my 2010 altima 2.5s died on me while driving on the highway. all the lights on dash come on remote locks / unlocks doors trunk etc as it should but car will not crank start and run. everything that has come up when researching this problem says its the steering wheel lock actuator stuck in the lock position. only problem with replacing it other than the price of $600 for a new one is my car does not have the actuator!!! it is nowhere to be found and neither is a gps tracker box, not that we can find anyway. my husband is a certified mechanic of 25 years and this is the only thing that he has come across that he dont have a clue on what to do or how to fix it. please help!!!

It's unusual for an ESCL to cause the car to die, usually you shut them off and they fail to wake up. On a gen4 the symptoms are a yellow key icon in the cluster, a "Press Brake" message in the info display, and no other response from the Start Button. If any other lamps are lit in the cluster, the key icon isn't yellow, or the Start Button elicits any response whatsoever, then the ESCL isn't causing your issue.

when i push the start button once for the accessories everything comes on including every warning light there could possibly be on the dash. but when i push the brake pedal and push the start button again to start the car it just goes back to the off position..no accessories no nothing

Most likely you have a bad Brake Pedal Switch. Check your brake lamps, if they're out when you push the pedal then that's why it won't crank. If the brake lamps work, check your fusuble links. If the big link for the BCM or one of the links on the battery card blows, you can get all sorts of symptoms.

Oh, PS - Make sure the Detente Switch on the shift knob isn't depressed or stuck. That will prevent cranking too, and we frequently see rubber shift knob covers cause problems not letting the knob release.

you wont believe what was wrong with it!!! after all the researching and googling and forums etc, it turned out to be something simple that was not mentioned ANYWHERE.....2 blown fuses. 1 for the push button and 1 for the steering lock. replaced those 2 fuses and it started right up with no problem!!!! thanks for the input you gave tho i appreciate it!!!

Glad you got it started, but since the car died while driving, you should probably find out why the fuses blew. The ESCL gets CPU power from the BCM but motor power from the IPDM, so it's possible your BCM is going south. The button also shares fuse 9 with the doghouse, but neither of those will kill the car while running, just prevent it from restarting.