Not Sure...Tranny Problem????

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hpman247

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Today I was driving around town and my car was fine as usual. Then I hit the highway to come home from school and I noticed that when I pressed the gas my car would almost jerk as it was revving. Maybe every other second while my foot was on the gas. This happened mostly every time I touched it.

I assumed a tranny issue and pulled over. I then proceeded to put the car in park and since it wasn't a terribly bad jerk and was only happening when the car needed gas going up hills and such I decided to put it back on the road just to see what would happen. At this point, it basically stopped. I think I noticed something odd feeling maybe once after this, but every now and again the car as I am sure all of you know makes some odd jerks/movements.

Any ideas?? I think I’m going to take it to the mechanic on moray, but right now the car seems to be fine.
 
You've got an ignition coil going bad. That jerking was a misfire. Those are felt the most at higher speeds because the torque converter locks above about 45mph so the connection between the engine and transmission is solid. Just drive it really easy for the time being. Kick the transmission into 4th gear if you feel it doing that again, you may still feel it but it wont be as bad.

You can take it to a dealer and have them diagnose it, or just drive it until the CEL comes on and then go to Autozone or the like and have the code read to find out which coil is going bad. How many miles are on your car?
 
88,900 miles on the car. Do you think if i took the car to a mechanic on Tuesday that they would be able to have the coil replaced by Wednesday evening?
 
Common issue on the V8 is the valve cover gaskets can go bad and leak oil down into the spark plug wells, which ruins the ignition coils if it goes on for too long. (I say can, but I should say will, because they ALL do at some point or other) If the gaskets have never been replaced on your car, then its possible they're leaking and that could have caused this problem. Those take quite a bit longer to replace than an ignition coil. My dealer had to order the gasket kit when I replaced mine which took two days to come in.

Or it could just be one of the coils decided it was time to quit (which they also do) and all it needs is a new coil. Which should be no more than a 30 minute job, assuming that they have the parts in stock.
 
I took it to my mechanic today. He drove it around and noticed zero issues with the car. I obviously know something is wrong because of what it was doing with me. And my warranty won't repair anything if it seems as if nothing is wrong. This is annoying!
 
So now it's started back again. And it' even shaking/jerking when i have the car in Drive and I am fully braking. Is this a normal coil issue too??
 
One more question. I plan on driving back to school tomorrow. From what I have read other have taken trips with a coil/coils going bad and it won't really hurt anything. My trip is 130 miles and i'll average out around 55-60 mpg the whole way back. If i'm really easy on the car, let off the gas when it start to stutter too badly, maybe keep it in D4 the whole time do you all think i'll be ok.

I really have to have my car at school and since it's thanksgiving all my local repair shops are closed so i basically have no choice but to get it back to school.
 
Not being funny but a low transmission fluid level "could" cause a problem such as this. The coil is the likely culprit but the aspect of it only doing it going uphill does make me pause for just a second and want to speak up on the fluid level.
 
hpman247 said:
So now it's started back again. And it' even shaking/jerking when i have the car in Drive and I am fully braking. Is this a normal coil issue too??
Click to expand...

Yes, mine is doing the same thing right now.

Does it seem to miss/shake a lot more if you're standing still for a long period of time like in traffic? That's when mine is most noticeable.
 
marcredd said:
Not being funny but a low transmission fluid level "could" cause a problem such as this. The coil is the likely culprit but the aspect of it only doing it going uphill does make me pause for just a second and want to speak up on the fluid level.
Click to expand...

well it does it uphill, or when i accelerate at all pretty much. it made it back to school without much of a problem. i drove it in d4 all the way. And it still shakes when at a standstill when in drive and braking , and even slightly in park now.

I'm just going to take it to the shop and let them figure it out on Monday.
 
One more question though. Does it make any sense that when I play my music really loud, nearly all the sound will cut out for like a half a second especially when i press the gas hard. And it also seems like playing the music loud makes the car shake, not from the sub, much much worse. I don't know if there is a link here or not.
 
Louder music would create more demand from the alternator which would in turn create more drag on the motor. That could amplify any misfires by making it harder for the engine to stay running.
But the music cutting out I have no idea. Sounds like your car is to the point where you can take it out and drive the crap out of it and it should throw up the white flag and give you a Check Engine Light if it is indeed misfiring. The you could take it and have the code read to find out which one it is.
 
Yeah. I really wish that it would just throw the damn code. I drive it really easy now though. I'm going to take it to the shop on thursday, since i have class and have to work wed night. I hope the car lasts that long lol.

As for the music, i thought there may be a link, because it does misfire noticeably worse when i crank up the volume really loud. And the music only cuts out for like a half second and then plays normally, and it only cuts out when i really get down on the gas, like coming from a complete stop or something of that nature.
 
Is the music from a CD? It could be skipping.

Seriously though, you can probably make it throw the code if you take it out and drive it really hard for 15 minutes or so. I've done that several times with mine.
 
no it's from my ipod which is hooked up thru the digital input on my pioneer radio. i know it's very odd, but it does it.
 
might be bad fuel
I am going through the same issue you describe but mine is bad fuel

stutters and stalls out stars jerking etc.

sounds like a coil or bad gas to me.
 
So i took it in and they said that one ignition coil is bad and that the valve cover gaskets are fine. They also said that i needed spark plugs and spark plugs boots. Each plug is 13 and each boot is 31. So this is gonna cost me around $600. What is a boot anyway and why is it so expensive.
 
It's not, they're jacking you around. Spark plugs for these cars are 2 dollars a piece. And the boots rarely need to be replaced. But if you want to take their word for it and replace them, Advance Auto (Checker, Western, or Kragen) has them for 5 bucks. http://www.partsamerica.com/Product...OR&MfrPartNumber=SPB130&PartType=5004&PTSet=A

NGK Spark plugs: http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=NGK&MfrPartNumber=2382&PartType=960&PTSet=A
Or if you prefer Iridium plugs, they cost a little more but not 13 a piece: http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?MfrCode=NGK&MfrPartNumber=5464&PartType=960&PTSet=A
 
$13 dollars a plug holy $%^@. Go to a auto parts store and by the plugs and maybe the coil, some auto parts stores have the right coil some don't. Then see if the mechanic will put them in for you even though its not a real tough job. There are walkthroughs in this forum that can help.
 
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