This is what happened:

I was driving my car normal when I came across this little stream of water in the road. When I rolled over it, I immediately stepped on the gas and manually threw it in 1st gear. I believe I was in 4th when I did this. The tranny shifted into 2nd, I think, and the tires started to spin for about a half of a second. Then, the car immediately shifted into 3rd and it stayed there. I rolled up to a stop sign and then got going again, it was still in 3rd...it might have been 2nd...not too sure. So, no matter what I did, the tranny stayed in 3rd or 2nd. It would not downshift or upshift. I was looking for the blinking P light, but I never saw it blink or come on. My bulb for the P light, might be blown.

So, anyways...I rolled in a gas station and stopped the car, put it in Park and shut it down. I waited for about 5 seconds and then tried to turn on the car and it won't start. All the lights and AC come on like they should. The engine won't turn over, it will just not start like it's a battery problem. But, I tried jumper cables and still it won't work. I jiggled the terminals. Nothing. I tried disconnecting the negative battery terminal for 5 minutes and that didn't work. I checked all my fuses in the bottom left part of the dash. They all work.

Oh yeah, I just installed my Y-pipe before this happened. I started my car, then shut it down after it warmed up. Then I started it again to test drive it. And then, when I shut it down at the gas station, it wouldn't crank up again. I saw this metal cord that seems to ground out something next to my Catalytic Converter. I check it to see if I put it back on correctly, it was tight up against the metal bracket, the way it came off.

And there are not any check engine lights or any other lights that came on that is different than normal. The battery works the way it should, everything comes on...except my engine. Might be a starter problem.

Oh, I disconnected my negative battery terminal before I left my car at my brother's house, after we towed it. I am hoping the computer just needs to reset and everything will be fine.

Please help! If anybody has ANY clue or idea, no matter how dumb it may sound....please post it or email me. adogg18@hotmail.com Thank you very much in advance.

 

try this....put the car in "neutral" and try starting it! could be the "neutral inhibitor switch" thingy....

 

ok, I will try it...I have heard that from one other reliable source. Thanks. Any other ideas...please post it. If this trick works, I will let you know.

 

why??????

 

I'm sorry...I have no clue... I won't ever do that again. "I'm new! I don't know what to do!"- Joe Dirt I gotta take it easy on my weak auto tranny.

 

man you need a 5spd! dropping 4th to 1st on water....

 

Okay, I went back to my car and tried the inhibitor idea. Didn't work. My brother checked all the fuses earlier today and he said that all the fuses were fine. Well, he was wrong...I check the IGN/ ENG CONT 10A fuse. It was blown. So, I put in one of my spare fuses and it cranked up... I was so excited. Problem solved, right? ....WRONG. Here is the rest of my story:

I drove my car across my brother's apartment parking lot. So, I was driving it easy to another parking spot across the parking lot. I shut it down. I started it again about 5 minutes later...It was fine. So, I drove slowly out of the parking lot, thinking everything is perfect. When I left his parking lot, I stepped on the gas to experience the wrath of my new Y-pipe. It took off and was accelerating fast in 1st gear, right up to about 5000 rpms and then my car shifted in 3rd gear and it stayed there. I drove my car the entire way home in Fail Safe mode.

While my car was stuck in Fail Safe mode, my battery light came on. I forgot to tell you that my battery light came on when this problem started, ealier today. Also, my "brake" light was on. I think that might have been due to the fail safe mode combine with the fact that I was being towed behind my brothers truck, with me stopping the truck. You know, since I was being towed with a rope. I was stopping a one ton truck. The entire way home...my brakes felt completely normal. I stopped pretty fast. My emergency brake was not on.

Anyway, back to the story. When I finally got home, I checked to see if I blew the same exact fuse ... I did. All of the same problems happened once again.

I have another idea what the problem might be. I was installing my WSP Y-pipe today and I was having a problem with the position of the o2 sensor. There is a big metal plate, that is attached to my car, that is in the way of the o2 sensor. I had to bent the edge of this metal plate downward and then put the o2 sensor above it. It was a tight fit. There is a chance that the o2 sensor wire is being pinched against this metal when I step on the gas and maybe it is being grounded some how. I have two questions: How did all you VE owners install the Y-pipe so that the metal plate is not putting pressure on the o2 sensor? And also, what is my problem with the Engine Controller Fuse blowing? Thanks. Sorry you had to read so much.

 

Whoever has installed a WSP Y-pipe on their VE maxima, please reply to this message. I am trying to find out how your o2 sensor was positioned in relation to this metal lip on your car. The only way I could get my y-pipe to fit was to bend this metal lip downward and put the o2 sensor above the lip. When I push on the gas, the engine moves and causes the o2 sensor wiring to short out. It blows my ENG CONT fuse. Has anybody had this problem before? Also, how is your o2 sensor positioned so that it does not interfere with this metal plate. Here is a picture of what my o2 sensor looks like:



Thanks for your help.

 

I got your email Aaron. I dont know what that is my O2 is in the clear. Sorry! Do you have a problem with your Y rubbing against the sway? Alos what do you think of the Y? Is it just what I told you about? And when will you go down to the track to experience the pipe?

 

Nope, the Y is not coming close to my sway bar. It's sitting happy about one inch above it. The problem is my o2 sensor is getting shorted out, blowing my ENG CONT fuse...Thanks Matt. I looked VERY closely to my o2 sensor, and it has a slight dent in the side of it where it bumps that metal lip. Also, it has the slightest break in the insulation of the black wire. Just enough to cause a short. I am going to try to bend that metal lip downward a little more and it should be OK. I need a new o2 sensor also. Where can I get one, today? Pep Boys, Auto Zone, Checkers? I don't want the universal one, if I can help it.

From the time my car was running, I like my Y-pipe, just b/c of the sound it makes coming out of my stock muffler. Also, my intake seems to be sucking in more air at idle. When I stepped on the gas, the first time...I wasn't too sure if I could tell a difference. Then, I turned the corner and stepped on the gas again, that's when the o2 sensor wire got pinched and all sorts of things went wrong.

The next time I am going to the track will be sometime after my problems are fixed. It will probably be atleast 2 weeks. It will be about 30 degrees colder outside than last time I ran my car. So, that will make me run a couple tenths faster by itself. So, I will just estimate what kind of gain in performance the Y-pipe gave me.

 

You shouldn't need to buy a new sensor.. just tape over the wire like I told you, and that should fix the problem with the sensor..

but you will still ened to bend that lip down and figure something out for that.. I've emailed warpspeed about the problem.. maybe the hole for the sensor was moved slightly out of whack or something during assembly. the clearance problem shouldn't happen, and I'm sure they'll find a way to correct the problem- at least on future pipes.


if I remember correctly, that lip was pretty then metal, so just pull the pipe out of the way and hammer the bejeezus out of it until it's not there anymore..

 

Ok, I guess I will just buy new ring crush gaskets then if I am going to take my Y-pipe out. $3 each at Pep Boys. I was making arrangements to buy a new o2 sensor. I wish I was as smart as you Matt.

I think I can find a way to cut the sensor wires and heat shrink wrap around butt splices. That should hold it for the life of the sensor. Let me know if I am about to do anything wrong.

Dallas has not gotten back to me yet. I've left phone messages and sent him an email. I'm not talking crap about Dallas, he is a really great person to work with. He is probably just busy in the shop today making our Maximas go faster.

 

It sounds like you were towing your car with all 4 wheels on the ground behind your brother's truck right? I don't know how far you towed it, but for future reference it's universally considered bad for an automatic tranny car to be towed like this. I can't remember the technical reason why, but it just is.

Hopefully you haven't damaged any of the transmission internals with the unique set of events it was treated to all at once (traction loss, sudden acceleration, manual shifting) either, good luck.

 

I would think it should be okay to tow it for a short distance on all 4 wheels if the car is in "neutral".....

 

I fixed the problem. My WSP Y-pipe is the bomb. The problem was all due to the o2 sensor getting pinched. When it got pinched, it blew the ENG CONT fuse. And then, my car's computer must have gotten confused and it put my tranny into fail safe mode. I don't know too much about that part. But, when I fix the o2 sensor part of my problem... it fixed everything.

When I test drove my car, it worked great. I stepped on the gas hard and it took off. The new WSP Y-pipe really help my car's performance. This is a different story. Thanks to everybody who helped me.

 

Glad you got it figured out...

I also emailed WSP about the problem.. hopefull the future versions of pipes won't have this problem.

 

Thank you for eveybody's help. I am now, one happy camper.