On the way home from work. Notice a big hesitation when I punched it a little to get around some traffic. Car drove fine for the 10 miles, then started surging back and forth and the gas pedal was pretty unresponsive. Car continued to sputter and I wasn't able to increase the speed at all.
Luckily, was near an exit and got off. However, on the off ramp the car just shut off and everything went dead. Was able to glide it into a parking lot.
Tried starting car again and it would start for a couple of seconds, all the while sputtering, then shut off. I checked the codes and the only new code I had was P1448 - EVAP Canister Vent Control Valve Open. That code was pending. I had two other codes due to my secondary O2 sensors.
Finally, I started the car again after clearing the ECU, the car was sputtering again like before then I pumped the gas to about 5,000 rpm, and the car responded and then settled back down to normal idle and ran fine. I took off towards home and the car ran fine all the way home, at city speeds and up to 80 mph. The idle also seemed to alot smoother after all this happened.
I just got back from taking the car out and beating on it a bit, high rpm runs, short bursts from 40-50 mph, and the like. Still no problems.
I read where others had the code but their car didn't shut off, just drove around fine with a CEL.
Would it be safe to assume something was blocking the EVAP lines/valve and by reving the engine up high, it cleared the blockage, hence the P1448 code. Or should I expect more trouble? Just odd, the car shut completely off.

 

Update: Car ran fine all the way to work this am.


Any ideas?

 

O2's causing misfire or causing the A/F to be too rich / lean? I honestly don't think it was the evap that caused the symptoms you described unless the system is overpressurized and the pump can't pickup the fuel under those conditions. Maybe your ECU just had a brain-fart!?

 

The O2s had been popping that code for some time and they are for the secondaries at that.

EDIT: I guess I should add I replaced the rear valve cover and valve cover gasket over the weekend. Car ran fine on Sunday though. Still not sure what caused it.

 

I was running with a bad Evap Canister & a bad Vent Control Valve for weeks trying to diagnose, etc., and the car ran as good as always....

 

Do you think you may have got something in there when you replaced the valve cover / gasket? Maybe a piece of debris that caused the cam(s) to do something funny? Or possibly that something was partially clogging the fuel line / injector and revving it dislodged it? Or maybe you had some moisture in the tank, fuel line, or under the coils? It could be so many things but I don't think it was related to the evap. Didn't you get that fixed a year or so ago (might not have been you)?

At best, we're just going to guess the right problem until someone who has actually had this happen chimes in. For now, personnally, I'd say chalk it up to a random occurance until it does it again... As we all know, Nissans (and most every car on the road) have times when something strange happens and just goes away never to be seen again. Heck, my passenger window went down once and didn't come back up for about 30 miles and hasn't done that since... and that was 50K miles ago! No idea why it wouldn't come up and no idea why it hasn't done it again *knocks on wood.*

I wish I could help you out more. Maybe someone has had the same occurance and can tell you what they know! Good luck!

 

Barc, I didn't think the EVAP code caused it either, cause I have driven before with EVAP codes and so have others. And yes, you are right. Good memory, I did have a EVAP leak code, which was fixed by getting a new gascap.

I was uber careful about not getting anything in the engine, but you never know. I took some pics and was going to make a write-up for the valve cover job since I really haven't seen one for that, just the plugs change.
Just hope it stays away. Glad the idle is smooth as silk now too.