Hey guys...2004 G35 coupe...112k miles. i did bank 1 and bank 2 sensor last summer. (did the hitachi brand) Only put 1,800 miles on the car since. Today I had to run to the stores, jumped in and off we went. I was headed home from my 10 minute drive and stopped to grab a burger at burger king and heard a winding noise it sounded like when I started to drive off... by the time I got 2 miles up the road by my house and stopped at a light, when I went to accelerate, the car had no power.. I limped along at about 3 miles an hour with all the lights flashing, including headlights and made it into my neighborhood where I then completely stalled out. Went to drive, no power, car drives for 10 feet and dies out. Electical seems to go nuts. Nice guy was outside and jumped me.. I made it 10 more houses up the road and car died. I let it sit just now as I recharged my jump starter pack and jumped the car and made it another 8 houses limping along where the car died again. Its sitting in the road in front of my house. Jumped it, seems to have power then once I put it into drive the car just starts bogging out and stalls out.

Any ideas what is going on? I have one of those cheap plug in OBD readers that i picked up for 30 bucks but not sure that I can even get a reading if the car wont stay running. I cleaned the maf sensor with maf cleaner when I did bank one and two but that was 1800 miles ago. Any ideas from those that are smarter than me what could be going on. Car starts eventually then once I put it into drive it starts bogging out and jerking before it completely gives up and dies out. Rinse and repeat. Now is not the time for a new car... this has been a disaster of a year and a half.

Thanks in advance...

Chris

 

Well an update for the kids following along or who may find this in the future. Took a multmeter to the battery today and it was not even throwing out one volt. Nothing showed up on the OBD scan, no errors were found. I am convinced it's just the battery. Battery has to be at least 10 years old. I know it was 2013 at the latest, but I think before that. More like 10 years ago. When I had the battery pack jumper hooked up, couldnt even get enough juice to get it started today and the battery pack seems shot now. Took another battery pack to it and noticed the interior lights went on when I hooked it up and the second I disconnected it all the interior lights went right out. This battery has to be unable to even try and hold any sort of a charge. Going with the battery on this one... right before I replaced it last time I had to jump it and the whole way home the car ran like ****. With the condition of this battery basically being completely done.. I think this is it. New red top battery arriving Friday. I will update for those that go through this later on and find this post.

 

For anyone who comes across this thread in the future.. it was just the battery. Popped in a brand new optima red top battery this evening and the car is running fine. Weirdest **** that a battery could cause ok I get the electrical freaking out and going nuts but the loss of power in the car is a scary one. If I was on the expressway or imagine one of the bridges going into the city you could easily have been killed. Just as scary was when the car cut out as I was jumping it, getting ten houses up the road... coming back, jumping it.. getting ten houses before it would stall out, I was losing power steering. In one case it was coming around the corner and there was a car coming the opposite direction. There was plenty of room but it was a bit nerving. Like I said.. this could of easily of ended really badly had it happened somewhere other than around the corner from my house. Hard to imagine cars can be made where this happens. Anyway.. Happy 4th!

 

I'm betting you also had corrosion on the battery cables that was actually causing it to shut off, it was probably moving the wire just wrong and making intermittent contact with the battery.

Wiggling the cables onto a new battery probably cleaned up the connection enough that it's no longer an issue. If you didn't already I would THOROUGHLY brush the battery terminals and the cable lugs, apply a small amount of electrical anti-oxidation grease to protect against future corrosion, then bolt it back together.

Don't use that weird red battery terminal spray, actual anti-oxidation grease (not dielectric) is much better. There's usually a bunch of those grease packets at the front counter of your local parts house, here's the autozone version, usually only costs like $2.

https://www.autozone.com/wash-cleane...ase/249149_0_0

 

Thanks! It had a little on the positive terminal clamp, not terrible, but some. One thing I found weird was the positive clamp does not fit the battery post on the redtop battery as tight as it should. Regardless and since it did have some corrosion on the clamp after all these years I ordered a new connection piece (part 24340-7F00) since why not. Get that super clean, secure connection for however long I keep the car around. 17 Years and still looks pretty brand new and still a fun car... it earned a $10 part for safe measure.