I was driving in traffic on my way home yesterday evening and my car just shut off. It shut off after tapping the accelerator and when i let up i noticed the car's Check Engine light as well as the Battery light was on. When I pulled over, the car started up without a problem and i tried to make the car do it again but I was unable to. What I did notice was that after pushing my car to about 3000 - 3500 rpm's and then taking my feet completely off of the gas pedal, the RPM's would drop to as low as 200-300 RPM's. What gives? I have changed my fuel filter within the past 20k miles. I need to clean my throttle body as well as my air filter. Could this be causing the problem? I also got a recall notice in the mail as well about the alternators on my year max. Oh yeah, the engine check light nor is the battery light on. It never came on after the little incident as well. What could be causing this to happen? Thanks people for all of the help!!!

Oh yeah, I've noticed that my car idles slightly lower than it has before. It is now around 5200-5500 RPM's compared to the 6500-7000RPM's it was at before. I noitce it because of the Y-pipe and the hybrid intake.

 

I had that same thing happen to me. It was my throttle body. Ever since I installed my intake, I had to clean the butterfly more often. It would get stuck and my car would die for no reason. But ever since I had it cleaned, I haven't had a problem. Hopefully, this is your problem and nothing major. Goodluck!

 

Thanks for the reply Soybadboy, I think it's the same thing as well because of the amount of air being sucked in their as well since its a hybrid intake. I guess i need to go get it cleaned and clean my filter which is pretty dirty as well. 23k without a cleaning of my throttle body could cause it. Any other thngs that might be causing it people. Thanks for all the input.

 

are you sure your car isnt idling at 650-700 rpm and not 6500-7000rpm?

 

sounds like the alternator to me. Generally if your car shuts off when it's actually running it's due to insufficient electrical power. In my last car the alternator died, and the car eventually shuts off. You may not see a light because of insufficient power to power that light, is my guess; the battery doesn't even have enough charge left after helping to start the car, because the alternator isn't recharging it.

 

I think if it was alternator, you'd notice accessories/etc starting to go before it happened/right after you started it up again...or basically any recent weird accessory behavior (windows rolling up/down slowly, radio cutting out/not working, etc).

Either way I'd get the recall replacement done.

 

Nope. It just shuts off.

 

Well, i just went and had my throttle body cleaned. Next up, is taking my car to the dealer because of this alternator recall on Friday. So far, the car has not cut off on me again since doing so. The engine light isn't on. So far so good. Thanks fellas for all of the input.