My 1997 Maxima stated cutting on and off (jerking) while driving at normal speeds. At first I noticed it doing it once or twice a day for a couple of seconds and then drive fine the rest of the day. Then one day it did it for about 30 seconds before smoothing out and then start doing it again about 3 minutes later. This repeated till I got home. It also stalled out when I would come to a stop. It would always start right back up again though. I took it to my mechanic and for three days he drove it , let it run for hours at a time and then drove it some more for several miles at a time. It ran perfect the whole time he had it. Battery and alternator both checked out fine. I picked it up and drove 25 miles to work with no problem. Then at lunch time and after work it started again. While sitting still in park I could not get it to rev up past 3000 rpm. Both times after shutting it off for about 15 minutes and restarting it, it ran fine and reved it up to 6000 rpm without a problem. I don't dare drive it anymore. It is back at the garage. It is definately cutting off and on and not skipping. Has anyone had this same problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

My car acted similar when one of my coil packs was going out. However my check engine light was on and I got a code.

 

This symptom could be caused by a failure of one of the position sensors - CPS or CKPS - but I'll leave it to those with more experience to confirm or suggest other culprits.

 

Clean those sensors and check the ECTS. Use to have this problem years ago..