ugh my wife's car is misbehaving.

[waggy]

last night on her way to work she called and said something is wrong with the car. she said the speedometer is not working. and that she had to give it more gas then needed to go.

on her way home (a friend from work fallowed her to make sure she got home) it was doing the same thing. the speedometer was going nuts. it would say she was doing 120 then 5 then it quit working. Also she said she had the thing nearly floored to go 45. also the check engine light came on.


any ideas? one place said it could be the sensor in the transmission or a clogged fuel line.


damn they are trying to get a lot.

they want
speed sensor $250 (wich is what makeing the driving probs)
tie rods $215 (wich my BIL just did last summer)
rear coils $420

sheehs

 

[dmcowen674]

Need to to change Title to YACT and need a lot more info.

Make Model year, mileage etc.

 

[Baked]

Time to buy a new car?

 

[dmcowen674]

A clogged fuel line would not typically cause the speedometer to nuts.

 

[RBBRMADE]

Charging system / battery

 

[njmodi]

Most likely:

1. Bad Throttle Position Sensor
2. Bad Vehicle Speed Sensor

What year/make/model?

Get the codes pulled at Autozone - that will give you more info.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: RBBRMADE
Charging system / battery

eh? ok that seems odd.


well it is a old car a 97 ford escort with 140k. but it was her fist new car (2nd car ever) and she does not want to get a new one.

 

[TXHokie]

Alternator? Those symtoms matched what mine did before it left me stranded.

 

[mcvickj]

Maybe transmission? Sounds similar to a problem I had with my Taurus. I remember having to really get on the gas for it to engage. There was also other symptoms. Turns out the tranny was shot and needed to be rebuilt.

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

Perhaps the speedometer cable got dislodged or loose somehow?

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: TXHokie
Alternator? Those symtoms matched what mine did before it left me stranded.

i had similar symptoms when the alternator on my 1997 saturn died , not sure about the accelerator won't make it go part, but my speedo and radio and stuff all went nuts

 

[radioouman]

Bad computer.

 

[uberman]

If your car keeps misbehaving give it a "time out." Park it up the street and ignore it. Don't park it with a full gas tank. Make it feel like it's no longer part of the family. Pretty soon, it will realize that there are consequences for it's misbehavior. It will yearn to be welcomed back into the group. Then you must bring it back to show that you care and to rebuild its sense of self-esteem. This may take a bit, but it will come around.

 

[iamwiz82]

It's probably the vehicle speed sensor. Go to Autozone and have them pull the codes.

Is it an automatic? I thought Escorts had computer controlled transmissions, as well. So that is probably acting up because the car doesn't know what speed it's at. That's why she had to floor it at 45mph, since it was probably in it's final gear.

 

[funboy6942]

Sounds like several things waggy.
They don't use cables anymore to the best of my knowledge unless you have really old car. So maybe the sensor for the spedo is coming unplugged or shorting out, or completely wacked. And since a lot of sensors may use that one to determine the speed, spark plug advance, fuel to use, throttle position, and so on the car may run like crap. Hence the check engine light.

Another one is like mentioned ia an above post and that is if it is throwing a tranny code (hence the check engine light as well for this), the newer cars will put the trans into whats called "limp mode". The car wont shift right or wont shift out of second and will have to floor it to get it to speeds of 45-50.

Since it is a 97 escort its a mazda build so I would prolly go with the spedo sensor shorting out/bad since a lot of other sensors rely on that one to determine how to adjust for other things. Im not 100% sure it would have a limp mode for that trans though or for that year. The 3 years I worked for ford the only real problems the escorts of that year came in for was vibration in the steering wheel from a poorly balanced 4cyl engine and timming belt breakage. Now there is a slim, super slim chance, it may of broken a tooth on the belt. It would cause it to run like you mentioned but it would be doing it all the time since slipping. Either way walmart sells a OBD II code reader for $50 which will pay for itself the first time you use it. I highly recomend you pick one up. If anything at least you can clear the code yourself and see if it makes the car run better and if not will know what ever shop you take it to is bull sh1tting you for you will know what the light is on for.

 

[Kelnoen]

I read it as: "ugh my wife is misbehaving" lol

edit: does the car have a limiter? might run off the same mech as the speedo.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

I don't know why the speedo is freaking-out but do check for a plugged up catalytic converter.
The older ones use small balls that can pack-up over time. This would cause 45mph at full throttle.
If the car is starting to over heat while holding full throttle=bad cat.

 

[RedArmy]

I had the speedo freak out on me before. The car was a 91' however and it was because the splines on the axle were no longer meshing with the ones on the tranny so it would give crazy readings for speed and rpm's. Just my 2 cents.

 

[chairbornrangerx]

Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead
Perhaps the speedometer cable got dislodged or loose somehow?

that wouldn't cause the car to have to be floored and go 45mph... Definitely sounds like a throttle body issue, or the timing belt might be going, timings off hence engine running like crap.

No smoke coming out of the tailpipe right??? if so, head gaskets gone.

buddy of mine had an old escort, the throttle cable came undone from its mount, so pushing the gas pedal wouldn't do anything, check the cable to see if its still mounted properly.

 

[Zenmervolt]

The issue is electrical somewhere. The speedo probably gets its reading from the ECU rather than from the speed sensor directly. As has already been said, if the speed sensor is borked, it will affect several other things. Find out what the OBD II code is that is causing the check engine light to come on and go from there.

ZV

 

[thebigdude]

That happened in one of my old cars. The needle would stick then vary wildly, then work. It ended up being a short in the electrical wires that lead to the gauge.

 

[mike2fix]

1st thing I would do is disconnect the battery for about 30 minutes. This will force the computer to re-learn and reset the running parameters.

 

[raanemaan]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
It's probably the vehicle speed sensor. Go to Autozone and have them pull the codes.

 

[RagingBITCH]

I read the title as "ugh my wife's car is masturbating"

 

[AdamK47]

Originally posted by: radioouman
Bad computer.