Power Loss At Start-Up
 

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has the same issue? My 2013 Nismo occasionally loses power at start-up. The car starts fine but when I start driving it feels like a 2 cylinder car or like the power is going through a bottleneck when I accelerate. I can floor it in 1st and it doesn't have the beefy throttle as usual and does this in all gears. This is not like another thread I read where the Tach won't go past 3500 rpms. It drives completely normal except that there is a strained acceleration. This has been going on for around a year but previously was once in two months.

It only happens if the car has been off for around 24 hours in my garage. I can duplicate it every weekend and happens 100% if the air conditioner is in the on position prior to starting. The only fix is to either drive for a little, pull over, turn off and re-start around 5-7 times or to stay in one place and restart 5-7 times. I do maintenance every three months at the dealership, and the dealership scratches their head because there is no computer error code. I have never duplicated it at the dealership because I recently figured out how to make it happen. It never happens once on the road or after a day at work. Now that I can duplicate it I plan to go to the dealership but will probably have to leave it for a couple of days for them to see. I thought if maybe someone has had this issue or has any ideas it might save some time.

The only engine modification is that I have Stillen cool air intakes but have had this since the car was new. Any assistance would be appreciated.

this happened to me but I did a stupid *** thing and let the oil get low. I was almost a total of 3 quarts low and the car lagged in 1 st gear.. once I replaced the oil all was good. these cars burn oil like crazy.. at least mine does.. about 1.5 quarts every 3k miles. I will never let that happen again.

Hmm. Only when A/C is engaged? Never when it is off?

Makes me think that either the compressor isn't quite turning smoothly on startup or that the belt is slipping.

Edit: Wait -- also make sure your intakes aren't rubbing against the AC lines. Small leaks and system pressure issues cause all sorts of funky problems with the A/C...

Actually, I've determined that it does exhibit the problem both with the air on or off. It's just that I can duplicate it if the car is off for a 24 hour period and the air is on at start-up. I recently cleaned the K&N air filter on the cool air induction and all lines to the air conditioner are clear. The car has low mileage and goes to the dealer every 3 months for an oil change. The last time I had it serviced they kept it for the entire day to check this issue and found nothing. They have a guy that only works on Nismo's and GT-R's so I have to believe he is pretty experienced but the issue seems to be getting worse...

Sounds like it could be the ECM losing power causing it to lose tuning data. Just a guess.

I just recently had issue that car was sluggish over 3000 rpm. Dealer checked Maf, previous work they did on vvel etc. Ended up being the ECM, they replaced and car has normal power again.

(They said ECM for some reason was reading as an automatic, even though car is manual)

How is battery voltage?

A battery that is crapping out or has corroded leads might perk up after its run a bit and had the alternator running to bump the voltage up.

Thanks for your response! I have a scheduled appointment next Friday and have already relayed the ECM info from your post. I'll let you know what happens.

The battery, cables and voltage is all normal. I am bringing all the info from posted responses to the dealership for reference. Thanks for taking the time to respond!

No problem -- good luck!

one more thing.. Make sure the filters onteh Cold Air intake are clean.. I live in Bakersfield so we get a lot of dust in the air and I have to clean my almost every single oil change, or the car wont perform as well. I went to work last week and a dust storm picked up while driving to work. I noticed within a couple days after my car was taking off slow and not as responsive. So I took my filters out and cleaned them.. Problem solved!

Finally got my car to the dealer. This has been an occasional situation so each time I brought to the dealership, they couldn't duplicate. Several days ago, the car acted up and had power loss. I drove straight to the service dept. The mechanic drove with me and said that the car is in fail-safe mode. I told him about the advice from this forum regarding ECM and cool air intake. I cleaned the cool air about a month ago and he said it probably wasn't that.

After 4 days at the shop, they only had theories because they couldn't duplicate the power loss. Nissan warranty people wouldn't authorize any repairs because they said it has after market Stillen Cool Air induction. They wanted the factory stuff put back on before they would authorize any repairs. The dealership was very helpful and agree to take the Stillen off and put all the old stuff back on for diagnostics. This has been really stupid because this has been doing this since before my Stillen installation. The car has only 20,000 miles and I've had it since it was new.

I'll update as soon as there is any info. Thanks everyone for your input!

This thread making me paranoid. Sheesh, gonna go check my oil now.

Sorry to bring an old thread back to life, but David did they ever figure out your problem?

I ask because I have a completely stock 2013 that has this exact issue. The dealer replaced one of the MAF a while back when the check engine light came on and insisted that would cure this issue, but of course it didn't.. I'm at a loss on how to get the dealer to figure this out. They are 2 and a half hours from me and I'm about 3000 miles from being out of warranty...

Anyway, I was hopeful your dealer figured it out with you or you know what I need to ask them to check at least.

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

You live in Mendocino California and the nearest Nissan dealership is 2.5hours away? :icon14:

Well I can shorten that time with the Z (hwy 20 or 128 is so fun in that car) but yeah, Santa Rosa is about 2.5 hours and that is the "close" dealer.. haha

I had a similar issue that I fixed not too long ago. Turns out I had a vacuum leak post MAF sensor because one of the cheap plastic pieces on the post MAF tube had snapped and was now just sucking in air from the engine compartment. I would check all the lines coming out of the intake just to make sure that wasn't the issue. I thought it was a bad tune as well but now my car's 100% again.

I've gone over about everything I can see / check. Nothing looks out of place. IF it happens, which is right after a cold start typically within a minute of driving. Almost always it occurs when I'm shifting from first to second. As soon as I shift into second, I'll feel a hesitation, then it's almost like the computer remaps the throttle. If I feather the throttle it will still have just a little power, if I romp on it, nothing or I'll start actually slowing. It is possible to redline it still in neutral but the car isn't happy about it.

The trick to fixing it is to shut the engine off for about 10 to 15 seconds. I restart and everything is back to normal.

It's not a limp mode thing, it's not a high heat issue since it's still cold. Usually the oil temp isn't even registering yet... It's always after a completely cold start if it happens, which isn't all the time but enough now to be annoying me. :-/

Since the dealer is 2.5 hours away I can't just drive it to them while it's happening. Leaving it at the dealership isn't going to insure they find the problem since it doesn't happen all the time and other than the cold start I don't have a set of "do this and it'll happen" scenarios... Grr! lol

fuel pressure problem?

I have the same exact problem. Mines is a 2013 6mt sport package. Completely stock. Happens on cold start. I always ended up pulling over and shutting the car off or reset the ecu via gas pedal method.

sounds like it's a 2013 model issue? thinking back to my own experiments and attempts at inducing the lag, the only thing that comes to mind is a faulty brake switch (or one that isnt correctly adjusted). or a bug in the ECM software.

can you warm up the engine fully and then start driving? will it fault then?
ie. start the car and do not touch anything or any pedals til the engine is warmed up, idling at 650ish rpm, both radiator hoses hot etc.

This will rule out a buggy cold start software issue

For my issue it's still happens when the car is warmed up.

This "power loss," is pretty much the throttle not opening up as wide especially under 3k RPM. Or you'll get a surge after 2k RPM. This happened when I was stock, and seems to have been remedied by replacing one of the brake switches. I still get this problem occasionally as well after a cold start, or after driving for long periods of time. The car sounds different as if it is subdued, so it's obvious the throttle isn't opening up as wide or opens up at a slower rate as the driver commands it.

This is the one thing I don't like about DBW systems since the ECU is constantly optimizing for efficiency. One thing you can test, though, is to rev it past 3k RPM in 1st (no need to floor it), and then in 2nd you'll feel the throttle response is much different.

Dude, I have the exact same problem! I thought it was limp mode( after reading this thread --> http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...everytime.html) but I guess it's actually called fail safe mode. My car is completely stock '13 base auto. What is wrong with the 2013 models?

Haven't seen this yet; but i read all comment's and seen where the K&N air filters were recently cleaned......do not over oil.
if mafs get dirty-greatly affects throttle response.
also if your Z sits for any period of time,,definitely reccomend E-Free Gasoline & not an additive/treatment.

My car is completely stock. Stock intake, stock everything power train related. Only aftermarket thing I have is a audio/video head unit. My Z has 35XXX miles and I have done all the scheduled maintenance myself (didn't want to get raped by Nissan) with the best stuff available. I haven't even driven it that hard. Freakin Nissan..

I get on mine a little.https://vimeo.com/136968803


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i run in to the same problem ever once in a while but it always changes a bit. sometimes first gear is weak and second pulls hard and other times its the other way around.

I'm having the exact same problem. My 2013 370 Z convertible with sports package, occasionally loses power at start-up. The car starts fine but when I start driving it feels like a 2 cylinder car or like the power is going through a bottleneck when I accelerate. I can floor it in 1st and it doesn't have the beefy throttle as usual and does this in all gears. This is not like another thread I read where the Tach won't go past 3500 rpms. It drives completely normal except that there is a strained acceleration.

I can pull over. Shut the car down and start it back up and run just fine. Happens once in a great while.

This exact thing happens to me. Did either of you guys find a solution or even the isusue? I'm completely stock as well.

Has anyone had any luck in diagnosing this issue? I have a 2013 sport with Stillen CAI and Exhaust. I've been having the exact same issue and had the issue pop up this morning from a cold start

I guess this issue has not been resolved yet, I have a 2009 370 sports package with just k&n filters in the stock location with fast intentions long tube headers and exhaust. I still get this issue from time to time , sometimes it's when it's cold sometimes it's fully warmed up. Have any of the performance shops such as fast intentions come across this before and have fixed it?

I've had the same problem with my 2014 Nismo with Stillen cold air intake. Intermittent safe mode on start-up. Returns to normal after shut-down for 15-20 seconds. Dealer has been working on it for a week now, still no answer. Factory technician was in and also looked at it--no joy. Replacing MAFs because they failed, but techs don't believe they are the cause.

Follow-up
 

After 17 shop hours of diagnosis, including reinstalling the OEM intake, inspecting the IVT sprocket, pulling the tranny to check the flywheel, replacing the positive battery cable, and other tests, the factory tech has identified the ECM as the culprit. New one being installed tomorrow, under warranty because the problem was documented in my dealer service history before the bumper to bumper warranty expired. Keeping my fingers crossed.

back to the drawing board...
 

Now 23 hours of diagnosis & still no joy. ECM didn't cure it, so the factory rep now authorized them to try the IVT sprockets (the local tech suggested them as the culprit early on, but the factory wouldn't authorize trying it under warranty until they ruled out everything else, up to this point, first). Local tech looking kinda smug right about now. Will be intolerable if this works. Stay tuned...

Strike 4
 

IVT sprocket not it. Factory tech line rep flying out to inspect...

Send me the logs I can try to get you answer.

just got my car back
 

After five weeks of diagnosis, both dealer and factory tech believe everything is now operating nominally. consensus appears to be sticking IVT sprocket(s) were, in fact, the culprit. ended up getting a new ECM, IVT sprockets, timing chain (all under warranty as part of diagnosing the problem). Kudos to dealership for not giving up and (fingers crossed) getting to the bottom of it.

Impressive. Thanks for following up along the way :tiphat:

I fixed this problem by giving the throttle bodies a thorough cleaning.