QuestionQUESTION: Hello HT,
I have Hyundai Elantra 2002 with 117K mileage. Recently it shows " Check Engine " sign - off and on sometime. One mechanic says it will be transmission problem...while driving- sometime it gives jerk and shows the Engine Sign( voice of engine becomes little louder after that )..when I stop the Car and turn off engine and start again, the sign goes away most of the time and sometime not...Otherwise it runs excellant...Please advise what the exact problem it will be ...Thanks...
Ray
ANSWER: I won't be able to tell you the exact problem without the results of some diagnostic tests. Everything you've reported is consistent with the transmission control module (TCM) detecting a problem that prevents it from appropriately selecting which gear the transmission should be in. In an effort to allow you to continue to drive the vehicle, it will place the transmission in third gear and keep it there. Once the engine is turned off and restarted, the transmission will return to normal operation until the problem is again detected.
The first step in determining your issue is to check the diagnostic trouble codes stored in the engine control module (ECM) and TCM. AutoZone and AAMCO have advertised they'll read trouble codes for free, but I've also seen information that suggests that in some cases, their equipment will not retrieve the codes from the TCM, which in this case is likely to be critical. If you follow up here with those trouble codes, I can advise you how to proceed, whether that is more diagnostic testing or just making a certain repair.
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QUESTION: Hello HT,
As per your advice, I contacted AAMCO for troubleshooting transmission problem. They checked it and gave the result is " No problem with Transmission ". I have still problem with " Engine check " sign. It goes off and on ...Please advise the next step.
Thanks for your help.
Ray
AnswerHi, Ray. Unfortunately, this information isn't very helpful. They should have read and reported the trouble codes. They may have read them, but you haven't provided any information indicating that they have reported them to you.
Stored in your engine and/or transmission control module should be one or more trouble codes of the form Pxxxx where each of the x's represents a numeric digit. Each stored trouble code will tell me something about what was seen by the module in question that it thought was abnormal. For the record, I don't care what AAMCO thinks has caused the trouble codes or what they indicate the problem to be, I simply want to know what the trouble codes are.
I'm going to direct you to the AAMCO website, here:
http://www.aamco.com/serviceadvice_emission.asp
Notice the check engine lamp coupon in the upper right corner where it lists what they'll do for free. It includes "reporting trouble codes." While there may be "no problem with transmission," this doesn't fulfill the obligation of reporting the trouble codes.
If you'd rather not return to AAMCO, then you'll need to find someplace to report the codes, either for free or for a charge. If you're being charged, you may wish to have a diagnosis done as well, as this may not incur an additional charge.
