I have a 2006 Prius with about 215K miles on it that has started with a new symptom. When stopped at a traffic light, the engine will come on and idle fast, then turn off again. It continues to do this for a few seconds then stops. It will not do it again for a few days then it will repeat the problem.
View 19 RepliesI have a 2000 Corolla CE (4-spd auto) and today had to merge in fast moving traffic....the engine hit about 4000rpm for about 2 seconds or so and then dropped back down to 2800 and eventually 2300.
Not sure what the redline is for the 2000 corolla, but I'm guessing that hitting it especially when under load is bad even for a few seconds?
Turning the engine off and on in stop and go traffic saves gas but what does it do for the life of battery and starter?
View 12 RepliesI was driving my trusty 2002 152K miles, and came into a very long and very slow traffic jam on the side of a mountain. After about two hours of mostly stop and very little go, my CEL light came on. I am also seeing the "general fault" symbol, but it should be noted that my PS symbol has been showing for about a year because my PS died and I just didn't fix it.
View 11 RepliesI'm at 55k and over the past 2k-3k miles I have noticed my idle getting rougher and rougher when stopped at a light. I took it to my garage and they cleaned the fuel injection system/throttle body/MAF sensor. When I got the car beck it felt a little better but the idle is still pretty rough.
Compared to my wife's '09 Sienna, it is a lot more noticeable that the car is on. I'm in Florida so the AC is on. When I put the car in neutral, the idle become smooth.
I have a 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe. Within the last 2 months or so I have changed my timing belt, spark plugs, and all belts that needed to be changed. I notice that when I am idle at a traffic light, the car is a little rough or bumpy. Is this normal for its age, or should I be looking at something specific.
View 11 RepliesI'm fairly certain it's not a dead 12v battery. If when I shut down the car after a drive and immediately turn it back on and off again it makes the beeping noise only when the door is open. If I come back to it, the car's dead. I've done this a few times, the last time was in a parking lot and I was surrounded by cars so I had to jump it from the back.
The only fix I had figured out to avoid coming back to a dead car was to put the car in to gear, either reverse or drive and engage the throttle/roll the car maybe 10-15 feet, then back into the spot and shut it off. Is this normal and is it because I've shut it down too fast before letting it start back up?
So...I'm driving home yesterday and hit my left turn signal when all I get is a fast clicking sound. The light on the dash did not light up at all. Right signal is working fine.
Checked it out in the driveway -- my left signal is totally out. No front, rear or dash light when I hit the left turn signal. When I hit the hazard switch, I get only a right blinking light. The right turn signal functions as normal.
I thought this was probably a bad bulb so I replaced both the front AND the rear bulbs. Got no love - same results.
2008 Prius...
I have a 2000 1.8t and I was on my way home from work, sitting at a traffic light and my rpms went up to 1200-1500 and then my check engine light came on.
View 7 RepliesI've noticed that in the past week or so, whenever I'm stuck in traffic for a few minutes, the engine temp will slowly rise. it gets really bad if traffic is crawling; the temp has reached that 2nd highest line before the red area.
Whenever I get going again and hit the gas, the temp drops. What it is?
Car is currently at 86k miles. I don't believe the water pump has been replaced yet.
2000 Passat V6 2.8L ... Ran into some issues w/ the car and need some advice (and where to fix it!). The bottom line is the car is in Walnut, CA area. What's a good close by shop you would recommend? Here is the full description of the problem: A few weeks ago, this happened:
-Car started off fine
-Park the car
-When I come back in an hr, the car won't start
-The engine turns over, but there was no ignition
-After jumping the car, it started just fine
This occurred at least 2 times, and I have replaced the battery and haven't had a problem for a few weeks. Just past weekend, this started to happen:
-Car started off fine
-After driving a while (long distance,freeway), everything was fine
-Park the car, and it started it off fine
-After pulling out of the residential area, and pass a few blocks, at a red traffic light the engine just gave out and stopped
-The engine turns over but won't start
After ~40min or so when I finally gave up, just when I decided to call, then I gave it one more try and the car started just fine? After driving a few blocks, just as I pulled into the red traffic light, the engine gave out again!
This time, I called AAA for the tow. The tow guy came over, measured the battery (battery was fine), sprayed something into the engine and there was no ignition. At this point he concluded it was an ignition problem. We towed the car to the nearest shop. Right after we dropped it off, the engine was able to start!
At this point, the car shop said they won't be able to diagnose the issue since there is no check engine light and the engine seems to be running just fine. So I took the car for another spin, and after 2, 3 blocks, the engine gave out for the 3rd time.
I towed the car back (which was very close) very quickly hoping the problem persists at the shop - but weird enough, the engine started off just fine for the 3rd time.
In summary: the engine stopped 3 times at or came close at a red traffic light, it won't immediately start. after unknown condition/time, it would start just fine again.
At this time we were all dumbfounded. The car had been at the shop for 2 days now and they haven't been able to reproduce any issues.
Just cking..if I am in a traffic jam..I notice after awhile there is a shift in the engine and I don't get good mileage anymore until I am out of traffic..what gives??
View 3 RepliesMy daughter has a 1996 Saturn SL with something over 100K miles on it. It runs generally well, although using a quart of oil every thousand miles or so. It passes the smog check required for her registration. It's had new spark plugs within the recommended period.
Recently she went on a road trip, and hit stop-and-go traffic for a couple of hours in one large city; it being January in a warm climate, the weather that day was presumably neither very hot nor cold. The Check Engine light came on. Fortunately she had the time to take it to a mechanic recommended by a friend local to the area, who pronounced the engine OK. She proceeded without incident for the rest of her thousand mile trip.
Sounds to me like the emissions crossed some threshold beyond "marginal" during the lengthy idling and running at low speed. Question: if we wanted to avoid such a condition, what kind of repair would be recommended.
My check engine lights been on forever, like every VW, but now it's blinking fast, and the car isn't running right. It's messed up AGAIN, it's running really bad, like misfiring and not making power. It's shaky feeling in the throttle and power, almost like it's going to stall but it doesn't. What the problem is?
View 5 RepliesStrange Vibrations From Engine (Possibly?) While Riding Brakes In Slow Traffic. I tried to search but didn't come up with much that was similar.
View 2 RepliesI have a 2010 Toyota Prius. The other day I was stuck in a traffic jam - under 5 mph for at least 30 minutes.....my engine started knocking/vibrating...once out of the jam, it felt like the engine was "missing"....I took it to the Toyota dealer in town and they changed the spark plugs and cleaned the area...the car runs a little better but I was in a funeral procession yesterday and after about 15 minutes the car was knocking again. What the problem could be? The mileage on the car is 125,000 (I drive a lot!)...
View 3 RepliesWell I drove the wife to work in her Prius this morning. I noticed in heavy stop go traffic, the engine was idling more than normal. Normally the EV light is on when I am stationary ( idle) in traffic, but for some reason today almost more than 70% of the stop go traffic the RPM was felt via the brake pedal and EV light was off, but the battery had at least 3 bars or more I think.
The load on the vehicle was the usual, AC on at 65 in ECO mode and radio. I guess this question might be more a hybrid newbie question than anything else. So, just curious what "drives" the vehicle to be in EV mode when stationary in traffic or in my case earlier this morning what prevented it?
How can you tell if the EBH is working? I thing there is a little bit more heat coming from the vents, but its hard to tell. I am thinking of putting the car on ramps and touching the block next to where the EBH is. The gas engine doesn't seem to be shutting off any faster.
View 18 RepliesMy traction control light comes on sporadically when I am stopped at a light. Roads are dry and I have not hit anything. What is going on?
View 8 RepliesThe check engine light came on in my 05 so took my local shop and they checked the code and said it was the Idle Sensor. They were not able to make the repair. Since then the light went off for a few days then came back on. I now notice the gas motor does not turn off when I stop at a traffic light.
View 14 RepliesMy 07 has 149K on it and I never have checked the oil. I do have it changed every 5K and no one has ever mentioned it coming in low. My last oil change was at 145K and about 2000 miles later the master warning light would come on when I slowed down fast, especially if there was a turn. I noticed this on the twisties driving up the west coast. The problem then went away after a couple hundred miles. Then recently it started doing it again and so I checked my fluid levels everywhere just in cast that might be throwing the warning light and found my dipstick was bone dry.
I am surprised the warning was so general. Why not an oil light? or an oil pressure warning? WHen the master light came on, the screen just said "problem". Kinda vague for such a specific and important matter. My guess is that the oil got so low that the oil pump sucked some air due to the acceleration when cornering or stopping. (negative acceleration).
My question is what would make it start using oil suddenly. True I didn't check it b4 so I have nothing to compare it to, but as we all know, the Prii do not use much oil and if in fact it was so low that it was sucking air 2000 miles after an oil change, they either forgot to add oil or else it started using the 1 qt/ 600 miles that the owners manual tries to tell us is normal. I seriously doubt they shorted me on the last change. BTW I added some oil ....