Oldsmobile - Ninety-eight :: 1995 - No Engine Braking When Going Downhill
Apr 18, 2012
I have a 1995 Oldsmobile 98 sedan with engine braking problems. It has the 3800 engine (complete with a slight intake manifold leak, as per the GM custom) and low miles. I recently moved from the midwest to the west coast, where this battleship encountered real mountains for the first time on the road trip west. Driving into Yellowstone NP from Cody, Wyoming I encountered a particularly hilly stretch of US highway that had a steep grade and plenty of curves down the hill.
I took the car out of overdrive and put it down a gear to let the engine braking assist. Nothing happened. The car continued to speed up with no assistance from the engine, even in 2nd, which should have held me at around 45-50. To test this on the next big drop, I started at the top from a full stop, and in first gear. I should have been walking down the mountain, but instead the car kept speeding up to around 40 and 4000 rpms before I relented and shifted up.
Is this a transmission problem? Or would the lack of engine braking downhill but no transmission problems when tooling around town elsewhere indicate something else? Maybe a vacuum leak?
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Module or cam/crank sensors most likely? How difficult are the sensors to replace if module doesn't fix problem? 120 k mileage.
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Recently had transmission filter and fluid changed (at 80,000 miles). I had no problems up to that point. Now if you make a hard stop the car will not move for 15 to 30 seconds. Acts like its in neutral. Mechanic put another filter in trying to solve problem, no luck. Car going uphill, downhill, or on level before stop makes no difference. Moving shift lever to another gear after stop changes nothing. Its a 1990 model
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I have noticed a couple times now on my Automatic S that the engine keeps revving an additional 1,000 - 2,000 rpms when I am braking going down a hill. Is this normal? It doesn't occur on flat roads or going uphill, but only downhill. It's almost as if it downshifts when I brake. Not sure if this is normal or not, but it just didn't feel right.
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I drive a 2005 Ford Explorer (automatic) with 84k miles on it. Recently when I was driving on cruise control at 35 mp/h down a hill and applied the breaks to make a turn, the engine completely shut off. The lights came on, the power steering went off, the engine had shut off. I pulled over, turned the key off, turned it back on and it started no problem. I drove it for 3 days without problems (and without using cruise control of course), then I took the car to a shop. They ran diagnostics on it, test drove it, but couldn't find anything wrong with the cruise control or the transmission. I don't think they tested this driving downhill as the shop is not in a hilly area. Tonight, I went down the same road again, 35 mp/h in cruise control, slowed down for the same turn, and the engine shut off again exactly the same way it did before. What this could be?
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I drive a 1995 Toyta Corolla. Two things that I should mention that may or may not be relevant. I have a history of electrical issues (I've replaced my alternator 3 times) primarily when it has been wet outside. I have also noticed smoke under my hood. I was initially scared this was an engine issue, but my brother assures this is due to a power steering leak
The issue at hand:
For the last couple days I've noticed a few things worth mentioning. First my brake light has come on a handful of times, however oddly never when actually braking. Secondly, my enigine will sometimes but not always stop running when I brake. At this point all my electrical systems still work (lights etc.) and all the lights on my panel come on (which I understand is normal if a car is on but engine not running). Lastly, my car has never not stopped, but it has been for the lack of a better term "mushy" for a couple weeks.
When I go to start the car again after this engine stop, sometimes it will immediately start, sometimes it will struggle (rewr rewr rewr) but then start, sometimes it will struggle and go to battery noise ""click click click"", and if we start getting the battery clicks it stays there until jumped.
My brother today went and checked my battery with an multimeter, and he states that my battery is both maintaining a charge and charging (He told me to tell you he got Cold not started 12.3 volts, car running 14.48).
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Right now my husband and I are driving from San Luis Obispo Ca to LA and back in a day. We noticed right before the grape vine on the I5 that the engine was really working, even on flat ground. Looked at the battery and it was purple. We have been driving for about 2 hours averaging about 70mph on mostly flat land. The battery finally charged itself on the big downhill of the grapevine (I5) but we're noticing we're running right through it again unless we start to break more. So, it's not getting any recharge during driving, just breaking. Can it be the generator? What causes this?
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So my 4motion downshifts going downhill while braking...it's annoying as hell! My DSG used to do the same thing but being a faster tranny it was actually NOT annoying... Is there a way to reflash the tranny software? Maybe with an older code because my 06 didn't do this but my 08 does...
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I've been mostly content with my Prius Plug-in for nearly a year now. But, as a driver very consciously aware of what my car is doing, I have many complaints concerning the internal combustion engine igniting when not needed, or remaining on for far too long. I do my best to work around them, but I feel the need to enumerate my complaints and vent about them. Note I live in southern California where cold weather is extremely rare, and I consciously don't use the heater or AC.
ICE ignites when braking downhill on a full charge. I've heard users say this is necessary because if the battery is full, regenerative braking will overcharge the battery.
ICE ignites if I step on the accelerator ever so slightly too hard. I understand that Toyota claims it needs to use ICE to deliver the extra power to the wheels asked for by the driver, but I just don't believe that. The engine usually simply idles and does not power the wheels at all when this happens, meanwhile the wheels are still running on 100% EV power. I know this because I've become in tune to exactly when the ICE powers the wheels and when it's not. The easiest sign of ICE actually powering wheels is when the accelerator begins to vibrate and I hear the ICE rev up. The second sign is by watching the MPG meter. If you're cruising at something like 50 MPH, and the ICE is idling, you'll see it getting about 80-90 MPG. When it actually supplies useful power, it suddenly drops down to 50 or below.
ICE ignites if the car moves faster than 65 MPH. This seems totally arbitrary to me. For example, it does not matter if you're accelerating steep downhill in neutral, or on a level highway just very slowly accelerating past 65. You can watch the power meter the whole time, and even if it doesn't get anywhere near the (power) section to the far right, the ICE still ignites as soon as you hit 66. In those situations, why does it even think it needs any extra power? And to top it all off, all it really does is idle for at least a minute anyway.
The ICE runs only momentarily, but here's the kicker: If you immediately let go of the accelerator, decelerate to below 65 MPH, or even come to a full stop at a red light, the ICE still continues to run for at least a minute or two. Worse still, it idles for about a minute regardless of speed or power, then suddenly decides that it should power the wheels for a few seconds even if no variables have changed, and it does this for about 30 seconds more before finally deciding to suddenly pop back into pure EV mode. How you work around all of this? Stop at a red light, shut off the car, and restart it. As it powers on, it stays in EV mode, proving to you that it never needed to be sitting there idling in the first place.
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Have a 2011 Toyota Sienna with about 50k. Ive been having this problem for over a year but was not very noticeable. But in the last several months, the shudder has increased and the car shakes a good deal when I brake downhill.
The problem does not happen on a flat surface or downhill.
I did some online search and some seem to point to warped brake rotors. Is that likely? Also more importantly, how dangerous is it to drive more in this condition? From where we live we need to negotiate steep downhill every day.
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My 2002 v6 camry is shaking while braking on a downhill at highway speed 60mph. This started yesterday. Afterwards on level surface and lower speed no shaking. Late yesterday, again on highway downhill, more shaking.
I live on a mountain and do not notice the shaking coming down at 30mph, including yesterday.
A couple of months ago the pads were 75% and the rotors were resurfaced approx 4000 miles ago. And the rotors are the third pair if i remember correctly.
I bought the car new and it has 121000 miles on it.
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I have 2011 RX AWD and noticed when driving downhill and braking, car will shake. It feels like the wheels are shaking but the steering wheel does not. Is it rotors or something else?
Also RX is certified pre owned warranty for another 30k miles and I want to do alignment on it but not sure if warranty will cover that ?
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Curiosity question. I've noticed that on a downhill of a couple miles, especially in "braking" mode or with the cruise control on, the motor/generator and engine are used to keep the speed down and the battery gets charged to the very top quite quickly. That's good!
On a really long downhill, will the motor/generator still be used for braking and the excess electricity discarded to keep from overcharging the battery?
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I'm a new owner to my first 4x4 vehicle. My vehicle is a 2007 f150 xlt. Today while I was driving into work I had my vehicle in 4wd high. As I was going down hill I let off the gas and started braking. When all of a sudden my 4wd drive switched into neutral. I am wondering what could cause this to happen and whether it's an issue or not? It is snowing which was my purpose for being in 4wd.
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I drive a 1995 olds Supreme 3.1 that has 125,000 miles. It runs like a dream but I have been having one problem I cannot pinpoint a solution for. When started cold, it runs and drives perfectly all day long, no problem. However once it reaches operating temperature and is shut off for a short period of time, it shudders and stalls upon restart. Then it does not restart until the engine is cool. The problem has been intermittent and not as much of an issue during the winter, but as spring approaches I worry it may become a bigger problem.
It has had a recent tune up: new spark plugs, wires, radiator, hoses, fuel filter, fuel pump, air filter, and water pump. This issue existed before all these parts were replaced.
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My brother's 1995 chevy lumina 3.1 engine has been dying while braking for a stop and while reversing. Has replaced fuel filter, map sensor, throttle sensor, o2 sensors and still no change. He says he doesn't believe a tune-up is the cause either.
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I have a 1995 Mazda Truck, B2300 series that is a 4 wheel drive. Recently I had the front brakes replaced, new clay disc brakes. Not so long after that I started to hear a noise as I was braking as well as squeaking. I thought, of course it had something to do with the new brakes. The sound happened occasionally at first and now is every time I brake.
I can hear it as I'm coming to a stop, sounding like it's coming from the rear. It's a rubbing type noise, like a wa, wa, wa, wa that happens until I have stopped. After 2 mechanics I now have a $700 estimate to replace the u-joint, and they aren't even sure if that will fix it.
The front brakes are new. The rear drums have been replaced and machined to fit properly (they thought that was the issue). Is this common or something that I have to fix every such and such miles?
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Traveling downhill, with no throttle input. The car is regenerating power as I coast down the hill. I hear the engine turn on and rev up. I glance at the Scangauge and see RPM is at 3045 or so. MPG is still 9999 and SOC is 77.
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How the synergy drive is working. Why when coming down on a long down hill (mountain pass for example) the car stays at high RPM ? That usually happens when battery is charge to its MAX of 80%.
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2005 Ford Escape, 4-cylinder with ~75,000 miles. I experience engine misfire when driving on the highway after 1+ hours that only occurs when I'm going DOWNHILL. The misfire will last between 36-41 seconds and then goes back to operating fine. Doesn't occur on every downhill and doesn't occur on steep downhills during in-town driving. The diagnostics always show the error for cylinders 1 and 4. The following repairs have been made:
Replaced all 4 spark plugs and ignition coils, replaced fuel filter, fuel injectors cleaned and tested showing no concerns.
Misfires reoccur during next long drive 6 months later, compression test performed and failed. All four fuel injectors replaced and one connector replaced.
Misfires reoccurred again during next long drive 4 months later.
I am stumped as to why the problem keeps happening, why it only occurs when going downhill, and why it seems to last for a fairly consistent length of time.
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Having some issues with my 2003 Alero 4 cylinder. Upon start the entire engine shudders and the check engine light flashes. I have to turn it off and turn it on and it will stop most of the time. I've taken it in and the mechanics can't get it to reproduce the same issue for them. Just replaced all four plugs, boots, ignition coil.
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