A very mysterious problem
Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 5:11 pm
Hey all, great forum, I'm in a pickle with this problem I'm having...
I have a '99 Liberty RX 2.5 which has done 210,000 km, bought it second hand in 2004. Anyway, I got it serviced in April and I noticed it was 'jerking' and 'surging' and stalling. For instance, it would see it almost stall to a stop, but the engine would rev up (the tacho needle would skyrocket). After a delay of perhaps two seconds it would surge forward as if all the energy being withheld was released. This happened infrequently enough that I foolishly did not consult my mechanic about it.
Anyway, in June I drove all the way from Perth across the Nullabor, and after arriving in Adelaide the problem got much more frequent, severe and noticeable. I THOUGHT at the time it was a tranny problem, that the gears were not shifting up smoothly and getting 'caught', that's kinda how it felt. It would happen on and off: sometimes the car might go a few days problem free, while at other times it was almost constant. It seemed a lot worse shortly after turning the engine on.
Anyway, brought it to a few mechanics, but didn't have tim eto stay in Adelaide so drove to Melbourne where I am now. I brought it to Fluidrive, which does transmissions, and the guy diagnosed it as a faulty speedo sensor, after i told him the speedo needle seemed to stall. So he orders in a geniune subaru sensor and i have to fork out $470 for that and a transmission service. The result? It seemed even worse! Sometimes so bad the car would basically move forward in a series of staccato like spurts, lunging forward between stalling. As you can imagine it makes the car undriveable at times. Today, however, it only happened a few times, but it's unpredictable and always seems to return. Oh yeah I should mention it only seems to happen below 60 km/h, esp in stop/start traffic, which is why i thought it was a first gear problem.
Anyway, I went straight back to the mechanic first thing in the morning (as you would). A young bloke was there and he said that when he tested it he felt the surging/stalling too and was pretty positive it was a fuel problem! None of this was mentioned to me prior to paying for it. What was more annoying was that the mechanic who did it is away in Adelaide til next Monday and I need to get to Sydney very soon...but that's another story.
Anyway, I intend to get some more opinions (something I should've done before). The mechanic did a service of the tranny, cleaned out the filter and replaced fluid, which was fine...Any idea what it could be, and if it had anything to do with the speedo sensor at all? Does the problem sound more engine related than electrics related? Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks!John
I have a '99 Liberty RX 2.5 which has done 210,000 km, bought it second hand in 2004. Anyway, I got it serviced in April and I noticed it was 'jerking' and 'surging' and stalling. For instance, it would see it almost stall to a stop, but the engine would rev up (the tacho needle would skyrocket). After a delay of perhaps two seconds it would surge forward as if all the energy being withheld was released. This happened infrequently enough that I foolishly did not consult my mechanic about it.
Anyway, in June I drove all the way from Perth across the Nullabor, and after arriving in Adelaide the problem got much more frequent, severe and noticeable. I THOUGHT at the time it was a tranny problem, that the gears were not shifting up smoothly and getting 'caught', that's kinda how it felt. It would happen on and off: sometimes the car might go a few days problem free, while at other times it was almost constant. It seemed a lot worse shortly after turning the engine on.
Anyway, brought it to a few mechanics, but didn't have tim eto stay in Adelaide so drove to Melbourne where I am now. I brought it to Fluidrive, which does transmissions, and the guy diagnosed it as a faulty speedo sensor, after i told him the speedo needle seemed to stall. So he orders in a geniune subaru sensor and i have to fork out $470 for that and a transmission service. The result? It seemed even worse! Sometimes so bad the car would basically move forward in a series of staccato like spurts, lunging forward between stalling. As you can imagine it makes the car undriveable at times. Today, however, it only happened a few times, but it's unpredictable and always seems to return. Oh yeah I should mention it only seems to happen below 60 km/h, esp in stop/start traffic, which is why i thought it was a first gear problem.
Anyway, I went straight back to the mechanic first thing in the morning (as you would). A young bloke was there and he said that when he tested it he felt the surging/stalling too and was pretty positive it was a fuel problem! None of this was mentioned to me prior to paying for it. What was more annoying was that the mechanic who did it is away in Adelaide til next Monday and I need to get to Sydney very soon...but that's another story.
Anyway, I intend to get some more opinions (something I should've done before). The mechanic did a service of the tranny, cleaned out the filter and replaced fluid, which was fine...Any idea what it could be, and if it had anything to do with the speedo sensor at all? Does the problem sound more engine related than electrics related? Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks!John