jrano89

Hey guys,

New here, have been lurking a lot, and I must say you guys sure know your stuff! In advance, I'm writing this from my phone, so I apologize for any autocorrect issues I may overlook. Also, as I type, the fonts keep changing sizes, so sorry if that shows up and gets confusing. Anyways, I have a 2003 Infiniti i35, I love it, and have no MAJOR issues (I think.) So every month or so, it seems as if when I am idling at a stop, my car just cuts out. It happens at random times, I've literally driven 200+ miles straight and not one hick up to my destination and back. I've searched about for the last few days, and I'm pretty sure I haven't come across a sure thing, as in with others, their check light comes on. My car just cuts out, all dash lights come on, I shut it off, turn it on, and everything is normal. No lights even blink on the dash for a second, and the car drives perfectly fine. Have gone to the stealerships, nothing turns up, they can't find anything with the reader. I'm just praying my car doesn't randomly cut out while I'm on the highway with my son in the car. Does anyone have any ideas on what I should try and check for? Thanks in advance.

uttadms31

How many miles on it? Ever clean the throttle body and/or IACV? If I had to guess it's either the IACV or MAF sensor. When my MAF went bad at 220k my car would shut off randomly while slowing to a stop (not at idle like yours however). You do have a 2003 though and mines a 1998 so not sure how much different they area. The problem is though like you said there's no codes being thrown (I got a P0100)...but these sensors can be bad at times and not throw any codes. Maybe eventually your CEL will come on.

jrano89

Well I did the throttle body at a dealership at around 90K. I did it again today after reading this along with the MAF. But I had a problem finding the IACV, was it that sensor attached directly to the throttle body? My knowledge only comes from what I read here, and YouTube, couldn't find a location on here or there.

uttadms31

I'm not sure I can offer more help, maybe someone else can chime in. You've cleaned the throttle body and MAF, only other thing I'd do is clean up the battery terminals. See if your issue continues, and if you CEL comes on. Oh and you may not have a IACV on that i35, but some other idle control mechanism near the throttle body. Take a look at:
http://forums.nicoclub.com/car-shuts-off-when-idle-t284333.html

jrano89

Yeaa I'm not 100% sure, but when I went to auto zone for a throttle body gasket, I asked for an idle air control valve gasket, they said my car doesn't have one. On rockauto.com they show an IACV for the 2002 Infiniti and a gasket, but for 2003 they don't have it in their options to choose from. The throttle body was pretty clean though, and in the nico forums one was pretty accurate to what I'm experiencing, but they also haven't found a solution. Or at least posted their findings. I guess unless anyone else has other ideas I can only hope the MAF sensor was the issue or keep swapping things til it stops.