Scary moment

J

jjfactory

Member
Location
Chino Hills, CA
Yesterday my 2005 fx35 shutdown right after I hit a small pot hole. It happened again when I was leaving home to pepboys. I was able to restart the car but it requires extra cranking time. Pepboys determined I have a bad battery. They went ahead and put in a new one.
We thought the issue was gone however the car shutdown again today. This time the car was off while the car was running at 25 to 30 mph. I was unable to accelerate or break (check engine line, slip and vdc off lights are on). We were lucky enough that there were no cars in front of us. I can't image if it happens on the freeway.
Have anyone heard similar issues? Can regular shops diagnosis and fix the problem? Or I have to go back to dealship?
 
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I personally would take it to Metro Infiniti and ask for Cheryl. Something as serious as this, I wouldn't trust an average Joe Mechanic to diagnos, I mean look at what Pep Boys did, they got you to buy a battery.
 
Did the CEL come on? If so it may be the cam sensor.

Otherwise sometimes I read about the alternator being a source of issues when the car dies while running.
 
Yeah, it could be your alternator.

If you were to jump start a vehicle and it dies after running, it's your alternator.
 
aiya said:
Did the CEL come on? If so it may be the cam sensor.

Otherwise sometimes I read about the alternator being a source of issues when the car dies while running.
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At the time it shutdown all lights turn on. When I tried to restart the car CEL didn't turn on the first time but today it's on along with VDC-off and Slip light.

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g0ldm4g3 said:
Yeah, it could be your alternator.

If you were to jump start a vehicle and it dies after running, it's your alternator.
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I was able to start the car by itself.

I made some research and some said it could be the fuel pump. That indeed a scary moment for me since all my family were in the car as well.
 
I'd check alternator first. This exact thing happened to me on my other car and it's not cool when your car dies when you are driving. Losing power steering is very dangerous.
 
I would do this when my car die while in drive. Put the car in Neutral and pump the parking brake. DON'T step on it too hard otherwise it will lock the pads Just light pumps. Doing these maneuvers will give you some control of the car. Steering going the stiff when the car start to slow down.
 
I would check the alternator, I always keep an OBDII autoscanner for things like this that way I can check the CEL myself and clear the codes once its fixed. Keeps me away from the stealerships.
 
It could be a bad connection to the alternator. On some other model cars, if the main power wire shorts out or has a bad connection, the whole car dies (Honda). On Nissans and I'm assuming Infiniti, if the main power wire goes, the engine will cut but your accessories will still work. I'm going to guess loose connection if your car cranks back up after this happens. I had a similar situation on a Nissan Maxima after installing a high output alternator. There was an internal issue with the alternator and it would short the main fuse. It was confusing because the engine would die, but all accessories would work. It would even crank back up, but because the main fuse was blown, the battery wasn't charging and the car would die again (permanently).
 
FYI - a bad crank position sensor would totally cause this issue, and your vehicle would take some extra cranking to start up. If it died on you, then would just turn over and chug way more than normal before firing up, I'd start with that sensor. I believe the cam position sensors can have a similar effect, and have been recalled on some FX's.

If the fuel pump is wearing out, it should become very noisy or not run at all. You can verify that it is working by twisting the ignition switch to the position just before cranking, then listen for a low humming sound that will appear to come from underneath the car.

If when your vehicle died, there was clicking and all the indicator lights on the dash were flashing, that would be more in the realm of an electrical issue related to the alternator or charging system itself.
 
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