theWalkinator

So this morning it was frigid cold, I started car no problem, warmed 5 minutes then headed to work. While on highway, about 20 minutes into driving, coasting around 60mph, suddenly, all lights on dash were on, then the engine lost power, or transmission disengaged, engine was still running, headlights and radio are still on, but the car just felt like in neutral.

Fortunately, I was on the right most lane so I was able to pull over to the shoulder, I shut off the engine, waited few seconds, then re-started the car, everything went back to normal, all lights were off, so I was able to drive to the work. It did not happen again. Coming back from the work, there was no problem.

Not sure what went wrong, battery is still strong, but I will check the battery terminals to make sure they are not lose. Has anyone else experienced the similar situation?

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

All lights on the dash on would indicate a stall. Are you 100% sure it was still running as you pulled off the road?

uttadms31

Agreed that it could be something electrical with the problem being intermittent. Do you have any CEL codes? My car would randomly die on me too when the MAF sensor went bad at 220k miles, but that usually happened at slower speeds or when coming to a stop. Keep us posted

theWalkinator

No, no code, just checked the battery terminals, all tight. I am pretty sure the engine was still running when it happened because I saw engine was around 700 idling rpm.

JoshG

this tells me that something is loose and loses its connection when u hit 60 miles per hr.

A video would help.

viking89

I remember one time I was driving my 00 max to work on a -30C morning in Canada.

Car was goin along fine, I was halfway to work doin about 50km/h and suddenly my car just stalled and turned off. I started it back up, confused, and got to work. It never happened again

Like you said, cold does weird things

97_GXE

I was (and still am) having an issue with the radio, windshield wipers, and A/C charger all not working sometimes when starting my car up. I changed fuses, only to find out it was happening because the key would be too far turned clockwise into the ignition.

This will happen occasionally while driving, and simply turnin the key ever so slightly counterclockwise in the ignition, bein careful not to turn it off...gets it back working. Took me awhile to figure it out though. But hope the ignition wires aren't on their way out.

Cold weather doesn't do weird things. 18 year old cars do weird things lol. It's like arthritis, cancer and organ failure lol.

JoshG

they do weird things until ya fix em :d

Rit

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like your Ignition switch is going bad - probably not the wires.

theWalkinator

well, I speak to soon, the car died again, but this time is not on road. This afternoon I stopped at school bus stop waiting to pick up my son, I turn off engine, turn on emergency lights, for like 6,7 minute until school bus showed up. After my son got into the car, I went to start the car, it cranked but not start, tried few more time, it seemed that battery got weaker and weaker, cranking became slower and slower, finally, it won't crank at all. I thought it was bad battery so I called wife, she showed up with my other car, I tried to jump the car, no crank, let it charged like 10 minutes, still no crank, so I thought, definitely the battery is bad.

So I took the battery out, left the car on street, went to Walmart to get battery exchanged, it is only about 2 years old so I got free exchange, went back, put the battery in, still no crank. It was dark already so I have to use my wife's car to tow it back to the house, it was only 500 yard from the house. While on drive way, I thought it is a new battery so might need a full charge first so I hooked the battery charger, now it is 90% charged, still no crank, but there is a click.

I think either the starter or the starter solenoid is bad, couple of years ago I had no crank 1 click, I spent whole week to chase down the problem it was a bad connection between starter solenoid and starter, so I am going to take starter out again, have Autozone tested, I may need to replace the starter or solenoid.

Oh well, it is a 19 years old car, just few hundred miles short of 200K, I bought the car new and just last month I spent $300 on parts to get valve cover gaskets, muffler and B-pipe, sway bar link, sway bar bushing, front driver side CV boot and inner tie rod boot replaced, and I thought the car is winter ready, well what do I know.

JoshG

if it felt like the battery was getting weaker, then that can tell a sign the alternator is loosing its charge to charge the battery

lux97Max

iTrader: (24)

Same thing would happen to me in my 97 many years ago. It would shutoff while driving. Only in cold weather would it do this, I always had to warm up it up for about 10mins..and then it wouldnt shut off. but if I started it up and immediately and started to drive away that's when the problem would occur. Hope this helps..Good Luck!!

theWalkinator

I am pretty sure it is not alternator problem, I got a new battery installed and charged over night, measured voltage at 12.9 volt, still won't crank, I have deal with this no-start issue before, I am pretty certain it is the starter solenoid problem. For now, the car is parked on driveway, I will troubleshoot further this weekend, fortunately, I have another car that I can use.

uttadms31

Thanks a lot for the tip...those assessories were randomly shutting off on me at times too and now I have a quick fix until I get around to changing my ignition switch. Strange how it can happen so randomly, sometimes going weeks-months without happening.

theWalkinator

I knew it, it is the freaking starter!

So today I first checked all the fuses and relays related to the ignition circuit, I even swapped Anti-thief relay and windshield wiper relay, no go. Then I took the ignition switch out, used a screw driver to turn to start, no go. Then I took the intake air boot out, located starter solenoid terminals, jumped directly from the battery positive terminal, no crank. Measured the new battery, 12.8 volts so it is good.

At this point, I knew it got to be the starter so I took it out, went to Autozone to have them tested, strange, it span and passed, but I wanted a double check so I went to Advance Auto, it didn't even spin on their testing machine, so I bought a re-man starter from Advance Auto, before I installed the new starter, I gave the old starter a last shot myself, I used jumper cable to connect directly from battery positive and negative terminal to the starter, it span for like 1 or 2 seconds, then won't span at all, I tried several times, still won't span so at this point, I am 100% sure that the starter is bad. I went ahead put the new starter in, put everything back together, it started right up!

Hope this is it, no more problem for the winter, I am tired of fixing things in sub-zero temperature.

theWalkinator

By the way, I also measured the battery voltage when engine is running, 14.5 volts, so alternator is good.