- Dec 19, 2003
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Recently (sometime in the last week), my car started having this problem where occasionally, when stopped at a light/stop sign/middle of traffic (basically, when its in drive, & running, but at a full stop), the engine will sort of shudder & die, and all the warning lights pop up on the dash. It sort of feels... like a stall, for lack of a better word, except its an automatic and its at a stop. When this happens, I throw it in Park & turn the car off, turn it back on again. Sometimes it takes a long time for it to start, and this leads to some aggravated drivers behind me . Sometimes it just doesn't start at all (thankfully, the two times this has happened were in areas with no traffic where we could push the car out of the way), and we basically have to just keep trying at random intervals until it starts again.
I've noticed this "stalling" happens more frequently when the car is low (~1/8 to 1/4 tank) on gas & stopped on a slight incline, but this has happened on pretty level areas as well.
I brought it to the mechanic but the only thing they could think of was to replace the spark plug wires (something like that?), which didn't fix it (happened 4-5 times two days later). Does anandtech have any ideas?
To clarify, what happens is - engine shudders slightly & dies, warning lights pop on (its akin to if you turned the car "on" but didn't start the engine). Turning car off & starting it again (when it actually starts) puts it all back to normal, no warning lights, etc.
Thoughts? It worries me because I drive this car a lot and I need it to be reliable, and right now it's anything but.
I've noticed this "stalling" happens more frequently when the car is low (~1/8 to 1/4 tank) on gas & stopped on a slight incline, but this has happened on pretty level areas as well.
I brought it to the mechanic but the only thing they could think of was to replace the spark plug wires (something like that?), which didn't fix it (happened 4-5 times two days later). Does anandtech have any ideas?
To clarify, what happens is - engine shudders slightly & dies, warning lights pop on (its akin to if you turned the car "on" but didn't start the engine). Turning car off & starting it again (when it actually starts) puts it all back to normal, no warning lights, etc.
Thoughts? It worries me because I drive this car a lot and I need it to be reliable, and right now it's anything but.