Faults:
I bought this car used because I needed a slightly cheap but reliable second car to drive to work. Boy, did I choose poorly. Only one day after driving this car off the lot, I noticed there was a leak in the transmission line at the radiator, and the radiator fan was making clinking sounds. The dealer was nice enough to fix both problems when I threatened to return the car.
A day later my daughter attempted to roll up the rear passenger side window, but no go. She thought she broke it and started crying.
Next my car went into limp mode when leaving work. Stuck in second gear, I thought I blew my tranny. I drive 50 minutes at 60 mph to get home from work - try doing that in second gear. It took me about an hour and a half to get home. I bought a $90 error code reader and it displayed 3 codes. I was happy to find out one of the codes was just the output sensor, which was only $20. I ignored the other 2 - thought they were caused by the sensor.
Then being a used car, I changed the brakes because they were squealing. After doing this, my front brakes squealed more when I brake than before I changed the pads. So I took all the pads off again and re-lubricated them, but no change except my driver's side front caliper locked up. I had to pull off my front brakes again. And now when I try to stop, my car shutters violently at speeds over 35mph.
Two weeks later, I was stranded at work when my car wouldn't turn over. Luckily tomorrow is my day off - I will get to spend my day fixing it.
I ran the error reader on my car again and it displays the same 2 left over codes from before. P0700 (trans control syst. malfunction) and P0731 (gear 1 ratio incorrect). What do these mean? I cleared the codes and bam, my car starts. I got home and started my car to check the trans fluid levels. It had enough fluid, and it was still a nice cherry color. While checking the fluid, my car stalled. It took a few tries to get it started again, and it stalled a few more times. Now it won't turn on again.
I want out of this car, but I just bought it about 4 months ago. If anyone can tell me what might be wrong with it now (the p0700 and p0731 codes) please email me at caz13@comcast.net. I just want to fix it so I can try to trade it in and get a new car. I'd rather take a few thousand dollar loss than ever work on this car again.
12th Oct 2010, 11:31
Wow you got 131,000 miles out of your 2.7 litre engine!? Consider yourself blessed!