i was driving to work this morning, going across a fly over on the expressway and as I was downshifting my car went dead...sorta. the oil light, brake light, battery light and check engine light all came on and my power steering went out. i had the clutch pedal pushed in the whole time and was freaking out. just when i came over the top of the fly over and decided to coast it to a stop i released the clutch and the car was fine. I dont know whether the engine shut off or not because i was freakin a little but i dont think it did because the car didnt jump like i had popped the clutch or anything.

WTF?!?! can some help me out with this.

B

 

I'm assuming the car still runs... Maybe a belt broke???

 

car runs fine now...only 2 things ive done since i bought it are change the oil (switched to Mobil 1 full syn) and cleaned the air filter (k&n cleaning ****...not fun so im buying a new intake system when i get the money)

B

 

The MAF on the Maxima seems to be wicked touchy, which is one of the reasons I went with a dry filter pop charger (Apexi).

I have zero insight into your problem, but your mention of cleaning the air filter made me think of that, is all.

 

that is a good point...is this one of those things that i need to just watch it? i do i need to start disassembling the intake and have a look around?

B

 

are any of the lights still on? if you toasted your maf from the k&N the car wont rev past 2500 rpms iirc..

 

no lights on at all...went to make a run for work and put it to the floor revved to 4k no prob, shifting fine, starting fine and sounds fine...ill let it sit for a while and then go take her out again to see what happens

B

 

Doubt it. I'm imagining something touching on the MAF sensor after cleaning that filter, and then dislodging or evaporating or whatever.

But honestly, I'm pulling that concept out of my ***, (which itself is a crazy image.) All I know is that I would never "clean" an air filter, even though it's designed to be cleaned, and people do it all the time without issue. But that's just me. I'd rather buy a new one.

That's my 2 cents. Probably not even worth 1.

 

its worth the 54 bucks that a K&N filter cost in my opinion.

here is a question you might be able to answer, will an apexi filter or similar work on the stillen intake? ill take a picture of it if i need to so you can see it, that way it will eliminate the need to clean it...ever!

B

 

I don't know. Research the diameter of the intake and the filter neck.

Well, if by "ever" you mean, until you replace it... then yes. The apexi is (generally) considered a better design over the K&N pop charger, but it's also very expensive. Worth it, IMO.

There are a bizillion threads on that topic.

 

id rather replace the clean...the cleaning process what a *****, and the oil gets everywhere.

ill look up up the apexi...thanks.

B

 

Honestly, it sounds like a stall and pop from what you've said here. If you lost power steering and then got it back, I'm pretty sure the engine must have shut down. The only other experiences I've had losing power steering, it doesn't just come back without fixing a leak or replacing a belt.

I can't say I've ever pop started my car, so I'm not sure that it would "jump" or "jerk" if you did... however, I can say I've released the clutch with it still in gear when I thought it was in neutral () and the car jerks like hell.

Not really sure why the car would have stalled... I can say the K&N cleaning is a bit of a delicate process. I've been doing it for 5 years now, and I have 2 filters so I just swap them out every year. That way, the oil has a year to dry so as to not cause any damage (however, the jury is still out as to whether K&N oil actually does cause MAF sensor damage).

My inclination would be to just drive the car and hope it was a one time fluke. If it happens again, have it checked for codes... always the first place to start.

 

thanks...will do. the 2 filter thing is a good option as well.

B

 

ok so im dragging this back to the top cause the car did it a second time after 2 weeks. I was getting on to a ramp and I pushed in the clutch to down shift and it died. Let out the clutch and it started up and was fine.

Ive been reading and asking questions and so far ive come up with: MAF, Idle sensor, A/F ratio, Alty and possible corrosion in the power/ground lines.

im guessing what happens is that maybe im taking to long to shift and the car is idling down to far and dying. if that is so should it do that? to my little knowledge it shouldnt but again im messing with a different engine than Im used to from my 4th gen.

I really want to figure this out because its ****ing scary when it happens.

B

 

What octane gas do you use?

 

93

B

 

Check your battery cables, ect to see if they are all tight. Its possible it could be a loose connection somewhere.

 

i thought that...battery cables are fine....a loose connection (at least in my experience would happen more often).

alty is running fine and battery is good

B

 

the car just farted...

 

Non oiled filter FTW. I think nearly everyone that tries an oiled filter kills their maf sooner or later.

 

I had something similar; it died on me in gear, so I pulled over, started up fine, parked. But then when I was pressing the key fob to lock it, no response first thought was battery? I checked it out....the positive terminal ring was cracked from corrosion, if it wasn't for the remote key, I would have never thought to check the battery. Hand the K&N filter before, oily not good, back to OEM.