On Thanksgiving my boyfriend was driving home on the interstate and could no accelerate at all. He basically had to idle his way home. Even pushing the gas pedal all the way down,nothing. He let the car sit once he got home,only drove it to the gas station. (Not even five minutes up the road.) Still idling it. He went out today and it won't start at all. He's cleaned the MAF sensor, his starter is good,the sensor for it in the car hasn't come on for that,no lights on the dash telling him to check anything. Any possible suggestions on what it could be and how to fix it?

 

Check for a clogged intake filter, air filter... Also a clogged catalytic converter or other restricted exhaust would cause that problem. Could be that the programming of the gas pedal went wacky so you might want to do the relearn on the acceleration pedal.

Odd its not throwing a code good luck.

Best guess is clogged exhaust

 

I would get a OBD2 code reader to see if you can detect a code. They can be bought cheep from any auto parts place..

 

Welcome and sorry to hear about your Z problems. Have you or the BF checked the battery and battery connections? If your battery is older than four years, it may be defective. You can remove it with a 10mm wrench (it's under the PS cover in the engine compartment) and take it to be checked at a parts store.

 

Sounds like classic "limp home" mode which can be detected through the already mentioned code reader (or by taking the car into any shop that does code reads... usually free by most shops in the hope you'll leave car with them to track and repair the problem.)

There are MANY codes (problems) that can throw the car into limp home mode so it's best to be guided by the trouble codes.

 

Could also be some kind of timing sensor. I assume you're not low on oil. My '03 Maxima would throw a P0021 (Intake Valve Timing Control Performance Bank 2) & go into limp mode when it was low on oil.

This only happened once after I first got the car, keeping an eye on the oil level (burned some, early VQ, eh) kept the issue at bay.

 

Wouldn't the car throw a check engine light if it went into **** you limp mode? Op said no check engine light on...

 

not all the time, mine did it when i had a small leak on the intake

 

[QUOTE=travlee;10687782]not all the time, mine did it when i had a small leak on the intake[/QUOTE

Really?

 

sir yes sir, it just went into limp mode, got it home and changed out the intakes and it fired right up normally

(the intakes were the only thing that i had messed with prior to it happening)

 

I thought you guys were messing with the OP. after a search there are a ton of codes that can trigger limp mode.

 

[QUOTE=35th4me;10687829]^^^^ I hate to admit it but the old man is right. Heh heh.....

But seriously, yes, CEL do not illuminate with every fault condition. Only those that require input from specific sensors, e.g., cam position, etc.

If there are still no codes after plugging in, then it's time to troubleshoot all of the possible conditions that aren't all monitored by CEL but ARE still tracked by ECU/ECM which can freak out because it doesn't know what else to but force LH mode. Vacuum issues (leaky hoses), engine sealing gaskets, some aspects of TCS/VDC (which feed into other sub-systems depending on speed sensors).... ETC. It's the "etceteras" that are the worse and most difficult to trace, sorry to say.

 

My truck goes into limp mode if it gets too low on exhaust fluid. 12 years ago I think I used to mess with people by asking if they checked their exhaust fluid.... And now its a thing

Im at 1/4 tank hope I make it through the day