members of the NX forum will be able to help (link on the right)

Don't rush to buy or replace a faulty alternator

Well, having traced my electrical problem to the alternator after charging the battery and managing to run it until flat, I started pricing up a replacement.

Turns out a standard Nissan alternator for the Nissan NX 1.6 carb engine is £190. Not good.
Local garage offered to get one and fit it for about the same.
Local autofactor cost about the same, but then added a surcharge to put it over £200 and more than a new original part!
And an auto-electrician said he'd have a look and suggested he might be able to find a replacement for £60.


In the end I thought the difference was worth taking a chance and went with the auto-electrician. And although he said it would take a while, he phoned me back with a couple of hours, for a cost of £30!

So once I've fitted it, I may have saved myself £160! It's always worth staying calm and thinking about your options, particularly if a part may just be repairable and it won't compromise your safety.

One lesson I've learnt about Nissan in car entertainment

It's probably obvious to anyone more sensible than me, but it was only the combination of an electrical fault and the Haynes manual that made me realise something rather important.

I've bought a 15-year-old car secondhand. The manual is long gone, and more importantly, so is the security code for the original radio. And that's the security code you need if you disconnect the battery for any reason.


Crap.