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?
I’m not mechanical in any way but it sounds very similar to what happened to me. It turned out to be some issue with the transmission. There is something called overdrive or something like that where when you go in 4th gear it engages and you get better highway fuel economy. The problem was it would engage but would get stuck and not disengage which would stall the engine (and shake the car violently) when coming to a stop. I took it to a mechanic and they gave me an option. Fix it for 2000 or disconnect it for 100. I disconnected it and I lost maybe 1-2mpg while driving freeway. Some cars have a button to turn off overdrive so you could try that if yours does.
I just looked up your owners manual and you have a switch on your shifter knob to turn off overdrive.
That sounds like the torque converter lockup clutch. The torque converter is a fluid coupling between the engine and transmission. It will always have some slip. In the 80s they started putting clutches in them to get those 2 mpg you described. Yours must not be disengaging properly, I’ve never seen one fail like that.
Yeah like I said I am dumb when it comes to cars and this was years ago so I may misremember. All I know is that if I got my car up over around 50mph it would shake violently and stall when I stopped. Then if it sat for 10-20 minutes it would be ok again (until it got in 4th again). I do know they disabled something that reduced my mpg slightly and I never had the issue again for the 2 years I still had the car. Again I don’t remember 100% but I think he literally just unplugged a cable. Charged me 75 for diagnostics and 25 for labor.
Actually reading your comment again “Torque Converter” sounds really familiar so that’s probably it. If we are running a pool I got $5 on stuck torque converter lockup clutch.
I do have an overdrive switch, and when it’s on it shows up on my dashboard. It wasn’t on, it’s not something I use but I’ve accidentally switched it a couple of times.
I’ve never heard anything about a “Torque Converter” on my car, but I’ll keep that in mind as a possibility. Thanks