FX 35 just scared the crap out of me

[Biggyballs]

Hi Guys, needs some help with an crazy issue.

So the wife and I were driving home last night (about 25 mph) and as we were coming down a steep hill in our neighborhood all of a sudden the car stalled on me and the engine died. The SES light came on, and I also saw the word Brake light up on the dashboard. The brake pedal got really stiff, but I noticed if I pressed really hard on it, then the car started slowing down. Also the power steering seemed to have quit working. We were afraid at first that we were going to crash till I realized that we could slowly slow down. That's a very scary feeling. No brakes, no steering and no acceleration.

Once we got to the bottom of the hill, I put the car in Park, turned it off like normal and then let it sit for about 30 seconds. Then started it back up and everything was fine again and back to normal.

This is actually the second time this has happened to us recently. The first time was as I was driving over speed bumps in a parking lot only going about 5 mph. I thought it was very strange at the time, and was glad I was going so slow. After I shut the car off and started it back up everything has been fine again until last night.

I haven't been driving the FX very much over the last 6 months due to getting a work truck as my daily driver. So we only get the FX out for a couple of hours each weekend. This happening twice now has me scared to death about getting in a accident or stranded though.

I am going to take it by Autozone today to see if they can pull the SES code off to give me an idea of where to start.

I have been reading the forums, and am thinking that I may need to:

Have the Throttle body cleaned (or replaced) or have a MAF or Cam Sensor changed out.

I have one of those bluetooth ODB trackers which I am going to hook up, but I will have to wait to catch it happen in the act of doing this again I figure. And since I don't drive it that much it could take a while to happen again..

2011 FX 35 (RWD), with 88,000 miles..

 

[jumbosrule]

To be fair you didnt lose brakes or steering. You lost Power Steering and you lost your brake booster. Both are still fine to drive - just more difficult. No acceleration was the ECU in limp mode. You did exactly the right thing by shutting down and restarting.

I also have this same issue - and have not figured out what it is but THINK it is related to the wheel speed sensors. This has happened to me about 4 times over the last 3 years, but non of those times were dangerous situations and I sort of forget that its there.

The only thing you can do is to check for any codes that were thrown by the ECU as soon as it happens. Only that would give your shop an indication of what it is that might be wrong. I think it is a sensor or a signal wire that has intermittent function but only a mechanic is going to be able to do anything about his for you and its the kind of thing that cant be guaranteed to be found and fixed the first time.

 

[Biggyballs]

Hi All, Just wanted to give you all an update on this issue. I contacted the dealer and my personal mechanic and neither one had any idea what could be causing this.

I was never able to pull any codes off the car to give me any clue what was going on. I did finally figure out that it never seemed to happen when I first got in the car on my first drive of the day. It only seemed to happen after I had been driving for awhile and then started making stops at places and then getting back in the car and taking off. I had a few days where I would be going multiple places and it would stall on me 4 or 5 times in a day. So very strange. It happened one time while I was driving really slow through a busy 4 way intersection in downtown Nashville. Everyone was just staring at me as I stopped and started the car. Very frustrating.

But....... I think the issue has been fixed. At some point over 6 months ago I had started noticing that the car kept telling me that there was "no key or insert key" sometimes. But she always seemed to start up. Every now and again I would try putting the key in the key slot. I don't really get to drive her much since I have a company vehicle. So I wasn't really worried about that. I figured I needed to replace the battery. Which I had already done a few months before my stalling issue started. Then it hit me to ask my wife who has my spare key in her purse, if the car had ever stalled on her when she was driving it by herself and she said that it hadn't. That certainly was a clue. She doesn't drive it that much though on her own.

So..... I eventually went and bought another battery for the keyfob. Since I did that, So far it hasn't stalled on me again. It has been at least 6 months since I l replaced the battery. I can't explain it. But I'm super happy with my 3$ accidental possible fix. ;0 On a side note, it seems like these keyfobs eat through batteries.

Maybe that had nothing to do with it at all. But it sure as heck wouldn't hurt trying to put a new battery in the key fob as step 1 in your troubleshooting.