I tried searching to see if this has happened to anyone esle but just came up with newbies stalling out when learning to drive stick. This is my current problem. About two week ago, I was driving home from work (mostly highway) and got off the off ramp and yielded at the merger. It was raining and in the low 40's. When a gave the car gas the car bucked about 2-3 times and I let my foot off the gas. I was in 2nd gear. I thought at first it was the TCS kicking in because it was wet and cold outside and my tires had only 3/32 of tread on them, but it was a lot harsher than the TCS normally cuts back on. It was like the car had an on an off switch. I gave it gas again and it continued fine the rest of the way home.
Yesterday, I was driving home again from work which is about 20 miles away and got about a block away from my house. Came to a stop at the intersection and then applied the gas (nothing hard). And the car starts bucking again, only this time it didn't stop. The temp outside was in the low 20's. I shifted through 1st-3rd gears with no difference in the way the car was bucking. I got worse the more gas I gave it. I couldn't get it go past 2000-3000 RPM's. Again I thought it could be the TCS malfuctioning because it was really cold outside so I turned off the TCS, but it changed nothing. Then finally the car just stalled out. Voltmeter is good, Oil pressure good, Water temp good, oil level good, and the car starts right up without a problem and idles fine, but when I give it some gas, even in neutral, once I get to 2-3000 RMP the car stalls out. After I rev'd it in neutral and it stalled out, the service engine soon light came on. I looked up some TSB's on this type of problem with the Z but nothing exactly like what I'm having came up, but most of them seem to be related to the mass airflow sensor. I unpluged the sensor and checked it visually and it seemed fine. The car is not heavly modded at all. I have an Apex i grounding kit w/ built in voltage stabalizer and an K&N drop in filter which I dropped in about 4 months ago and haven't clean and reoiled as yet, so I can rule out overoiling. I didn't think about it until today but, since the first time this happened 2 weeks ago, I have noticed a slow decrease in my MPG from 25.3 to 25. I know that doesn't seem like much but the last time I reset the meter was at about 10,000 miles and it currently has about 23,500 miles. My driving pattern and habits have not changed so it would take a lot to have my MPG to drop down that quick. So what do you guys think before I take it into Nissan to check it out?

 

seems like TCS to me. take it to the dealer. I wouldn't consider a drop in .3 mpg to be a verifiiable 'symptom' I can drop my average by that much if I do a couple launches on top of everyday driving or just a drop in outside temp.

 

I thought it was the TCS also, but even when I turned it off, it made no difference. Or even when the car was at idle and I rev the engine it would stall.

 

I don't see it being TCS... especially since the symptoms remain in neutral... I would say some air/fuel sesor issue.. I guess..

 

How old is the car? I had a problem in the truck like that when it would rain or got real cold like that. I thought it was the gas and ran fuel injector cleaner. I eventually had to replace the spark plugs and wires and the problem went away. Your plug wires could be tracking when its wet. My problem would go away when the truck would run for a while.

 

It's an 06 with about 23,000 miles on it.

 

That's too new for the plugs and wires too go on the car. It's still under warranty let them deal with it.

 

The vq35de in the Z doesn't use spark plug wires. To the OP .3 of a mpg is nothing, you could drop that easily just on a regular drive. I think your problem sounds like a misfire, but you work at Sears get it scanned and see if any codes come up.

 

I can't get it to work now because it won't stay running. So I won't be able to scan it before I take it to the dealer. I'll call them tom and see how soon I can have it towed in and checked out.

 

Its is most likey a mass air meter problem. The oil from your filter has gotten the contacts on the meter dirty and causes false readings. I would first buy some MAF spray cleaner and take it off the clean out the contacts on the inside. If it helps at all then you know its the meter. If it matters i was a Nissan tech for awhile and am 98% sure that is your problem without looking at the car. Happens alot.

 

Do you have any mods? My car was doing something similar but didn't stall. Cleaned the MAF and Throttle Body. Still nothing, then discovered I had a leaky hose. Check all your hoses and listen for hissing/air. The passenger side of the engine bay should have a slight hissing sound - that's normal.

 

wonder if this could be the crank position sensor

 

It could be alot of things but it's almost impossible to know without getting it scanned first. But like chromesilver6 said, clean the maf first before you call the dealer it takes 5 mins and will at least remove that as a cause.

 

Pull the code(s). Don't just start 'fixing' things that may not be the problem. If it is at all driveable, go get the codes pulled. Then at least you know what you're working with.

I can help with some more information, I do driveability. not at Nissan, but I might still have some good info if you give me some more to work with.

 

Yea as everyone is saying it is very hard to diagnose something without seeing or hearing it in person. As far as the crank postion sensor with that they will be really hard to start and just turn over forever before it finally starts. Also as far as vacumm leaks go the car would have a bad miss at idle and run rough all around with a bad vacumm leak. Just swing by the dealer and have them scan it. Or if youre on a tight budget get it scanned at Auto zone for free and see whats up.

 

Since I just went through this, check your MAF sensor. Mine got a drop of water on it and that was all it took to start bucking and driving like ish. Clean it with a q-tip and some alcohol and then spray it off with compressed air. Should be good as new.

 

2nd (or 3rd?) for this...

 

I personally wouldn't recommend cleaning the MAF sensor physically. Use the spray cleaner. While alcohol and a qtip is fine (since the alcohol completely evaporates it's great for electronics), you can be stupid and accidentally prod or screw up the MAF by being a goofball.

 

I was thinking that it was most likely to be a mass air flow sensor also, because that's mostly what I found with the TSB's that I found on related problems. As for it getting dirty with oil from the K&N drop in air filter, it seems kind of strange to me because I had that in there for about 5 months now and never cleaned or reoiled it. But, I'll take a closer look at it and see if I notice anything.

 

Ok, I just took a closer look at the mass air flow sensor and it looks brand spanking new! (By the way, the type of sensor it uses doesn't look like the type that would react very well to any form of cleaning) The air filter is dry to the touch all over and there is no oil on any part of the intake system, inside and out. The car still won't stay running so I'll borrow my buddies scanner tom and see what codes come up and see if there is anything I can do easy to fix it before I have to pay a tow truck to take it into the dealer.