I had a spark plug break on me and it caused a misfire. I took it in and the mechanic replaced all spark plugs and wires. After getting the car back, I experience an occasional engine hiccup here and there. Took it back to the mechanic and told me that he cleaned off the valves of carbon build up. This did not alleviate the current symptoms. It is more noticeable while I am idling. It feels like a jolt. It appears to be worse after a cold start. I do not have a check engine light or do I notice the RPM needle go wild. What is the mechanic missing? What could still be wrong with the engine? Vehicle is a 2001 Ford Windstar Sports SE, 6cyl, 3.8L ....
View 5 RepliesI found a steal of a car for my son, a 2003 Monte Carlo SS. The car had been hit slightly in the LF corner. The car needed front brakes, so I bought a package off Ebay that had rotors, pads, and wheel hubs. I replaced the LF wheel hub when we did the brakes and kept one for a spare since the RF felt good.
Shortly after replacing these parts, the car started to make a popping sound when you would turn right. The popping sound is much like an exhaust pipe dragging on the ground. We checked to make sure the was no contact with moving parts. After reading several forums, we decided to replace the LF hub with the spare we had. This did not fix the situation, so we put the first replacement LF hub onto the RF. Still no fix.
After this we decided to take the car to a empty parking lot and drove in circles trying to find the source of the noise. We discovered that the noise would go away if the car was put into neutral. We were still unable to locate the source of the noise.
So I decided to jack the car up and put it in gear and turn right. The noise did not occur with no load on the tires. However the u-joints on the axles were making some excessive noise, so I put in a new set of axles. Again this did not fix the noise. Now thinking the source must be in the differential.
Well two days after putting in new axles, the transmission went out. This will surely fix it, right? Well the mechanic that fixed the transmission said the pump had gone out, and it appeared the differential was creating shavings that caused this situation. GREAT WE FOUND THE SOURCE. Not so much!
Car still makes noise while turning right after replacing the transmission. I have driven myself crazy trying to find the source of this noise including riding in the engine compartment while my father drove in circles in the local high school parking lot.
02 Chevy Impala with 177,000 miles has re-starting problems for last 20,000 miles. New Battery, cleaned throttle plate, new fuel pump, check engine light on (emission problem was told to me by mechanic). Whats going on?
When the car runs it runs very well...to get the car started, just wait, sometimes 5 minutes, sometimes longer than an hour. All the time periodically cranking the engine...just does not start. But when it does start, it runs very well.
This problems occurs only after the car has started and is warm. Let it sit for a while then restarting the problem occurs.
Having an intermittent problem on my 2002 Chrysler Sebring LX (about 132,000 miles). Often I can drive around and everything is okay. However, it seems like every 11 days or so, the temperature gauge starts to climb above the halfway mark and toward the danger zone. Only once has it gotten all the way up to the red danger zone and illuminated the warning light, and that was the very first time. It was fortunate that this happened the exact moment I reached home and parked in my driveway.
When the temperature gauge starts to climb above the halfway mark, I've tried to turn on the heater to cool it down, but this doesn't work. The heater just blows cold air. So far I have been taking the following steps:
1) Stop driving and park the car for 10 minutes or more.
2) Fill the coolant tank under the hood with coolant. I'm putting in about half a gallon each time.
3) Continue driving.
After this process, the heater is again blowing warm air and the temperature gauge is staying at a safe level. It seems to persist for about 11 - 14 days then the cycle starts all over.
It happened last night following a drive of about 5 miles home from the gym. Since I had no more driving to do that day, I just parked it overnight to see if this was a fluke and if it would be necessary to add more coolant.
This morning I drove the same 5 miles. Temperature gauge stayed pretty low for about half the trip, but then rapidly shot up. I got to the gym before it reached the danger zone (it was probably about 3/4 of the way up). I parked for a little over an hour while I went inside to exercise. Then I again added half a gallon of coolant and drove home without problems.
The last time I had overheating issues, the coolant rapidly spilled out of the bottom and the overheating was not preventable. I got the radiator replaced. This was in October 2013. I've also tried some of that stop leak fluid. It didn't work, but I'm not so sure I used it correctly. I didn't flush the tank and I think I might have poured it in on a normal driving day (coolant pretty full).
I have a 2003 Toyota Corolla, mileage app. 106,000. Check engine light first came on when driving to destination 40+ miles away (most of my driving is shorter, around-town trips). My mechanic said code is P0420 and so they reset it and said if it comes on again that I need a new cat converter. It did not come on until about 6 weeks later when I was on a longer trip again (had driven about 40-50 miles). Can you tell me if the P0420 code absolutely means that a new cat. conv. is needed or if it could possibly be a sensor or something else hopefully less costly than a new cc?
View 3 RepliesI have a 1995 Chevy C1500 Silverado. The blower and heater work great when I start driving. After about 20 minutes of driving on high blower speed, the strength of air blowing out reduces drastically and eventually no air is blowing out of the vents. I can still hear that the blower is blowing air, but there is no air coming out of the vent. The Midas repair shop I frequent couldn't reproduce the issue on their short test drive (of course). They told me to bring it back to them whenever the problem occurs. I haven't had the opportunity because by the time I get out of work, they are closed and I am freezing to death every morning.
View 1 RepliesI have a 2001 Santa Fe with around 140,000 miles on it. I've had my share of problems with it, but the last couple of years have been fine until this morning. I tried to start it and appeared to have full battery power, but it would not turn over. Instead of a clicking sound, it was more of a whining sound it made while it tried to start. I took the battery into AutoZone and they told me it was dead, so I bought a new one and replaced it after cleaning the connector cables. The same thing is still happening with the new battery. I've attempted to jump it as well.
View 3 RepliesSo I'm now on my second week with this 2012 Prius and still trying to learn how to roll in it.
I filled up my very first tank yesterday (dealer gave me a full tank when I bought it) and the miles remaining display said 424 miles after I filled up. Does it display 424 on all Priuses by default?
The first tank gave me right around that many miles before I filled up - the miles remaining display said I had 9 miles left so I got too scared to see if I could go farther. But when I filled it, I only filled just under 10 gallons - does that mean there's more miles for me to drive, despite that remaining miles meter?
And...am I getting pretty bad fuel economy?
My 1994 Nissan Altima is a great little car with an unknown number of miles, though my best estimate is around 150k. Every time the air conditioner compressor kicks in it drags the engine down significantly when at idle, and often causes the belt to squeal. The squeal is most notable while accelerating. My question is, since the belt is relatively new do I have a tensioner problem, a compressor problem, or something else?
View 4 RepliesMy 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan after many years of good gas mileage has become a guzzler. Has gone from 19 mpg to 10.2 mpg. Have had injectors cleaned, fuel system checked. What else can I have done? I really like this car.
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