I was on my way to a friends house today, and as I was pulling away from a stop sign the car started to shake badly and the RPM's started to jump up and down a bit. I pulled over and shut the car off, then I called my friend that I wasn't going to make it. I started the car back up, the rpm's still weren't steady, but when I went to step on the gas I had to floor it to get it going, then it just died. I was able to get it going and got it home though.


It's had a transmission problem for a while (its an automatic), but I don't think that has anything to do with it.

So, any ideas on what's going on?

 

I had a similar problem with my tranny, it would rev high and pop into gear and bog down. Given that these trannies are defective Id say thats the root of the issue but I couldnt tell you why it shut down

 

Yeah, it's not when it shifts, although I do have that same transmission issue.

 

what year and model?

 

2001 base model with the auto trans and a/c.

 

i had this same problem in my car. at first i thought it was a spark problem because i plugged the car into an obd and thats what it said. i replaced my spark plugs and it went away for a while but came back. finally i took a look at my motor mounts and they were shot so i replaced them and the problem was fixed. its been about 5 months and it hasn't come back

 

CEL on? D4 flashing? any lights on the dash on?

 

what ur describing sounds like a trans problem.

When you say the rpms jump around what exactly do you mean. The idle? When you're driving? I assume you have a 4 cylinder?