KimJongZ33

Hey all, I've owned my Z now for well over 2 years. I just went out for a quick drive around the neighborhood and everything was well with the car until I pulled back into my driveway. I noticed that as I was parking, the brake light and battery light both went on at the same time and the car started to bog down and stall. It stalled around 3-4 times trying to just park it back into the garage. I've done some searching around and it seems that dirty MAF sensors could be the factor of this. Could there possibly be any other issues that could be causing this? The only mods I have on my Z performance wise is a Nismo CAI. It's an 03' MT if that means anything. Please help cause I am not trying to have the stealership "fix" the problem.

karlt

The brake light and battery light on as you describe indicate your alternator is not charging and your battery may be low. What is the battery reading on the voltmeter?

SmoothZ

iTrader: (13)

As an added precaution, test your battery from the terminals.

If it's your alternator, then you're going to have to take it in anyway. Unless you're a DIY mechanic.

dboyzalter

iTrader: (3)

If it was the alternator I would think that once it stalled out that it wouldn't start again without a jump... However your battery light indicates that something in your charging system is messed up... So I would first check your battery terminals and make aure they are clean and tight. Then use a volt meter and check voltage... When off you want the battery to have around 12.6-12.3 ish... Running needes to stay between 13-15...

Could be a bad ground... You got any mouseies in your garage that like to eat wires?

karlt

Just for everyone's reference, the BRAKE light doubles as a battery (charging) light (check the wiring diagrams in the di.pdf section of the service manual). You can verify this the next time you start your car by turning on the ignition and releasing the handbrake. The BRAKE light will remain on until the car is started and the alternator is charging.

35th4me

Really good information Thank you.

KimJongZ33

So I've just gotten the time to dig around and check what might be causing this problem. I checked the battery levels and they check out around 12.4 when the car is off. The battery is fine and it doesn't seem to be the alternator because the car starts up just fine, it just ends up going below 500 rpm then stalls. I did see that the filter in my Cold Air Intake was extremely dirty, I just gave it a good wash with the K&N recharge kit and am waiting for it to dry at the moment. I'll also give the maf sensor a good cleaning and will update soon. Hopefully that was the problem.

KimJongZ33

Just found out that the whole MAF sensor had to be replaced! She's back up and running as good as ever! Thanks for the suggestions guys!