Hey guys im new to the forum and owning a G35 as I have only owned mine for about a month now, anyways its a 2005 Automatic I have planned on using as my daily driver, well I have been cleaning it up and such, until today, I went to get a Fuel injection service on the G35 at Wal-Mart. It ran great for a while until I began to get closer to home, I started smelling something burnt almost like rubber, then the RPMs were occasionally dropping. When I finally pulled into my parking spot it died and I had to push it the rest of the way in. Any other attempts to start it would not work and almost sound like it is misfiring. I tried using the gas pedal to get it to rev up slightly but it just dies. What could this be? Im a DIY guy but dont know if it is from the throttle body being filthy or if it was the fuel injection itself. Any help would be appreciated!!

 

Any problems before the work done at Walmart?

 

This is the first occasion of any sort of problem, it has been quick, responsive, and run extremely smooth. Although it does have a 130k miles on it however..I have babied it so far, always letting it warm up before driving and never revving it higher than 5k RPMs.

 

Well that's your starting point right there. What was involved with the fuel injection cleaning process?

 

They first put a fuel injection cleaner into the gas tank, it probably wasn't the brightest idea to do a fuel injection clean with a quarter of a tank of fuel in it. Then afterwards, they take the vacuum hose and disconnect it and place the additives nozzle in it. They open the valve to allow a steady drip of fuel injection into the hose while the vehicle is running. When the additive is used up, they attach the hose back up (which I checked to confirm it is on tight), then rev it to about 3k to 4k RPMs to let the fuel injection run though.

 

I believe this was the product.

 

Anything visually wrong under the hood? You mentioned burning. Can you locate that smell?

 

I first noticed the smell in the cabin of the car, and somewhat under the hood. I cant smell it out of the exhaust since I cannot get it to start but believe it was coming from the exhaust as the smell would be stronger when I was at a stoplight coming home.

 

It's a few things it can be that's causing the issue but let's start with the most recent work done to the car.

Some people say that those cleaners aka snake oil to some people loosen up deposits in your engine if not used often.

Not saying its true but it's a possibility. I would do some looking around the engine bay to find anything that looks out of place.

Also a quick Google search on the service you got done at Walmart has yielded quite a few complaints about the service and people experiencing the same issues you are having.

 

So what do you think should be done to get the car running again? Clean out the TB with TB cleaner? Because I see a lot of these show up when I initially googled the issue.

 

The throttle body is a tricky mechanism. If you decide to clean it make sure not touch the butterfly valve inside. You'll have to do the learning process and its quite a pain

 

So I've heard..anyways I will try this as well as cleaning the MAF sensor and Ill definitely be back on here if it doesn't work lol, thank you for the advice!

 

First lesson here, NEVER take your car to WalMart, Pep Boys, Jiffy Lube, Firestone or any other major chain repair shop. For the most part they hire under qualified people that don't give a crap about your ride, they're there for the money. Find a local mechanic that you trust and make them one of your best friends, that's huge.

Now on to the car issue. Doe you have a SES light showing? You probably know this but it's possible to have a fault code without the light coming on so take it to your local AutoZone or similar store and ask them to scan for codes. Google hard for possible similar stories and look for an answer there. And I'm with eaz on his advice, he's been spot on so far.

 

I will try running the OBD again, you see I had the light on for a few days before and scanned it and it was my A/F sensor on bank 2, but I seriously doubt that it is causing it to die as soon as I start it.

 

To Chris25 and others:

What was the reason for you wanting the fuel injector cleaning service anyway?

I have over 257,000 miles on my 2003 G35 and have never done or needed a fuel injector cleaned. I do use some fuel injector cleaner that you put in the tank once every 50,000 or so. I even put it in with almost no gas in the car.. Never had any problems.

Second thing and this for everyone not just Chris25, never take your car to Walmart and/or Jiffy Lube for services other than an oil change, even the oil change should be avoided if possible.

Lastly, everyone should invest in a $15 obd2 scanner that works with your cellphone and torque ..

not flaming anyone but I don't get the threads of , my car does this, my car does that, it won't start, it won't run, etc, etc - need help, anyone have any ideas why.

Your car has the ability to tell you what is wrong with a scanner, it isn't going to give you an exact problem etc, but at least will give you some ideas what is wrong.