I have a 2001 Hyundai Accent. The brake light recently came on. I never use the emergency brake so I am not sure what it may mean. I wanted to know if any one know what this could be about before I take the car in to a mechanic.
View 5 RepliesMy 2001 Mercedes CLK320 has ~150k on it. The maintenance etc. has been kept up to date. A few months ago the car engine started to run noisily and began to vibrate. It's worse when it's cold out or if the car is at stopped but not in park (like when you're at a stop light or drive thru). The vibration and noisy engine running lessen considerable after the car runs for a while and if the car is in the park. I already had a tune up by the MB dealer about 9 months ago. Diagnosis? Also, I'm obviously at that point where the dealer service shop no longer makes sense. I'm going to drive this car (hopefully) beyond 200k, however, it would be nice to get rid of this problem. Otherwise, the car really is almost as good as new!
View 7 RepliesOn my 2002 Subaru Forester (137,000 m), the check engine light came on. They diagnosed and repaired O2 sensor. About 300 miles later it came on again, this time they said the catalytic converter was cooked, and they blamed whatever caused the O2 sensor to fail (or the O2 sensor failure itself). After the repair (about $1300 and 30 miles later), I discovered that the engine oil was so low that it was not showing up on the dipstick (tho the oil light was not yet on). The shop (after admitting that they did not check the oil while it was in there) said it was related to catalytic converter failure. Does this make sense? I have only gone another 60 miles since the oil was refilled, but so far it looks OK. Should I be on the look-out for anything else?
View 16 RepliesI'm having issues with my 2004 Toyota Corolla with 118K. Every few weeks, the car will go through a phase where it will stall out, run rough and hesitate on acceleration. Oftentimes it is accompanied with the rotten egg smell coming from the catalytic converter. When I decelerate to a stop light, the car will stall. When I start it back up, I have to rev the engine to 2000 rpm in neutral to keep it from re-stalling. Once I get up to about 10-15 mph, the car will jerk and sputter, and at 40mph, the jerking motion gets worse. If the car doesn't stall it'll run rough and have the rotten egg smell. I'm assuming the smell is from unburnt gas.
I find it happens more often when I don't let the car warm up for a few minutes. I've taken it to my mechanic, and i've gone through 2 MAF sensors, cleaned the throttle body. I changed the iridium plugs at 102K and am on top of maintenance with filters, oil and such. Of course when I bring it to the mechanic, the problems don't show up, and we are kinda blind to what could be causing the issue. Also, if I park it for a day or two after the issue occurs, the problems go away. What to look for?
I have a 92' Escort GT and the clutch started to act up, it's not burnt cause it is fairly new. The clutch pedal feels slightly looser when pushing it to the floor, the feeling like a cable snapped or something?
I'm pretty sure the clutch is a hydraulic one, not 100% .. Is there a hydraulic reservoir that somewhere that might be low?
My girlfriend has a 2007 Volkswagen Rabbit, and she said that occasionally when she slows down as she's getting off the freeway her car downshifts from third to first really quickly and she's concerned. She took it to the dealer but, of course, they couldn't tell what was wrong because it only happens on occasion. They said it might have something to do with the brakes pumping if she slows down too fast. The car has 60,000 miles on it.
View 3 RepliesI've got a '99 GMC Sonoma that I purchased last summer. Great little rig, runs well and the previous owner took care of it. In the last couple of days the headlights and dashboard display have been flickering at all RPMs. I am guessing a bad battery or alternator, but previous related posts indicate it could be all sorts of stuff electrical.
From what I can tell from previous posts, the easier tests are
1) Voltage across the battery poles with engine off to test for a bad cell,
2) AC voltage at battery with engine running to test for alternator diode problems (should be no AC voltage, correct?), or
3) Something called the A.I.R. pump, which I've never heard of and wouldn't know how to test.
The last time I had this happen was on a 2000 Caravan, and it was the battery.
The timing belt broke on my aveo, destroying the engine. I replaced the engine with a used one. Now I get the car back on the road and the automatic transmission won't shift from 3rd gear into 4th. Is it possible this problem was caused when the new engine was installed, or the transmission was damaged when the timing belt broke?
View 4 RepliesI drive a 2000 Saturn S-series (SW) that has a lot of miles on it, and has been giving me consistent trouble lately--replaced the catalytic converter, transmission work, belts, coolant issues, you name it. That said, up until recently I would have referred to it as an extremely reliable car. The piles of money I've now put into it make me less likely to call it this. So, my question is twofold: a specific question and a general is-this-the-end question.
As of last night, my car has been having trouble shutting completely off. I am able to turn the key and take it out of the ignition, and the car shuts off--mostly. Something is still on (a fan, part of the engine?) and I have to turn the car on and off many times until it shuts off completely. Last night I had to drive it around the block before it would shut off. I took it to the mechanic today for a separate issue--hemorrhaging coolant--and asked them to look at the shutting off issue.
Of course, when they looked at it, my car suddenly shut off fine. They said that it probably has to do with the ignition switch, and that I'll need to take it to the dealer because my key is so old they can't recreate it from my old beaten up key from 14 years ago. (I'm not exactly sure what they have to recreate, or how an ignition switch works.) Is it time to chuck this car? Or is an ignition switch not a big deal?
I have a 2010 Hyundai Sonata with about 100,000 miles. Recently, it started doing funny things when I tried to start it. It would take a few tries, sometimes, or it might start immediately- very unpredictable. Someone suggested I try starting it in neutral, so I did that. It seemed to work for awhile, so the idea was maybe it was a switch in the car that can go funny and make it so the car won't start in park. Switch replaced, so everything's fine, right? No, still not starting on the first try. I took it to a car parts store to get the battery tested. The guy said, the battery is shot and is definitely the problem (he also said the starter was okay and he thinks alternator is also okay).
So I bought a brand new battery and had it put in... STILL NOT STARTING! Sometimes it will start in neutral, sometimes in park. It does not seem dependent on the temperature, the amount of time it's been since it was last started, or anything else that I can figure. However, if it is hooked up to a jump start, it will start immediately with no problem, in park. New switch, new battery. Is it likely the alternator? I'm trying to figure out how big of a hit this might be to my checking account. Other than this problem, the car runs perfectly. I'm confused that people keep diagnosing a problem and it still doesn't work. And that I might have replaced parts that weren't broken to begin with.