<second attempt at posting this..first time around I think it got messed>

I have a 99 Maxima GLE with 87k kilometers on it. The engine is stock and the only mods I have on the car are the FSTB and the RSB.

Now two days ago the car started acting wierd and two issues arose:
1) In hte morning, the car wouldn't start. It would attempt to fire up and then shut down. You could hear some cylinders getting spark and trying to come to life. It wasn't a battery issue since everything else was working. After a few minutes of trying, the car reluctantly started up and seemed to drive fine afterwards with full power.

2) the next day the car started normally, but the TRAC & ABS light came on. I decided to test my brakes to see if ABS really did die, so I backed out of hte driveway and slammed the brakes on my street. ABS kicked in and both lights went away! So now the car seemed to be running normally.

But I couldn't figure out why the TRAC & ABS light would come on. I've heard these are symptoms of a failing coil-pack....and I do know I have atleast one coil-pack that will die soon. I can feel vibrations when teh car is idling sometimes...it used to be worse before, but now its getting better. At one point I could even feel "kickbacks" when stopped at a light in gear.

But it still doesnt' explain why the ABS & TRAC light would come on and then go away after a bit. I will check the ECU codes when I get a chance.

Thanks for your help.

 

considering you have a '99, more than likely its your ignition coils going bad

 

TCS/OFF and ABS lights on indicates a fault in the traction control system.
It could be as simple as a wheel speed sensor.

Both ABS and the Traction Control systems use the same wheel speed sensors to measure slip. If a sensor fails, both systems go down.

You may need to have your car serviced by Nissan to figure out exactly what has gone wrong with the car.

If a coil failed, you'd also have a Service Engine Soon light on. If thats off, then it's most likely not a coil pack, but rather the Traction Control/ABS systems at fault.

 

But right now the ABS & Traction control are working perfectly fine. That light only came up once and then went away.

The only other time I've had that happen to me was when I got the car emission tested and once hte car came off the rollers the trac & abs light came on. Once I restarted it however, the lights went away.

 

Also I should add I'm in Toronto, Canada where its cold and there was a lot of snow when the above incidents occured.

Could it be that the snow & ice messed up the wheel speed sensor and once I applied the brakes, it somehow got dislodged and possibly melted the snow from the heat, thereby not "obstructing" the speed sensor from doing its thing.

Thanks.

 

Sometimes when on loose surfaces the sensors can be "confused" or get a partial reading. Maybe you going out and hammering the brakes set things straight? Drive it and see what happens. I have had similar instances with other kinds of vehicles