Did you get a SES code? I had the same problem and got a TPS sensor malfunction code as per Autozone. The car would shut off while I'm driving, but start up after a few seconds. Took it in and got it replaced under warranty.

 

if it was a sensor the cel would ve came on. i m sure it was the alternator that went and the battery is/was on the way out too.

 

The car is still a the dealer, and yes it was the altenator causing all the problems. It took the Dealer 2 days to diagnose this and 1 day to fix. I'll be picking it up today. I just can't believe only a year old and already replacing an altenator. I thought the Infiniti was supposed to be the top of the line Nissan vehicles. Thanks all for your help!

 

True, but only if the alternator did not die first.

If the alternator dies first, then it stops charging and the battery is the sole source of power - as the battery draws down, it provide less and less voltage, lights start dimming, engine lacks sufficient spark to fire properly and loses power, etc. etc., until finally the car just dies.

Waiting a few minutes allows the battery to recover a bit, and then you can usually restart, but still no power and car dies again soon, after power draws down too low again. Soon, no power at all.

 

Depends on what's wrong with the alternator, as to what symptoms will be manifested by the car.

Let's don't forget that modern alternators (since late '70s) are actually a combination alternator/voltage regulator, and so if the alternator portion goes, why that's the "charging" half of the combo, and if the "voltage regulator" half fails, then you have different problems associated with the voltage not being regulated properly (to much or too little voltage/power entering the electrical system - can cause fuses and lights to blow if overvoltage, and dim lights, lack of power, little or no charge to the battery, etc. if undervoltage).

Don't mean to be a smart aleck, and I'm certainly no mechanic or technician, but all of this just serves to illustrate that today's cars, and every minute part on them, are complicated - and why technicians can rarely diagnose what is wrong with your car just by the symptoms you describe over the phone (like in the old days ).

It's usually a 50 cent item (a wire, a diode, etc.) that fails inside a $225 item (alternator, or more accurately, alternator/voltage regulator) that causes a $35,000 item (G35) to fail!

OK, I'll go back to sleep now....