Es Almost Left Me Stranded!

[SW03ES]

Hey Guys,

Well I was in NJ visiting the family-in-law as we always do for Thanksgiving. The ES hadn't been driven in a day or so and it had gone from really warm to bitterly cold. I went to start it up after we packed up to leave, it started and then stalled and wouldn't restart. Definately not a battery problem because we had full instruments with no fade, and definately not a starter problem. Tried on and off again for about 20 minutes, checked all the fluids. Finally after cranking for 45 seconds or so it stumbled to life amid a big cloud of smoke. After that it ran fine all the way home and now it starts up and runs just fine.

Any ideas as to what happened? No weird gas, I filled it up with high test (I always run high test) from the gas station I always use here at home and half of that tank was left. It ran fine all the way up there. Almost like water in the gas or something...

[amf1932]

Ah Ha..........Your engine computer is showing signs of Alzheimers. LOL

[djspawn00]

I had the same problem with my Infiniti I30, and it only happened when it was cold. Turned out there was a bad wire, or bad connection somewhere and had something to do with the fuel pump... I can barely remember. It might not of had anything to do with the fuel pump... point of the story is when the temperature dropped the wires contracted slightly losing connection somewhere thus preventing ignition. It took my friend a couple of days to find the exact problem but after he fixed it it never happened again.

[SW03ES]

Its at the dealer now, still starts and runs perfectly fine. They're going to try and reproduce it and see if they can track it down, they suspect a throttle position sensor or something like that.

I have 4k left on the extended warranty lol.

[VBdenny]

I was in NJ (north) over Thanksgiving and yeah it got cold. Not sure how full your gas tank was but as humid and warm as it was before switching to cold can cause quite a bit of condensation in your gas tank if the tank is low. I always make a point of keeping the tank full when the weather does that. I wouldn't run any higher octane than what is required. Not sure what is required but I haven't put any gas in the ES I just bought. Higher octane gasoline burns slower to compensate for the higher compression of engines requiring premium. In other cars it just make them start harder, and get worse fuel milage.

[SW03ES]

It was half full. The dealer had it for three days and were never able to find anything wrong nor were they able to make it act up again so they concluded the same thing which makes sense to me.

The manual specifies premium. You just bought an ES? Congrats!