(Cliff's at the bottom of post)

My car is acting up again (2k2 Auto), once every so often-when cruising on the freeway-the car jerks and feels like it's downshifting/upshifting even on a level road maintaining speed.

A couple of times the car would completely lose power and would only restart after a couple of tries.

On the same note, when taking off from a complete stop the car dies and again would only restart after a couple of tries. It then cruises fine until my next complete stop.

I had a chance to try and start in 2nd gear which made it jerk but kept the engine from dying.

There have been no codes thrown, dealer cannot find a problem until they can replicate the above issues and i'm up-to-date on all the fluid changes.

Any ideas guys? I've been in 5 near fatal crashes with the car dying in the middle of an intersection and/or the freeway. If i don't get this resolved, this may very well be the only reason for me to give up the Max.

Cliff notes:
- Car jerks, shift's in and out/up and down
- Completely loses power, takes several tries to restart
- From a complete stop, engine dies when accelerating
- No error codes, car is healthily maintained, Nissan reps can't find anything wrong
- Has caused 5 near fatal crashes, might give up Max if can't be fixed

 

Anyone?...

 

Nissan will kill you with can't replicate.

Offer to drive the tech and drive his *** around until it happens. Then the real fun begins. Not to take anything away from them but the majority of techs lack troubleshooting skills.

It sounds like a couple of possibilties, tranny, cam position sensor and or MAF. Is the car pinging or detonating?

Does it ever happen while idling?

 

I agree with Woosh's comments. Personally I'd start with a new MAF, and take it from there if that doesnt fix it.

 

Thanks for the responses guys.

My MAF is relatively new, haven't had problems with that. I mentioned something to the extent of replacing it but understandably they wouldn't do that since there was nothing wrong with it.

The cam sensor was also replaced under the recall. The car does ping at certain times but very rarely, usually when it's really hot outside. I've used Chevron 93 since day 1 btw.

Idling is fine, never rough.

 

I had a Toyota Solara with the same symptoms, except it would never die. It would lose power, and jerk but never throw any codes. The only thing I could come up with was moisture in the gas tank, and after through running several tanks of gas with methyl hydrate (gas line antifreeze) in it, the problem finally went away. Do you always get gas from the same station? If so, I'd start by changing stations and see if the problem goes away. Good luck.

 

I vote for MAF.

 

Jaws, is the gas line antifreeze something you can buy OTC? I only go to one station and that may be the problem.

mhadford, thanks for your input - i thought it could be the MAF but the car is fine 99% of the time.

 

Acceleration is just as strong as i remember it from day 1, no issues on starting either.

Fortunately, other than suspension mods everything is basically stock and the dealership i go to doesn't feel threatened by it

Diagnostics takes them a day and they won't offer a loaner so that will have to be planned a bit, but i'll tell them about your theories as well - they always seem open to what i have to say. (yep, i'm still under extended warranty, but that's running out fast!).

Thanks for the further ideas and tips. Hopefully one of those "known" issues is it, otherwise i'm back to square one

 

Gas line antifreeze is sold in any cold weather area. It's just methyl hydrate, the same stuff that is used for fondue burners.

 

I highly doubt that the fuel itself would be the problem.

Get your fuel pressure checked. If it's low, it could be a clogged fuel filter or weak fuel pump. If it was something like the MAF, coils, fuel injector, or some sensor and was causing the severe driveability problems you describe, it would throw a code.

If the problem was due to spark, then you would have terrible pinging and misfires.

When it has problems and takes several tries to restart the engine, try having someone sniff your tail pipe when it's turning over. If it doesn't smell like gasoline, you're not getting fuel in them thar cylinders. Does it "cough" at all when you are trying to start it? Try removing one of the coils and ground it to the engine block to see if it is sparking when it is having problems starting.

If I were a betting man, I would say it would have to be fuel delivery. Even if the MAF, cam sensor, coils, or any other sensor was bad, it should still start and run. Hell, you can even unplug 4 of the coils or unplug the MAF, and the engine will still idle and not die.

Please, for your sake and the sake of others, avoid driving the car much untiil the problem is resolved. Try to only drive it around the neighborhood when you are experimenting with it.

 

w3rd!

 

Transmission fluid temp is too hot. This usually occurs when following cars closely @ 80mph or so. Get yourself a nice tranny cooler and it should stop.

[quote]
A couple of times the car would completely lose power and would only restart after a couple of tries.

On the same note, when taking off from a complete stop the car dies and again would only restart after a couple of tries. It then cruises fine until my next complete stop.
[quote]

Sounds like a MAF sensor on its way out....

Automatics only start in first gear, not sure exactly what you are trying to say....


It wont throw a code until the MAF sensor is dead, and the dealer inst interested in searching for your problems. Find a buddy with another 2k2/3 and swap MAF sensors (its really easy) and see if the problem goes away.

 

I could do that, however, the problem shows up randomly so it will be hard to do the sniffing - or can i just do this anytime?

Starting the car after such an event is like starting the car with a dead battery - engine doesn't even turn over. Then on the succeeding tries the car would just start fine, no coughing. The battery and alternator checked out fine too.

I understand your concern, i'm with you on this one. It will be hard though but i'll try.

I'll also try your other suggestions, not particularly familiar with some of them but i'll figure it out or ask someone to help me.

Thanks!

 

Interesting. The last 3 times this happened was while in heavy traffic doing stop/go for about 20 miles. Though the same thing also happened just shortly after leaving the parking lot with the car in the shade all day. Though a tranny cooler is cheap, might be worth the investment.

Ouch. I never should have had them replace my original MAF - that thing was near bullet proof, they just replaced it in anticipation of it going out. (This was about 2 years ago).

My bad, i was under the impression that if i leave the shifter in 2 that it started out in 2... plus the couple of tries starting in in D or 1 gave me problems, but putting in in 2 was okay.

Now why didn't i think of that? I'll try that as well.

Thanks!