limp mode for no reason at all?

Gestalt73

Someone a month or so ago posted something similar on their first test drive out of the dealer's lot.

2009 370Z Touring MT6 w/sport package

Engine Oil temp: 200 degrees or so
Water temp: two dots from center
No warning lights or indicators
No over rev lamp
Haven't tried pulling codes

So, here I am driving along from a cold start, engine oil and water temps slowly creeping up, and as I get on the freeway onramp, the engine cuts out at about 3500 rpm, car slows down, accelerator reengages at around 3000 rpm. Interesting...

So because it sounds familiar, I just row through the gears keeping the rpms below 3500, and it consistently cuts out above 3500 for the duration of the drive. Other than that everything else appears fine. I have somewhere to be, and it sounds familiar, so I just get to where I need to go.

Get back out to the car a few hours later. She starts right up and behaves as if nothing happened. I'm going to bring it into the dealer in a couple of days.

Without codes or ability to repeat the symptoms, it may be helpful to see who else has had this, and what the fix is.

vehl

bring it back to the dealer..

zZSportZz

And well all know the stealership will say those famous words

"could not recreate"

FuszNissan

In all fairness, if we can't recreate it what are we susposed to fix. And who is going to pay for it, if we just start guessing and start changing out parts?? It's a system, and I know that it sucks sometimes, but we don't get paid from Nissan for our work unless we follow thier process. I am sorry that people get caught up in the system, but it's in place for a reason.

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LouFuszNissan
ZDAYZ 2012

g96818

i hate those words. lol
it might just be a fluke, or maybe a wire got grounded when u started and i believe limp mode doesn't reset during driving so it probably resetted after u turned off the engine.

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vehl

drive to the dealer while the car's on-a-roll.. i duno much but since the car's new it might be the start of many similar incidents..could be helpful for nissan and everyone in the long run.

Cjanik

have you guys noticed the last couple threads downtalking the 370z or just plain making you think the 370z is mass error prone (recalls), are all posted by people with less than 5 posts?

KillerBee370

^ hmmm

No problems with mine.

travisjb

this happened to me at the track the other week... turns out one of the two o2 sensors connected to manifold (headers in my case) had become disconnected and that threw the computer into fits, unresponsive throttle (not limp mode), and ultimately the engine cut out. the dealer should thoroughly check all the sensor connections...

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2009 370Z #104
*For Sale*

Gestalt73

Wow guys, easy on the consipiracy theories... For the record, I LUV my 370z.

I'm posting this specifically because it was sporadic (only happened once) and I saw someone post something similar before.

Here Test Drive Gone Bad? is the posting that I remembered from a while ago.

Oddly enough, the previous poster mentioned a cutoff of 2500rpm, while mine was at 3500rpm.

I'll be keeping an eye on it, but previous poster had a really good idea: next time it happens, drive it straight over to the dealer and let them see it first hand. Might come down to something like that.

Thanks for all the input guys. I'll update if anything else happens.

chubbs

That's the way to do it, if you can.

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'03 Grey >>> '06 Black >>>'10 Silver >>> '16 Grey ^

TheWeatherman

Kind of stupid to say but this is just a small hypothesis of mine. The more complex an engine, with so many things trying to run exactly in sync, the more you may have some small hiccups on occasion. My brother had an XTerra Supercharged, stock, and it went into limp mode a lot. Always a restart and the code always came back as a bad burn in just one random cylinder. My mom's 2006 Range Rover Sport Supercharged did that a bunch too. You just shut it off, turn it back on, and wallah! Dad's 2008 Big Rover Supercharged, same thing, but only saw it happen once. You are saying to yourself, "Well, those are all supercharged motors, and ours is not." I just am always prepared for minor little glitches to pop up on cars like these with servos running the valvetrains with all of the other electronics talking trying to make things run properly. Probably just a bad burn code, which might be similar to our friend who posted above with his disconnected O2 sensors. You would think a fault code was stored if it did that, right?

chubbs

Weatherman - cars should not just die for no reason - it's DANGEROUS.

A 'small hiccup' for you may be death for whoever is driving the car.

This incident should not be dismissed as "oh well, these things happen" - They blinking well should not happen - and when they do, the motor company should take them seriously.

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'03 Grey >>> '06 Black >>>'10 Silver >>> '16 Grey ^

travisjb

check your O2 sensor on the bottom of the car... see if either the left or right one got disconnected... they mount up to the trans and plug in to headers/manifold

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2009 370Z #104
*For Sale*

Gestalt73

So.... Sorry about the late response, but since this has happened again, I thought I'd update this thread as well as to start another one.

Ultimately it was determined that a low oil condition caused the cam sprockets to skip and triggered a limp mode.

Before you start blasting me for not checking oil etc, here are the facts:
- The car had less than 2000 miles on it
- The car had every scheduled service
- It was intermittent until the the last day
- There was no reported low oil condition on the dash
- For the first couple of times that this occurred, there was no check engine light, nothing on the dash to indicate that there was a problem

They tried to get the engine replaced, but Nissan wouldn't cover it, so they fixed it instead (replaced cam sprockets, sensors etc).

They also had me bring the car back in 500 miles to check the oil level, and they determined that it was *NOT* burning oil.

The also told me *NOT* to top it off, and then asked me to bring it in at 10100 miles for regular scheduled maintenance etc (which would have been in about 3000 miles).

Well, at 9200 miles (2000 miles after previous service), the same thing happened. It's now back in the shop.

The good news is that the dealership (Stadium Nissan, Orange) has been really supportive and helpful.

The not so good news is that Nissan still will not replace the engine. They're stating that a new engine is being developed that addresses a known burn oil issue with manual trannie Zs, and they don't want to replace my engine until this new version is out. No dates, of course.

This car is cursed. It has been in for service often enough that it must qualify for lemon law coverage in CA (there are several other unrelated issues that have kept it in the shop).