Last week I was cruising down the highway when the car died on me. It was weird though, the engine is running fine, but I get no response in the RPM gauge, and I lost power steering. I coasted it to the shoulder and turned the car off, popped the hood just take a look and see if there was anything visually wrong. Didnt see anything. I try to start it again and its completely dead, it wont even try to turn over ( electronics still work ). About 10 min later I try it again, and the car starts up perfectly. GREAT PROBLEM SOLVED!!

Well it just happened to me again today. I looked at some previous threads already, some guys are saying its a safety feature when the battery is dying it shuts the car off or something like that? Well I just had the battery replaced in January, so I don't think it would be that.

Others said it could be an ECU problem, but currently there is no service engine soon light or even check engine light on.

I really am stumped as to what it could be. Im kind of a noob when it comes to these things. Should I bring to a shop and let them run some diagnostics on the car to see if its an electrical problem or something?

EDIT~~~~ It seems like this thread is closest to my problem, minus the whole re-wiring thing at the beginning => http://zilvia.net/f/showthread.php?t=349344 .... Im hoping its just a fuel pump

 

Check what's simple first before assuming something major. Check all major ground, including the battery +/-, and spark plug connection points. Might even be as simple as a melted fuse still making some connectivity. If you don't know what to do then yes, take it to a shop to run diagnostics.

 

It wasn't on a z, but on a e30 my buddy had...same thing. Loose battery cable, don't know why but no issues after he cleaned the terminals and taught the clamps

 

Ok yea I would like to think I know what a melted fuse looks like so I will def. start there. As far as where the major grounds are, I dont really know where those would be.

Also not sure if this makes a difference, but I am currently missing my front passenger wheel well from an ice storm at the beginning of march, and it has been raining here for the past few weeks. I know there are some exposed wires but I have no idea what they are for.

 

You should pull codes. That could pinpoint the problem. --Spike

 

Crank Position Sensor?

 

Could it be the alternator possibly ?

 

This happened to me with an '85 300zx. Weather started to heat up, battery cable loosened. Fortunately when I tried to restart my car, I noticed my clock had reset, which clued me in on the battery connection.

 

Try this....

Next time it dies, put the car in 5-6rst gear and push it forward a but ( or rock it back and forth)

If it starts its one of your crank or cam sensors ( or all).

You can also pull the code

 

Thread moved to Maintenance & Repair

 

thanks for all the input, I will try and do some of the things mentions. I haven't been able to do **** for the past two days because it has been raining non stop. Hopefully I will have some answers soon and ill let ya'll know