QuestionQUESTION: I have a 2000 Toyota Solara- 4cyl. 5 speed. When speeding up too shift (and its particularly bad in second gear) the car shakes back and forth. It appeared to be a sparkplug issue- however, those have been replaced yet the problem is still evident.
Also the battery appeared to have died for a matter of 20 seconds today, then started up with no problem? The battery was replaced a month ago and no there has been no problems until today. Are these two related to an electrical/ computer system by chance or am I looking at two totally UNrelated issues?
Thanks!
ANSWER: Check the battery connections and make sure they are tight. Is there a check engine light on? If so can you let me know what the trouble codes may be?
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: The battery connections appear to be tight upon checking today?
I bought this car in May, and every month since, the check engine light has come on. For two months I had a PO 446 code and had a valve changed in my fuel system which fixed the problem.
The second code I received was a PO 420 code which was an O2 sensor. We replaced the corresponding sensor which was bad, and it was the day after this fix we noticed the shaking problem occur. Not sure if it is related or not...but I hope this history so to speak will help you.
Any help or advice would be great, as we are to the point of letting our mechanic do a good look over of the car. I know Toyotas are reliable cars, but I really hope I dont have a lemon. Thanks again!
AnswerThe O2 sensor has very little effect on driveability as it is primarily an emission control device, although it is an input to the computer to adjust the air/fual mixture it is not a major input signal that can cause major driveability problems or an engine misfire, I'm not sure that it is a misfire because if so the check engine light should turn on and store a misfire code.Have your mechanic check for any pending or history codes that may be in the computer.
