Car died in mid-drive, turned it off, restarted after I turned on ignition (vehicle, sedans)
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This is the first time my car ever died while driving it. It is 6 years old. It's 2,000 miles over for an oil change (i usually get it changed every 3,000 miles) but I've been reading that cars can go 5,000-10,000 miles without needing one. It was cold and snowy, could it have been weather related? Something else?
it might be weather related, but i doubt it. it might also be an anomaly also. a bit of code might have gotten corrupted and caused the problem. or you have a relay dying, probably a fuel pump relay, or a connection starting to go bad. at this point however i wouldnt worry about it, but if it happens again, then start checking electrical connections, grounds, etc. make sure they are all clean and tight.
Might be fuel pump, might be bad relay, might be crank or cam position sensor, might be bad ignition switch... you'll have to take it to a shop to get a definitive answer. There are too many possible causes for your symptom to be diagnosed without an actual diagnostic process.
this is the first time my car ever died while driving it. It is 6 years old. It's 2,000 miles over for an oil change (i usually get it changed every 3,000 miles) but i've been reading that cars can go 5,000-10,000 miles without needing one. It was cold and snowy, could it have been weather related? Something else?
Ditto. My son's car did that, and it ended up being the PCM computer was bad. It died twice over 2 weeks and started right up, but quit completely the third time. Pontiac & Toyota ended up recalling them.
It could have been just an isolated incident. If it happens again soon maybe a couple of times, then I would be concerned and possibly have it looked at.
That was exactly what killed mine, at least according to the error code from OBD2 scan!
On a serious note, it sounds more like a glitch or failure of electronics or a sensor than anything else.
Doesn't sound mechanical. I'd be on the lookout for a repeat incident. Then it might be time for an in-depth computer diagnostics.
You're either losing fuel (injectors/fuel pump) or fire (spark plugs/cables/distributor, etc.), again could be due to ECU or sensor malfunction.
You can easily go 6000-7000 or even more between oil changes but it all depends on:
- The type of oil used
- The type of filter used
- The weather/road conditions the vehicles is typically driven in
- How the vehicle is driven
I would recommend you stick with 3000 mile interval if you are using regular (mineral) motor oil and crappy oil filter like Fram.
Quality synthetic oil with decent filter and increasing the oil change interval to 6000+ should not be a problem.
Last edited by TurcoLoco; 12-06-2013 at 12:04 PM..
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