Anyone ever experience this?!

It started maybe a month ago...driving on the highway, the car just shut off on me while driving. It wasn't a power kill, all lights were lit up on the dash (similar display when you put the key in the ignition to the on position while it's off). Since last month, it was doing it maybe once every few days and now it does it daily, typically at high speeds on the highway.

Most of the time, I just re-started the car while rolling on the highway and take off. A couple of times, I had to coast to the side of the road and start it back up again . The times it didn't re-start while rolling, it wouldn't crank or anything, the dash would just go blank when attempting to crank over. The battery wasn't completely dead (no clicking). Eventually, it would always re-start again. It may sound like a faulty battery but before changing it, I figured I would ask to see if anyone else experiences any similar issues.

Thanks!

 

Sounds like a battery. Our electronics can do al kinds of weird stuff when the battery gets weak. Have your battery tested at a local parts store and if you can find a hydrometer use that. It's the most reliable way to test the battery.

 

Yah, I'd agree-- sounds like the battery. Check for loose connections, corrosion at the terminals and verify engine ground wires while the battery is being tested.

I picked up an IS300 that had a loose negative cable and behaved exactly as you describe. Once every so often while cruising down the freeway (realized after the fact, usually over bumpy sweeping turns) the radio would just shut off, dash lights flicker for an instant, then everything comes back fine-- took a look one day and noticed the neg. batter terminal clamp wasn't holding.... I just rolled up a piece of al. foil and padded the terminal clamp. Never happened again.

 

Thanks guys. I spoke briefly with Infiniti and they think it has nothing to do with the battery or the connections because the battery is only used to start the car (alternator takes over from there). They mentioned a mass airflow sensor but of course they want me to bring it in to have it inspected.

The car doesn't have issues starting at all. I even restart it while on the highway when this issue occurs. I believe it may be something else..

 

Test your battery before you even bring the car in

All six cells would not come up to a full charge and I just replaced my four year old battery a few days ago



Your battery cells should show like this at a full charge



If not replace it

Telcoman

 

Could be a battery or maybe a ground connection? Check the ground from the battery to the chassis mine was crappy and was one of the first things I replaced.

I don't think it's the MAF sensor. They can cause starting and performance issues, but your car will run or at least start without it. You'll get a bunch of CEL and the car would run in a default mode and most likely be in limp mode. If it's faulty you'd have performance problems, since it just takes measurements the ECU doesn't check the measurements. You don't want to get stuck replacing a 300 dollar part that isn't the problem.

Could be a faulty crank/cam shaft sensor, I had my car shut off once or twice several years ago and I think that was it.

On my old Volvo it was a faulty fuel pump relay that caused the car to shut off while driving.

 

Really?! They don't think disconnecting the battery while the car is running would cause any problems... smh

The battery is used for much more than just starting the car.

 

I've seen master technicians change batteries with the car running to prevent having to re enter radio stations etc on my previous acuracls

 

Go to a shop and pull the codes, it will tell you what it is. Same thing happened to me and it was both the cam and crank sensors.

 

I had the same problem I would be driving down the road randomly and then my car would shut off without warning but all my dash lights would come on. sometimes it would start up with no problem but other times i would have to wait about 5 mins before it would start It turned out to be a faulty crank and cam shaft sensor.

 

Thanks a lot everyone! For the guys who experienced this, did you actually have an engine light on? I can't pull codes, no engine light is on.

 

My dash lit up just like yours. The engine light did not stay on after I restarted the car. The engine light does not need to be on for you to pull codes, the computer stores the error codes.

 

Thanks! My mechanic tried pulling codes off the ECU and nothing came back, no engine codes.

It's happening a lot more frequent now, 3-4 times in the past couple of days. My guy recommended to have the entire cars electrical inspected...trying to get a quote now on the job.

 

Did anyone bother to test the battery?
How old is the battery/check cables/ground connections?

Telcoman

 

Some updates...my mechanic has no idea so he referred me to an automotive electrician.

I brought the car in today...after an hour of diagnosing, they couldn't find the issue. Because the issue is intermittent and I brought the car in while it was working fine, it's like a needle in a haystack.

They did some shake tests, checked the fuse boxes, basic wiring, all is fine and the shake test didn't repeat the issue.

The battery was tested, alternator, all good. Battery is a year old. All ground connections are good (I have multiple).

They pulled 0 codes from the computer, nothing. I asked if theres a common issue with the Infinities/Nissans and they said based on their experience, there's no common problems with them. Every car they ever worked on had a different odd issue related to wiring. They said it's definitely an electrical issue based on the symptoms, but it's impossible to check every wire in the car.

Basically, the issue can't be found and I'm pissed off now. I have to deal with this **** that almost kills me every 2-3 days on the highway. Unless someone has any final suggestions?