Well, no tony danza fatalities to be honest.

However, my coupe did decide to go haywire on me, leaving me stranded on the highway for about an hour until the roadside assistance picked me up.

I have a 2005 Coupe 6MT. It has all of 9500 miles on it, and is less than 4 months old. I treat it better than my girlfriend, and my girlfriend takes up about half of my monthly income, the coupe takes up the better part of the other half.

I was cruising steadily at around 70mph, and with no input (no pedals, no buttons) it stops being in cruise mode. Then, after i get off the exit, and am going about 35 in 4th gear. The car just starts bucking and shuddering like the gas is going on and off, or the tranny just lost it or something. I was at about 20% gas input, and slowly working my way up to 45. As the night progressed, and I got back on the highway to go to cleveland (from columbus) thinking it was all a fluke and/or just in 4th gear (I avoided 4th, and all was well) I tried it again. Now it shudders and bucks in 4th, 5th, and probably every other gear. I pulled off the highway on the bonus lane (ie emergency pull off lane), and the idle is holding at 1000 rpm (normal is 600). The service engine soon light, VDC off, and SLIP lights are all on. Engine restart doesnt do anything the first time, but on a second try, lights go off, and idle is back to normal.

It got towed, and will head to the dealership in the morning. I'll tell them about that lame clicking noise and clutch chatter while i'm there. They better have a loaner, or Infiniti road side assistance is going to get hit with a rental car reimbursement bill, along with meals and whatnot as I have to get back up to cleveland.

Any ideas on what it can be? Oil changes are done every 2500 miles, oil level was fine when I pulled off the road, all other fluids were at normal levels, car is babied 95% of the time with the exception of the occasional "lets listen to the engine at 5500 rpm" session.

EDIT: car is not modded and was broken-in like grandma breaks in boxing bags.

 

WTF??? That's all I can say. Maybe you bought one assembled on a Monday. That's so weird.

 

My buddy had an 05 Auto cut out on him on the highway and they replaced his throttle body sensor.

When we were out the other night, though, the car didn't seem to want to start right away--it kind of sat dead for the first time he turned the key and then on the second attempt it started up.

 

have them check the fuel pump too

sounds like a problem i had on a previous car due to a bad fuel pump.

good luck

 

Boy I'm glad I got an 03!

2.5 years and only problem has been the grease streak on the window.

knock knock knock!

 

wow that sux bro, dunno what can be wrong w/ it. and it doesnt sound like you drive hard at all. maybe it is the throttle body sensor. keep us posted on what happpens. best of luck

 

probably just a mass airflow sensor. Sounds like limp mode.

 

Damn, I hope your ride gets fixed and works. I too have an Athens blue G. I'm not looking forward to this either.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions and fuzzy vibes. I'm hoping it's nothing serious, and probably is just some crap piece of electronic fuel management thing. I don't think it's limp mode cause the crazy revving is so intermittent, and I've been in limp mode before. The first time, my girlfriend didn't mind cause "she was tired", but the other times my 2003 cooper S went into limp mode everytime it felt inclined to. Those times, it wouldnt rev past 2500 rpm (or something like that... and that was due to a failed supercharger by-pass valve), but with the g35, it just kind wont rev sometimes, and sometimes it will rev, and other times it'll just go all michael jackson on me, all spiking and dropping.

I don't imagine it'll be a mechanical failure, because it seems to go away for a bit, and come back, and etc etc.

Which all comes back to this: why did the failure happen with no real adverse conditions and no real changes in the environment.

Just weird, and pisses me off cause now i'll have to drive all the way back to columbus in the loaner and drive back in my car the next day. Maybe i'll ask them for a cookie or something.

 

Ditto, except I never got the grease streaks. The only prob was car ever had was a worn out tie rod.... fixed under warranty.

 

Bad ECU, bad crankshaft position sensor, fuel pump........who knows without a scan.
I doubt the shop will have any difficulty narrowing down the problem there.
G/L
C.

 

Just curious, was Abe Vigoda driving the tow truck?

btw, my fav pic of tony danza....

 

Did you buy gas at Wal-mart? Sounds like water in the gas.

 

I almost always buy my gas from shell (93) and every so often, I get the 94 octane. I don't cheap out on the gas since my company takes the hit for all my gassy excursions. In fact, I sometimes make a game of "let's find the most expensive gas prices in town to screw my boss out of his bonus".

In any case, while the guy who picked me up was not abe vigoda, I do have other "good" news. They know what's wrong with the car (got a call earlier today). He called me his "buddy" when i pick up the phone. Clearly a git.

They mentioned something about a "Camshaft position sensor" or something like that. Maybe it's crankshaft, maybe it's amateur ****, but it's some sensor and it didn't like it.

The parts are on order, and they'll call me again tomorrow to see how things are going. I hope they don't have to tear the crap up out of the engine. I don't want to all of a sudden be robbed of 30 ft/lb of torque cause mr. goodwrench happened to torque it to 35nm instead of 65.

I hope that this is the end of my problems with this car. my old cooper S (and by old, i mean 2003 year model) left me stranded on some highway, road, or parking lot so many times, it's a wonder I havent lost my **** virginity on the dark alleys of the short north in columbus. That's the reason I traded in the cooper S (after the dealer said they fixed the problems) for this emmaculate conception.

I'll report again after getting a full printout of their results.