So, I've got rather a curious set of problems on my hands. Very sorry for the long somewhat ambiguous write up, but I really don't know what to do with this so any help would be very much appreciated.
I had been experiencing some wobble / vibrations when braking which had been getting worse over the last month or so. I suspected my warped rotors as the most likely cause so I took the vehicle to the closest Midas and had them do an inspection, ended up replacing the rotors, no big deal. After they did that, I at least haven't had any wobble while braking, but a few other strange things started going on.
I'm running a few errands afterwards after I leave the shop, and in the middle of a turn, what i assume is the power steering light clicks on and my car starts straigtening itself out (rather problematic when you're mid turn). Was at a pretty low speed, so it didn't cause major problems mostly just an odd hiccup. Something similar happened 2 more times (the third time i was in a parking lot going in circles trying to make it happen to see if it there was any consistency to direction or speed.
Called the shop back and they said to bring it back in the next morning and they would go over it again to see what was going on.
Next morning, I'm on my way to the shop and the car goes into some sort of failure / safe mode. Basically i'm going about 35 and all the sudden just about every light in the dash kicks on, and i start losing engine power, then everything goes back off and it appears to be just fine for another couple hundred yards, repeat. (At this point i'm only about 3/4 of a mile from the shop, so I keep pressing on). After doing this two or three more times, it finally just stays in this failed state. Pretty much every light on, and I can only accelerate to about 5mph, kick on my emergency flashers and pull into the first parking lot i can find (i'm about 1/4 mile from the shop at this point).
I pop the hood and look around for anything obvious but I have fairly limited knowledge. Didn't see anything dripping and i didn't see smell anything burning so I put the hood back down and climbed back in to see if I could get it the other 1/4 mile to the shop. Start it back up and everything appears to be fine, except that the check engine light is now the only dashboard light that's illuminated. Drive the rest of the way to the shop without issue.
They check the error code, and say it is something to do with the throttle body. Say that they want to have their best tech look at it for sure though, and that it will be later that day or possibly on Monday (it was Saturday morning) before he'll have time to look at it. Not a big deal for me, just want my car to work, so I call the wife and have her come pick me up.
Just got a call back from them this morning. They apparently reset the system and have driven it around a couple of times and the error has not surfaced again. They said that based on what they can see everything appears to be in order and that it was just a transient electrical problem the car should be fine and that I can come pick it up at my earliest convenience.
For those still with me, thank you so much for reading this far, finally on to my questions:
1. Does anyone else out there have any idea what's going on?
2. Am I crazy for not wanting to drive this car long distance (will be needing to drive about 1300 miles round trip to see family over the holidays)?
3. Other than asking them for more details about exactly what error codes it was throwing, and then getting more information about what exactly "resetting the system" means, are there any specific questions you guys (and gals) think I should ask them?
Thanks so much for your thoughts and ideas.
I had been experiencing some wobble / vibrations when braking which had been getting worse over the last month or so. I suspected my warped rotors as the most likely cause so I took the vehicle to the closest Midas and had them do an inspection, ended up replacing the rotors, no big deal. After they did that, I at least haven't had any wobble while braking, but a few other strange things started going on.
I'm running a few errands afterwards after I leave the shop, and in the middle of a turn, what i assume is the power steering light clicks on and my car starts straigtening itself out (rather problematic when you're mid turn). Was at a pretty low speed, so it didn't cause major problems mostly just an odd hiccup. Something similar happened 2 more times (the third time i was in a parking lot going in circles trying to make it happen to see if it there was any consistency to direction or speed.
Called the shop back and they said to bring it back in the next morning and they would go over it again to see what was going on.
Next morning, I'm on my way to the shop and the car goes into some sort of failure / safe mode. Basically i'm going about 35 and all the sudden just about every light in the dash kicks on, and i start losing engine power, then everything goes back off and it appears to be just fine for another couple hundred yards, repeat. (At this point i'm only about 3/4 of a mile from the shop, so I keep pressing on). After doing this two or three more times, it finally just stays in this failed state. Pretty much every light on, and I can only accelerate to about 5mph, kick on my emergency flashers and pull into the first parking lot i can find (i'm about 1/4 mile from the shop at this point).
I pop the hood and look around for anything obvious but I have fairly limited knowledge. Didn't see anything dripping and i didn't see smell anything burning so I put the hood back down and climbed back in to see if I could get it the other 1/4 mile to the shop. Start it back up and everything appears to be fine, except that the check engine light is now the only dashboard light that's illuminated. Drive the rest of the way to the shop without issue.
They check the error code, and say it is something to do with the throttle body. Say that they want to have their best tech look at it for sure though, and that it will be later that day or possibly on Monday (it was Saturday morning) before he'll have time to look at it. Not a big deal for me, just want my car to work, so I call the wife and have her come pick me up.
Just got a call back from them this morning. They apparently reset the system and have driven it around a couple of times and the error has not surfaced again. They said that based on what they can see everything appears to be in order and that it was just a transient electrical problem the car should be fine and that I can come pick it up at my earliest convenience.
For those still with me, thank you so much for reading this far, finally on to my questions:
1. Does anyone else out there have any idea what's going on?
2. Am I crazy for not wanting to drive this car long distance (will be needing to drive about 1300 miles round trip to see family over the holidays)?
3. Other than asking them for more details about exactly what error codes it was throwing, and then getting more information about what exactly "resetting the system" means, are there any specific questions you guys (and gals) think I should ask them?
Thanks so much for your thoughts and ideas.