My G37s coupe is coming up on 45,000 miles, I've had it for 3 years. A couple weeks ago, while driving on the street, the car apparently went into "fail safe" mode and would not run past 4,000 rpm. I was behind a bus at a complete stop, changed lanes to the left and accelerated so I wouldn't get rear-ended, the car sputtered and would not go past 4,000 rpm - pretty dangerous if I'm trying to accelerate and the car won't and I have fast traffic approaching me.

I took it in to the dealer, they kept it overnight and told me the next day that it's normal for the car not to accelerate soo quickly starting from idle, apparently "fail-safe" mode kicks in to protect the engine. The dealer showed me another G37 that did the same thing when you rev up the engine while in park. I took the car back, went onto the freeway, accelerated several times, and it seemed fine. I thought it was a one-off incident.

TODAY, under normal driving conditions, it did the same thing! car won't go past 4,000 rpm and won't accelerate properly - extremely dangerous and could easily lead to an accident, especially when I'm driving in the crazy stop & go conditions of L.A. I took the car in to the dealer immediately, waiting to hear what they say.


ANYONE ELSE HAVE THIS PROBLEM? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Btw, I also have what seems to be the common problems of the muffler rattling and rough downshifting at the lower gears as I come to a stop. Those don't scare me as much as this "fail safe" problem does.....

 

Its not normal to go into "limp mode" unless something is not right with your car. What the dealer showed you was the rev-limiter! That is there to protect your car while in park or when you're driving and forget to shift gears. I'd bring it back or go to another dealer.

 

I would def take it to another dealer. Get them to fix it.

 

how is the limp mode works? because my car can go pass 4k with any gear..

Thanks

 

Mine went into a "limp mode" when I was running with her for the first month. Limp mode for me was that I can't go pass 1 k RPM nor go faster than 10 mph.. it put me in quite a spot.. thank god I was not on highway.

I pulled over to the nearest fast food and try to restart her a few times. She sounded weird and didn't sound normal at all. I waited another 30 mins and started her up again. Sound went back to normal but the check engine light came on.

Next day I went to the dealership and they just reset the lights and computer ( ECU i think ? ) It has been okay ever since *knock on wood*

Did you just drive you car pretty rough right after start up?

 

Doesn't sound normal. Try another dealership. Which one did you go to?
__________________
Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote

 

When you're in park yes it does not let you rev over 5k or so but when you're driving you should be able to rev all the way to redline. Those idiots don't know WTF they're talking about.

 

Which Dealer did you take it to?

 

I have had this same issue and it happened 3 times.

First time took it to the dealer and no problem was found.
Happened again 3 weeks later, took it back in and there was a update for the transmission.
Happened 6 days later, took it back in was told there was an engine update and a different transmission update they could try.

Its been 3 weeks since then, and so far that has not happened. I do notice shifting from park to drive is tough sometimes and when the car shifts from 1 -> 2->3 it feels like it slides into gear.

My car is an 09 and this started 17 months after I got it. The service manager tried to tell me the car was not programmed for our altitude. I called BS on that since it took 17 months for it to start acting up.

Not sure what to do. I don't really trust the car. It is a lease thankfully so I will not be stuck with it. When the car goes into "fail safe" I pull over, turn it off for a few minutes then start it back up and it runs fine.

 

I've been taking the car to the dealer in Glendale, CA. I've never driven the car "hard" - just normal driving like any other car. So I took the car back to the dealer last weekend (9/23). I went on a road test with the technician, and, of-course the car is driving normal without any problems. They did an engine oil flush and a fuel induction to clean the fuel injection system (charging me $300). I wasn't thrilled to pay for all that, but it's been 3yrs and the car hasn't had any of those services before so I thought it's fine.

I drove the car for a week without any further problems. Yesterday (10/2), it started acting up again on my way back home in the evening. I made a left turn (normal speeds) and as I completed the turn and started to accelerate, the engine would not go beyond 3,750 RPM. As soon as I got home, I took a video camera and recorded what was going on. Went on the road on flat terrian and on an incline and the car would not go over 3,750 RPM. As soon as it hit this revolution, the car would jerk and drop in RPM. I demonstrated this several time and captured the dashboard all on video while this is going on. I'm going to take the car back to the dealer tomorrow morning (since the service dept is closed on sundays) and show them the video. If they can't do something about it this time, I'll try another dealer....

 

You have a problem they can't diagnose and they sell you an engine oil and fuel system flush? Those services are Jiffy Lube type BS, they ripped you off, shame on them. Don't bother going back there, go somewhere else.

 

Yeah, I feel like I got suckered a little bit, but I don't want them to accuse me of not cooperating. By some miracle, I was hoping the cleaning would do the trick.

The problem with going to a different dealer is that they are so far away. I've got a job & other things going on, so my time is really limited. I hear you though, I'll do my best to see if another dealer can do anything....

 

Gotcha, there are relatively alot of dealers in SoCal, I would imagine you wouldn't have to drive more than 20-30 miles to get to another one.

Good luck.

 

ask the dealer to request a master mechanic from corporate. I had trans problems with my 6mt, a lot of odd noises, some hesitation, excessive chatter, all beyond the normal scope of how noisy these cars are, and the mechanic recommended the dealership swap the entirity of the transmission clutch flywheel bearings etc... about $8k for free. Sometimes the dealer has an idea of what is wrong, but is afraid they will not be able to prove it to corporate and get reimbursed for the warranty work. Don't let them tell you they can't duplicate it...

 

i had the same issue
and i got check engine light... code p0081
it ended up to be the intake solenoid ... they just cleaned it and all is great !

u might need to ask them to check it