I was driving home from a friend's house tonight and i had a big problem resulting in a 15 minutes ride from 1/2 a mile away. It began slowly on the way to my friends house and then got stronger now. I am thinking it might be that I ran out of gas because i am running on E but i dont know if this is what that would feel like. I can start the car just fine but then it has trouble keeping up the RPM's and once i put it into drive and step on the gas it sometimes moves and sometimes doesnt. When it does move it just jumps forward and stops it wont just drive forward in one normal motion. I also hear some noices from below the main cabin when i press the gas down and the car wont move. it sort of sounds like something is hitting down there but i dont know what. Could this be the gas running out or is it a more serious problem. I can barely even drive.

 

At the risk of stating the obvious, you should put a few gallons of fuel in the tank and see if the symptom persists. If your Maxima can't make it to the filling station, borrow a lawnmower fuel can for this refueling purpose.

The fuel pump is cooled and lubricated by the fuel flowing through it. Running the tank dry is harmful to the fuel pump. Avoid running on Empty.

 

it might be the fuel pump but also check your fuel injectors. They mess up really bad in maximas. I had my car jumping like that when i hit the gas pedal and thsi was the problem, 2 fuel injectors messed up