Info on my car first:

2003.5 5AT Sedan
171,000 miles
Bought in Nov 2002
Serviced on a regular basis
some suspension work done, tokico shocks, 350z springs, spc front+rear camber kit
History (3-4x in the past month) of difficulty starting (not the battery, the car will crank but won't fully "start" several times. Could be the spark plugs.

Situation:

Driving along single lane road around 45mph, noticed all the service engine lights come on, ABS, brakes, SES, almost every other light (I should have taken a picture, but my GF was with me) comes on.

My steering wheel "locks up," I was only able to turn 10 degrees in each direction. The brakes "went out," I had about 10-20% braking power, I had all my weight on the brakes and it took forever to slow down, thank God I happened to come across a turn lane in the middle between the two lanes.

I turned off the car, attempted to restart, took 2 or 3 tries to start up, and all was well after that. I was less than a mile from home thankfully.

I'll be bringing it to the shop tomorrow for a routine oil change and timing belt change, and of course I'll be bringing this up to them.

I'm a bit scared of driving it now, just thinking what if this had happened on the highway, or if someone had slammed on the brakes in front of me, or a sharp turn had come up.

Has anyone EVER heard of this at all?

 

Was the car still running when everything went out?

If it happens in the future, you'll only get one really good shot out of the power brakes before they're weak like this time, so get over where it's safe to stop, then apply brakes firmly (not slammed to the floor, but enough to safely stop fast) and don't let off at all.

 

dang this is horrible to hear i wonder what the issue can be.

 

it sound like your fuel filter when was the last time you changed it?

 

Most likely the engine stalled, causing the loss of power steering and brakes, and all the lights on your dash board. Happened to my G a few times around 65k miles, so I know exactly what it's like. I'd start with intake, MAF sensor, TB, oxygen sensor.

And FYI the VQ engines in our G's have timing chains, not timing belt. Even at 171k miles they should still be good, and I'd look into everything else before remotely suspecting it having anything to do with the engine stalling issue. Don't let any one trick you into replacing it without checking all other possibilities.

 

Sounds like the engine stalled.


And you have a timing chain, which is mkre difficult and expensive to change. Not really necessary either.

 

Yeah the car was still running, good to know about the one good shot to brake well. Hopefully there isn't a next time...

 

Hmmm, I did recently re-oil my K&N Air filter a week ago. Would that be causing it issues at starting up? I also had the MAF sensor changed out in Oct 2009 as well.

When I took it to an oil lube place, they said my "timing belt" looked cracked and would need a replacement soon, would a timing chain have that same problem? If not, was the lube guy just BSing me?

Thanks for your help!

 

That I don't know, I'll have to find out. How often should that be changed?

 

Sounds like you had your drive belt break on you. If so, easy to fix and not expensive.

 

Not sure how the oil lube guy can say that your "timing belt" looks cracked when our cars have chains. I'd run from that place....

Hard trouble starting + sudden shut-off can also mean one of your camshaft position sensors are going. Mine was sporadically acting almost the same as you describe for a few months(except it didn't completely stall) until one day it finally through a CEL; lo and behold the camshaft sensor was dying all along....

 

If the drive belt broke, it wouldn't "drive normally" after he restarted it.

 

Should I be mentioning these possibilities to the local repair place I go to? Or just tell them the symptoms and let them figure it out?

Was the camshaft sensor expensive to repair?

 

You can mention it to them to help troubleshoot. It's a common problem with our G35's. There are 2 Camshaft Position Sensors, so it may be hard to narrow down to which one without reading a CEL code. Even if the Check Engine light is off, you might have them scan for codes to see if it threw any.

As for cost, it cost me $350 at a Nissan dealership, but luckily mine was covered under an extended warranty.

 

hmm ok cause i was gonna agree with tollbooth.. i had the steering wheel lock up once and it turns out that i had to replace the serpentine belt