i was driveing and my car just shut off i was thinking my alternator but i did not get the brake and charge light come on my dash. my power locks are going krazy and i even swaped out the batterys with my friend and still no crank . we jumped the starter and it crank a little. i was thinking the fuel pump relay but i have not jumped it to test it . any suggestions u guys think i should try please let me know . and my starter is new

 

Where did you get your starter ? Could be bad out the box...

 

Last time my car did this my main ground cable was loose and oxidized at it's connection to the engine/tranny to the point that i had no ground.

Side note: starters only function to bring an engine up to the rpm's at which it is capable of firing on it's own. A starter will not cause your car to just shut down.

An alternator will not stop the car from starting if you swapped a charged battery into it; it shoudl still run for a few minutes on that battery.

Your problem sounds like it's more related to ground or ecu.

 

bad ecu or electrical doesn't sound good, maybe ignition switch.

 

Everyone seems to miss the one key detail; his car **** out on him WHILE he was already driving it.

 

fuel pump would explain the death but it would have been a slow coughing death as the engine died. It would not on the other hand explain your power door locks going crazy.

That just screams electrical malfunction.

 

Sounds like what happened to my friends lexus. It is probably either the camshaft or crankshaft sensor. It would explain the no start and the shut off while driving b/c of the timing.
Correct me if I'm wrong, just trying to get something right here

 

I would agree those are good possibilities and terribly easy to test.

My crankshaft sensor gave me hell for two years until we finally figured out it was it. It would test FINE on an ohm meter if the car had not been running. It wasn't until one day when I wised up and had it tested after the car had been run for a while that it threw as bad. Never had a starting problem again after I replaced that.

 

thank guys i will check those things out . and if anybody has more things to check let me know . i will post up my finds when i find out whats wrong with the maxima.

 

Check the main ground cable, the one behind the pass headlight, and look around for one near the driver side relay box. Check your hot cable too.

 

Replace ground cable, probably needed anyway. Scrape off rust/debris, so it makes good metal-to-metal contact.

 

i know its a long shot. make sure u still have a timing chain. were you leaking any coolant or anything before hand?