Car question

[Darth Solaris]

My car is being wierd..

After every oil change, the engine stalls out when I'm braking (reminds me of shifting wrong on a manual trans, but my car is an automatic) and its becoming a slight pain the ass, since it could be dangerous if I'm on the highway. The car starts up fine after it stalls, but quickly chokes as soon as I brake again.

I checked the filters, and they're all clean. Even the feeder lines are clean, so I am officially stumped.

Anyone know what could be going on?

 

[CoventryCat86]

What kind of car, what model and what year?

Could be a bad torque converter. Next time, try putting the car in neutral, then put the brakes on and see if you have the same problem.

Does the car have power brakes?

 

[AVB]

I'd lean toward a tranny problem but without being able to test it is hard to say if it is mechanical or some problem with the controller chip. Sounds like a trip to AAMCO is coming up.

 

[NullSmurf]

Make and model are a good start. I'm thinking vacuum leak - a big one. How is your gas mileage compared to norm?

 

[Apathy78]

Make and model are a good start. I'm thinking vacuum leak - a big one. How is your gas mileage compared to norm?

Sounds like one to me.

 

[Mrepp]

Well simply break or break to a stop?

 

[IgwanaRob]

Make and model are a good start. I'm thinking vacuum leak - a big one. How is your gas mileage compared to norm?

Sounds like one to me.

Looks like it from here too

 

[bfreebern]

Do you have gas in the car?

 

[TBaGZ]

check the flux-capacitor

 

[bfreebern]

check the flux-capacitor

Ah yes, good point Marty!

 

[Darth Solaris]

It's a 2004 Corolla.

I went to Toyota to get the tranny fluid changed and it went in for service not too long ago at Toyota, and they found no problems aside from the need for a tune up.

It does NOT stall out on me if I shift it to neutral after I finish braking, and I found out the oil was filled too high, and drained some out. It's running a bit smoother now, but it still stalls out on occasion.

It looks like it may be another trip to the dealership, since I called today and asked it, they said to bring it in since its still under warranty.

As for gas mileage, it's pretty much the same, except that I noticed that the car works a bit harder to reach 40. I've been avoiding highways since.

check the flux capacitor

HAHAHAHAAHHAHAHA

 

[Mrepp]

It's a 2004 Corolla.

I went to Toyota to get the tranny fluid changed and it went in for service not too long ago at Toyota, and they found no problems aside from the need for a tune up.

It does NOT stall out on me if I shift it to neutral after I finish braking, and I found out the oil was filled too high, and drained some out. It's running a bit smoother now, but it still stalls out on occasion.

It looks like it may be another trip to the dealership, since I called today and asked it, they said to bring it in since its still under warranty.

As for gas mileage, it's pretty much the same, except that I noticed that the car works a bit harder to reach 40. I've been avoiding highways since.

check the flux capacitor

HAHAHAHAAHHAHAHA

:sign: still under warranty? Shit the first time it would have done that It would be in the shop. Might as well get your money’s worth out of them. Besides a 04 needing a tune up? I mean did they say tune up because that’s total crap. I did the same as you, starting fixing my breaks because the rotors were warped then I realized its under warranty and someone else’s problem.

 

[CoventryCat86]

It's a 2004 Corolla.

I went to Toyota to get the tranny fluid changed and it went in for service not too long ago at Toyota, and they found no problems aside from the need for a tune up.

It does NOT stall out on me if I shift it to neutral after I finish braking, and I found out the oil was filled too high, and drained some out. It's running a bit smoother now, but it still stalls out on occasion.

It looks like it may be another trip to the dealership, since I called today and asked it, they said to bring it in since its still under warranty.

As for gas mileage, it's pretty much the same, except that I noticed that the car works a bit harder to reach 40. I've been avoiding highways since.

check the flux capacitor

HAHAHAHAAHHAHAHA

How much oil did you have to drain out? Unless it was WAY over filled, I really don't think this has much to do with your problem. Since you don't experience the problem when you shift it into neutral then I highly doubt it's a vacuum leak problem.

I still think it's a transmission problem. Do you have some kind of an "overdrive" button or feature with this transmission? If you do, disengage the overdrive then see what happens.

I still think the torque converter is locking up and not disengaging. Tell the dealer to check for a blown fuse and/or bad solenoids because I'm fairly certain that with those transmissions, the overdrive feature is electronic. My brother had an older Camry that acted up in a similar manner. He said it did it a few times a couple of years ago then never did it again.

Again, see if you can insist on the dealership checking out the transmission. Has your "check engine" light come on at all since you've been having this problem? If so, it will give the dealership a code pointing to the problem.

 

[Apathy78]

A transmission problem would not cause your engine to stall. The transmissions purpose in life is to transfer torque to the rear wheels, or in this case to the front wheels. It does not have anything to do with the cars ability to start or idle. If you had a transmission problem the car would not move or would have issues moving, the engine would still run properly.

It definitely sounds like you have a vacuum leak. If you only have issues with the car in gear when you take your foot off of the accelerator and do not have any issues when you place the car in neutral chances are very good that you have a vacuum leak. There is no load on the engine when the transmission is in neutral.

All the air that enters an engine should come either through the carburetor, or in this case through the throttle body, which should be your case as I am guessing that your car is fuel injected unless you have modified it. Any air that comes in through any other source is called a vacuum leak, and it affects the way the engine runs. If the leak is sufficiently large, the engine won't run at all, especially at idle. Which will cause the engine to stall out every time you take your foot off the accelerator.

Common things to look at would be the Mass Airflow sensor, the power brake booster and any connections on your intake manifold.

Hope this helps...

 

[CoventryCat86]

A transmission problem would not cause your engine to stall. The transmissions purpose in life is to transfer torque to the rear wheels, or in this case to the front wheels. It does not have anything to do with the cars ability to start or idle. If you had a transmission problem the car would not move or would have issues moving, the engine would still run properly.

It definitely sounds like you have a vacuum leak. If you only have issues with the car in gear when you take your foot off of the accelerator and do not have any issues when you place the car in neutral chances are very good that you have a vacuum leak. There is no load on the engine when the transmission is in neutral.

All the air that enters an engine should come either through the carburetor, or in this case through the throttle body, which should be your case as I am guessing that your car is fuel injected unless you have modified it. Any air that comes in through any other source is called a vacuum leak, and it affects the way the engine runs. If the leak is sufficiently large, the engine won't run at all, especially at idle. Which will cause the engine to stall out every time you take your foot off the accelerator.

Common things to look at would be the Mass Airflow sensor, the power brake booster and any connections on your intake manifold.

Hope this helps...

Yes a transmission problem WOULD cause your car to stall for the reasons I described in my earlier posts.

Based on the symptoms he described, there is no "vacuum leak" problem.

 

[Apathy78]

Another thing to look at, since you said that you recently had your car tuned up…
Have you noticed a puff of smoke come from your vehicle?
If so there is a chance that when whoever did your tune up hooked up the spark plug wires incorrectly.

 

[Mrepp]

wrong wires would just cause it to idle weird and throw off the timing. Your car would probably knock like hell and idling would cause it to stall. A bad trans or throttle body would cause the trans not to downshift into the proper gear thus putting a load on the engine while the engin output is dropping causing it to stall out. IE the ability to not drop its self into neutral would also do this. Last of all just take it in.

 

[CoventryCat86]

Another thing to look at, since you said that you recently had your car tuned up…
Have you noticed a puff of smoke come from your vehicle?
If so there is a chance that when whoever did your tune up hooked up the spark plug wires incorrectly.

C'mon, you gotta be kidding me! :laugh:

Since this is a four cyliner engine, if two of the wires were on the wrong plugs the car would barely be running (on two of its four cylinders) and there's no way a dealership would let a car out in that condition.

 

[Apathy78]

A transmission problem would not cause your engine to stall. The transmissions purpose in life is to transfer torque to the rear wheels, or in this case to the front wheels. It does not have anything to do with the cars ability to start or idle. If you had a transmission problem the car would not move or would have issues moving, the engine would still run properly.

It definitely sounds like you have a vacuum leak. If you only have issues with the car in gear when you take your foot off of the accelerator and do not have any issues when you place the car in neutral chances are very good that you have a vacuum leak. There is no load on the engine when the transmission is in neutral.

All the air that enters an engine should come either through the carburetor, or in this case through the throttle body, which should be your case as I am guessing that your car is fuel injected unless you have modified it. Any air that comes in through any other source is called a vacuum leak, and it affects the way the engine runs. If the leak is sufficiently large, the engine won't run at all, especially at idle. Which will cause the engine to stall out every time you take your foot off the accelerator.

Common things to look at would be the Mass Airflow sensor, the power brake booster and any connections on your intake manifold.

Hope this helps...

Yes a transmission problem WOULD cause your car to stall for the reasons I described in my earlier posts.

Based on the symptoms he described, there is no "vacuum leak" problem.

I have to disagree with you on this one coventrycat86. A transmission problem will not cause your car to stall.

I wouldn’t rule out completely that there is a chance that the torque converter could be bad as the torque converter does come into play when you come to a complete stop in gear.

The torque converter and the transmission are two separate things.

Just throwing out some possibilities to help out.

Another thing to look at, since you said that you recently had your car tuned up…
Have you noticed a puff of smoke come from your vehicle?
If so there is a chance that when whoever did your tune up hooked up the spark plug wires incorrectly.

C'mon, you gotta be kidding me! :laugh:

Since this is a four cyliner engine, if two of the wires were on the wrong plugs the car would barely be running (on two of its four cylinders) and there's no way a dealership would let a car out in that condition.

Well he did say "As for gas mileage, it's pretty much the same, except that I noticed that the car works a bit harder to reach 40."
I do not have that much faith in any dealer to excuse them from any mistake no mater how stupid.

 

[CoventryCat86]

A transmission problem would not cause your engine to stall. The transmissions purpose in life is to transfer torque to the rear wheels, or in this case to the front wheels. It does not have anything to do with the cars ability to start or idle. If you had a transmission problem the car would not move or would have issues moving, the engine would still run properly.

It definitely sounds like you have a vacuum leak. If you only have issues with the car in gear when you take your foot off of the accelerator and do not have any issues when you place the car in neutral chances are very good that you have a vacuum leak. There is no load on the engine when the transmission is in neutral.

All the air that enters an engine should come either through the carburetor, or in this case through the throttle body, which should be your case as I am guessing that your car is fuel injected unless you have modified it. Any air that comes in through any other source is called a vacuum leak, and it affects the way the engine runs. If the leak is sufficiently large, the engine won't run at all, especially at idle. Which will cause the engine to stall out every time you take your foot off the accelerator.

Common things to look at would be the Mass Airflow sensor, the power brake booster and any connections on your intake manifold.

Hope this helps...

Yes a transmission problem WOULD cause your car to stall for the reasons I described in my earlier posts.

Based on the symptoms he described, there is no "vacuum leak" problem.

I have to disagree with you on this one coventrycat86. A transmission problem will not cause your car to stall.

I wouldn’t rule out completely that there is a chance that the torque converter could be bad as the torque converter does come into play when you come to a complete stop in gear.

The torque converter and the transmission are two separate things.

Just throwing out some possibilities to help out.

Gezuz, you just like to argue for the sake of arguing don't you? A transmission related problem (which includes the torque converter) CAN INDEED cause your car to stall and if you keep insisting that it's impossible, I'm going to start calling you an ignorant moron.

The torque converter is part of the transmission so please spare us the needless splitting of hairs on this one.

You still want to stick to your mixed up spark plug wire theory or did you abandon that one already? :sign:

Well he did say "As for gas mileage, it's pretty much the same, except that I noticed that the car works a bit harder to reach 40."
I do not have that much faith in any dealer to excuse them from any mistake no mater how stupid.

You added this to your post after I quoted it. Are you going to honestly sit there and say that you REALLY think there's a good chance that two of the four spark plug wires are mixed up? :sign: Even a six year old would notice that a four cylinder engine that's only running on two of it's four cylinders is bare running and the car would barely be driveable.

Go ahead, continue to make a fool out of yourself........