BhashaZ

iTrader: (18)

So I'm leaving work today, and I'm driving along normally. I go to enter the freeway and of course it's crowded, so the meter is on. So eventually I have to come to a stop. I keep creeping forward until it's my turn. Well, I finally move up to the point where I'm the second car. As I slowly get off the clutch, the car just IMMEDIATELY sputters and stalls. The ramp is on an incline, and I was barely moving, so I think no biggie, I'll just restart the car.

Well now here comes the problem. I try to restart the car, but the engine won't turn over! I tried about 4 or 5 times without any success. I made sure I pushed the clutch in all the way. Luckily the onramp had 2 lanes so I didn't cause a complete jam! Anyways, eventually I turn on my hazards, take my keys out completely and retry. This time it actually worked, and I got my car started up. The car seemed to drive fine all the way home.

Anyone know what the possible problem was? My car is bone stock.

BhashaZ

iTrader: (18)

Anyone? I guess I'll just take it to Performance.

kbiz

Could be your clutch switch... it it's bad or not getting depressed, the car won't turn over ( like if you're trying to start the car with the clutch pedal up). I doubt it's the starter, but maybe. A friend of mine had a similar problem on a diffent rig... turned out he had some of the factory carpet jammed up behind the clutch. Killed the engine because he couldn't get the clutch out enough in 1st gear and couldn't start it again because the clutch pedal wouldn't hit the switch. The Z has a pretty long switch though so I think it's pretty unlikely. Bad alternator... loose battery terminal... and a ton of other possible causes could create the same situation. Best to take it to the dealer and hopefully you have towing on your insurance. Good luck.

BhashaZ

iTrader: (18)

I made sure that I had the clutch pushed in all the way, so it coudn't have been me. So you're thinking the clutch switch could be bad?

And like you said, the car won't turn over when the cutch pedal is up, but when you do that, I think that either your hazards blink or some other lights flash to let you know. In my case, though, this did not happen. Also, not sure if it's the alternator. Won't your battery die out within a couple of hours? I was able to start it up and drive today perfectly fine. I also went in to Performance Nissan to get an oil change today, but they were busy so I'm going to go back next week when they're free. At least I got the oil change done. I do have towing on insurance so in case anything happens it shouldn't be a big deal.

I'll just have to be careful though...I don't want the car to stall and not restart when I'm stuck in stop-n-go traffic!

BhashaZ

iTrader: (18)

A little OT, but while I was waiting to get my oil changed, I test drove an 06. Does anybody know if they moved the clutch pedal? I know that the resistance is less, but it also seems like they moved the pedal over to the left. Not sure if this change occurred in 05 or 06. My car's a 2004.

kbiz

I know they did some changes on the clutch... supposedly the clutch pedal is different... but I'm not sure if they changed it in 05 or 06. Maybe you're having that crank position sensor issue?? I wouldn't be surprised if it was a blinky clutch switch... I've seen that on other vehicles and it wouldn't give you any check lights or anything; it'd be like not pressing the clutch pedal. Maybe check the connections to see if they've been damaged by a floor mat or something. Loose battery connections can do some wacky stuff too. I had a rig that would occasionally backfire on the freeway and would occassionally die and wouldn't want to restart until it cooled down... that turned out to be just a slightly loose battery terminal. Do you have an aftermarket alarm system? I've seen that cause problems before if they've got a starter kill. I doubt it's your alternator since you were able to start it later normally. Have you don't any engine mods? If you had to remove your alternator, it could have a loose connection. Also, any major stereo install? If you had engine noise in your stereo, someone might have grounded caps to your alternator which could have caused a loose connection or something else. There's a ton of other possibilities usually related to sensors or loose connections... hopefully the dealer will find it if it's not one of the easier ones.