Hello Everyone! I was hoping to pick the brains of some very intelligent g35 owners.

This is my 6th winter in the g. It has been a spectacular winter car with the help of Blizzacks, but something seems amiss. To the question:

During the first icy/snowy day of this year (around 12/20), I noticed that when traveling at steady state speeds that the engine began stalling briefly (2 seconds or less). Again, 5 previous winters, and never have I felt this. The stall feels as if it is cutting cylinders or briefly applying the brakes. Attributing this to the VDC, I turned it off and it still occurs. There were 3 weeks between the first icy/snowy day and yesterday's snow. The 3 weeks of dry roads-no stall. Yesterday/Today's snow-it is stalling again.

I called the local Nissan dealer. The master mechanic said that it is perfectly normal, that the engine will cut cylinders if it sees varying velocities on each axle. Makes sense.

Important note: for the first time since I bought the car in Sept '04, it almost didn't start this morning. Not the battery (tons of crank time), seemed that cylinders weren't firing. May be related to above issue? I have not hooked it to diagnosis tool yet.

'04 g35 coupe MT, 96,000 miles. Original Battery, plugs, wiring.

Opinions?

 

Update:

This problem definitely goes away during dry conditions. The cold does not seem to effect it whatsoever. Again, a large snowstorm last night occured, and I noticed the car stalling out on the way home. I pretty much ignored it...until this morning.

Snow continued to fall over night. I started driving to work, and the problem reared it's head BIG TIME, and I don't think it is engine related.

- First gear started fine. Second was ok at low speeds.
- As soon as I got on the interstate and gathered speed, second gear stalled in and out big time. It was a periodic jerking of the car. RPMs remained steady, but it felt like it was quickley going in and out of gear.
- I switched to third, same thing, but a little less worse.
- Fourth gear, pretty much no problem.
- Fifth gear, no problem.
- Back down to third, same problem.
- Back down to second. Would Not Engage!! No second gear!

I drove directly to the dealer to have them drive it. THE PROBLEM WENT AWAY! I am guessing because the car warmed up or I made the Gods angry. It drove fine on the way to work from the dealer.

ANY IDEAS? If anyone has had this issue, let me know, I would greatly, greatly, greatly appreciate it.

 

My lexus had a similar problem a few years back. Check the plugs to see if they are fouled. Is snow/ice blocking your airdamn. (the one that feeds your airbox) Check your tranny fluid. My lexus had to do with a fouled plug and a leaf in my airbox. Does the problem completly go away when the car is warm?

 

it sounds electrical. Yes your car will cut injectors or apply brakes if it see positive wheel slip, but with vdc off, it should not do that.

I would take it back to the dealer. it sounds like they didn't want to look that far into it, but you have owned this car for a while, and the problems you have go away when the car is warm or in dry conditions.

 

The problem does seem to go "partially" away when the car has warmed up. Today, it is very lightly snowing, and the problem has reared its head again, though not to the heavy extend of last week's very heavy snow.

Do you think there could be any relation to speed sensors at the corners?

The dealer didn't want to look at it at all. It definitely peeved me. Unfortunately, I live three hours away from an Infiniti dealer, so I have to deal with Nissan dealers.

I'll check the airdam and the injector wires to see if I see any noticable problems, but please keep the ideas flowing! I'll let everyone know when I figure out the solution. And thank you for the posts.

 

Have you tried driving with the VDC shut off? With it on when you hit ice your tires slip and sends your G into limp mode. Of course when there's no ice the issue won't occur....no slip, no problem. Supprised Nissan wasn't aware of this....
Gary

 

I turned the VDC off and the issue still occurs. When the car stalls momentarily, the slip light does NOT come on. So, it is independent of the VDC. And, the key clue here is moisture (snow/ice). I don't think water affects, during the melt last week I drove in some water and the issue wasn't there.

Tonight, a very, very light snow caused it to spring up again. Damn this is weird.

I think it's time to take it to Kauth and Meyer here in town. They service Ferraris, I hope they can figure this one out.

 

Do you have a CEL (check engine light) on? If it is then have the codes check sometimes the light won't be on but you might have codes. If not try to start by checking the easy stuff, bad gas? water in gas? fouled spark plugs? air filter clean? tire pressure all the same? good battery/alternator (you did state that the battery is original)? a lot of times people over look the simple answer because it is a complex problem. Keep us know what fixed your problem I would love to know for future reference.