It happened to my car last week, it got towed to a mechanic and I’m yet to hear back. I don’t know a lot about cars, so I’m hoping I’ll learn something here and be able to tell if the mechanic tries to rip me off.
The car is a small hatchback automatic Hyundai Getz, 2009, serviced regularly. I’ve had it for 6 years with no major issues until about a year or so.
Five days ago I was driving through the city for at least 40 minutes when suddenly, while waiting at the lights, the car shook and for a moment I thought it would stall. I stopped on a side street, waited 20 minutes and resumed my journey.
About an hour later I’m on the motorway and it shakes again. I stop on the shoulder, wait, but it’s not a safe area. I start again, only now I have the check engine light on my dashboard blinking. I manage to take an exit and my car stops on its own, the oil and battery lights now visible too. Fortunately there is no traffic here so I wait a minute, start again and park it on the shoulder.
Roadside assistance arrives, the mechanic looks at it and finds nothing wrong with it other than a fuel sensor which is an issue I’ve had for several years now. We get it towed to a mechanic but they were closing shop by the time I arrived. Before closing the shop mechanic says that at a glance he doesn’t see anything, but notes the oil looks very clean.
I’ve never had the car shake like this. The last time it failed me was early this year, when it overheated during a very hot day, but it didn’t shake. I’ve had the thermostat repaired since as well as a minor coolant leak.
Congrats, you’ve read this far. Thoughts?
Like a lot of people here, my first thought is misfire, which means either plugs, cables, or coils/coilpack.
My second thought is it could be a vacuum leak.
I’ve reading a bit after all these answers. I figure coils or plugs would show up on a scan, which the roadside mechanic did and only turned up the already known fuel sensor issue, as I mentioned on the post.
I’m starting to get the feeling it might be something transmission / torque related, which I hope is not the case as it sounds very expensive.
You are the first one suggesting vacuum leak, will keep in mind. Cheers
Yeah, a couple months back I was doing some work on my car and when I was done I did a test start and it started right up. The next morning though it wouldn’t start. After giving it a little gas I could get it to…idle, per say, but it sounded terrible. Like Satan spray-shitting hammers and nails into a sheet-metal toilet. At that point though I was able to look in the engine bay with the car running and I could hear an audible hissing - the vacuum line going to the brake booster snapped in two. It must’ve been torqued weird when I was moving the intake manifold around. I rigged it back together, it started up great, and I went straight to the hardware store to replace the hose