My 2000 Nissan Altima started acting up – stalling when I accelerated, but surprisingly, it would restart, only to stall again under load or when accelerating. The dreaded “Service Engine Soon” light was glaring at me. A friend, thinking he was being helpful, hooked up his OTC scanner. Big mistake. Right after that, the car refused to start at all. It would crank, but no ignition. Frustration set in as we couldn’t even pull any error codes. We left it overnight, hoping for a miracle.
The next morning, to my surprise, it started! I managed to drive it home and did some basic maintenance – changed the fuel filter and oil. It seemed okay for a day, but then the stalling returned, this time with my daughter behind the wheel. Enough was enough. I dove into online research and decided it was time to invest in my own Car Computer Box Scanner. I ordered an Ancel 410 from Amazon for a reasonable $73.00.
While waiting for my scanner to arrive, I continued my YouTube investigations into possible causes. Bingo! I discovered a vacuum hose that looked like it had become a chew toy for a rodent – likely the culprit who had nested in my engine over the winter (I had evicted him and his Christmas wreath-like nest a while back). Patching up the leaky vacuum hose seemed to solve the stalling issue. The “Service Engine Soon” light was still mocking me, but the car was running smoothly after several test drives. It seemed the vacuum leak was the cause of both the stalling and the warning light.
