# 2000 Sentra SE - starting troubles / stall while driving / clock & radio reset



## weinberk (Jun 8, 2007)

Hi folks.

My wife has a manual 2000 Sentra SE (sr20de engine). We bought it new and it's only got 50k miles on it. First I should say that my wife has been driving manual cars all her life, no problems, quite a smooth shifter if I must say so myself.

About 8 months ago, the car stalled while she was pulling nose-first into a parking space. She rolled the rest of the way. She's not sure if she actually stalled the car (VERY unusual for her) or if something went wrong. When she came back to the car, it wouldn't start. No clicking, almost as if the battery was dead. She kept trying and it started finally. (she doesn't remember if there were any dash lights for this instance).

No more problems until 4 months later. Same basic thing, although this time there was no stall. About 20 minutes after having driven the car (which started fine for that drive), the car wouldn't start. Try and try again, no dash lights this time for sure, but eventually it started.

A month after that, same thing. We called AAA this time, they came, jumped the car right away. We immediately replaced the battery with a new one.

Three months after that (two days ago), my wife was driving in heavy traffic and again the car stalled. She's been doing this same commute for several years, knows the roads and the traffic and has never stalled before. It stalled. Just before stalling the some dash lights illuminated. She thinks oil pressure and one other. Again, she's not sure if she just screwed up and stalled the car or if something went wrong. When she tried to start the car this time, nothing happened, NO dash lights came on, no clicking that she heard. It was almost like she wasn't turning the key. 

The car finally did start. This time, *the clock and radio presets were all reset.* Note that this is with the new battery. Another interesting point is that once, while trying and trying to start the RPM guage went up to about 500, very slowly, even though the engine wasn't on.

We checked things yesterday with a multimeter, though we couldn't get the car to misbehave. Everything checked out. My first thought was that it's a bad alternator or some kind of sporatic short, but who knows?

Has anyone else had this experience? Any suggestions?

Thanks.




_Modified by weinberk at 7:16 AM 6/8/2007_


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## todd_19204 (Jun 17, 2007)

same thing has happen to me on my 2001 1.8. It's the M.A.F. sensor. No error codes, no telling when it goes out, it just does. Drove 3 blocks in heavy traffic at 20 mph... bout $100 if you order it, $300 at Napa, Autozone, etc...


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## dreamskyline (Nov 19, 2006)

well all the cars power comes from the battery until the engine uses the alternator power, if you replaced the battery then everything should work fine but an important clue is that the clock radio resets, this only happens when a battery cable is disconnected, so check the wire going from the positive terminal of your battery and the starter, it might look fine but under the protective wrap it might be burnt out or not tightned all the way, ALSO this could be the same case with your ground wire(s),the one attached to the ground side of the battery terminal and chassis,when you dissconnect the ground cable in any car there is no power and everything resets so i would replace the ground cable from the chassis to the battery and the power cable going from the postive side of the battery to the starter,these are cheap and easy to install,go with the factory ones though coz they will fit properly an they are only a few dollars more. this would also eliminate this later if the problem wasnt fixed and you would only be out a few bucks.also check or replace the wire to the alternator, maybe its not getting enough charge from the battery, hope that helps post your results


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