To_the_levee
New member
Hi all, 2012 Hatchback LTZ owner here. 105k miles. Recently replaced coolant overflow tank (cracked), had some front end work done (control arm, sway bar links, tie rod), replaced leaking flex pipe. The below symptoms have been occurring for 9+ months:
Excess vibration, especially when idling at a light. Can feel / hear it throughout the car.
General engine noisiness / fussiness when accelerating, even at low speeds. Granted, this is no performance vehicle
And the worst: intermittent but severe transmission problem. I don’t actually know for sure whether this is the trans, but here’s what happens— every couple months, I’ll be driving and the car suddenly starts kicking violently and downshifts or upshifts erratically. Hard to describe but it will literally “kick” so hard that it tosses me forward or backward in my seat. Dangerous to drive because speed changes drastically. So I’ll pull over, shut her down, and give her a few minutes to rest. The first time this happened I discovered the gas cap was loose. Tightened it and no more issues that day. It’s happened 2 more times since. The second time, nothing loose that I could find, and the car was fine when I turned her back on 5 min later. Most recent time, she started acting up and even after turning off / starting up 3 times, still was kicking. I drove it straight to a nearby shop and cut the engine. The guys drove it around about 30 min later to inspect, and it ran smoothly. No codes or pending codes. It’s been about a week and no more issues other than maybe slight stickiness with shifting, but I also might just be paying more attention now.
I’ve had it in to 2 different shops and aside from the known issues listed at the top of this post, nobody has been able to find something that accounts for these symptoms. I’m trying to keep this thing running for another year ideally, so any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks all, and RIP to the Sonic line
Excess vibration, especially when idling at a light. Can feel / hear it throughout the car.
General engine noisiness / fussiness when accelerating, even at low speeds. Granted, this is no performance vehicle
And the worst: intermittent but severe transmission problem. I don’t actually know for sure whether this is the trans, but here’s what happens— every couple months, I’ll be driving and the car suddenly starts kicking violently and downshifts or upshifts erratically. Hard to describe but it will literally “kick” so hard that it tosses me forward or backward in my seat. Dangerous to drive because speed changes drastically. So I’ll pull over, shut her down, and give her a few minutes to rest. The first time this happened I discovered the gas cap was loose. Tightened it and no more issues that day. It’s happened 2 more times since. The second time, nothing loose that I could find, and the car was fine when I turned her back on 5 min later. Most recent time, she started acting up and even after turning off / starting up 3 times, still was kicking. I drove it straight to a nearby shop and cut the engine. The guys drove it around about 30 min later to inspect, and it ran smoothly. No codes or pending codes. It’s been about a week and no more issues other than maybe slight stickiness with shifting, but I also might just be paying more attention now.
I’ve had it in to 2 different shops and aside from the known issues listed at the top of this post, nobody has been able to find something that accounts for these symptoms. I’m trying to keep this thing running for another year ideally, so any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks all, and RIP to the Sonic line
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