QuestionI have a 2001 Hynudai Sonata.
124k miles.
Had to pay to replace the timing belt 6 months ago, and the camshaft sensor 3 months ago.
The engine light would come on and go off on my way home all the time and after a while I started ignoring it. (sorry, I'm a girl, what do you want? the first two times I went to the dealer and it was nothing so I forgot about it.)
Two days ago it began running kind of funny, and the light was on. It was stuttering and loosing power. Wouldn't climb a hill or go over 30. Wouldn't rev up past 1,000 rpm. Sounds fine to 1,000 but then it's like it runs out of gas or something. Lke it had bad gas.
Pulled in and filled the tank, put in some Heet in case I had some water in the tank, ran it for about 20 minutes but no difference.
I tried limping it to my dad's house but it got progressivly worse and eventually stalled out completely.
A half hour later it seemed fine and would rev up, but as soon as I got on the street it started loosing power and stuttering/not revving up again. It got worse in the time it took me to pull over and would barely move when I stopped finally.
The next day we went and it started and ran fine, drove about 50 yards and into 2nd ok, then lost power and wouldn't go over 1k rpm again.
We tried plugging in a code reader, but now the engine light is OFF! The code reader says "Vehicle not responding." Checked connections and tried another reader, same answer, and still no light.
Tried limping it to a shop and it goes a little ways ok then gets worse and worse until it won't run at all.
5 minutes later it starts and goes another block before weakening and dying.
We can't find a manual for it, tried checkers and napa both, and there's so many sensors we don't know where to even start.
I was hoping maybe you would have an idea before I have to pay for towing and dealer repairs.
AnswerI'm sorry to say that the trouble code is the key to deciding where to start. You'll need to find a code reader that will communicate with your car or have it towed to a shop that can read the codes.
As for the repair manual, you can access repair information for all U.S. Hyundai vehicles at www.hmaservice.com. You'll need to sign up for a free account and you'll need Internet Explorer for the site to work. Once you've got an account, you can view the service manuals, electrical schematics, and technical service bulletins.
And please, don't ever think that there is nothing wrong when the check engine lamp comes on. If it came on, there was a problem. If your check engine lamp came on and the dealer told you it was nothing, they were not correct. It was something. It may have been minor; they may not have known what the cause was; the problem may not have been present when they checked the car; but there *was* a problem. When your check engine lamp comes on, that's your signal to have the vehicle checked at a reasonable convenience. If the lamp flashes, that's your signal to have the car checked immediately; you could be damaging your catalytic converter.
Once you've got the trouble code(s), I can hopefully be of more assistance.
To avoid disconuity, I tagged your message about 6 cyl, manual trans as a duplicate question, but I did read it and have the information.
